Palms Out is live and direct from Copenhagen this week for this year’s DISTORTION festival. June 2-6.

The line up is outrageous and the festival is a truly unique experience. It takes place all over the city for the next 4 days – on the streets, in clubs, bars, restaurants, venues, parks – each day dedicated to a different neighborhood of the city. If you are in the area, you owe it to yourself to come check it out.

A couple of highlights I will most certainly will be seen at are Thursday’s Red Bull Music Academy Radio on the Floor @ Korsgadehallen, with performances from Palms Out favorites, Kode 9, J-Wow (of Buraka Som Sistema) as well as Madlib(!!!), and J.Rocc (of the Beat Junkies) – and the YO FOK party on Friday in Vesterbro, featuring more Palms Out favs, Douster, Uproot Andy, Schlachtofbronx, Beardyman, El Remolon, & Copyflex.

But that’s just a small slice of the ENORMOUS lineup which also includes Palms Out artists, Baba Black & Fagget Fairys (Thursday’s party on Blågårdsplads) as well as names like Ramadanman, Booka Shade, Mock & Toof, Simian Mobile Disco, Gus Gus, Giana Factory, Djuma Soundsystem, Michael Mayer, Kasper Bjørke, Sunny Beach Happy Slap Mardi Gras,  and literally 100 more.

I myself, CANNOT WAIT!

I am pleased to announce the next release on Palms Out Sounds. This time up, it’s the Danish duo, Baba Black, the meaner and harder side of the expert team known as Lulu Rouge- whom I’ve written about numerous times.

After receiving 8/10 in NME for the debut Lulu Rouge album, and having already released official remixes for the likes of Trentemøller, Moby, Fagget Fairys, Camille Jones, Blank & Jones, Kasper Bjørke, among others — & having been included on compilations like Global Underground, BBC Blue Sessions, Costes, & Buddha Bar — it is now finally time to release the beast that is Baba Black.

Harder, grittier, and dirtier than it’s red counterpart, Baba Black is a monster that is difficult to tame. The debut EP, Sheep, features two stompers – “Dirty Sheep” on the A side, a growly piece of tech-house that boasts a mean bassline and fires sharp disco hi-hats and squeaky stabs incessantly. “Clean Sheep” on the flip, is a slightly lighter experience, but not a sleeper by any means. Also featuring a big persistent bassline and loads of Scandinavian atmosphere, this time it’s countered by icy reverb’ed stabs and huge tension building rises.

Here’s the Baba Black boys and Trentemøller playing “Dirty Sheep” at this year’s Stella Polaris Festival in Copenhagen…

For your listening pleasure, please enjoy the A-side…

Baba Black – “Dirty Sheep”

Baba Black – Sheep EP is out now on juno, beatport, itunes

Enjoy Baba Black’s Deep & Dirty mixtape – featuring loads of Baba edits.

Hailing from Helsinki, Renaissance Man are among a handful of pioneers of a growing percussive tech house movement that has been keeping many a Brooklyn waistline busy this year.  As proud members of their budding fan base, we asked the boys (Ville and Martti) if they would be up for a short interview.  With music this good and a name so reassuring, we were eager to hear more about the duo.

Interview and mixtape after the jump

How did you start DJng?
Ville: I’ve been making music in some way for pretty much my whole life, started to DJ at some friend’s parties maybe seven years ago.
Martti: Yeah I think it was just a natural extension/excuse for being heavily into electronic dance music.

Did you meet through music or something else?
V: We actually met while working in a same architect’s office in Helsinki. We eventually ended up designing a new club where we started our own monthly night together which lead to where we are now.

So are you really polymaths? What are your other passions?
V: I think were both very actively interested and involved in a lot of stuff like arts, architecture, science etc. Martti is an architect and I’ve studied design.
M: ‘Contemporary culture’ at large.

Both born and raised in Finland? Are you still there now?
V: Yes, born and raised in Finland, now living in Helsinki and Berlin.
M: I was born in Finland but spent most of my childhood in Holland. Lately I’ve been around a lot: New York, Berlin, back to Helsinki and next up to Paris. It’s getting a bit exhausting to be honest.

Your sound takes us all around the globe and then straight back to Finland. What’s your dream destination?
V: Guess I can’t name one dream destination. Club-wise I think something like Panorama Bar, but otherwise I think I’d rather go to Bali or Galapagos… at least while it’s winter in Europe.
M: Any place I haven’t been to.  Lately I’ve been obsessed about Ïle Amsterdam.  I guess dj’ing won’t take me there, unfortunately.

The Hare Krishna mantra is sampled for your track, “What is Guru”. Are you influenced by Hinduism and its philosophies?
M: Hah, no. It was mainly a reference to the abundance of the mantra in the history of popular music.

Do you plan on sampling any other ‘world’ music sounds?
V: We sample a lot of sounds but it’s never been only about ‘world’ music.
M: More or less every track we make includes sounds from quite surprising sources. A big thank you to the excellent Finnish music library system and amateur web content.

Do specific sounds ever inspire a song for you?  Sometimes we imagine the Aloha Dub to be inspired by a raving giant blue whale, um haha.. as an example?
V: Some tracks can be built around a certain sound, but not all of them. We like strong themes as long as they serve the tracks, not the other way around.

What are you looking forward to most this year?
M: New places, new faces, excellent parties and the usual. We have a tour coming up that has a special place in our hearts. Can’t tell more about that yet unfortunately.

Ranaissance Man – “Mix for Dazed Digital”

Renaissance Man – Mix for Dazed Digital
Unknown – Unknown (Unknown Remix)
Blind Minded – To The Bus
Moodymann – Freaky Motherfucker (Catz’N'Dogz Remix)
Audion – On My Way To The Center
Renaissance Man / Christian Martin – Christian Man (Robosonic Blend)
Renaissance Man – Car Thief Bootcut
DJ Hell feat. P Diddy – The DJ (Paul Woolford Remix)
Nicone & Sascha Braemer – Nur Mal Kurz (Philip Bader Remix) RM Edit

It appears that, for those of us in Europe at least, Summer could finally be here. If England is seeing some sunshine then it’s a good bet that the rest of the world is basking in the golden sunshine that seems to elude us Brits for 11 months of the year. If not slightly more. Whether you’re planning to shmooze it up on the terraces of Ibizan superclubs, trudge around mud-filled stages at a list of festivals the size of your arm or simply charcoal your sausages on the coals of a hastily arranged BBQ – one thing is essential to the success of your summer….the soundtrack. This year we’ve decided to take all the hard work out of at least that aspect; with the launch of PALMS OUT SOUNDS: OF SUMMER! Twice a week all through the season we will be offering up summer themed mixtapes from some of the world biggest, and fastest rising producers and DJs; meaning an end to bickering about who gets to put the next track on the iPod! These mixes are designed to bring out the best of the summer and provide you with perfect party music; we don’t just want 20 bangers put in an order, we want something a little bit different with some tracks that might just make your day / night / early morning! So expect to hear some sublime selections and even some exclsuive track giveaways from the likes of Utah Saints, Shadow Dancer, Louis La Roche, Shinichi Osawa and many many more….kicking off in SEVEN DAYS TIME (2nd July) with the mighty FOAMO (plus as a bonus the world exclusive of his huge dubstep remix of La Roux…) and then three days later with the synthtastic SIDECHAINS!!

Our boy Example is continuing his assualt on the Summertime – the latest single ‘Hooligans’ has already blown up – having been played by a clutch of national radio DJ’s and even featured on a recent Zane Lowe show. The remix package looks rather tasty and should ensure that at least one mix of ‘Hooligans’ is in the record bag of every self respecting DJ in the next month or so…and we plan on giving you a head-start! We’ve teamed up with the man of the moment to offer the lovely Palms Out readership the ENTIRE remix package, which includes A1 Bassline (spot the cameo!) // Doorly // Noisia // Spor & Don Diablo! We’re planning on serving this up at the end of the week (perfect timing for those of you who live for the weekend) so check back for updates! But in the meantime make sure you check out the official video for the track which will be all over your TV’s in the next month or so!

So began the year-long process of recording the Fagget Fairys debut album, Feed The Horse. I have had the pleasure and pride of getting to work on some of the songs with the Fairys, Bille Bähncke, and the other co-producers, Bjorn Winnem aka Teddie Confetti, & the super duo Lulu Rouge. The album varies from the adeptly crafted electro pop of “Feed The Horse” & “Watch My Back” to the deep dubby electro of “All I Want” & “This Thing I Do” and all the way out to the balkan funeral styles in “Negori”. Look out for the album out March 30th on Music For Dreams. Until then, enjoy the lead single, also titled “Feed The Horse”, this time with words in English- along with the deeper, dubbier, more dancefloor friendly dub done by the Fairys, myself, & Winnem.

Fagget Fairys – “Feed The Horse”
Fagget Fairys – “Feed The Horse” (Clubdub)

To celebrate the release, we will also be reissuing 300 more copies of the Fagget Fairys Samo Ti 12″ – which is currently available digitally with all the remixes.

G.L.O.V.E.S.) and his charmingly great girlfriend chatted with me on my
roof while we endured some serious Thai sun. What a treat it was to
talk about all things electro with one of Australia’s musical gems
while our legs dangled in the refreshingly cool pool water. And guess
what!? Now Pants has flown around the world to join me and experience
the madness that is this city. Being in the same time zone again
couldn’t feel better. I mean seriously, we already fed an elephant
twice! Pure happiness all around, kind of like Damn Arms’ new single
Destination Parts I & II.

“Destination marks the band’s shedding of their former twisted-new-rave-crunch exterior for a more refined, filtered ozzie-yacht-house sound. A two-part summer odyssey, Destination Pt1 is a blissed out digital-love serenade, a nautical dance ballad, the ultimate wacked out cruise ship club music…”

Damn Arms – “Destination Part 1“

A few years ago I was shooting a music video and I hit a wall. It came as a 104° fever. It seemed too much partying, too much working, and too much too much had caught up with me. I couldn’t do it anymore and I moved to the suburbs of Chicago to have a nice life with a schoolteacher who knew more about music than anyone I’ve ever met.

And for a couple of years the two of us spent every night in our living room with records, CDs, cassettes and laptops scattered about as we listened to the songs that made us who we were. One night the schoolteacher selected Bummed by the Happy Mondays and for the first time, I heard the album version of “Wrote for Luck”.

In 1989 Happy Monday’s front man, Shawn Ryder commissioned Paul Oakenfold, who had just started Perfecto, to do a remix of “Wrote for Luck”. He renamed the track “W.F.L. ‘Think About The Future’” and Factory made it the B-side to a previously released mix from Vince Clarke on the “W.F.L” record.

Happy Mondays – “W.F.L.” (Vince Clarke Mix) [A]
Happy Mondays – “W.F.L. ‘Think About The Future’” (Paul Oakenfold Mix) [B]

The lyrics to W.F.L. foretell the reasons the schoolteacher and my relationship ended, however the pairing of Happy Mondays and Oakenfold eventually led to Oakie engineering “Pills ‘n’ Thrills And Bellyaches” but it’s the first day of 2009 and that album won’t be 20 years old until 2010 – Happy New Year!

I’m part of a fraternal Order of thin, glasses-wearing, bald DJs.
A couple weeks ago one of the Brothers of the Order, Moby, threw a party in a New York nightclub with some buddies. I was there to show support though I spent much of the night posing for photographs, signing autographs, getting phone numbers from hot babes, and being told how great I am. I didn’t anticipate that much attention when my name wasn’t even on the flyer… But while I really enjoy meeting all my fans, and there were a few awkward moments when people were disrespectful and called us by each other’s names, and I wanted to say that it was a little offensive…

Decks, Box & MBP
1. Gurtz – “Spok”
2. Claude VonStroke – “Scarlet Macaw Unstrung”
3. Marco Carola – “Get Set”
4. Daniel Dreier – “Ice Bear”
5. Marc Houle – “Sands”
6. Todd Bodine – “Closer”
7. Joseph Capriati – “Oasi”
8. Preocoop – “Ohrwerk” (Ritch & Collins Remix)
9. Philipp Wolgast – “Rudimental”
10. Boris Brejcha – “Push To Play”
11. Funkagenda and Paul Thomas – “Thrapp”
12. D-Unity – “Shake It” (D-Unity’s Shaker Mix)
13. Colin Hobbs – “Coming Up” (Christian Hoff Remix)
14. Beckster – “Hallo”
15. Zoo Brazil – “Technik”
16. TC – “Where’s My Money” (Caspa Remix)
17. Dial M – “Remedy”
18. Ramadanman – “Offal”
19. Loefah – “Disko Rekah”
20. Roommate – “Natty Music” (Noah D Remix)
21. Graphic ft Beans – “I Am Metal” (Starkey Remix)
22. BAR 9 – “Pussyhole”

Joee Irwin – “Decks, Box & MBP” [82min / 79mb]

Bunker Record’s “The Hague Rocks The Planet #1″ was released 1998.

I was thinking about one of my dearest friends in Portland. Bryan Zentz, who’s on CYMK Musik. I started thinking about Bryan because I just posted Joseph Capriati, who’s associated with CYMK Musik. One of Bryan and my regular topics of discussion was “electro” being used as a name for today’s “electro”. We’d draw lines between today’s tracks, and tracks from the past, and we’d try to find those missing links that were influenced by one, only to influence the other thus becoming an element in “electro” sticking around as a name long after “Jam On It” became a classic. – This is one such missing link. It’s Legowelt and it’s an important part of the music a lot of you play. – Personally, I’ve found it to be a much greater thrill to drop an obscure old track in your set and watch it go over realy well, than playing a mega hype track that every DJ you’re playing with is gonna drop too! – Lots of love Ya’ll!
Stay gold,
Joee

(A1) Legowelt – “Electro Race“

I wrote a treatement for an NC-17 rated film, loosely based on the 2008 Presidential Election and it’s called ERECTION 2008.

So like McCain and his running mate, Palin, throw key parties where they swap mates. And McCain is hooking up with Palin’s daughter. And one night Obama gets drunk and passes out and the Palin Girl and she has her way with him. And then the Palin Girl is all preggers and she doesn’t know which candidate is the father.

The American Public is so upset that they don’t know who the baby daddy is, so on election day (nicknamed named Erection Day by the sarcastic media *cough*DailyShow*cough*Heyi’mJoee*cough*HireMe*cough* ) everyone goes into the booth and writes “Maury” on their ballot. And electoral college works properly as they go all Maury too

So president of the United States of America rests on the results of a paternity test on The Maury Povich and whoever is “not the father” is the next POTUS. So the results come in and Maury’s all, “McCain, you are Not the father.” and he starts jumping and everyone starts flipping out and the Palin girl is crying and stuff and then Maury raises his hand and everyone gets quiet and Maury opens up the other envelope and is all, “Obama, you are Not the father!” And everyone gasps…And neither of them are the father and the Palin Girl like freaks out and is on the floor screaming and stuff and then Maury does that consoling thing and says that he believes they have found the father of her child.

And then Bill Clinton comes from backstage with a big smile on his face and he’s holding his saxophone and then Hilary attacks Bill because she doesn’t watch enough talk shows to know that Maury is different than Jerry Springer. And then McCain and Obama are the presidents together and the theme to the Odd Couple plays as they dock for the first of what will be many, many times.

____ _
The Martin Brothers – “Dum” (Casanova & Jay-You Animales Mix)

Ya’ll I JUST moved to New York yesterday! I’m having a blast! Last night I was outside Ruff Club with Cobra Krames talking about this thing that happened and all of a sudden Krames screams, “That guy’s an actor! It’s the guy from MTV News!”
Other dudes go, “That’s not him!”
Krames was all, “That’s Kurt Loder”
Other dudes go, “Ask him!”
Krames was all, “Nah man…Joee should do it!”
I’m like “You want me to go ask that dude if he’s a somebody?”
Krames’ all, “That’s Kurt fucking Loder he’s the mostbody and if you don’t do this you can’t hang out with us!”
“L-O-L! You’re daring me?”
“Fuck yeah I’m daring you!”

“Hi, I’m Joee Irwin, I just moved to New York today like 5 hours ago.”
Kurt’s all, “Oh wow, that’s really neat that you found a cool spot so fast. What do you think so far?”
I’m like, “I’ve been doing so much already…Ruff Club is pretty over-the-top! There’s lazers here!! You’re here all the time, huh?”
“Haha! I’m here not every week but I’m here pretty often.”
“Man, Kurt Loder that’s just awesome!”
Kurt’s face gets all sour, “Um I’m John Norris, man…”
“Oh…”
“…Yeah.”
“Well again, I’m Cobra Krames. It’s really nice to meet you.”

image/ cobrasnake

Lismore and myself flew out to Portland to meet our enthusiastic tour mate Joeeirwin and kick of the tour at the More Better party at Roturee. Portland delivered big time and it was such a blast! Then we were off to Seattle where we hit up Colby B’s Confession party at the coolest venue, Chapel! Its an old mortuary (I think) converted into a club, mad creepy but really nice and the mixed crowd was great. After the party we headed over with OK Dave to play a crazy after party for DJ Recess’s birthday with the whole Shameless crew in some loft down by the water. Pics here and here. The next day we headed out to Olympia where I got sick and had to sit out the night, so it was pretty uneventful, for me at least.

After that it was an endless drive down to LA (aka the city of parties) for Dim Mak Cinespace Tuesdays where there was much rubbing of the elbows and party rocking. I had the pleasure of meeting DJ Klever who totally killed that night. The next night it was time to up the ante at Club Avenue in Riverside, a total monster of a good time thrown by the friendliest crew around. Lismore recorded a new song for a commercial earlier that day, and still got crazy. On Thursday it was The Heist, Hyphy Crunk’s infamous mega party at Florentine Garden’s in Hollywood. This shit was crazy, they pack so many people in this giant space that they have to turn people down at the door. Another incredibly friendly crew and quite an experience! Big ups to the power couple (MagSafe!) Dan Oh and Gina Turner for rocking out all week in LA with us! Some LA pics here, here, and here.

We were sad to leave LA but it was time for Restless at Beauty Bar in Las Vegas (baby). We met up with Partyshank at the hotel and proceeded to have an absolute debaucherous night.

One speeding ticket and a full day of driving later, we were in San Francisco for Jefrodisiac and Richie Panic’s Frisco Disco party. It was so much fun packed inside of the Transfer with crazy bass hungry drunks! Sunday we kicked it around town and then headed over to French Kiss with DJ’s Forever 21 and Mykill. Our last gig was a great send off with a great sound system, free shots, and good people with butts wiggling.