Where's The Justice?

If you were alive and had ears in 2007, you probably heard Justice drop a little album called †. If you were too busy being under a rock or something, you most likely eventually got washed in the resounding shockwave that occurred afterward. I mean seriously, we are approaching the two year mark since the Justice ship has landed; it's almost impossible not to have heard at least a snippet from what many argue to be the most influential electronic artists today.

But, since their firey release, little more seems to have emerged out of the creative minds of French DJs Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay. Besides a live album and DVD that catalogue the massive success of †, fans have been wondering what those crazy Frenchmen have been up to.

Here's the answer: they've been producing, and I'm here to give you the low-down on all the important Justice happenings since 2007.

-First and foremost is Justice's remix of MGMT's Electric Feel. This is probably their most significant release since †, and so many of you probably know of its existence. Still, it's been very popular to the point of snagging a Grammy, and has since been used for many a mashup involving artists like Kanye West and Notorious B.I.G.

	MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)
	Found at skreemr.com

-Next, we have Justice's remix of "Get On Your Boots," the lead single off of U2's most recent album, No Line on the Horizon. It's a fun little number, but I personally prefer the Crookers remix.

	U2 - Get On Your Boots (Justice Remix)
	Found at skreemr.com

-Outside of remixing, Justice has also been working to produce original material for other artists. This first one I have here is a track by dance punk outfit Poney Poney entitled "Cross the Fader." Apparently, their whole upcoming album is being produced by Xavier de Rosnay and will be released sometime (hopefully) soon. In the meantime, you can learn how to play the song by watching the video.

	Poney Poney - Cross the Fader
	Found at skreemr.com

-And, lastly comes a track by the DJ crew Birdy Nam Nam called "The Parachute Ending." I'm probably most excited about this track because it sounds the most like the Justice I know and love. Plus, the music video is being animated by Will Sweeney. Check the teaser trailer for the video and the full track below.

	Birdy Nam Nam - The Parachute Ending
	Found at skreemr.com

Song of the Week: Tricky - "Christiansands"

This week's song of the week is another throwback, but this time to a man who is perhaps more well known for trying to impersonate Bruce Willis in the 1997 film The Fifth Element than any of his musical pursuits. This is unfortunate though, considering Tricky has done far more for the world of music than he ever did for film. Formerly of trip-hop contemporaries, Massive Attack, Tricky decided to go his own way with his half-speaking, half-singing style and haunting sound. It was only then that he started to gain international fame for his fusion of hip-hop and electronica.

This week's track, "Christiansands," is from his third album Pre-Millenium Tension which was featured in Q Magazine as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time. Enjoy the weight.

Essential Mixes

Summer brings travel plans, and travel plans raise some pretty important questions regarding everything including itinerary, directions, and--most importantly--tunes. Music is an necessary part of every journey, and I've found that essential mixes are some of the best things to choose for your days in transit.

What's an essential mix, you ask? Well, since 1993, BBC Radio One has been broadcasting 2-hour music sets mixed by DJs of all shapes and sizes. While they haven't quite gained a whole lot of traction here in the US, the essential mixes on Radio One have become some of the most popular broadcasts around the world. Almost any established DJ you've heard of has performed an essential mix, either to make a name for themselves or to further enhance their status in the world of DJing.

What makes them so perfect for travel is that they:
a) are two hours of extremely smoothly mixed music
b) aren't limited to any one genre of music
c) can easily introduce you to new music

The only problem with essential mixes is that there are so many of them, and that means finding the right one can be difficult, especially if you are unfamiliar with the world DJing. So, I've compiled a short list here of some of my favorite mixes as of late with short descriptions and previews of each one, so that you may start enjoying these very special works of art.

Paul Oakenfold's legendary 'Goa Mix' (12-18-94) - tracklist preview download
Description: Popularly regarded as the greatest essential mix of all time, Paul Oakenfold revolutionized the essential mix program by providing a mix influenced by Goa Trance and infused with non-traditional DJ set material, like movie soundtracks and other odd audio samples to create his masterpiece.

Steve Aoki's pre-Ibiza mixtape (08-02-08) - tracklist preview download
Description: Steve Aoki (aka Kid Millionaire) is the owner of Dim Mak Records (a personal favorite of mine), and has been busy tearing up nightclubs with his crew and their unique brand of hard-hitting electro house music. His mix isn't particularly amazing, but he's part of the new wave of electro that the kiddies are all raving about. If you are a fan of MSTRKRFT or Justice, you'll probably enjoy this mix quite a bit.

Trentemøller's essential mix of the year (10-15-06) - tracklist preview download
Description: Danish DJ Trentemøller provides a journey through an electronic landscape on this essential mix. More of a concept piece than one that is dancable, his mix includes a great deal of progressive house, minimal techno, and chillout beats. He does sprinkle in some unexpected tidbits of reggae and rock though, making this a very relaxing, but interesting mix indeed that is perfect for rainy day listening.

Deadmau5's breakthrough mix (7-19-08) - tracklist preview download
Description: Another progressive house artist comes in the form of Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse") who is most recognizable for playing his DJ sets wearing a giant, foam mouse head. Even though he's been making tunes as early as 2005, he wasn't very well-known until right before he went on Radio One. This mix firmly established him as one of the most popular contemporary DJs around.

High Contrast's drum and bass set (10-07-07) tracklist preview download
Description: I will admit, High Contrast is kind of hard to get into. He plays drum and bass, which isn't an entirely accessible genre of music, but I think he kills it on this mix. This Welsh DJ is generally credited as the one that is making drum and bass sexy again, and I'm inclined to agree. Just a warning though: if you are going to dance to this, be careful to avoid dancing to every drum beat, otherwise you may end up looking like this.

Review: Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing

Apparently, lots of people really liked Peter Bjorn and John's debut album, Writer's Block (or maybe just their smash hit, "Young Folks"), so it was no surprise that with the release of Living Thing, popular expectation seemed to fall around around the 'I hope they have more songs like that one I've heard before' camp. And it seems the Swedish trio overheard these desires while they were busy overhauling their sound; the end result being a mixture of a more evolved and realized minimal pop tracks that contain glimpses of what made Writer's Block so brilliant. This isn't to say the album is by any means perfect, or even excellent, but Living Thing seems to realize that it is a different creature than PB&J's last outing, and makes the most of it by retaining only the best traits of Writer's Block while evolving a little beyond it.

The album's first track "The Feeling" seems to serve as the perfect introduction to PB&J's new style and song structure, not only because it is chronologically first or because it features vaguely reminiscent traits from Writer's Block, but also because the chanting chorus, quite literally, states "I can feel it / Can you feel it? / There's something in the air." What is, in fact, in the air is the new, yet oddly familiar, sound that Living Thing creates. The track also points out that more of the same stripped down sound is what's to come with the words "I'm feeling that all the things we are is enough." This seems to be the overlying mentality of Living Thing, and it shows on almost every track.

Next is "It Don't Move Me," which is Living Thing's most transparent throwback to the band's old ways, as it takes the formula of "Young Folks" and applies it unabashedly to a new set of lyrics and the removal of whistling and bongos in exchange for a dark sounding piano riff and funky electronic backbeats. While this sounds like a cop out of a song, these seemingly small transformations make for a much more brooding and dark song that retains all the hooks of a joyous pop anthem. From here on out however, the terrain gets much more unfamiliar.

Thankfully, Living Thing successfully avoids being an album full of rewrites of their strong suits, as songs like "Nothing to Worry About," "Lay it Down," and "Living Thing" prove that the trio has more than one dimension. "Nothing to Worry About," with its child sung chorus and simple lyrics, has most likely already reached your ears, and if not, will probably reach them soon. The catchy chant of "Do this thing / This type of thing / Put a little money in this type of thing / I got nothing to worry about" will most likely follow a similar path of a little-known ditty I heard last summer. I believe it was called "Paper Planes."

"Lay it Down" is similarly infectious, but uses garish vulgarity to hook the listener, opening with the chorus "Hey, shut the fuck up boy / You are starting to piss me off." This tactic seems a divisive one among listeners, coming off as either cheap and immature, or the most fun dance song you've heard all year. Regardless, it's catchy. Just don't expect it to be more than that.

"Living Thing" may not get as much radio play as "Nothing to Worry About" almost surely is, but it does introduce a nice, twangy vibe that shows a willingness to play with genres that sadly is not really anywhere else on the album. The rest of the songs seem to stick to their signature, indie-pop guns. Lucky for PB&J, these guns are pretty reliable, even if they aren't all extremely notable.

The album concludes with "Last Night," a floaty, ethereal bullet from one of those signature guns that seems to find its target better than any other on the album. The simple piano and synth melody supported by nothing more than a heartbeat and staggered lyrics marks the point at which Living Thing sounds the most alive. The track is a beautiful, yet injured sounding conclusion to a similarly constructed album.

Overall, Living Thing is a solid step in the right direction for Peter Bjorn and John. Admittedly, it is a baby step, as some songs cling rather tightly to the successes of Writer's Block. And yes, the instrumentation is way stripped down, which is not necessarily the wisest move considering calling Peter Bjorn and John's lyrics "a little repetitive" is a bit of an understatement. However, this unlikely pairing makes for a slow burn of quirky hooks that somehow fall together into an album that will have you swaying back and forth chanting all along the way.