Contest: Stag & Dagger, May 15 - London

Thanks to the kind folks at VICE Magazine UK, Bridging the Atlantic has 2 passes to Stag & Dagger to give away to a couple of lucky Londoners. The brand spanking new one day festival takes place in lovely Shoreditch next Thursday, May 15th, from 6pm to midnight and features over 100 acts including SebastiAn, Cadence Weapon, Times New Viking, 1990s, Black Lips, Jay Reatard, A-Trak, Slow Club, The Mae Shi, Diplo, Busy P, Operator Please, Atlas Sound, the debut performance of the new Hot Chip side project Booji Boy High, plus the Ed Banger Records crew. More info is available through the Stag & Dagger myspace page. The winner's passes will include free entry to all shows in each of the festival's 15 venues.

To enter, email us with the subject line "it's about damn time you jerks gave away festival tickets" before 3pm on May 12th.

SebastiAn - Dog
Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom
Black Lips - O Katrina!
The Mae Shi - Run To Your Grave
Hot Chip vs Diplo - Shake A Fist
Booji Boy High - Doubleshaw

- a.m.p.m.

BTA Mixtapetacular

Continuing with the theme of nostalgic mixtaping, BTA are happy to deliver another one, this time in the theme of the world's most infamous and not to mention hilariously-mustached plumber. For me, Mario 2 is still far too overlooked in the mushroom kingdom's legacy. Dinosaur bosses spitting eggs, uprooting various bitter-tasting root vegetables, digging through sandy labyrinths in four simple directions, this game had it all. What better way to relive 1988's greatest achievement than to shimmy down memory lane to some hip-hop and electronic shit that surely draws inspiration from our beloved 8-bit days.

Tracklist:
Cadence Weapon - "Oliver Square"
DJ BC - "Hot and Dumb" (included because of the line "Nickelback should've won a Grammy," 'nuff said)
Kavinsky - "Testarossa Overdrive (Sebastian Remix)"
Space Cowboy - "Running Away (MSTRKRFT Remix)"
Bag Raiders - "Punch Reprise"
The Whip - "Divebomb"

BTA: Uprooting Vegetables, The Mixtape [YSI]

- brad

Springin' Forward

I guess Ottawa deserved one last fight with winter after the short one we had, but finally its April 18th and actually feels like it. Blue sky, light breeze...you can't beat the sigh of relief that is spring. And with spring comes a whole bunch of songs that will no doubt go on to soundtrack the upcoming summer. Here are a couple that I know will be in high rotation for the months to come.


A friend of mine told me that Dan Deacon is set to be the new Wesley Willis (RIP), but I see way more potential here than in songs about rock and roll McDonalds and ratnest mullets - no offense Wesley, you were too brilliant. The Crystal Cat is by far the most accessible track I've heard by Deacon: It caught me with its pounding kick drum and electronic chords but only takes off from there. The build up of vocals (both clean and vocoder-ed) and a simple key change make the song really soar and super catchy. Wham City is a stunner clocking in at over 12 minutes, but it changes enough and grows to make those minutes fly by. If you can get past the super high pitched vocoder squeals and chaotic electronics, I think Dan Deacon's got a lot to offer. His album, Spiderman of the Rings is due out May 8th on Carpark Records and Dan is set to rock Ottawa on July 10 at Zaphods, obvi.

Dan Deacon - The Crystal Cat(zShare)
Dan Deacon - Wham City (zShare)

I dont think many new Bloc Party songs are going to make my summer mixes, but I just found this gem by Ed Banger, SebastiAn, remixing the mediocre MTV ditty, I Still Remember. It starts with synth chords reminiscent of The Who but SebastiAn quickly adds in his signature forceful 'banging' rhythm, sweeping sounds and darker tone. Maybe its not the bright summery song we want in the summer, but its a party track for sure. I can only hope that he uses this track during his set when he opens for Daft Punk (with Kavinsky and The Rapture) this summer.

Bloc Party - I Still Remember (SebastiAn remix) (zShare)

In other Ottawa news, Kanye West is playing Bluesfest this summer.

-Enjoy, Andrew W.

Les Ed Bangers

Ed Banger Records is home to some of Bridging the Atlantic's favourite artists at the moment. The French label is run by Busy P, Daft Punk's manager, and hosts a stable of talented electro acts including Justice, SebastiAn, DJ Mehdi, Mr Flash, Zongamin and Uffie. The entire crew will soon be on the move; the Ed Banger North American Tour takes place March 23rd to 31st and includes stops in Toronto and Montreal.

Justice - Phantom
Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends
SebastiAn - Ross Ross Ross
DJ Mehdi - I Am Somebody (ft. Chromeo)
Mr Flash - Disco Dynamite
Zongamin - Bongo Song
Uffie - Pop the Glock

UPDATE!!! If there is one song you NEED to get your hands on, it is this hot new number from Justice, D.A.N.C.E. from their forthcoming disc. This track has been floating around the blog galaxy (blogosphere, anyone?) for a couple weeks now but it was just a shitty BBC Rip. Who can deny the combo of grimy disco and a British children's choir? Well here it is, one of 2007's first great party tracks (that wasn't leaked last fall). -Andrew W.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

- the Andrews