(NOTE: So, Kyle and I are on tour with LexiconDon and Keenhouse right now. We'd like to keep the good blog-ship running, so for the next couple weeks we'll still be posting songs, but with pictures from our adventures around the west coast. We will be back with the solid writeups and pictures you're accustomed to, but for now, settle for some stellar tunes and brief musings from the road.)
Tour Journal 3. (Seattle, WA) Written by LexiconDon
(NOTE: So, Kyle and I are on tour with LexiconDon and Keenhouse right now. We'd like to keep the good blog-ship running, so for the next couple weeks we'll still be posting songs, but with pictures from our adventures around the west coast. We will be back with the solid writeups and pictures you're accustomed to, but for now, settle for some stellar tunes and brief musings from the road.)
Tour Journal 2. (Olympia, WA) Written by LexiconDon
It's dark Fabian is covered In gum Matteo is too drunk to care Ken and Yumi are out in the back. This trip has turned into a whirlwind of trying to get comfortable but u feel like that goal is not possibly achievable.
I can't bring myself to write anything this morning. Cold uncomfortable and eyes are being pounded by the cold nails of a winter breeze. Fuck it. 15 minutes til breakfast we all wait in the car for this yelped out diner to open there doors.
Whiskey and French Toast in Portland
The beastly night and morning showed the true difference of weekend warriors and road warriors the night of bloodshot eyes and neck pains all seems worth it with the kissed white evergreens that line i5 in to Olympia the warmth of a Families home is all it takes to bring the color back into all our faces.
First show DONE and what a great experience watching Keenhouse in a low lit room with smoke flooding the whole essence and body of the room makes me think why ppl don't dance on sidewalks and sing on buses. Love is the air as Mariah Carey and Kyle seranade the car with positivity.
(NOTE: So, Kyle and I are on tour with LexiconDon and Keenhouse right now. We'd like to keep the good blog-ship running, so for the next couple weeks we'll still be posting songs, but with pictures from our adventures around the west coast. We will be back with the solid writeups and pictures you all love, but for now, settle for some stellar tunes and brief updates from the road.)
Tour Journal 1. (Interstate 5) Written by LexiconDon
Dear journal, The binary van is locked and loaded spirits are high and the road winds with the Sounds thick basslines pulsating everyone's smiles. The time is now our breathe won't be held any longer. 4 hours in the van and we can already hear the cheers of unknown spectators. For now we still pass the same lights and transient street hustlers. LA has never looked so beautiful in this grey blanket of warmth. Hopefully we'll be on our way by the 6th hour. On the road...Kerouac's beatniks aint got shit Binary's dreamwave.
The golden planes full of Jack and the box meat prove beautiful. As Binary's La Lights drips out the treble heavy speakers the only other noise is an occasional side conversation that quickly fades into the early sunset. Noses are buried in books catching the last of what daylights glory has to offer. Night is approaching and that means shots of Jameson. Someones got to get remind these vaginas were 20 something on a tour for Christ sake.
Stars unseen from the la skyline are out and brighter than ever covering the baron from land of central ca. The car is still quiet but there is a riot brewing and what I fear may come to life...sleep.
The tides have changed and so has the feelings inside the car. Prohibition has ending and the smell of alcohol and euphoric feelings of Sweet Carrie is giving everyone goose bumps. Tonight is a good day to die.
The fire water has polluted at least three of our systems homeostasis is around 12 percent. Moods are scaled by what movie u r watching or whose songs u know. I'm just trying to find a planet and make it mine.
It's 11:33 and all is quiet on the western front. 2 victims to sleep one captain two prisoners and delusion twins. This expedition proves to be very fruitful. The morning will bring mystery. Mystery that we will solve at night break.
Binary is a great number of things, all of which in one way or another are aimed at bringing great music to people who share a passion for music like we do. The blog, obviously is one of the main avenues to bring new music to a lot of people. We release some records and have a stable of artists that play around LA, again, just trying to bring some great music to people. What we've been waiting for, for the last year, is the time when we could take the Binary philosophy on the road. LA is, despite what many will say, a GREAT place for music. What we've got going on here is special. I'm not sugar coating it. We have a scene brewing here. Its focused on great, melodic, well written dance tunes. And people love it. More and more people come out with us. The Binary family is growing, and through it all lies the constant presence of the music we all love. Its what ties us all together. So for the last year we've just been dying for the day when we'd get to spread our music in person. Today is the day Binary goes on the road for the first time.
We're proud to announce the Pacific Lights Tour (facebook event).
LexiconDon and Keenhouse are heading out tomorrow morning for 2 weeks of shows up and down the west coast. We're going everywhere we could have hoped, and we hope to spread some serious love to some old and new friends. Are you in one of these cities? You should really come out. I say it pretty often around here, but I'll reiterate my pledge. Come find me and I'll buy you a drink with a smile. Good times to be had.
So yes. Head to the Facebook Event for any updates. Its the best place to check out where we'll be and when you can come see LexiconDon and Keenhouse do their thing!
TONIGHT: The kickoff to our tour! The Binary crew is taking over the Standard Hollywood (Purple Lounge) for a night of DJ sets from NightWaves, Short Circuit, Keenhouse, and LexiconDon. It's going to be one large celebration of dreamwave, in one of the most dreamwave environments in all of LA. Don't miss it.
To celebrate... Binary's sunniest remix. A song that radiates summer heat and dreamwave vibes. This is what we're bringing up to Seattle and back. Lets rock.
Two stellar remixes of the NightWaves tune Fascination today. One from blog superstar MMMatthias (seems like he's everywhere!), and another from the cruelly under-appreciated Yuri's Nominee. These two pair up quite nicely alongside one another given that their takes on the track really take the song to entirely new places.
MMMatthias really takes a risk with this remix. I mean, its a whooole new ballgame here. But thats really what is so great about it. Listen to this song twice through. I bet that before you know it you've listened 8 times through. There is something hypnotic about its roving vocal loops and bongo chants.
As we always say, the mark of a great song is its ability to transport you somewhere else. Have you ever heard of belly-dancer-electro? Within 30 seconds of this remix kicking off, I'm transported to a futuristic desert landscape. A land of thieves, hardships, and sin. Nights filled with dark alley drinking holes and beautiful women with their faces covered, dancing to music JUST LIKE THIS.
The song makes me want to smoke opium and ride on magic carpets. The song practically makes me feel like I'm floating IN a cloud of opium smoke. Powerful stuff. Great remix.
Yuri's Nominee, part of the amazing Kitsch Cat crowd in Bangkok is one of the more overlooked members of that group. Head to his myspace and check out the stellar tunes he's got on his page! The track 'All You Know' was seriously the JAM at the Binary offices for a couple months last year.
Anyway, his remix of Fascination reminds me of what NightWaves might sound like if Justin Timberlake executive produced them. I am certainly not saying that thats a bad thing.
Here's another track that received its 15 minutes of blog fame about a month ago. Of course everyone has moved along by now, only to leave this track somewhere in the graveyard of their bloated iTunes. Well, screw that. This track is too good to deserve that fate. With so much crap floating through the blogosphere, its a shame that really good tracks get the same amount of exposure as a lot of mediocre stuff that pushes it the quality aside.
Anyway, here's to giving this track a bit more of a listen. Featuring quality synthwork and emotional vocals, Ali Love delivers a great track for 4am contemplative drives. Its no barnburner, and its no huge layered synth dreamwave jam either. Its full of air and space, for those times when your mind is cluttered and you just need to think.
This song is one part Balearic disco, and one part dreamwave. When the synth stabs come in, the songs character really starts to come out. Through the verses, the tension builds up, mostly thanks to a fantastic italo-sounding plucking synth arpeggio.
It reminds me of times when life's decisions are at the front of your mind. The kind of late, sleepless nights, when life's biggest questions are begging to be answered.
"Wave goodbye to all my innocence"
When mistakes are made, and you just cant help but replay it over and over in your head.
Watch out for Ali Love. They have a good team behind them and I'm sure we'll be hearing more good stuff from them in the future.
Annnnd we're back, with a great tune from Russians Xuman. I am slowly becoming alarmed at the great quality of music coming from Russia. Between Xuman and Tesla Boy, I'm starting to wonder if there are a bunch of Swedish people moving to Moscow.
This is serious pop music right here. There's something about over-the-top, almost cheesy pop that only people in Sweden, Norway, and Russia can pull off. For some reason they dive in so hard, with all of their heart, that you can't help but take them seriously. Tesla Boy's EP was so polished it was almost blinding in bubble gum pink. Could they have pulled that off if they were from LA??? HELL NO. But that EP is GREAT.
This song right here is right up the same alley. From the uber cheesy bass solo opening the track, straight through the rocket fueled chorus, Panic is nothing but concentrated endorphin releasing funk-pop.
We've all been there. Days when everything goes wrong. You just want to pull your hair out. That's this song right there. Its for those moments when you just want to run and hide.
"This is panic"
"Now don't you panic/Just try to keep it/inside your brain."
We're back with a couple more really great remixes of "Fascination" for you guys. Really it's hard to rank all the remixes that Binary got for this song, especially since it's a song that is close to the heart for Josh and I, but I will say that I really really love these two and they're near the top of my list. All the remixes bring their own unique angle to the song, and these two are no exception.
You guys know that we're in LA, and that we rep the city and all the dreams it has to offer pretty hard. A lot of you are from the City of Angels as well, but a lot of you are from elsewhere, and I'm sure your cities have equally cool things to offer, and I look forward to the day I visit each and every one of those new places. But for all of you that haven't experienced the joy of living here, there is one thing that you won't know until you've experienced it. Vegas!!
Sure, people go to Vegas from all over the world...but there is something special about a midnight ride through the desert that separates LA and Vegas. I can't help but think of that when I listen to this remix. More and more I'm hearing this in Keenhouse's productions...a sound that I have now dubbed Casino Funk...since we're dubbing sounds and all, ya know. I think I'm calling it that thanks to his very signature sound. It's swanky, it's exciting, it's optimistic, it's bright. Just like those Vegas nights that always come as a surprise. Some of the best memories I've had out here on the west coast are those special Friday afternoons in college where the stars align and Vegas comes to light. My friends and I would get home from class or wherever around 6 PM, and two words would spark off a weekend of adventure..."Vegas...tonight!"
Throw some clothes in a bag, grab a button-up shirt, a nice pair of shoes, and don't forget the bottle of booze. Hit the road at 8 to avoid the crawl of traffic on the 10 of the suburbanites heading back east to their endless stretch of towns propelling outwards from the city. The first excitement comes when you hit the 15. It's a straight shot to Vegas and everything that awaits you in the next 48 hours. Suddenly you're away from the towns, and just like verse in Keenhouse's remix, there is a mysticism that descends upon you from the openness of the desert. Like the beat of the song, you keep driving, pushing it as hard as you can. The freeway moves down to two lanes and it's time to bust out all your driving skills...stay in a pack when you can, move to the next one when you can. Look for cops, watch the bends in the road. Watch the endless string of cars as they head over the mountain pass at 4000 ft. 40 miles straight ahead of you. You eventually hit Baker, CA...stop at the Mad Greek and get a gyro for some energy to last you through the night. There is an hour left in the four hour journey.
And as you cross the Nevada border, you see the lights of the first casinos in Primm Valley. Keep going. And then suddenly, you turn the corner around a mountain bend, and there it is. Vegas stretches in front of you with it's endless expanse of glimmering lights. The chorus of the song kicks in. We made it! Pull into a parking garage, get out and stretch your legs, and pass the bottle of Captain Morgan around, getting a nice slick of liquor in your belly. We head into the fog of the casino, hazy from cigarette smoke and processed air, and the shimmer of the slot machines, and the noise of people winning and losing fortunes. We hit the craps table and join that crowd. Everyone is here...other reveling kids from LA, foreign businessmen, the degenerate gamblers, girls that are obviously strippers and the tourists that are obviously trying to score with them. Everyone is here and enjoying it. Enjoying being in this special place at this very special time. Make sure to tip your cocktail waitress with a couple chips when she brings you your jack and coke. Get your shoes on and hit a club. Find some strangers to dance with. Make some friends and keep the night going. Loud bass. Music and drinks. Keep the party alive.
And then, you step outside and you realize the sun has been awake for a long time. But not as long as you. You want to crash but you can't, you need to push on. Find a decent champagne buffet and regroup with your friends, new and old. Laugh in a semi-drunken haze, trying to figure out what happened last night. And then, find a cheap hotel room at the Flamingo or Excalibur...a place of solace and closed curtain dark rooms where you can sleep the day away. Get ready to do it again in 10 hours.
And Sunday morning comes the same way as the end of Keenhouse's remix. You get back on the freeway and Vegas and everything that goes along with it slowly fades into the distance
Our favorite Swede ODahl delivers this awesome take on Fascination. I could seriously write just as much as I did for the Keenhouse remix, but I'll spare you. I will say that I think he captured the essence of the original best. Remember the club you were at last night on our Keenhouse journey to Vegas? Remember the stranger you met and danced with all night. Well this is the song you remember most out of all the songs you and her danced the night away to. It captured the magic, the chance encounter that you two would find each other for one night in a place like that. The chorus comes in and the bittersweet feelings of being together in that one moment were electrified. There were fireworks that you'll never forget.
Thanks to O'Dahl for really understanding what this song is supposed to be. His production prowess shines through and the way he affects the vocals and works them into the mix and the rest of the song really strikes a chord. Like your mystery girl in the club, it's a song that won't be forgotten.
GLOVES was responsible for one of our all time favorite dreamwave remixes ever, for Van She's 'Changes', which ended up on our Dreamwave Hour 2. While laying back for a bit, they've recently returned, releasing a new single and few new remixes.
Today we've got our favorite of the new remixes, this one for The Scare's song, Could Be Bad. Featuring vocals reminiscent of The Presets, quick sample stabs, and pumping discofunk bass, its a track that primed and ready to get your night started right.
Of course this remix by GLOVES, taken in a larger context, proves that the Aussies just keep killing it.
Some nights are just predestined to be perfect. I can't help but imagine blasting this track, windows down, a car full of people... Just one of those ideal nights.
Continuing with the last remixes from our record, LA Lights here this week. Today we've got 3 remixes from Fabian's barnburner, Heatwave.
You can get LA Lights here, which features some really great songs and a lot of stuff that you haven't heard around the blogs.
Fabian will also be playing his first live set in a few months this Friday at The Echoplex with Thunderheist. Check out the event here. It's gunna be sick and you don't wanna miss Fabian playing Heatwave live for the first time ever!
I remember sometime in 2008 hearing Mulsanne while sitting in our office. Ever since Russ Chimes has been right at the top of our list of 'wouldn't it be amazing if we could get a remix from...' list. We thought Chimes would be perfect for Heatwave because of his great work in the past with vocoders and adding his own vocal touch into remixes. Of best note are his remixes for College and The Outrunners. We just knew he could kill this track with some 'Heatwave' vocals.
What we received was both surprising and awesome. Russ stepped it back a notch and found himself a whole new kind of groove. No longer am I dying to race 200mph while listening to a song of his. Instead now I'm tossed into the sweaty groove of a carribean dance floor killer.
Guitars swirl around the mix, pushing the song forward. As Russ comes in proclaiming, "You know Im gunna give it to you, Heatwave," you know he is. No big Chimesian buildup, and none needed. This is the kind of track you put on first thing in the morning. It'll wake you up without hurting your brain, but gets your blood flowing in just the right way.
Russ Chimes brings the funkwave and that truly is the best description for this track that you'd ever need.
Next is Binary's own artist, Short Circuit, giving Heatwave a dancefloor makeover. Here's the edit that we've all needed. It makes the track perfect for playing out, without losing any of the character of the original. Short Circuit has developed a bit of a remix sound that revolves around his adept (but not fidgity) use of chopping up samples and turning them into a new groove.
He takes this approach here to great success. Fabian's original is big and epic and sweeping, but without much pop or punch in it. SC takes it right there to the other side of the dancefloor. You can't help but nod your head to this track, and it BOUNCES.
It makes me want to get on a sweaty dancefloor somewhere downtown in LA. Perhaps at the Airliner, as we did in the early times of Binary. It brings me back to then, when we'd watch SC dj to a crowd of, well, lets just say it was a pretty diverse group of people.
****PS. Watch out for TNUC's video for Heatwave that's on its way in the near future!
Binary is a record label based in Los Angeles. We are a family of LA based music producers and artists. Binary artists strive to bring great songwriting back to the dance floor. We believe in the sun, vintage synths, killer hooks, killer cocktails, and killer girls with killer looks. We want everyone to know what LA is, from South Central to Malibu. From the grit of the city to the sun kissed waves of the Pacific. This is LA, and we are Binary.
http://wearebinary.com
Alex, at home in Seattle.
Chowder. Mountains. Birds.
Josh and Matteo Das Booting
LexiconDon in Seattle
Fabian the mad genius
Keenhouse in Seattle
Keenhouse in Seattle
