New (Actual) Daft Punk and Justice??

So I've just sat down to the good old computer too see that the interweb is buzzing with new tracks from both Daft Punk AND Justice. Once you've re-cooperated from your head exploding like mine did, take a listen to these tracks. The Daft Punk track 'The Crash' spans 12 minutes and definitely sounds more along the lines of backing music for TRON, and not some douche pulling a fast one. Maybe a response to that song that leaked days ago that wasn't them? The Justice track 'The Beginning of the end' sounds...well, like a Justice track. Synthed out keys and a slappy bass. Maybe they dropped it because their big brothers told them to.

*Not so awesome Update: So apparently people are now saying that the Justice track is fake, and was sent by a hacker using a fake Ed Banger e-mail account. Sorry for getting everyone all excited. I will be spending my day tracking down this guy...and killing him. Sure, between these guys and Keedz, Ed Banger might as well sign some more acts to take all the stress out of Justice actually releasing anything.

* Another Update : Both are fake. I hate the internet sometimes

Justice - Beginning of the end (FAKE)

Daft Punk - The Crash (FAKE)

Keedz

Remember when that track came out like a year ago...and everyone thought it was new stuff from Justice? Well that was these guys Keedz, which nobody knows anything about or has heard anything from since. Their myspace isn't really helping me with this either, except it says they are from the states...but everything's in french. What?! Some people still think it is Justice just screwing with people. I've got to admit that the production of both the track and video have similarities. If anyone knows any more please feel free to chime in. Regardless, how dare they try to keep me intrigued. Whatever, I'm over it. It's still a pretty decent track, however preachy it may seem. Save me Jebus.

Keedz - Stand on the word

New Music Tuesday: Shuttle feat. Cadence Weapon

This track arrived in the BTA email today and I was pretty stoked on it upon first listen. It comes from Shuttle, one of the the latest additions to the Ninja tune label, and features the vocals of Canada's own Cadence Weapon. Shuttle has released a number of remixes in the past of artists including Crystal Castles, Caribou, and Justice. As well as other tracks under his other alias, Etan. The title track to his upcoming EP entitled "Tunnel", opens itself up to RJD2 comparisons. But it's the "Rotten Guts" original track with it's stuterring bass and vocal sample accompanied by Cadence's flow that caught my attention.

His first EP "Tunnel" is out on Ninja Tune on 16/03/09

Shuttle - Rotten Guts (Feat. Cadence Weapon)

Remix Sunday: Justice on the Radio Weekend

Tomorrow I start my adventure to become a studio engineer. I'm so excited that I'm at a loss for words for pretty much any conversation. After a year and a half of straight working my bawls off I'm going back to learn how to record your favorite bands and maybe win a Grammy. Yeah, that's my ultimate goal in life accept an award from the awards show that is just basically a circle jerk for industry hot heads. I wanna be one of those hot heads. Money, power, women, sold out arenas, music videos with naked bitches and champagne. That's the life for me. Oh wait, this is a music blog not my stoner dreams blog.

Theres a few remix's that I've been listening to non-stop this week. I thought I was tired of all this remixing and jive talking but I guess there are still some quality ones out there. First off there is obviously huge hype surrounding anything TV on the Radio these days. There new album 'Dear Science' is a strong candidate for album of the year already and really, who expected any less. Every TotR record put out so far has been an almost instant classic. Here's a remix to every ones favorite TotR song;

Staring At The Sun (Byran Hyde Remix) - TV on the Radio

Next remix? Justice. OH EM GEE! JUSTICE DID A REMIX?!!! HOW SURPRISING!!! It even sounds like a Justice remix. Who woulda thunk it? Still good...

As Above, So Below (Justice Remix) - Klaxons

Last on the docket comes a remix from a record that I consider to be the best of the year. Vampire Weekends' self titled debut has been played over a thousand times in my car and is probably gonna get spun a few more times before I throw it in the discount bin in my basement.

Oxford Comma (Burntpiano Edit) - Vampire Weekend

Thanks to The Mixtape Podcast for these lovely remixes and, by the way, when I'm inside Jessica Alba, I'll let you all know.

Wale's Mixtape About Nothing

I'm really digging The Mixtape About Nothing, the project of DC rapper Wale (that's "wah-lay") mixed by Nick Catchdubs released back in May. As you might assume, the mix includes multiple samples and references to the classic sitcom Seinfeld and even boasts a cameo from Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Pichfork gave the themed 19-track mix a generous 8.4/10 rating last month and the release has recently been generating a lot of well-deserved buzz for Wale. The Nigerian-born artist signed to Interscope Records back in February and his forthcoming debut album is rumoured to feature production help from Mark Ronson, Kanye West, Just Blaze, 9th Wonder and - wait for it - Justice (thanks Wiki). All signs point to awesome.

Give 'The Crazy' a listen - then grab the whole mix here for free.

Wale - The Crazy

- a.m.p.m.

Remix Sunday

A couple of dance numbers on this most dreary of Sundays (at least in Ottawa). Can't say I've heard the original of the first cut, Jap-pop's not really my thing, but MSTRKRFT's Al-P puts his stamp on this Ayumi Hamasaki song with some thunderous knob twiddling and buzzing synth. If you can't stand the lyrics, which is understandable given the track's dance mix '93 kind of feel, skip to the sweet breakdown at the 2 minute mark. Not for everybody, but worth a listen.

Ayumi Hamasaki - Beautiful Fighters (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Justice do MGMT? Sounds like a decent combination, no? I like it better than the original, a lot more actually.

MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)

- BA

The New Justice Video is Bad Ass

The Bad Ass Checklist

purse snatching - check
car jacking - check
police beating - check
violence against women - check
molotov cocktails resulting in exploding cars - check
shitkicking strangers - check
attempted rape - check
rad fucking jackets - check

Justice - Stress
Fucked Up - Stress (Justice Cover)

- bbbykmbrly.

Remix Sunday: DVNO. Four Capital Letters, Printed in Gold...

Back when Justice dropped their debut album last year, it was a smash; brilliant hard electro that beckoned to the big beat days of the likes of Cyrstal Method and the Chemical Brothers. They did what no electronic act could do for a decade - they made an album the rockers love to D.A.N.C.E. to.

While that record was listened to from front-to-back last summer trillions of times by myself and everyone I knew, one track took the longest to grow on me.

DVNO.

Why? I think at first it was the vocals. It sounded like a house song (and I detest house music, more than I detest Bon Jovi or Nickleback...house music is the bane of my existence). After a few more focused listens I realized the beauty of this song lays in the vocals themselves. Mehdi Pinson sings with perfect nonchalantness and drawl. He doesn't give a fuck and thats what makes him "cool". It's not only his style of singing that makes the track though; the way Justice tweeks, splices and cuts his vocals around the break beats behind them is nothing short of legendary.

Below I've provided three remixes of what is arguably the most remixed track off the record. The Surkin remix I find most impressive as it stays true to the original while adding a beautiful string part and chops the vocals masterfully into little snippets of pleasure.

Justice - DVNO (Surkin Remix)
Justice - DVNO (LA Riots Remix)
Justice - DVNO (Transformer di Roboter High Quality Mate Remix)

Justice - DVNO [OFFICIAL VIDEO]


Cheers,
MF Blaz

p.s
if you're wondering what DVNO means...

"In every suburb of the world, in every city, there's always a nightclub called El Divino... Clubs where you have to wear like a white shirt to get in,"

Remix Sunday: Fabric Rejects Justice Mix - Bloggers Accept With Open Ears

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few months, a brief recap:
1) In late 2007 Justice was asked to contribute a mix compilation for the Fabriclive series to be released in 2008
2) Justice created said mix compilation for Fabric
2) Fabric rejected the mix (the exact reason why is unclear)
3) Justice released their mix via Ed Banger to friends as the Justice Xmas Mix in December
4) The mix then (inevitably) leaked to the 'net
5) Justice is now to create a second submission for release as Fabriclive 40 in June 2008

You can grab the whole thing in all its rejected glory here for free; tracklist below.

01 Sparks – Tryouts For The Human Race
02 Rondo Veneziano – La Serenissima
03 Goblin – Tenebre
04 Daft Punk – Ouverture
05 Surkin – Next Of Kin
06 Symbolone – Love Juice
07 Korgis – Everybodys Gotta Learn Sometimes
08 Midnight Juggernauts – Ending Of An Era
09 The Paradise Ft Romauld – In Love With You
10 Justice – TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY (Acapella)
11 Chic – Everybody Dance
12 Frankie Valli – Who Loves You
13 Das Pop – Underground
14 Julien Clerc – Quand Je Joue
15 Daniel Balavoine – Vivre Ou Survivre
16 Richard Sanderson – Reality
17 Zoot Woman – Grey Day
18 Fucking Champs – Thor Is Like Immortal
19 The Rave – Mother
20 Fancy – You Never Know
21 Frank Stallone – Far From Over
22 Sheila – Misery
23 Todd Rundgren – International Feel

It's interesting to note that Goblin's "Tenebre" (the basis for "Phantom") was included early in the mix. Thanks to a movie industry hookup, we've got a free copy of Dario Argento's film of the same name to give away following a related post back in January. Email us with the word tenebre in the subject line and your mailing address to win a DVD of the film.

Daft Punk - Ouverture

- a.m.p.m.

Tenebre

Any fan of Justice's "Phantom" has to listen to the track "Tenebre" by Italian prog-rock band Goblin. More than just an inspiration, "Phantom" is basically a remixed version of this cut from the sountrack of Dario Argento's violent 1982 film of the same name.

And by the way, 'tenebre' is Italian for darkness.

Goblin - Tenebre
Justice - Phantom

- a.m.p.m.

MSTRKRFT: Doing big things in 2008

The other night I had the chance to help a friend out by covering a MSTRKRFT show and interview. Now, I feel I shouldn't say too much about it as it hasn't been aired yet, but we did get the chance to talk about the ever changing electronic music scene, the art of remixing, and what the guys have in store for the new year. The guys explained that they were going to try to stay away from the remixing for a while to focus on other things. We then asked them if they ever wanted to dabble with any hip-hop remixes, as their tracks to date are almost exclusively indie rock or dance groups. They revealed that they had in fact been recently approached by a hip-hop artist, not really indicating though if this would be a remix or collaborative effort. When we tried to get the name of the artist out of them they kept quiet, but did say that to do something like this, it would have to be someone fairly significant in the game and a means to move them forward as artists. I like to think it's going to be with Kanye with the whole A-trak connection. As for the set itself, I had heard mixed things about their performance, but I was pretty into the show. In between filming I was able to dance to a great remix of 'Genesis' by Justice along with some other unheard goodies. Too bad the girl beside me kept calling me a Unicorn..and other various mythological beasts.



- Matty B.

MSTRKRFT - Paris

Mixed Tapes: Best of 07

You can download the individual tracks or download the zip file provided below.

The Snob Machine Presents: The Best of '07
Hello! - Junior Senior
Hip Hop A Lula - Junior Senior
The Year Before the Year 2000 - Les Savy Fav
Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
Labyrinthian Pomp - Of Montreal
Ddiamondd - Battles
$20 - M.I.A
Driving Me Wild - Common feat. Lily Allen
D.A.N.C.E (Mstrkrft Remix) - Justice
Kiss Kiss - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
McFearless - Kings of Leon
Mistaken For Strangers - The National
Don't Make Me A Target - Spoon
Wet and Rusting - Menomena
All I Need - Radiohead
Northern Whale - The Good, the Bad, and the Queen
We've Got Everything - Modest Mouse
Hunting for Witches - Bloc Party
Box - Tokyo Police Club
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Vampire Weekend
My Body is a Cage - The Arcade Fire

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE COMPILATION HERE.

Cheers,
MF Blaz

Ice Cream is Going to Save the Day...

Let's look back to what I refer to as the golden years of my music listening career. I was young, I was bold and I certainly would never dance at a disco. If you were to hand me tracks from Girl Talk or The Knife I would scoff at you and give you an At the Drive-In record or the DFA '79 (RIP) demo. Fast-forward a few years and I can dance with the best of them. In fact, dancing to the likes of Justice or MSTRKRFT has become a well-enjoyed weekend pastime for me. I have no one else to thank but my dance-loving friends from university and a little place in Ottawa called Zaphod Beeblebrox. Don't get me wrong, bands like ATDI and DFA still top my favourite artist lists, but dance artists have become a mainstay on my ipizzle.

The electroclash/dance artist from Melbourne, Aussieland known as Muscles is the latest addition to my ever-expanding music collection. His late 2007 release Guns Babes Lemonade is an eclectic mix of pop songs and dance floor anthems, all with brilliantly laid out tongue-in-cheek sing-alongs that blur the line between laptop pop and arena chanting. On the album's stand-out track (and my personal favourite, the song that got me hooked) Ice Cream, Muscles juxtaposes club violence "he could have a knife / stab me in the gut / bleeding on the floor / shoulda kept my mouth shut" with dancing with our shirts off " i just wanna dance with my shirt off".

Bloody brilliant. Electro-pop may be on its way out but it's albums like this that will make me fondly remember the days when I was just another sweaty body in a sea of happy, sweaty people.

Muscles - Ice Cream

Muscles - Sweaty

- MF Blaz

MIA > JUSTICE (PART 1: JUSTICE)

This past week was a busy one for Toronto-area hipsters. Arguably the two most facebooked-about shows, Justice and M.I.A., stumbled to town with only two days rest in between; barely enough time for the kids to wash the sweat from their american apparel headbands in time for round two.

Thursday night, the infamous leather clad franco-duo justiiiiice (pronounced justiiiiice) took their mac books in front of a sold-out (twice) crowd of 3000+ish. The show was originally booked in at Republik, but sold out so fast that not moving it to a larger venue would have been a definite injustice. So instead, they took the show to Circa, the new $7 million night club/amusement park (live themed models in glass aquariums! bars in bathrooms! 3 story escalator!) that just opened its doors a week-ish ago. It, too, sold out ridiculously fast. And at $20/ticket, it comes as no surprise.

This is about the time that I go against every unwritten blogger rule, and likely against the opinions of the other writers on BTA, and and be the first person in the entire world to write that Justice wasn't really that good at all.

From the reviews that I had read previous to the show, including our own from the Vancouver gig, I was expecting an experience so surreal that even the most pleasurable brain hemmorage couldn't compete. What I got instead was a room full of over-enthused flourescent fashion victims dancing their hammerpants off to two dudes playing pre-programmed tunes from their iBooks. AKA the exact same thing I could catch at any DJ gig at any point, in any club. Even their remixes sounded like they could've been pulled straight from hype machine.

It got me thinking about starting a Justice "cover band", where I stand up and play their insanely popular debut record from my own computer, and people still lose their shit.

With that said - I'm glad I went. The buzz in the crowd was electric, but I just didn't see/hear anything to suggest that it was one for the record books, as most of the literature/hype surrounding this tour has led everyone to believe. No matter how stoked everyone got for the gig, there's only so much you can do as a couple of DJs and a halogen cross.

Despite my shit-talking, here are a couple tracks that you've all heard 1000000 times already. Oh, and thanks to the random dude whose (fucking rad!) photo i stole off facebook for his unbeknownst generosity.

Justice - Genesis
Justice - Phantom II (Soulwax Nite Remix)




- bbbykmbrly.

And Justice was served en francais.

Justice absolutely beat up a capacity-crowd at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom this past Saturday night. Lucky for us we had tickets because the line of people trying to get in will-call was down the street. The last show I saw was Daft Punk in the summer and this was a totally different type of show. Don't get me wrong, people were going crazy for both sets and I understand the comparisons being thrown around about the two. Justice is just a little more rough, with those massive Marshall stacks replacing Daft Punk's orchestrated triangles. While Daft had Montreal bopping and dancing to their pop-py melodies, Justice blew smoke in Vancity's face and kicked us into the ground with their grittier, pounding beats. It was incredible. And they actually did smoke on-stage for the whole set - so French of them. So much for those non-smoking rules across Canada.

The French duo brought along Australia's Midnight Juggernauts for a spacey dance rock opening set. Good stuff, definitely BTA-recommended, and the singer even sounds a little like Bowie (check out 'Into The Galaxy' below and tell me I'm wrong). I was right up front for the whole set and didn't stand a chance at releasing the amateur photographer in me, but I tried. Here's a clip of how Justice kicked off their set and got us hooked on religious iconography.

Midnight Juggernauts - Into The Galaxy

Justice - Stress

-AW

MSTRKRFT - The Complete Remixes

Earlier this year one of my favourite blogs, The Blue Walrus, posted an excellent MSTRKRFT remix comp including several tracks I hadn't yet heard. Being a big fan of the East York (Toronto, that is) knob-twiddlers I was quite pleased.

A few months later nonacienmanchester went one better and made available a double disc remix set including 19 (!) remixes. You can grab it here. Other than a rework of 'Bring It On' by Goose and the recent remix of Justice's 'D.A.N.C.E.' I do believe this is every MSTRKFRT remix out there (I've included these below). Prove me wrong kids, prove me wrong.

Remixes I

Two More Years [Bloc Party]/No Wow [The Kills]/Heartbeat [Annie]/Little Girl [Death From Above 1979]/Thank Me With Your Hands [Panthers]/Element Of Danger [Services]/Easy Love (Remix) [MSTRKRFT]/Sexy Results [Death From Above 1979]/Got Love To Kill [Juliette & The Licks]

Remixes II

Woman [Wolfmother]/Listen Up! [The Gossip]/Monster Hospital [Metric]/Awake Since '78 [Acid Jacks]/Kennedy Killed The Hat [Buck 65]/Rock Steady [All Saints]/Ceolakanth Is Android [Polysics]/Jique [Brazilian Girls]/Dudun-Dun [Para One]/Someone Like You [Revl9n]

- a.m.p.m.

Goose - Bring It On (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Justin vs Justice

A few days ago the Limewire blog posted an interesting interview with Anthony Volodkin, creator of the ubiquitous Hype Machine. The Machine has really changed the way we music bloggers interact with each other and you, our wonderful readers, not to mention made it so much easier to find amazing new music.
During the interview Anthony mentions his unlikely fascination with Justice's remix of Justin Timberlake's 'Lovestoned'. I too found this track through the Hype Machine, and it's definitely worth a listen.

- a.m.p.m.

Justin Timberlake - Lovestoned (Justice remix) [YSI]

Edit, Copy, Paste

DJ Copy started to get noticed when he dropped his Diva Mixtape Vol. 1, where he remixed the R & B stylings from the likes of Destiny's Child, TLC, and Mariah Carey into tracks that sound like they were produced on that Commodore 64 in your basement. Next, he performed similar remixes with some of the most notable tracks from Bone Thugs N Harmony's East 1999 album, and I couldn't have been more excited. I was reliving the days when I would constantly play this cassette on the bus ride to school, but now with an electro dance rock spin on it. Now, with the release of his full length album Hair Guitar, DJ Copy demonstrates that his knack for making danceable 8-bit remixes carries over amazingly well to his own solo creations. The result is just over 40 mins. of some of the best hip-hop electro beats you've heard. One of the great things about Copy is that he keeps things relativley simple. The tracks don't get lost in multiple layers or overdone effects. Copy takes his beat, a few lines that work, and leaves everything else. Hair Guitar has been compared to the likes of Ratatat, M83, and Justice, for his ability to make tracks that you'll want to bob your head to over and over again.
Be sure to order your copy of Hair Guitar at Audio Dregs, and if you're quick enough, you might still get that Bone Thugs N Copy CD free with your order.

- Matty B.

DJ Copy - This is Promotional (YSI)
DJ Copy - See you around maybe (YSI)
Bone Thugs N Harmony - Can't Give it up (DJ Copy Remix) (YSI)

† time

I’ve been rocking 'Phantom pt. I' since late ‘06, and it’s still absolutely ace. This track is ‘Da Funk’ for the ‘00s. Now that Justice's album † has officially dropped in Europe all heck has broken loose; yet another solid 2007 electro release set to rub shoulders with LCD Soundsystem, The Field, Lindstrom, and many others on ‘Best of’ end-of-year mixes.

Justice - Phantom pt. I
Justice – Waters of Nazareth

If you haven’t already, listen to the above tracks immediately, but then check out ‘Valentine’. It’s a little slice of 80’s electro space-pop complete with bouncing synths, throbbing bass, and typically gritty Justice production that would fit nicely into the Clockwork Orange soundtrack.

Justice – Valentine

If you're near London, England this weekend be sure to catch Justice at Wild in the Country with Simian Mobile Disco, Tiga, Hot Chip, Underworld and others. North Americans, expect † Stateside July 11th and undoubtedly on an Internet near you right now.

- a.m.p.m.

Remix Sunday

One of my favourite tracks of late, Justice's 'D.A.N.C.E', has been remixed by one of my favourite knob-twiddlers, MSTRKRFT. Unsurprisingly, the results are quite good. The track begins with the familiar catchy schoolchildren sample in almost original form, but MSTRKRFT apply their patented remix process by speeding the BPMs up just a smidge, chopping up the vocal samples, and adding even more French electro guitar and synth noodling. It all builds up to a head that predictably (but satisfyingly) culminates with a breakdown two thirds of the way through, but even at almost 5 minutes this one seems to end a little too soon.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)

- a.m.p.m.