The fight for diverse and conscious voices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGW_jkfA6wc&ab_channel=DavidGuetta

When I mentioned his Global Top-100 DJs performance I noted that Guetta is ahead of the pack in figuring out this new artform of broadcast performance. Here he does it again. The setting is less impressive than the Louvre and you don't get the artwork visuals, but whoever is putting this piece together is clearly playing with the form. You get camera angles you wouldn't ever see in a traditional stadium show, and there are interesting video overlays.

Guetta also has it down - he's playing to the (main?) camera the way he'd play to an audience. Most of the dialog this time is in French and I can't keep up but you'll get the gist. He's talking to you, the viewer, making a kind of eye contact that, again, you wouldn't see in a live show where the performer is usually looking down from the stage at the tops of the audience's heads.

I like this form and I hope it continues when live shows come back.

And if you're just here for the music pick most any track off this set and it's good. Probably my favorite is either his mash-ups or the "Future Rave Remix" of Titanium (the last track of the set).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vud6MtI4o4&ab_channel=DavidGuetta

I've been enjoying the sets that have come out of this competition. This is Guetta's set, which is apparently a first for him - a live production of all his own music. There's a lot of good camera work so you can see his hands and what he's doing in the live mix. I really enjoy that part.

I also like how they're setting up these performances. AVB's was done in the stands of a racetrack; this is in some kind of glass-domed building in Amsterdam. Full lights and effects - makes me a little nostalgic for clubs.

Notable in this set I think are his mixes of "Titanium" and the latest (Eilish) Bond theme near the end.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Scissor_Sisters/track/Invisible_Light
Scissor Sisters (http://scissorsisters.com/) are one of those American acts you wouldn't ever know were American because nobody over here knows about them while they're making it big in Europe. "Invisible Light" is off their upcoming album and carries on in their signature style, which is sort of postmodern glam rock, and sort of gay club Eurodisco. If you like Pet Shop Boys you'll probably enjoy this. The RCRD LBL stream presents three remixes along with the original. All of the mixes are a bit understated - this thing is just begging to be mashed up with something heavy and hardcore. (And yes, their name does refer to THAT and if you're currently reading Girls With Slingshots this is way funnier than it would be otherwise.)

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Nas_and_Damian_Jr_Gong_Marley/track/As_We_Enter_Tinie_Tempah_Remix_
This is apparently Tinie Tempah week in my music stream because here we have a remix of Damian Marley and Nasty Nasir Jones (apparently known mostly as "Nas and Damien" - http://www.distantrelatives.com/). It's a pretty straight-up reggae/rap mix and if you like that sort of thing (I do) then this is a fun head-boppy tune that I think does a good job of taking typical hip-hop tropes and mixing them up with a rasta feel.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Black_Devil_Disco_Club/track/Sorrow_Dub
Black Devil Disco Club immediately wins the award for coolest band name this month. This is a one-man Paris-based disco DJ, who is not afraid to note that he's 64 years old. That puts him in Rolling Stones territory. Unfortunately his MySpace page (http://myspace.com/bddcreal) is something of a mess so it's hard to get a general feel for his sound. The one track here is almost trance-y electronica but with an underlying club rhythm.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/School_of_Seven_Bells/track/Babelonia
School of Seven Bells (http://www.sviib.com/) is another of those sounds that's hard to characterize. It's clearly built around the high, clear vocals of the sisters, but it also has some edge and unusual instrumentation to it. It reminds me a little bit of Cocteau Twins and an even littler bit of Massive Attack. There aren't that many acts fronted by two female singers that aren't folk and these guys really aren't folk - if anything I'd call it trance-rock.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/David_Guetta/track/Gettin_Over_You_feat_Fergie__LMFAO_Sidney_Sampson_Remix
David Guetta is really hit-or-miss for me. He produces some real trainwrecks and then again he produces some awesome stuff. His original style can be very funky electro-house that I like a lot, but he's done so much it's hard to classify him. This set has two people remixing his "Gettin' Over You", both of which I like, and an Arman van Helden remix of "Memories" that is just OK. Guetta (http://davidguetta.com/en - warning starts playing on entry) is a French DJ who's been working for almost three decades. Lately he's gotten a lot more attention in the US due to collaborations with pop start like Britney Spears and Akon.

http://www.theyoungpunx.com/site/category/podcast/
I found The Young Punx through APC and when I first blogged it I thought Simon Iddol was part of the project. It turns out that Young Punx are three loud-mouthed, wise-ass, very funny UK kids. And they have a podcast, which seems to consist of them playing their own stuff, tracks they like, live mixing, and amusing commentary over and around the music. Their "Young Punx FM" podcast page has more than 30 entries and I've only listened to the first one fully. It's two hours of funny and funky and good music. Also, some of the bits are really quotable.

I write a lot about dance music, mostly because I find that to be an interesting set of genres. One of the surest metrics for 'goodness' in music I listen to is "does it move me?" If I'm moved then there's a much higher chance I'll like it. What measures 'goodness' in music for you?

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/We_Have_Band/track/Honeytrap_Co-Pilots_Flying_High_Edit
We Have Band have a gorgeous tribal rhythm thing going, and a sharp-edged electro-dance thing going and I'll be damned if I can classify them. They've appeared at several festivals and have single tracks on a bunch of compilations and their "debut album" was just released this month. The stream on RCRD LBL gives you a wide-ranging sample of what they can do. I'm guessing most people will find something to like here.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=277&Itemid=36
http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=278&Itemid=27
The DJs at Mashup Industries do so much work in English that it's easy to forget they're European. Then they pull out mixes like this that I can't even begin to parse the lyrics for, but man does it have beat!

The first one is Clivester putting Skero's Kabinenparty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I-I6yMx23g) up against David Guetta & Kid Cudi's "Memories" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px3_wP2LQj0). Watching that first vid will give you a good idea of what a "kabinenparty" is, even if you don't speak any German. Both of these are pretty standard house-dance tracks and the mash doesn't do much that's original, but it's still moving me.

The second is Marc Jonce promoting a local (to him) German band called Rosenstolz. You can find the original for "Blaue Flecken" on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhtD5we5sCg) which really lets you sink into the luscious vocals and rock piano arrangements. Jonce has stripped that down, pitch- and beat-shifted it, and tightened everything up to give a much more techno-dance result. From what I can find on the Web, Rosenstolz has been performing for almost two decades and it's really a shame their music hasn't made it over here before now. AnNa R. (as she is apparently known) is really worth a serious listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnefUaKCbc
I think I'm indebted to 'song for this one. Janelle Monae (http://www.jmonae.com/) blends together some of the best elements of at least four musical styles - R&B, funk (dig that horn section!), rap (with help from Big Boi), and hip-hop. If you said there were gospel influences in here you probably wouldn't be far wrong. Of course all of these styles are woven together at least to some degree. Anyway, one of the fun things is watching the video, which is a straight-up dance vid that itself plays around with several styles. And yeah, makes me want to dance.