He'll get you!

By now, everybody should have definitely heard of producer and DJ champion, and avid video game enthusiast Cassian. By all accounts, this Sydney boy is an absolute boss at the moment. He's been remixing seemingly non-stop since the middle of last year and also was lucky enough to release his first ep on Christmas day with the internationally acclaimed mega hit 'Friday Night' in amongst two other instant classics.

Now I first heard the name Cassian while purchasing the 'Destination Remixes' album off of beatport last year. While the Damn Arms original track was amazing, the Der Die Das and Bang Gang remixes both intriguing in their own styles, it was without a doubt the Cassian tune that was the pick of the bunch. However, after previously never having heard of the producer of this boss of a remix, I had a bit of a hunt around Myspace only to realise that he was a producer from Melbourne.

This was a belief I held for around 4 days, until I realised that Cassian was merely a fresh start from his previous DJ-ing moniker of CSK-OK. And he had lived in Melbourne for a few years, but definitely hailed from Syders. From memory, this was the same kid who remixed the likes of zZz and also did an acoustic cover of Bag Raiders song Fun punch.

By the way Fun Punch has to be in the song of the decade conversations.



Anyway.... so CSK-OK a.k.a Cassian first cut his teeth on scene in Candy's Apartment and the Roxbury in Parramatta. As far as his musical style goes, his sound can be described as electro-funk, and he's often able to lead his tunes with his insane guitar skills.

A quick snap shot of his current catalogue of remixes and you will notice he's more or less had his hands on all of the biggest songs of the last 6 months, however by no means is he's prepared to sit back on his epic tour schedule just yet. Within the next month he's also due to release a remix of Swick's headlining song 'Grow Up' (which is currently around 2 months behind it's release date??) and also Flight Facilities future classic, 'Crave You'. Wowowowowowowow.

Enough words. Here's some tunes.

High Life (Cassian's Bootleg) - Daft Punk
An absolute dance floor bomb. Word on the street is he made this in around 6 hours. Boss? Probably the best Daft Punk remix for a good while.

Tokyo Getaway (Cassian Remix) - Polygon Palace
Lovely little remix of an indie tune from new comers Polygon Palace. Purple Sneakers music almost :-/

Destination (Cassian Remix) - Damn Arms
Yummmy little jumpy number. Check out the guitar solo at the end. Face Melter.

Final Round - Cassian
Original tune. Samples street fighter. Gorgeous little groove that appeared in my mixtape just below.

Fuck Song - Cassian
Slow jam. Not bad at all.

Make you mine (Cassian Remix) - Miami Horror
Solid Remix of one of the top tunes from the beginning of last year. Much like some of his other works, he seems to add a lot of character and emotion to the originals which is a pretty rare trait for electronic music. What?

Shooting Stars (Cassian Remix) - Shooting Stars
Get on with it!

I've decided not to post Friday Night just yet because you should really go and buy it from itunes. Tip your waitress!

Peace.

All you need is G.L.O.V.E.S

The problem when it comes to electronic dance music is that much like diseased women available for hire, often outside of Kings Cross it can seem out of place. Not everyone is capable of listening to and putting up with dance music on their ipods and in their cars all the time, as often the shear repetition can lead to madness. What normally can seem perfectly acceptable on a Friday and Saturday night can make you feel seedy and attack your cat on Monday through Wednesday.

To help with this dilemma I've decided to introduce to Yama Indra; a producer and DJ out of Melbourne who goes by the name of G.L.O.V.E.S.

G.L.O.V.E.S has been around for a minute, formally making sweet music in a group known as Damn Arms who were best remembered for their massive hit of 2009, Destination. I recently listened to a radio interview with Gloves in which he talked about his musical beginnings in bands. Yama played guitar until he realised there were too many people already better than him at it, upon which he chose to focus on using drum machines and synths, a career change for which we are all greatly appreciative of. These days he produces originals and remixes under the Bang Gang 12 inches record label, his most recent offering being his P.Y.X EP which came out about 2 months ago. His signature style is dreamy synths coupled with belting bass lines which are impossible to dislike. I'll post a bunch of his tunes below as a little whitman's sampler of what G.L.O.V.E.S is all about.

Sometimes (G.L.O.V.E.S remix) - Miami Horror

This is a remix of Miami Horror's latest track due out on their new album which should drop early next year. Dreamy lyrics and gorgeous synth overtones. Try listening to this while wearing sunglasses and not feel cool.

Could be bad (G.L.O.V.E.S remix) - The Scare

This tune apart from being my ringtone at the moment is a complete knock-down renovation on the original tune by New Zealand post-hardcore-punk band The Scare. The slight autotune manipulation on the vocal line helps change this into a 7 minute long disco journey down the highway groove. yum.

Collision (G.L.O.V.E.S remix) - The Death Set

This ones a bit of an oldie, one of the first remixes actually released by gloves but after hearing it again recently in the Bang Gang Radicool compilation it caught my attention again. The natural baile funk feel of the Death Set is coupled with some cheeky electronic squeaks and samples, the overall effect being one jumpy ass toon.

Changes (G.L.O.V.E.S remix) - Van She

This is the first tune that got gloves on my radar. If it weren't for its 138bpm you would've heard this is plenty more clubs this year. Absolute masterpiece.

P.Y.X vs Word Up (Max Smart Bootie) - G.L.O.V.E.S/Cameo

Finally this is a cheeky little bootleg I made featuring the gloves original P.Y.X and an 80s tune most people would recognise called Word Up by Cameo. I think it's pretty neat but on the other hand I made it on Ableton in 6 minutes without using EQs so it could definitely be a lot neater.

As you can see, G.L.O.V.E.S has remixed some of the biggest names in Australian music, and yet he's really only just begun going solid in 2009. The future looks bright! All these tunes are perfect for summer BBQs and making it too.

You can listen to more tunes and find out more about G.L.O.V.E.S on his myspace www.myspace.com/allyouneedisgloves and also all of his tunes are available for purchase on itunes and such.

Peace.