Vitalic’s sound and vision have never lacked wit, but Pascal Arbez may have topped himself with “Your Disco Song.” The clip follows some key moments in the life of a woman who is very, very committed to the mirror ball lifestyle as the track unfurls some of Arbez’s most poppy and driven music yet. You just might want to take a disco ball bubble bath too, after checking this out.

Read the rest of this entry »

A few years ahead of its time, “Jovenes” was one of the year 2000’s most unfairly neglected dance tracks. Released in November on a three-track 12″, its “wind chimes in the Arctic” title-track counterpart was given much more attention, emphasized by the accompanying press blurb and placed on Kompakt’s first Pop Ambient compilation, issued four months later. Most of the label’s best dancefloor material is herded into the CD versions of the annual Total series, but “Jovenes” did not make it onto Total 3, despite being as emotive, shimmering, and expansive — if not as direct or polished — as anything from the Field, who showed up nearly five years later with his own dream-pop/shoegaze-informed productions and instantly became Kompakt’s most indie-friendly artist when he released From Here We Go Sublime.

Read the rest of this entry »

So here we are, at the fifteenth posting of Hot Damn Jamz. You could call it a milestone. Whoever thought we’d make it this long? We laughed along with the good times. We weathered the bad times. We’ve endured so much together. Sigh. It was a different game way back when, in January. Remember when we were just discovering Fever Ray and Spider and the Flies? Boy, how they’ve grown. Whew. Fifteen posts. Fifteen. What’s the traditional gift for a fifteenth anniversary. Silver? Oh right, crystal. I guess for the occasion we could do a list of crystal bands: Antlers, Castles, Stilts…We could even put Crystal Method on there. Nah, why try to get fancy at this point? Let’s just keep pumping out Jamz.

Read the rest of this entry »

There was a time in the mid-to-late 90’s when the resurgent cocktail culture met up with the newly expanding wave of electronica and produced some truly lovely, soothing sounds. There’s something incredibly right about the mashed-up sound of warm and cheesy easy listening exotica spread over the top of cold and slick electronics. Lots of people tried it, and though many failed miserably and managed to capture the worst of both worlds, quite a few succeeded and created some truly wonderful records. Here’s a quick mix of some of our favorites:

Read the rest of this entry »

Autechre - Quaristice
 
 
 
 
 
 
Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thomas Brinkmann - When Horses Die
 
 
 
 
 
 
Carl Craig - Sessions
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
 
 
 
 
 
 
Morgan Geist - Double Night Time
 
 
 
 
 
 
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hatchback - Colors of the Sun
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robert Hood - Fabric 39
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice - A Cross the Universe
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kelley Polar - I Need You to Hold on While the Sky Is Falling
 
 
 
 
 
 
Leila - Blood, Looms and Blooms
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lindstrøm - Where You Go I Go Too
 
 
 
 
 
 
Luciano - Fabric 41
 
 
 
 
 
 
Luomo - Convivial
 
 
 
 
 
 
Osborne - Osborne
 
 
 
 
 
 
Portishead - Third
 
 
 
 
 
 
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tricky - Knowle West Boy