MaximalMinimal

If you have ever wondered what the word Dim Mak in Dim Mak Records means, you’re lucky MaximalMinimal is here, because we have brought you the answer! Dim Mak is a Chinese expression (点脉) meaning “The Poison Hand Touch Of Death”, an ancient Kunk-Fu Technique which allows you yo kill your opponent in one single touch. No wonder Steve Aoki named his record label after it. Everyone knows that Dim Mak’s DJ’s are the opposite of the “good guys” in the electro scene. The Bloody Beetroots, or S.P.A. are more like the “Dark Side” of electro music. So beware of the release of Warp by the italian killer duo, because this destructive song could neutralize you instantly.

Dim Mak’s Myspace

As an electronic music lover, you are inevitably influenced by street culture : graphic design, clothes, music, painting…

WAD MAGAZINE’s latest issue (WAD#39) should be a real bible for you then. It actually lists alphabetically almost every single actor of this world, including brands, graphic artists, mainstays, producers…from A Bathing Ape too Zoo York, including the Ray-Ban Wayfarer, Pedro Winter, all kind of sneakers, nu-rave and skateboard, everything here is explained, described and interpreted on more than 400 pages… for only a few euros.

This should become every hipster’s bedside book : WAD is a parisian magazine, but is completely bilingual and can be ordered on the internet

We have here a mix that comes from one of our pair bloggers BlueMaze. Finding and discovering his blog came to us as a nice surprise, it’s quite original and the latest article (a 1h long mix full of quality techno-minimal music) impressed us.

And for bonuses, BlueMaze is working on the creation of a video clip for the mix, which was enough to keep us excited !

Tracklisting :

Harada – Conscious Movement – microfon
Fahrenheit – Biosphere – basilic records
Guestroom 6 – Danser Med Ulvene – Ray Okpara’s Sight – Bloop Recordings
Samuel L And Martin H – The leap pt. 1 – KLAP KLAP
SLAM – CITY DESTROYER PART 2 – Paragraph
Ilario Naples & Paco Experience – Play The Music (Pierce’s Spastic Moog remix) – Maschine
Mochi – Ping – DBH Music
Mark Broom – Never Again (Mihalis Safras Remix) – Playmobil
Tommy Four Seven And James Kronier – Strix – SHOOTING ELVIS
Carola Pisaturo – Passione Extra – PIGNA
Jeik Aka Danny Rodriguez – Miniman – TOYS FOR BOYS
Rasmus HEDLUND – Tasureitten Jalkeen – Resopal Schallware Germany
Lützenkirchen – Broken Bullet – kat no craft
Alessio Mereu – Techno Children – Drehmoment
Daso – Tinnitus – Connaisseur recordings
Audiossey – Mikrochromknoedel – Boxer Recordings

Style : minimal techno – Length: 76′24” – Size : 105 Mo - Byterate : 192 kbps

This self-taught american Jazz lover grew up in the ealry 8O’s, period in which emerged the famous electronic music.

He receives his first vinyl turntable & mixing table no later than at his eleventh christmas. The kid has real talent and a pretty good rythm sense, and he saves up enough money to create his own home studio.

At the end of his musical composing studies, he inspires himself from his own jazz and Djing culture to create what he calls Jazz-Electronic Fusion. A Jazz that can be beat-mixed exactly like electronic music.

His so particular style finds a real public: his album “One Starry Night” was sold more than 50 000 times in 1995. Intrested majors at the time offered to work with him at that time with Eric Clapton, Everything But The Girl or even Kodo Drummers.

Today in 2008 and at 36 years of age, Kevin Yost offers tracks that are much more electronic that jazzy: “Alter Ego” , “Too Cool For Me” or “To the Top“, to only quote our personal favourites.

All while respecting his jazz culture with Chill out titles like “5 Alive” or “Jazz is Fat”, which are both very soothing…Kevin Yost really masters the art of polyvalency: We’ll let you (re)discover this artist full of talent through his myspace page. You can also listen to the previously quoted tracks on Beatport.

If you do not know on what radio waves you should tune on to to listen to good electronic music, this message is for you. Forget all the FM, AM, radio whatever etc… Nowadays, even if it sounds strange, radio doesn’t offer the best radio…

What you want to check out are the “Web-Radios“, and to help you here is our top five :
*1.XTC Radio: is of course a british web-radio, and is to us the best Electro, Techno & Progressive music offerer. From Sander Kleinberg to John Digweed, via Satoshi Tomiie, the website in question allows you access to all of their mixes, of which you can discuss on a very active forum. And by the way iPhone’s & iTouch’s can listen to XTC after having downloaded the application Liveradio.

*2.Radio Paris One – Reverse: Parisian radio (duh…) that is divided in 5 different styles (Club, Reverse, Deeper, Trance & Dance). We especially like the Reverse section, that’s a sort of Underground Techno. On the website (which is, by the way, very nicely done) offers the possibility of consulting the program grid (on which appear Maia K & LGS!!). MaximalMinimal are of course quite proud of such a good french radio =).

*3.101.ru NRJ Techno: It is now Russia’s turn to have a place in the ranks.; This radio clearly lays the emphasis on the best techno artists (Booka Shade, Trentemoller, Laurent Garnier & M.A.N.D.Y). The website, all purple, will allow you to go to many other sections(there is more than fifty, going from R’n'B to Russian folk). We note one major con : the tracks are usually not mixed together but just passed one after the other.

The two last radios of the top five are a more general kind, so we will only stress one program of theirs:
*4.Radio 538: We like the program *Dance Department*, distributed by a very popular podcast. It is much more dancefloor than the previous selection, but you’ll find in it a very good selection of exclusive tracks. The show, presented by Dennis Ruyer (famous dj in the Netherlands), is very well prepared and presented, and the tracks are usually easy to find on beatport. The last half hour is usually a relatively unninterrupted DJ set, which make it worth the while.

*5.Radio 1:* As Dennis Ruyer would say (since we were talking about him): “last but not least“. We could not of course create a top five that did not include the famous radio one program of Pete Tong. Even though there shouldn’t be any need to present it anymore, i’ll do so for the eventual electroni music castaways: *Essential Mix* is a one hour long mix by Pete Tong himself (of which you can find the track names on the website) followed by another much more ” interrupted hour with dj guests and everything… It’s not revolutionary, but we simply could not ignore it in this ranking.

This list is of course very short, and so we invite you all to comment and complete it in your commentaries.

We’ve been listening to this track for two weeks now, but because of
bad organisation it’s only popping out now on the website, but better
late than never right?…er..ok sorry…

The collaboration between the very gorgeous Swedish Ida Enberg
(revealed with her track Disco Volante), on the picture above, and her
collaborator David West (Hello Piano) came out the 24th of september
on Physical Records, and it’s awesome!
It’s quite a very strange house sound along with very light tribal
sounds, you love or you hate it, but you can’t ignore it:

Ida Engberg & David West – The Giant from Nibiru (Original Mix)

The track is available on beatport,or on the (very good btw)
compilation GetPhysical Full Body Workout Vol.4

I’m ashamed to present to you Dada Life only now , a swedish duo that I discovered only recently and whose hit Fun, Fun, Fun completely hit me!
Let’s be honest, i don’t usually look into that kind of style…but I have to say this is my end of year ‘coup de coeur’ !
The melody of the song reminds of Surkin’s White Knight Two : nicely produced and very dancelike, and it’s probably going to completely lift up dancefloors! I order you therefore to go and visit their Myspace to listen to it!
The good knews continues: after eight EP’s, the two dudes a preparing an album that is to come out at the end of this year!!

You can always listen to their monthly mixes on their official site, during the wait.

Do not trust the ridiculeous pseudo, Dada life is uncontestably part of the good swedish best.
Official Myspace

Official site

Available on Beatport

For those who haven’t spent their summer listening to DatA’s new workpiece “Rapture” & it’s different remixes, this should change their mind.

Rapture’s clip has been available for a few days now on the week and it’s fairly awesome : an “onirically-astralogical” flashy style that really fit’s with DatA’s universe.

Basically a real truly nice vid’ which will allow the french artist to get a little closer to the vast public.

Some are maybe getting a little bored of this kind of style( a trade found in Symbol One, Minitel Rose & Miami horror’s works, but the vid is really very nice frabric, so we salute Neopen & Elroy, the ex-Play members who are at the origin’s of it.

Data video Rapture
par naiverecords

Rapture’s next album will be released in the end of the year.