I just caught onto the latest White Light Mix Series featuring Neoteric via Discobelle.  After having read a bit of info on their blog, I am really impressed by their ethos.  Curators Neoteric and Matty C aim to deliver sustainable mixtapes as opposed to just the latest and trendiest.  Download the 18th installment of the White Light Mix Series here.

St. Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Aeroplane Remake)
The Revenge – Night Flight
Lorenz Rhode – Like a Player (Shazam Remix)
Chalk Hill – Love Made Real
Lexx – Axis Shift
Metronomy – Do The Right Thing (Wild Geese Remix)
40 Thieves – Don’t Turn It Off feat. Qzen (Brennan Green Mix)
Glossy – Payama
Late Nite Tuff Guy – A Deal with God
Joakim – Spiders
Pete Herbert – Yo Drums
Noise Up – Over And Over Again
Walter Jones – I Am Loved
Ali Love – Diminishing Returns (Eli Escobar Remix)
Knightlife – All Systems
Da Hardy Boyz – Here I Am (Runaway Remix)
Hugg & Pepp – Sweet Rosie (Turbo Edit)
Colder – To The Music
Noise Up – Over And Over Again
Van She – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper

Image Source: The White Light Mix Series

Click on the link to download.

The Twelves Essential Mix

Join us on Twitter
Join us on Facebook

Track listing:

Fever Ray – Seven (The Twelves Remix)
The Rapture – Sister Saviour (DFA dub)
Phoenix – Fences (accapella)
Cerrone – Look for Love
Kraftwerk – Music Non Stop (vocoder)
Daft Punk – Da Funk
Glass Candy – Last Night I Met a Costume
LCD Soundsystem – Nike Run (excerpt)
Yelle – Ce Jeu (The Twelves Remix)
Chemical Brothers – Music-Response
Mr. Oizo – Two Takes It
D Train – You’re the One for Me
Metric – Help I’m Alive (The Twelves Remix)
Roger Sanchez – Computabank
Chilly – For Your Love
Dynasty – I Don’t Wanna be a Freak
Radiohead – Reckoner (The Twelves Remix)
Siriusmo – Last Dear
Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream (accapella)
Zeigeist – Humanitarianism (The Twelves Remix)
Eddie Tour – Up the Glitter
Gaz Nevada – IC Love Affair
Phoenix – Lisztomania (accapella)
Groove Armada – Drop The Tough (The Twelves Remix)
Methusalem – Robotism
Gossip – Standind in the Way of Control (accapella)
Chromatics – I Want Your Love (The Twelves Remix)
Laid Back – White Horse
Metronomy – Radio Ladio
Sparks – Tryouts for the Human Race
M.I.A. – Boyz (The Twelves Remix)
Daft Punk – Voyager
Indeep – Last Night a DJ Saved my Life (accapella)
The Virgins – Rich Girls (The Twelves Remix)
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams (The Twelves Remix)
In Flagranti – Just Gazing
Alan Parsons Project – Be Like You (The Twelves Remix)
B.W.H. – Stop
Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin’ Beats
Karen O & The Kids – All is Love (The Twelves Remix)
Fleet Foxes – Mykonos (The Twelves Remix)
Patrick Alavi – Power
Michael Jackson – Thriller (Instrumental)
Justice – Stress (siren)
Kano – Ahjia
Mr. Oizo – Gay Dentists
Donna Summer – I Feel Love
Cerrone – Give Me Love
Mr. Oizo – Hun
Chic – Everybody Dance
Coldcut – Timber
Basement Jaxx – Rendez-Vous
Les Rhythmes Digitales – From Disco to Disco
Alex Gopher – Motorcycle
Nirvana – All Apologies (The Twelves Remix)
Kraftwerk – Trans Europe Express
The Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Remix)
The Rapture – House of Jealous Lovers
Scenario Rock – Skitzo Dancer (Justice Remix)
Daft Punk – Aerodynamic
Boyz Noize – Arcade Robot
Basement Jaxx – Good Luck (accapella)
The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby (The Twelves Remix)
The Twelves – Nightvision (Daft Punk)
La Roux – In For The Kill (The Twelves Remix)

Click on link to download.

The Twelves “The Twelfth Hour” Mix

Tracklist:

Methusalem – Robotism
Groove Armada – Drop the tough (The Twelves remix)
Glass Candy – Miss Broadway
Daft Punk – Da Funk
Dj Agent 86 – Wavestate
Gossip – Standing in the way of control
Gaz Nevada – I-c love affair
Phoenix – Lisztomania
Arpadys – Mystery Rock (Vlad Maywad edit)
The Do – On my shoulders
Zoot Woman – Information First
the jacksons – shake your body
mr oizo – two takes it
bushy – sqezy soul
zeigeist – humanitarianism (the twelves remix)
snoop dogg – sensual seduction
juan maclean – no time
dj agent 86 – magic
k.i.d. – hupendi musiki
franz ferdinand – ulysses
siriusmo – discoding
dan hartman – vertigo / relight my fire
air – sexy boy
fever ray – seven (the twelves remix)
pacific – hot lips (the twelves remix)
patrick alavi – power
dynasty – i dont wanna be a freak
metronomy – radio ladio
siriusmo – last dear
empire of the sun – walking on a dream
elitechnique – spectral escape
the virgins – rich girls
black kids – …dance with you (the twelves remake)
the juan maclean – happy house
m.i.a. – boyz
cut copy – so haunted
space – magic fly
pnau – with you forever
eddie tour – up the glitter
mr. oizo – hun
cerrone – give me love
mr. oizo – steroids (ft. uffie)
tiga – shoes
kano – it’s a war
daft punk – revolution 909
radiohead – scatterbrain (the twelves remix)
terry poison – comme ci comme ça (the twelves remix)
sebastien tellier – sexual sportswear
chemical brothers – it doesn’t matter
database vs. french horn rebellion – beaches and friends (the twelves remix)

Click on link to download.

Metronomy “Not Made For Love” Joakim Remix
Muscles “Sweaty” Shazam Remix
Tim & Jean “Come Around”

Click on link to download.

Forever Summer mixed by Hunk The Drunk

Tracklist:

Phoenix – 1901 (M/F Nu Wave rmx)
Metronomy – My Heart Rate Rapid
Make The Girl Dance – Baby Baby Baby (The Shoppings Version)
Yacht – Psychic City
Discovery – Swing Tree
The Flying Lizards – Sex Machine
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
Lonzine Wright – Stop The Taxi
Ruth – Polaroid / Roman / Photo
Kap Bambino – Red Sign
Windom Earle – Kittens Vs. Pegasus
Delta 5 – Mind Your Own Business
We Have Band – You Came Out (Stereogamous Bathhouse Version)
Coeur De Pirate – Comme Des Enfants (Le Matos Andy Carmichael Remix)
BBU – Chi Don’t Dance

Click on link to download

Major Lazer “Cash Flow” Classixx Glass Bottom Dub Mix
Metronomy “Radio Ladio” Database Remix
Automat “Droid” Cecile Edit

This week’s Mixtape Mondays comes courtesy of  Voules Random.  For the next 75 minutes, expect a fair split between funk and electro from Frenchman, The Phantom’s Revenge.  All I can ask is how I’ve managed to sleep this artist?  If you’re feeling the “Sincerely Yours” mixtape like me, check out his production work on his myspace and support the man on beatport.

Download “Sincerely Yours” here.
TRACKLIST
Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
DJ Mehdi – Pocket Piano (Joakim ‘Berger’ Remix)
Database – Gotta Take Your Love
Siriusmo – Gummiband
Simian Mobile Disco – It’s The Beat (Siriusmo Remix)
Shadow Dancer – The Bad Thing
Amanda Blank – Might Like You Better
Breakbot – Penelope Pitstop
Mr Oizo – Steroids (Mr Oizo Remix)
Leonardus – Painkiller
Axel Le Baron – Run
Daft Punk – Face to Face (Night Drugs Rework)
Miike Snow – Animal (Fake Blood Remix)
Ebony Bones – The Muzik (The Krays aka Yuksek & Brodinski Remix)
Zombie Nation – Mystery Meat Affair (Shadow Dancer Remix)
Electra – Feels Good
Feadz – The Bright Side
Van She – Kelly (M83 Remix)
Phoenix – Lisztomania (DerDieDas Remix)
dIRTY 1200 – Blaaaa
Discofunk – Watching you
Venice – Roll
Treasure Fingers – Cross The Dancefloor (Laidback Luke Remix)
Lykke Li – Breaking It Up (Punks Jump Up Remix)
Metronomy – Heartbreaker (Discodeine Mix)
La Roux – In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix)
Big Gipp – Hot (Treasure Fingers Remix)
Basement Jaxx – Raindrops (Louis La Roche Rework)
Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (Pierce Classic Mix)
Tommy Sparks – Miracle (Grum Remix)
The Twelves – Nightvision
DatA – Blood Theme
Boys Noize – Starter
Joakim – Watermelon Bubblicious
Tony Lionni – Found A Place
Pitto – Feelin
Passion Pit – Better Things (The Phantom is drunk remix)
Major Lazer – Pon de Floor
Daft Punk – Oh Yeah
Maral Salmassi – My Shit Is On
Djetronic & Spoek – Dirty & Hard
Armand Van Helden – Illin’ N Fillin’ It
Johnny D & Nicky P – Major Sea
Jesse Rose – Touch My Horn (Crookers Remix)
The Shoes – America (Brodinski Remix)
Coeur D’amour – Wild Lovin’
Tommie Sunshine – Limit Of Your Mind (Nic Sarno Remake)
Bag Raiders – Turbo Love (Shinichi Osawa Remix)
Cécile & Venice – White Holes
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Sleepy Hollow – Sincerely Yours

Here’s the first look of the new Metronomy, think of it as sort of a version 2.0. What happened to the original you ask? Well, bassist Gabriel Stebbing has left the group to focus on his new band called Your Twenties. The new members are Anna Prior and Gbenga Adelekan, while Joseph Mount and Oscar Cash still remain with the band.

Photos by Phil Sharpe

This week’s Mixtape Monday is from a party out in West London that takes place on the 2nd Friday of every month at The Westbury, the name of this party: Dance on Glass. The latest party that took place had Breakbot playing what he plays best, disco grooves and funk. To help promote the party the Dance on Glass crew released a Breakbot Disco Mini Mix. This mix may only be 26 mins long, but its got some great jams on here and the vibe is steady throughout, constantly making you say to yourself ‘OHHH SHIT!” and wishing that you were at the party that recently took place. Here are some artists you can expect to hear him play on this mix, Mr. Oizo, Cut Copy, Pnau, Ladyhawke, Black Kids, Stardust, Metronomy and SebastiAn to name a few. Stream it below or give it a download for that drive to work or for the gym, you won’t regret it.

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

Breakbot Disco Mini Mix

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.

Metronomy dropping the latest video for the 5th, read 5th!, single off of the album Nights Out. I love love this song and the video itself is quite playful as it features captions along the bottom with some crazy visuals. The video is directed by directing team Megaforce, check out this interview that Promonews.tv did with Megaforce recently here.

Metronomy is currently on tour, check out the schedule below to see if they are stopping in a town near you.

Jan 22 – Popscene – San Francisco
Jan 23 – Holocene – Portland
Jan 24 – Biltmore – Vancouver
Jan 25 – Chop Suey – Seattle
Jan 28 – Pink Bar – San Diego
Jan 29 – Anonimo – Puebla Puebla
Jan 30 – Salon Cuervo – Mexico City
Jan 31 – Escenica – Monterrey
Feb 16 – Rotown – Rotterdam
Feb 17 – Botanique – Brussels
Feb 18 – Paradiso – Amsterdam
Feb 24 – KOKO – Headlining NME Awards London

MySpace: www.myspace.com/metronomy

Video: Pitchfork TV