Entries associated with the tag "Flosstradamus":

After spinning more than 170 shows in 2007, Flosstradamus is taking some well-deserved time off. While the duo's laying low, J2K is cleaning out his room and running an eBay side hustle. Most of his offerings are things you'd expect from a hipster-beloved DJ, like spare Oakleys, a lot of ten Mishka T-shirts, and one of those confusing Japanese watches from the future. The real surprise is his recently retired iBook, which went through all those shows with him. To quote the item description, there are "about 25 gigs of music on it, lots of Flosstradamus exclusives, along with serato, ableton, and flossy fx, our patented effects program." That means it could end up a pretty good deal, unless some maniacal J2K fan goes bonkers because he autographed it and bids it through the roof. At this very moment the top bid is $213.83.

Oh, and here comes a press release telling me everything I just typed. Also, and I quote, "Flosstradamus are currently at work on their debut album to be released in Summer 2008. Including fellow Chicago-based artists such as Kid Sister, The Cool Kids, and Philadelphia-based MC Amanda Blank, Flosstradamus will be handling production duties, showcasing their signature party-rocking expertise in the studio as well as the club." So there you go.

The new issue of Spin showed up at my house today, and after giving it a cursory flip through I'd say it looks like the magazine has a serious boner—that's a journalism term—for the City of Chi right now. The Spin Mix lists Miss Alex White & the Red Orchestra's sugar-thrash treat "Squeaky Clean" and the bumping remix of Matt & Kim's "Yea Yeah" that Flosstradamus (described here as "DJ gremlins") did a little while back. A few pages later there's a picture of Kid Sister alongside a description that makes her come off as some sort of club gangsta rather than a fun-time lady who raps about getting her nails done. Then Office shows up with a full-page profile that's oddly focused on their drinking abilities. It's a full-on Chicago party up in there.

Just as I was thinking how weird it is that I've probably seen half of this month's Spin together in the same room, I got an e-mail alerting me that the Mannequin Men—local purveyors of "tight-pants swagger"—are today's band of the day at Spin.com. You can and should download the track "Boys" from their upcoming Fresh Rot here. (Full disclosure: I wrote the bio for Fresh Rot's press materials and those guys are my bros.)

I smell a "Chicago is the New Seattle Austin Portland Montreal New York" trend piece in our near future.

Flosstradamus-affiliated rapper Hollywood Holt—you might know him better as the hype man to about half the parties around town—just got posted up to Discobelle with his moped-obsessive take on Rich Boy's "Throw Some D's." Taken by itself, "Throw a Kit" might be a little too obscure for most listeners who aren't pushing a two-stroke; there are a bunch of shout-outs to Chicago moped gangs like Murder Club and Peddy Cash, while most of the lyrics are about cruising low-cc-style around the Chi, rattling off a laundry list of manufacturers only the real obsessive types would know. But the video's got enough of the hilariously unlikely combination of hip-hop and moped love for anyone to get with.

Tonight's Flosstradamus party up at Sonotheque should be pretty bonkers, even compared to the usual Floss joints. The event is sponsored by Colt 45 and Vice magazine; Colt 45 is going to be on special. And Chicagoist is reporting that the first 200 people to show up get in for free. Which means that by midnight or so, the club is going to be chock full of kids going incredibly apeshit on malt liquor. I have a feeling that the event is going to be equal parts sweaty, dangerous, and fun.

Tomorrow night's the third installment of the recent Fly by Night DJ series at the Underground Lounge in Wrigleyville. The headliner this time is East Coast duo Certified Bananas, who've been getting some heat off of indie rock/hip-hop blend sets that are supposed to have all of the fun of a Girl Talk show without all of the suckiness of a Girl Talk show. Party-starters the Cool Kids and Fly by Night main man Willy Joy open. Should be live.

Today I count myself among the walking wounded, thanks in part to a seriously late, seriously partying party last night. At this point I'm not sure if anything down here is going to beat watching the Pack play behind an Amtrak station at 4 AM using a compact Japanese car as a stage to an audience of about a hundred people drinking Natty Light.

Last night was a big night down here for Chicago. I personally caught Brenmar, a solo set by Bruce from Yakuza, Office, and the Ponys, and ran into a bunch of other Chi-towners on the street and at shows. I missed David Vandervelde and Catfish Haven, but reports on them were strongly positive. I also missed Flosstradamus's set after the Pack—I'd already stumbled back to my hotel to fall asleep in front of Angel reruns for the second night in a row —but in usual Floss style they're playing something like 387 parties while they're down here, so I'm sure I'll catch at least one.

Aside from the sheer bonkers-ness of the Pack show, the best show of the fest so far was Fucked Up's set last night. The show was at a weird, pseudo-yuppie kind of bar, but the band played like it was the basement of a punk house. Lead singer Pink Eyes bashed himself in the forehead with his microphone when he wasn't barking into it, and the rest of the band was just scalding. I'm going to try my best to catch the rest of their shows down here. I could probably watch that band every day. Actually, having Fucked Up play a private show for me in my living room to start every day would be awesome.

OK, obviously I need some sort of sandwich or something. After lunch I'm hitting up the trade show for schwag—is it too early to wear a Zune T-shirt ironically?—and then shows, shows, shows until I fall down. I can't wait to see what White Savage does to the unsuspecting people down here.

So when the Klaxons came out last year with their "neo-rave" thing and all of these people -- mostly British and way too easily excited -- started predicting the revival of rave culture that would follow, I was pretty skeptical. Their music doesn't actually sound like the music they played at raves, and they basically came out and admitted that the neo-rave bit was basically them taking the piss. Which is why the apparent actual revival of rave culture -- and rave sounds -- that's happening now is freaking me out kind of bad.

Thanks to Timbaland and Danjahandz's work on Justin Timberlake's "My Love," way trancey synth parts are the new hotness in hip-hop and R & B production. And thanks, I'm guessing, to the rave edition of Flosstradamus's Get Outta the Hood party, glowsticks are making a major comeback around town. At the New Indie Mafia night at Sonotheque last Friday there was a point -- amidst all of this incredibly nasty electro-house racket Jordan Zawideh was throwing down -- where someone busted out a green laser pointer and the crowd just lost it. The line in 24 Hour Party People where Tony Wilson describes rave culture being born in the moment where people started cheering for the DJ at the Hacienda, as opposed to the music he was playing, is wrong. People have been cheering on DJs since at least the 70s. Rave culture was born when people started giving it up for the light show.

So maybe rave's going to get a second shot in the U.S. But people, can we do it this time without the whole baggy pants thing?