Click on link to download.

Chromeo “Night by Night” Smalltown DJs Remix
Consequence ft. Kanye West, Common, John Legend, Kid Cudi & Big Sean “Whatever U Want” G.O.O.D. Music Remix
Keys N Krates Live Re-Mixing 101 Mix (Stream available below)| Keys N Krates Interview

Early last month we decided to compile some of the more popular downloads from the Afternoon Jams segment here on Killahbeez and present that in the form of a mix, that first mix can be downloaded here. Well we had overwhelming response on that first joint that you know we had to come back and do it again. This is dedicated to all of you, the readers, who have supported the site by tweeting/re-tweeting our links, commenting on our articles and letting your friends know about our site. We do this for the love, cus as our team knows, it definitely ain’t for the money. Though if you do want to help support us, which we would more than appreciate, then we have stickers for sale that you can purchase here.

So without further ado, Killahbeez.com Presents Boner Jams Vol. 2.

Download: Killahbeez.com Boner Jams Vol. 2 | Click on link, it will re-direct you.

Tracklist

Baxter “Proof” Lifelike Remix
Ali Love “Diminshing Returns”
Beyonce “Broken-Hearted” Alan Braxe Dub
Two Door Cinema “I Can Talk” French Horn Rebellion Remix
The Sounds “No One Sleeps When I’m Awake” Viking Remix
Chromeo “Night by Night” Skream Remix
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Heads Will Roll” Tommie Sunshine’s Brooklyn Fire Re-Touch
Miami Horror “Sometimes”
Pnau ft. Ladyhawke “Embrace” Tits & Clits Remix
Little Boots “Earthquake” Treasure Fingers Remix
Fever Ray “Seven” The Twelves Remix
The xx “Shelter” Them Jeans Drums Edit
Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” Pacific! Remix

Click on link to download.

Phoenix “Armistice” YACHT Remix
Chromeo “Night by Night” Siriusmo Remix
Boys Noize “Jeffer” Dexpistols Remix

Click on link to download.

Chromeo “Night By Night” Skream Remix
Hero “Funeral March”
Major Lazer ft. Ricky Blaze & Nina Sky “Keep it Goin’ Louder” Diplo Remix

On Saturday night, I had just finished editing photos from the Deadmau5 / Burns event and feeling a bit bored. Not really in the mood to actually see anybody I thought to myself that it would be cool if we could offer a mix just for our readers, essentially a collection of songs that I’m currently digging this month. Thus “Boner Jams” was born. These are essentially jams that give me a musical boner when I hear them, production wise all solid tunes. With that said the transitions are somewhat rough on a few of these songs, but hey 1. it’s been a while for me and 2. I did this mix all in under 2 hours and, *ahem, designed the above cover. But in any case I would love to hear your feedback cus we plan on doing this on the regular.

See every month we’re gonna compile the most downloaded songs from that month off of the Afternoon Jams segment and create a mini-mix that you all can download. Anyways we did this for fun and I definitely had fun just messing around making this. So enjoy.

Download: Killahbeez.com Boner Jams Vol. 1 | Click on link, it will re-direct you.

Tracklist:
YACHT “Psychic City” Classixx Remix
Ladyhawke “Magic” The Swiss Remix
Sneaky Sound System “16″ Flight Facilities Remix
Yelle “Qui est Cette Fille?”
Chromeo “Night by Night”
San Serac & The Tranzistors “Zanadu” Fetch Remix
Dragonette “Fixing to Thrill” Villans Remix
Au Revoir Simone “Young Turks” The Disco Pusher Remix
Casiokids “Finn Bikkjen”
Miike Snow “Animal” Fred Falke Remix
Gossip “Standing in the way of Control” Tronik Youth Remix
Passion Pit “To Kindom Come” Grum Vocal Remix
Metric “Collect Call” Tom Wrecks Remix
Munk “Back Down” Cut Copy Jackmaster Remix
Fever Ray “Seven” CSS Remix
Miike Snow “Burial”

Click on link to download.

Chromeo “Night By Night” | Green Label Sound
Chairlift “Bruises” Passion Pit Remix

Back near the end of June we did an Afternoon Jams post where we listed the “Top 15 Essential Tunes for the Road“, seen here. Well that post garnered a ridiculous amount of downloads, which tells me y’all likey. With the Summer starting to wind down and we have essentially two more solid weekends before folks head back into full-time schooling, work or whatever, we thought, why not put out another list for that last road trip before we start to say good bye to the Summer.

These tunes all came out within this year and likely some were meant to be on the first list, but were forgotten. You have the option of downloading the tracks individually or downloading the two packs. With that, enjoy and download your little hearts away.

Download 1st half | Download 2nd half

1. Classixx

• Major Lazer “Cash Flow” Classixx Glass Bottom Dub Mix
• Holy Ghost! “I Will Come Back” Classixx Acapulco Nights Version

2. Fred Falke

• Miike Snow “Animal” Fred Falke Remix
• Fred Falke “Back To Stay”
• Example “Watch The Sun Come Up” Fred Falke Remix

3. Sneaky Sound System “16″ Flight Facilities Remix
4. Sebastien Tellier “Fingers of Steel” Hypnolove Remix
5. Gossip “Heavy Cross” Yuksek Remix
6. San Serac & The Tranzistors “Zanadu” Fetch Remix
7. Casiokids “Finn Bikkjen!”
8. Peter Bjorn & John “It Don’t Move Me” The Knocks Remix
9. Bag Raiders “Shooting Stars” Shazam Dub Mix
10. Phoenix “Long Distance Call” Sebastien Tellier Remix
11. Chromeo “I Can’t Tell You Why”
12. La Roux “I’m Not Your Toy” Data Remix
13. Ra Ra Riot “Can You Tell” The Kids Are Radioactive Remix
14. Drake “Best I Ever Had” Grandtheft Remix
15. Bjork “Hidden Place” Zuul Remix v3

A-Trak grew up with being labeled a child DJ prodigy by many, but despite that heavy label, he’s been able to deliver above and beyond anybody’s expectations. Constantly coming up dopness to give us eargasms on projects like Sunglasses is a Must, to Dirty South Dance and now Infinity + 1 and his Fabriclive mix. Expanding beyond his own music he co-founded record label Fool’s Gold Records with friend and fellow DJ, Nick Catchdubs and discovering KiD CuDi. He’s currently on his 10,000lb Hamburger Tour which features Fool’s Gold DJ, Treasure Fingers and Theophilus London, which is stopping throughout various cities in North America.

Killahbeez: A-Trak, thanks for taking the time to do this interview.

A-Trak: All good…

KB: Lets’ talk Infinity +1, how does this project differ from Dirty South Dance, which was a personal favorite on repeat for a straight year.

A-Trak: Thanks man. This mix CD is completely different. The whole concept of Dirty South Dance was based on bootlegs that I was making with rap acapellas and electro tracks. That was a new sound in 2007 but I can’t do that anymore. Infinity +1 is much more based on the montage of songs itself, rather than the individual songs. And musically it’s in another vein.

KB: It seems that this new release features more of an electro/disco/house vibe to it. Is that reflective of your personal taste has evolved over the years?

A-Trak: Yeah that’s correct , it’s got a sort of spacey vibe to it. Of course my taste and my selections evolve with time. Up until 5 years ago I was mostly playing hip hop. Around the time that I put out my DVD (Sunglasses Is A Must) and did that tour with The Rub I started playing more party sets. When I made the Dirty South Dance CD I was getting interested in electronic music. I’ve dug deeper into that since then and now I think I pick and choose from all those areas and pick my selections depending on the context.

KB: In an interview that our writer, AJK, did with your brother, Dave 1, they touched on how Chromeos’ sound and your sound are starting to fall in line. Growing up how much of an influence did your older brother play in the music that you listened to? Do you two still bounce material off of one another?

A-Trak: Dave played a huge influence on me when we were growing up, in terms of listening to music. Basically I would listen to whatever he and his friends were listening to. Now we share a lot of music. Yes he’s definitely the first person to hear my demos and give me feedback, and vice versa for Chromeo.

KB: Switching topics to fashion. It’s clear that you have an appreciation for fashion, you’ve modeled for Sixpack’s lookbook, what was that experience like and are you doing more stuff down the road?

A-Trak: Doing the Sixpack lookbook was fun, I’ve collaborated with that brand many times over the years so I’m always happy to do more stuff with them. I’ve been asked by more brands but I turn down a lot of things. I actually wear Sixpack tees so it made sense for me to do that shoot.

KB: Staying on the topic of fashion, you hit up Paris for fashion week. Which shows were you able to take in and were there any pieces that stood out in your mind?

A-Trak: Yeah I went to Paris fashion week with Kanye. It was women’s fashion week though I can’t really recall specific pieces, it was more about taking in all the creativity. I saw Givenchy, YSL, Hussein Chalayan, Viktor & Rolf and Sonia Rykiel.

KB: Going back to music, I’ve heard that you and Solange Knowles are working on some music and a record between yourself and Armand Van Helden. Are there any other collaborations or remixes that you have planned next?

A-Trak: Yes I worked on a track with Solange and I’m sure we’ll do more. She’s a great writer and has a very open mind. Sure there are more collaborations planned but I won’t tell you everything! I will tell you that I just completed an EP with Armand Van Helden which is coming out on Fool’s Gold.

KB: What else is on the agenda for A-Trak?

A-Trak: Wrapping up a few remixes and I’m going to start on an A-Trak record soon.

KB: Any departing words for the readers out there? Thanks again for taking the time.

A-Trak: Support Fool’s Gold! Kid Sister album coming soon. Thanks for the support.

Photo: Matt Barnes

Click on link to download.

Chromeo “I Can’t Tell You Why”
Datarock “True Stories”
Thom Yorke “All For The Best”

Months of speculation were finally put to an end today as Vancouver’s own Love & Electrik officially signed on with Tremendous Records. On the news of this announcement the duo’s first single “Sex Video” is now available exclusively at Beatport.com. Below is a snippet of the song for your preview.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of hearing or seeing Love & Electrik play before, then you’re definitely missing out. The duo has opened for the likes of Chromeo and Amanda Blank. Love & Electrik consists of Roxy, with her melodic and sexy vocals, and Kevin, the manipulator of rhythm and sythnesizer of sound. The two have been working with Chin Injeti and DJ Khalil honing their sound and taking it to the next level. Expect to hear a full album from these two soon.

Love & Electrik “Sex Video” [SNIPPET]

Buy Love & Electrik “Sex Video” Here.

Love & Electrik MySpace: www.myspace.com/loveandelectrik

Thanks to Voules Random, I came across one half of Trompe Le Monde, Mikey Mmmuscles aka Mike B.  In support of his Canadian West Coast tour, Mikey Mmmuscles created the TTTOUR MMMIX filled with Parisian House, Aussie synth pop and DFA favorites to name a few genres.  Basically something for everyone.  Enjoy this week’s Mixtape Monday and indulge in the download link and tracklisting below (for you individual track hypem mp3 hunter and gatherers).

On a side note, Vega’s track – ‘No Reasons’ is effin amazing.  Has Texas been the missing link for phenomenal Northern American electropop?  Aside from GhostHustler and Vega, are there any other hidden gems in the Lone Star state?

Download the TTTOUR MMMIX here.

Tracklist:
Phoenix – Lisztomania (Classixx Version)
Get Famous! – Slip Away
Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix ft. Au Revoir Simone)
Sebastien Tellier – Kilometer (Aeroplane ‘Italia 84? Remix)
Holy Ghost! – Hold On (Mock & Toof Remix)
WhoMadeWho – Out The Door (In Flagranti Remix)
Groove Armada – Drop The Tough (The Twelves Remix)
Oldfolks Home – I Hate Dell (Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees Remix)
Damn Arms – Destination Pt. II
Daft Punk – Around The World
Vega – No Reasons
Animal Collective – My Girls (Gigamesh Remix)
The Juan MacLean – Happy House
Sneaky Sound System – I Love It (Fred Falke Remix)
Linus Loves – Prom Night
WhoMadeWho – The Plot (Muzzle Flash Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco – I Got This Down (Night Facilities Remix)
The Gossip – Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (Fred Falke Remix)
Cut Copy – Far Away (Damn Arms Remix)
Passion Pit – The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix)
Vampire Weekend – The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance (Chromeo Remix)
Hot Chip – Touch Too Much (Fake Blood Remix)
The Juan MacLean – One Day (Surkin Remix)
San Serac & The Tranzistors – Zanadu (Tyler “fetch” Fedchuk Remix)
Santogold ft. Spank Rock – Shove It (Grandtheft Remix)
Friendly Fires – Jump In The Pool (Thin White Duke Remix)
Sneaky Sound System – It’s Not My Problem (Thin White Duke Remix)
Bat For Lashes – Daniel (Death Metal Disco Remix)
French Horn Rebellion – Up All Night

Here is a minimix by Deviant Punkies over at Neonized Magazine.  I don’t know what the occasion for this well selected mix is, but its definitely worth a listen.  Best track hands down is Kid Sister’s take on The Jungle Brother’s ‘I’ll house you.’ Listen to the stream below with download link and track list to follow.

Download the mix here.

Empire Of The Sun – We Are The People (The Golden Filter Remix)
The Gossip – Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)
Chromeo – 100% [Nacho Lovers’ B-LIVE Pemberton Mix
Xinobi – Diamonds And Rings
Cut Copy – Far Away (Bag Raiders Remix)
Kid Sister – I’ll House You (Reebok Classic ‘09)
Filthy Dukes – Tupac Robot Club Rock (L-Vis 1990 Remix)
Don Diablo – Hooligans (A1 Bassline Remix)*****
Rico Tubbs – Boom Riddim (Sharkslayer Remix)
Armand Van Helden feat. Christian Rich – Ski Hard
Burial – Etched Headplate (Kissy sell out remix)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Heads Will Roll” Weird Tapes Version
Feist “Sea Lion” Chromeo Remix
Röyksopp “The Girl And The Robot” Joakim Remix

First let’s start off with the video. Here’s the latest from Sébastien Tellier for his single “Kilometer”. The song, upbeat and sexual, the video doesn’t disappoint. With countless up close shots of women’s asses (in underwear, otherwise I would’ve labeled NSFW) and animated hot dogs acting playful and squirming around the women, yeah you read it. Seems like its just another day for our man Sébastien.

Now for the mini review of the Kilometer EP, so with this being an official single his PR folks were kind enough to send through his EP for us to listen to and review. One of the dubs is the A-Trak dub, which A-Trak himself has posted for downloading as well as us, that mp3 can be found here. There’s that dub version and there’s the remix version, the tracks are essentially the same but the dub has a lot more of the instrumental playing, while the remix itself has the vocals starting right at the beginning. The A-Trak remix is also co-produced by big brother and one half of Chromeo, Dave 1 (check out our interview with Dave 1).

The other two remixes on this EP include the Aeroplane ‘Italo 84′ and Arpanet remix. The Aeroplane remix is ridiciulously good. Right up there with A-Traks to be honest. Aeroplane does a great job of interpreting the song the way they felt it should be. The Arpanets remix is the complete opposite of both previous remixes. The Arpanet remix takes the track several bpms down and believe it or not makes it a little bit more nasty and sexual, I didn’t even think that was possible, it’s also much slower than the original. It’s a huge mind shift compared to the other two remixes, but stands on its own just as well.

Honestly this is one of the most solid EPs I’ve heard in a while, all the remixes and original tracks on it make it worth the purchase. Grab all 5 tracks from Amazon for only $4.45.

Be sure to catch Sébastien Tellier on tour now.

01/04/09 : LPR / New York City, USA
03/04/09 : 09:30 Club / Washington, USA
04/04/09 : Transit/ Philadelphia, USA
05/04/09 : Paradise / Boston, USA
07/04/09 : Cabaret Music Hall / Montreal, Canada
08/04/09 : The Mod Club / Toronto, Canada
09/04/09 : Empty Bottle / Chicago, USA
10/04/09 : Grinnell College Harris Center/ Grinnell, USA
13/04/09 : Chop Suey / Seattle, USA
14/04/09 : Richards on Richards / Vancouver, Canada
15/04/09 : Doug Fir Lounge / Portland, USA
17/04/09 : The Independent / San Francisco, USA
19/04/09 : Coachella Festival / Indio, USA

A few months back Modular Recording artist and Killahbeez favorite, Ladyhawke, held an open contest on her MySpace page inviting producers and DJs to take a stab at remixing her song “Back of the Van”. The competition has since ended and although I don’t think a winner has been announced, here’s an entry from Lajer & Kartik also known as ddpesh. The Brooklyn based duo has remixed a slew of artists such as Cut Copy, MGMT and Chromeo to name a few. Their latest remix of Ladyhawke’s “Back of the Van” is easily one of the dopest that I’ve heard so far and trust me, there’s’ more garbage then dopeness out there. Give the remix a download below and hear it for yourself.

To download right-click and save as. For Mac users hit “Control+click”.

Ladyhawke “Back of the Van” (ddpesh remix)

www.myspace.com/ddpesh
www.ddpesh.com

Just announced is the line-up for the 2009 Sasquatch Music Festival which takes place Memorial Day Weekend (May 23 – 25) down at The Gorge in Eastern Washington. The line-up looks pretty impressive and here are some of the acts that I would be interested in seeing: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Bon Iver, Santigold, Of Montreal, M83, Chromeo (DJ set), Passion Pit, School of Seven Bells. See below for the full list, keep in mind that there will probably be more acts added to the line-up, but this gives you a general idea.

Tickets for the event officially go on sale on Saturday February 28th 10:00am at a special rate before jumping back to the regular price on March 2nd. For more information on this Live Nation and Adam Zacks produced festival hit up www.sasquatchfestival.com.

Full Line-up below:

Music line-up includes Jane’s Addiction (feat. all four original members), Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santigold, Of Montreal, Explosions In The Sky, Devotchka, Peter Bjorn & John, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, The Avett Brothers, Doves, Calexico, Grizzly Bear, M83, Girl Talk, The Gaslight Anthem, The Walkmen, Chromeo (dj set), Deadmau5, Mugison, Sun Kil Moon, Airborne Toxic Event, Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater, BLK JKS, The Wrens, Tobacco, Monotonix, King Khan & The Shrines, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, John Vanderslice, Bishop Allen, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, The Dodos, Beach House, Arthur & Yu, The Submarines, Owl City, Viva Voce, James Pants, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Builders & The Butchers, The Dutchess & The Duke, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele, Fences, School of Seven Bells, Death Vessel, Horse Feathers, Hockey, Point Juncture, WA, The Pica Beats, Loch Lomond, Vince Mira & more to come.

Comedy line up includes Zach Galifiankas, Demetri Martin, Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, God’s Pottery, People’s Republic of Komedy & more.

There’s something to be said about a musician who can almost effortlessly captivate you within just moments of their sounds gracing your ears. Whether you’re drawn in by the hypnotizing arpeggios, sweeping emotive strings or invigorating bass lines – the music of Laurent Heinrich aka Lifelike can simultaneously serve as the quintessential soundtrack to both a daydream and a night to remember.

With a discography of sonically impeccable original works and remixes drenched in unforgettable melody, its no mystery Lifelike’s approach to music has produced one of the most acclaimed sounds in recent memory – definitive yet timeless.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview him and inquire about his musical beginnings, process of production, inspirations and what the future holds for the France based producer.

Killahbeez: Let’s start with your name; Lifelike. What’s the significance behind it and/or how did you come up with it?

Lifelike: I wanted to do a little remix for myself of a track from Depeche Mode “Master And Servant”. I had sampled a short part in a break of the song where Dave Gahan was singing “Like life” I chopped it and swapped the words round to make “lifelike”, and thought that would be a cool name for my music project.

KB: From doing a bit of research I discovered that you have some classical training in piano and also played bass in high school – how and when did your relationship with samplers, drum machines, sequencers and of course synthesizers begin?

Lifelike: Yes I learned piano for 3 years and had a short career as a bass player in a band at school. It’s when I was playing in that band that I bought an Amiga computer and a sampling cartridge called “perfect sound”. I used music tracker and started to do my own music. It was quite simple at that time with only four tracks and a limited memory. Once you had sampled something in that computer it was never sounding like the source because you had to economise the memory to be able to have enough room to make enough samples to use. But I have good memories of this time. From there I went quite normally to buy a synthesizer to connect to the computer, and that is how I started to compose little tracks a bit more seriously.

KB: How influential would you say your early musical experiences were before you started producing electronic music?

Lifelike: It had and still has a huge impact in my way of seeing music. I still think in terms of doing a pop synth track more than doing something like “techno” if I can still use that word today. But at that time I wanted to do like my idols, the same music, I was sampling Cabaret Voltaire or Simple Minds, or whatever sounded great to use those loops and sound in my little tracks at home.

KB: Being a producer who uses plenty of vintage analog synthesizers, where do you stand on the seemingly endless Analog vs Virtual/VST debate?

Lifelike: Well I use both of them. I bought an Apple Macintosh computer for audio and plugins to open my music to new sounds. And I was amazed to discover that in between all those new software and vst instruments, they both have respective sounds of their own. I was thinking a computer cannot have a special kind of sound, not like an analog synth has, but in fact it has a specific sound, depending on how you use it and how you’re recording your sound. Both analog and digital are great.

KB: The melodies in your music are very distinct – however, in addition to melody and sequencing it’s clear that you put plenty of thought into processing the dynamics of the overall sound of your music – how important would say that aspect of production is in achieving the trademark Lifelike sound?

Lifelike: That’s a great question because you’re hitting a point here that is really important to me. The sound is what makes your production different from another producer, and could give a real value to your work. I take care of my sound in a very strong way.

If I listen to today’s productions, for example, in the Beatport global charts, most of those productions are done on a simple computer, I hear it, the sound is big but… it has no character and is hasn’t been worked in an interesting way. The sound is big because of the computer headroom in terms of computing power.

I think those producers aren’t working that much on composing great songs (many of those tracks in Beatport sounds like horrible 90’s one key one finger triggered), and they aren’t working on getting a great sound with character. They mostly use drum samples that you can find on a sample CD. It’s just bullshit music to me.

I worked on analog recordings in the past, and I learned there how to maximize the sound in order to adapt it to an analog recording, so it’s a completely different approach to producing and doing music. I don’t rely on my computer to do the job like most of today’s producers seem to do. And dynamics isn’t only created by a simple magical compressor connected to your mixdesk; it’s more than this. It’s where the sources come from and how you treat them individually. All those things are making, I guess, my way of processing a mixdown, and I still mix on analog desks, that’s maybe my trademark, in terms of sound I mean.

KB: If you had to narrow it down, what would you say are the centerpieces or favorite pieces of gear in your studio ?

Lifelike: Well I still use an old Emulator IV sampler just because it gives an amazing sound to whatever you sample.

KB: With quite the run of notable remixes in your discography, how do you approach remixes and how does that process differ from producing your on original songs?

Lifelike: I try to give the band or the artist I’m remixing my kind of sound on some ways. They will end up with my influences. The thing I love to do is to play around with those influences. Like with the band Chromeo, I wanted to send them back to 85 by using the same kind of technique in the mix that they were using at that time, like those handclaps with reverb. The main voice even has a reverb on it etc… it’s a lot of fun to do!

KB: On the topic of remixing, how important would you say your remix work has been in the almost exponential rise in your international profile over the last while? What are a few of the favorite ones you’ve produced?

Lifelike: Really important, as it’s the Needy Girl remix I did for Chromeo that really sent me all those new remix proposals right after it was played daytime on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. I think the ones I did for The Presets (This Boy’s In love), Does It Offend You, Yeah! (Epic Last Song) and Chromeo are my favorites.

KB: You’ve often cited much of the Manchester underground scene and many iconic Post Punk / New wave artists such as Cabaret Voltaire and New Order as major inspirations – however, you also mention 80’s Michael J. Fox and James Spader films as sources of inspiration and even released material under the alias Ferris Bueller – how do these particular sources of inspiration translate into your production?

Lifelike: Manchester or Sheffield’s 70’s/80s musical scene are really vital to me. For me it all came out of there, in terms of pop synth music as well as techno music in the late 80/early 90’s. Factory records, Mute and ZTT were THE labels of the 80’s and, they had so many hits in the charts. The best is that it was really good music, no commercial bullshit like today, real artists working hard for their music.

I love New Order. It’s amazing when you think that in ‘83 they were topping the charts with Blue Monday, a track totally produced with sampling and drum machines that sounds still amazing today; it’s a masterpiece. How many electronic records can you still play 25 years after in clubs?

KB: With regards to more contemporary sources of inspiration – who are some artists that you feel are making great music these days?

Lifelike: I’m thinking about that Australian label, Modular. They have that rock’n roll music approach, and damn they are filling the rooms when their bands are playing, and its nothing like PC computer music for geeks. Again we’re talking about real musicians with huge talents. Like Van She, The Presets, Metronomy on Virgin Rec, or MGMT (those are great too) or closer to me, Alan Braxe.

KB: You toured throughout 2008 with some dates in North America and seem to have some pretty busy months ahead with dates in Australia and throughout Europe. Initially coming from a producer background, how does it feel to play your own music during a DJ set and hear the crowd cheer in response?

Lifelike: In America the crowd is really amazing, I don’t wanna hurt any national sensibilities, but they were reacting like hell to our music, I was touring with Alan Braxe last summer for 5 dates and we were really amazed by the fact that they knew all our tracks by heart! They even sung on stuff like “so much love to give”. Next revolution of electronic music will be in the USA soon. You can feel that people have a real interested approach to our music, especially what they call French Touch. And it hasn’t to do with that kind of fashionista or hype, no they really came for having fun, not for showing themselves.

KB: Your upcoming release “Sunset” and “Sequencer” are being released on Alan Braxe’s Vulture Records sometime in February 2009, what can you tell us about these two songs beforehand?

Lifelike: I guess it’s quite a different EP from what you heard before from me, like Discopolis. “Sunset” wasn’t supposed to be on the A-side of the record but Alan loved the track so much that I decided to switch and put “Sequencer” on the B-side. “Sunset” was first an instrumental, and I was thinking why not put some vocals on it, so we contacted Yota. She already had a strong background and experience in our kind of music, and most important of all, a great voice that would suit the project. And it ended up being a vocal track, but still not like a full pop song, I think it’s still a not commercial track. “Sequencer” is more of a classic kind of Lifelike track in terms of style. I don’t have any clue on how people will react to this release. Only the future will tell.

KB: What else does this year hold for Lifelike? What about the future in general? What are some goals you aim to conquer as a producer as your career progresses?

Lifelike: I don’t see things at all in term of goals and a career plan you know… but this year I will have to tour a bit more just because we have quite a lot of requests for that and because it’s the way things seems to go on now for me. I’ll do less remixes because you can never do them all from one year to another. I had my time with that last year, so this year I will concentrate more on my music. I have a project with the band Chromeo as well, a co-production on one track and a maybe quite soon a new EP.

KB: Thanks for the interview and all the best in 2009 & beyond – the success is well deserved.

Lifelike: Thank you

Lifelike website: www.lifelike-music.com
Lifelike MySpace: www.myspace.com/lifelikevulture

Lifelike has also decided to exclusively share his new track “Sunset” featuring Yota with all our Killahbeez readers. Make sure to support Lifelike and buy Sunset / Sequencer coming out on Monday February 9th.

Checked out this new mix from Treasure Fingers. He’s definitely one of my, and other writers on Killahbeez, favorite DJs. Lately I’ve been listening to 40 mins in the Champagne room, yes this mix is old and in fact my cousin posted it here, but its just so dope and great to work out to that its been on repeat for me. Well this new Winter Mix that he just dropped continues the disco goodness. The mix features a bunch of new remixes and some unreleased jams. Give it a stream or download for your mp3 player. If you haven’t checked out our Treasure Fingers interview then have a read here.

Download Treasure Fingers Winter 08 Mix

01. peaceFIRE – Sapphire (GRUM edit)
02. Alex Gopher – Aurora (Riot in Belgium & Knightlife remix)
03. SymbolOne – Love Juice (Moulinex remix)
04. Manyus & Dario Guida – Stardust
05. Sean Biddle – Times Gets Tough (Matt Soda remix)
06. The Bucketheads – The Bomb (John Mazella Bistro mix)
07. Alex Herrera – Disco Steppin
08. Favretto feat. Naan – Whats Your Name (Treasure Fingers remix)
09. Big Gipp – Hot (Treasure Fingers remix)
10. Agent Stereo – Fast Lane
11. D’stephanie – Rock the Disco
12. DJ Funkso – A Disco Kid Song
13. The Young Punx – Dance with Someone Else (Phunk Investigation remix)
14. Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream (Treasure Fingers remix)
15. Disco Rockets – Highschool (Treasure Fingers Edit)
16. Alan Parsons Project – I Wouldn’t Want to be Like You (The Twelves Remix)
17. The Presets – This Boy’s in Love (Lifelike remix)
18. Munk – Down in LA (Shazam remix)
19. Demon – Happy Therapy (Lifelike remix)
20. JR Disco – What Cha Going to do
21. DJ KIttles – Disco Bones
22. The Presets – Talk Like That (Miami Horror Remix)
23. Disco Rockets – Be My Lady
24. Matt Hughes – Can’t Talk Now
25. Alex Metric – Caller
26. Treasure Fingers – Cross the Dancefloor (Chromeo remix)
27. The American Dream Team feat. Lily – My Boo
28. Mini Viva – Tokyo (Treasure Fingers remix)
29. Kid Sister – Family Reunion (Treasure Fingers southern fried mix)
30. Plemo vs Rampue feat Jessica Drosten – Excess Express (Bastian Heerhorst Mellow mix)
31. Kavinsky – 1986
32. Sneaky Sound System – When We Were Young (Shazam remix)
33. Chromeo – 100% (Treasure Fingers remix)
34. Vega – All Too Vivid (Kill the Noise remix)

Treasure Fingers, the name has been synonymous with great dance music in 07/08. From dropping his own gems, “Its Your Turn” and possibly electro track of the year, well for me anyways, “Cross the Dancefloor” and not to mention the numerous banging remixes that he continually drops. My personal favorites being Chromeo’s “100%”, Empire of The Sun’s “Walking On A Dream” and even making Fergie’s “Glamorous” palatable. The man consistently keeps people shaking their asses whether its on the dancefloor or in the privacy of their own home. With that kind of resume we can definitely expect more hotness coming out in 2009 and it’s already started with Treasure Fingers remix of Miike Snows‘ “Animal”, heard here. In anticipation of him coming to Vancouver on January 23rd to Celebrities (tickets at www.blueprintevents.ca), we caught up with the man known as Treasure Fingers to talk about his remixes, plans for an album and for the gear heads, we touch on what equipment he uses in the lab.

KB: First off, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us. So tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in producing and DJing electronic dance music?

Treasure Fingers: I started with hip hop and experimental stuff when I was really young, 14 or so, on my dad’s drum machine and 4track. Around 16, I lost interest and started playing in punk/hardcore bands. I didn’t really get serious with dance music production & DJing until I was 17 or 18 and my band had broken up. I liked that I could fill the creative musical void by writing, producing, & DJing solo.

KB: You have an interesting name, Treasure Fingers, and before that you were know as The Enemy, tell us about those names, what was the inspiration behind them?

TF: Some friends of mine and I just kicked around some names and Treasure Fingers seemed to be the most popular. I still wasn’t completely sold on it at first but I really like it now. It’s taken over me. ‘The Enemy’ actually started out as NME-5, my first DJ name. I quickly grew out of that and changed it. I still use the The Enemy moniker for some hip-hop/extra production.

KB: Which musical genres as well as artists do you find gives you inspiration? And what kind of influence has coming from the south, Atlanta, had on your style of music if any?

TF: I listen to almost everything and it all influences me at least a little bit. For Treasure Fingers, 80’s funk and disco is the biggest point of influence. I think a lot of the r&b and rap I listen to comes through a little also. I love southern rap, and the vibe of the Atlanta club music scene and (I) hope a little of that comes across through my music.

KB: How did you meet up with the folks at Fools’ Gold and A-Trak and eventually getting signed to the label?

TF: I had quite a few mutual friends but what actually brought it all together was A-Trak sending me a MySpace message saying something like “hey! I like your music and run a label, are you interested (in) releasing some records with us?”. Since then, I’ve become good friend with A-Trak, Nick Catchdubs and the rest of the Fool’s Gold family; they’re all really good people.

KB: Ok so straight up I have to say I love your track “Cross the Dancefloor”, when I first heard it I was quite blown away. The melodies and production work are ridiculous. What was the process of making that track?

TF: Thanks! It started out as just an instrumental filter disco house type track. Then one day I decided to try to put vocals on it. The next day I thought it might be cool to have some girl vocals responding back to my male vocals. The overall production is pretty simple, just a clean kind of poppy track. There’s a sample in there (the filtered disco part during the first breakdown), but I played the rest of the synths, bass, drums and built the track up around the sample just in case we couldn’t get it cleared. Luckily, it got cleared and I’m blown away at how well the song as done thus far.

KB: Recently you remixed Chromeo’s track “100%” and they remixed your track “Cross the Dancefloor”, how did that partnership come about? Were you always into Chromeos’ stuff prior to Fool’s Gold?

TF: Yeah, for sure. I first heard of Chromeo from some DJ mix they had released years ago. Lots of old classic 80s funk, I didn’t know they were writing or producing their own stuff until I heard “Needy Girl”. I love their work, great guys too. I didn’t meet or get in touch with them until Fool’s Gold signed “Cross the Dancefloor”. A-Trak hit me up one day and said his brother and P-Thugg loved it and he wanted to get them to remix it. My remix for them came through some Bacardi promotion they were coordinating with Vice Records, I got asked if I wanted to remix “100%” and of course agreed to it. “100%” is one of my favorites off that album.

KB: As is mine, and that remix of yours is also bananas.

KB: For all the gear heads out there, what do you use to create tracks / remixes?

TF: I use a PC running Cubase SX 3, I know I need to upgrade to 4, as my main sequencer. As far as instruments, I use a lot of VSTs, some hardware synths (Roland JX3P, Roland Alpha Juno-1, Yamaha DX100, Korg MS10), a couple guitars (Gibson SG, Fender Strat), Heil Talk Box, MPC 2000xl, Fender Rhodes mark V, and a lot of other smaller fun things.

KB: In an interview that I checked out between you and Kill The Noise you mentioned that you wanted to move towards more of a live show by the end of the year, is that something that’s still in the works?

TF: Definitely! The live show won’t be ready for a while though. I’m concentrating on finishing the album now, but once it’s done I’m going to focus on putting the band together and hitting the road.

KB: So staying on topic with the album, when can fans expect it? Or has touring been taking up a lot of your time?

TF: Touring and remixing has been taking up all my time lately. Next year will be the time for a full-length album. I have a lot of tracks half finished & demo tracks already, I just need to pick out the best and finish them.

KB: What are some of your upcoming projects and collaborations that you can talk about?

TF: Not too much I can talk about right now really. I just finished a bunch of new remixes that should be coming out over the next several months. You can check my MySpace (www.myspace.com/treasurefingers) or website and see the full list of remixes I’ve done to date. I’m currently finishing one for Miami Horror “Don’t Be On With Her” for Virgin/EMI in Australia.

KB: So with your busy schedule are you still involved with or plan to work with Evol Intent?

TF: Yes, we have a live show we’ve been doing at bigger events and festivals. We’re working on new material now, and also doing a couple new remixes. One is for Shiny Toy Guns “Ghost town” and the other is a dubstep remix of Tech Itch & Kemal “The Calling”.

KB: Dope. So changing course, what are Treasure Fingers current top 5 tracks that you can’t stop listening to?

TF: Drop Out Orchestra “Gibbon”, D’Stephanie “Rock the Disco”, Van She “Kelly (Breakbot remix)”, JR Disco “What Cha Going To Do”, Matt Hughes “Can’t Talk Now”

KB: Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview.

TF: No Problem, Thank you!

Treasure Fingers website: www.treasurefingers.com
Treasure Fingers MySpace:www.myspace.com/treasurefingers

Treasure Fingers “Cross The Dancefloor”

Chromeo “100%” Treasure Fingers B-Live Pemberton Mix

Back in September we posted a dope mix from The American Dream Team (seen here), or TADT for short, called What Dreams Are Made Of v2.0, well now they’ve gone and released v3.0 and we have it here for you all to hear. The Brooklyn bred team mixes electro, house and hip-hop to get you noddin’ your head. Give it a listen then hit the download link.

The American Dream Team What Dreams Are Made Of v3.0
Download Here

1. TADT Beach Party Intro with Pismo
2. The American Dream Team – My Boo feat Lili
3. Chromeo – 100 Percent (Treasure Fingers remix)
4. Vega – All Too Vivid (Kill The Noise Remix)
5. Headshot Boyz – Runnin The Show
6. Meterhead – Biggie Dance
7. Dj Felli Fel – Get Buck In Here (Villains Remix)
8. Grum – Woah (TADT Remix) Collie Buddz Come Around Big League Chune Duplate Mix
9. Bass Kleph & Paul Anthony – Helium (Wolfgang Gartner Remix)
10. Digitalism – Idealistic (A-Track Remix)
11. Hostage – Shake It
12. Mikey Hook – Soul Sellin
13. Black Holes – Shake And Glock
14. Shiny Toy Guns – Ricochet! (TADT Remix)
15. The American Dream Team – Nightmare Disco
16. Mt. Sims – The Bitten Bite Back (True Pseudo Remix)
17. Mini Viva – Tokyo (Treasure Fingers Remix)
18. Kill The Noise – I’m Gone
19. Meterhead – Let It Go
20. Barrington Levy – Here I Come (Andy Harding remix)
21. The American Dream Team – Money featuring Whiskey Pete & Andre Parnel
22. Feed Me – Mordez Moi
23. the Juice Is Mine Outro