Off-white

I've been sitting in the sun all day so now I'm finally off-white and IT MAKES ME WANNA DOUGIE!




Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie. Get it here (YSI).

Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie (Urban Mix feat. JD, B.o.B., Bow Wow & Red Cafe - Radio Edit). Get it here (YSI).

Euphoric Loops

Recently I discovered that I'm a sucker for pitched-up friendly loops of guitar, piano and violin. This revelation happened after I heard the Fuck the Money song of B.o.B. that I posted below. Of course I was sceptic at first due to that horrible song with the Paramore girl. But perhaps Kanye West's magic wand did the trick? Anyway, it made me think of some other songs that I love that have the same high-pitch loop in combination with the smooth rhymes of a male rapper... Love love love these tracks by Subtitle (currently on tour in Europe, check his myspace for dates), Lil B, B.o.B. and Taz-Man!

Subtitle - Pub Chick (txt msg follow-up). get it here (YSI)


Lil B - Real Life (Eras rmx). get it here (YSI)


B.o.B (feat. Asher Roth) - Fuck The Money. get it here (YSI)


Taz-Man - Know Dis. get it here (YSI)

Cool. And not just by association.

DELS or Kieren Dickins as his folks named him, is really starting to make some waves here in the UK. And I must say, I love what I've heard from him so far. I guess you'd file his music under hip hop, but then outside the box of hip hop. If that makes any sense..

He has been working with some interesting people, like Micachu and Joe Goddard from Hot Chip. The latter produced his current single Trumpalump and also made a remix of it, on which another great UK rapper named Ghostpoet joins in. Who happened to appear together with DELS before on a mixtape that Michacu made with Kwes back in 2009. You can still get this Kwesacu mixtape here! ANYWAYS (sorry about all the namedropping) his debut album, set to be released in April, surely is going to be cooler than cool. And not just by association.


DELS - Shapeshift. Get it here (YSI).


DELS - Trumpalump (Joe Goddard Quiet Remix feat. Ghostpoet). Get it here (YSI).

p.s. Did you know he is not only a very gifted musician, but also a talented designer? He went to art school, he can draw (he made some pretty cute drawings for his first 7") and even knows how to use a sewing machine (proof here). His background as a graphic designer might explain the awesomeness of his video's. Like the one for Trumpalump. Watch closely, the 'color adjustments' weren't done in Aftereffects or whatever, but with paint!

I'm at Winterwolven B*tch!

Last Saturday was the first edition of Winterwolven Performance Party in Rotterdam, an event organised by Rotterdams finest: Maatschappij voor Volksgeluk, Bond voor Wilde Dansers and last but not least: We own Rotterdam.

The whole idea was to put together a night with music and performance art that was supposed to be inspirational but most of all... FUN. And fun it was!!


We were expected at the venue (Roodkapje/Rot(t)terdam/Beatburger)at 20.00 to set everything up, have some food and get dressed. This seemed a bit early (the party started at 23.30), but this point in time miraculously happened to coincide with the first dry moment of the day. So we quickly wheeled Blanche over so she and our hairdo's would not be harmed by the rain. When we got there the place was already looking rather amazing with big inflatable objects hanging from the ceiling, projections everywhere and a lot of people carrying crazy costumes. When we finally put all the cables where they should be (this can take forever because something always seems to malfunction) we decided to take our nerves downstairs, into the dressing room. The things we saw while we were there will remain a secret....

When it was finally time to start playing it seemed like people came falling from the sky or something. All of a sudden the place was packed and outside was a line of people, HUGE! As we were not able to win this war of bass that was going on inside, we decided to take Blanche outside... to party with the queue! People had to wait for 45 minutes to get in, so our tunes were much appreciated. Pretty soon all the costumed people came outside with their megaphones and started grinding in the street, and even passer-by's (?) stopped and partied with us! Now there was a party inside as well as outside and we just kept going and dancing... till the cops came. At two o'clock. Being quite hostile and all, you know how cops get.. not recognizing the coolness of a soundsystem on a rollator. Do they ever have fun? After that we just partied some more without Blanche!

Take a look at these awesome pictures taken by Boudewijn Bollmann who documented all the fun inside.





We played everything that night; from Sidney Samson to Ms. Dynamite to Mr. Vegas. But this is the top 3 tracks that (we all love hits) made EVERYBODY dance!

3: Rihanna feat. Jeezy - Hard (Jody Den Broeder radio edit).

Get it here (YSI).

2: Das Racist - Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper RMX).

Get it here (YSI).

1: LMFAO feat. Pitbull - I'm in Miami Bitch.

Get it here (YSI).

Quick fix

Sorry guys, I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment. I just handed in an illustration and now I've got to pack my stuff and go to Rotterdam to pick up the other Dutch Doll and Blanche, and take the train to Utrecht to play at a party tonight. So no personal disclosures, no background info and no uploads this time. Luckily embedding a video is done in a flash and I've been dying to blog about these two anyway!

Some my favorite female UK MCs (Envy, Mz Bratt, BabyBlue, Ruff Diamondz) are doing it for themselves on this remix of Tinchy Stryders' Game Over. For a while I was afraid grime was sliding down a steep slick slippery slope, but this track gives me hope.




While I was slaving over this impossible deadline, with the rain (and later snow - lots of it!) gushing down outside, all I had to do is look at this video and everything was alright again. A grinding cookie monster, what more do you want?!?

Kinda newsworthy

For some reason I lately enjoy listening to the Dutch radio's news channel while working. I think it's the voices of the people chattering away that make me feel like I have company (uhm this sounds pretty pathetic..). They play only one song per hour or so, and usually it's pretty middle of the road. With a startle I realized that now that I'm completely up to date with what's going on in the real world, I might be losing touch with what's happening in the world of music! So I hurried myself online and put up a search for new musical input. I hereby present you some of my findings. Not all tunes are "fresh from the press", but in my opinion they're still newsworthy.



Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar (Ft. Wu-Tang Clan)(Chrome Remix) . Get it here (YSI).
Love love love this song and love it even more now.




Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - NY is Killing Me. Get it here (YSI).
An album is on its way!



Bon Iver and St. Vincent - Roslyn. Get it here (YSI).
Definitely not a current affair (2009), but what the heck, this song is beautiful.

Still under the covers

The heating is blazing, the warm water bottle is in daily use and "I am sitting in front of my computer with a blanket like an old person" as well: it got chilly here in Wales! And wet and grey and windy. But these covers are keeping me warm these days...


Erma Franklin - Hold On I'm Comin' (Sam and Dave cover). Get it here (YSI).


Frente - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover). Get it here (YSI).


Body Language - Sandwiches (Alaska In Winter Remix) (Detroit Grand Pubahs cover). Get it here (YSI).

Throw that Curve Ball in my direction!

December last year, I got a phone call of a certain drummer of a certain band. I had no clue who they were, but I thought the bandname was pretty cool. Which is like meeting someone with nice shoes.. a good first impression. And so I agreed to meet with them to talk about art for an album cover. A few Mb (make that Gb) later here it is: The cover for Baby, It's A face by Bombay Show Pig. All shiny and nicely printed by the polish people. Oh how good it feels to hold this in my hands!
I'm not going to post a song from the EP on here, but I will give you this one: a club-worthy remix with a funky wobble. Done by FretHinge who obviously, know how to party. More distortion!

Bombay Show Pig - Curve Ball (FretHinge rmx) get it here (YSI)

1+1=3+1=?

The XX's remix of Florence and the Machine's cover of The Source and Candi Staton's You've Got The Love gets remixed by The Very Best... Christ! But I dig it.

Florence and the Machine - You've Got The Love (The Very Best Remix). Get it here (YSI).

hark!

I realized it has been TWO MONTHS since I last posted some music here! Not good. But I've got loads of good tunes I want to force upon you after my recent session of what we call "harken" (= Dutch for raking) on the Hype Machine. On this website you'll find all the MP3s that are posted on music blogs, it's a goldmine!! Now HARK!

I start off with this sweet indie tune coming from musicwise-the-hottest-place-on-earth: Brooklyn NY.

The Drums - Let's Go Surfing. Get it here (YSI).
I came across loads of tunes with this fuzzy shoegazy late 80's/early 90's sound. If you like it have a listen to Liechtenstein, Dum Dum Girls, The Mayfair Set, Pomegranates and of course Vivian Girls and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. Is this going to be the sound of 2010?? Hmmm...

Now a cross-over project that actually works! Blues rockers The Black Keys do it with some of the best rappers around, among which Raekwon, Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch and Ludacris. They even brought Ol'Dirty Bastard back from the dead!

Blakroc - Coochie Coo (feat. Mos Def and Jim Jones).
Get it here (YSI).

More great hip hop from Kidz in the Hall. This a track from their new album, which will be released in March. Via Squeegie.

Kidz In The Hall - Jukebox. Get it here (YSI).



South Rakkas Crew feat. Serocee - So It Go.
There is more where this came from! The nice fellows at Mad Decent are giving away South Rakkas Crew's new album The Stimulus Package for FREE! Get it here!

My dearest Schlachthofbronx teaming up with Playdoe's Spoek... this must be good. And it is. Love that drum band sound! May be not everybody's cup of tea, but definitely mine!!

Schlachthofbronx - Ayoba (feat. Spoek and Gnucci Banana).

Get it here (YSI).

The one and only Uffie's back, now f*ck off Ke$ha!!!!
Via Rutger, thanks!

Uffie - MCs Can Kiss (Original). Get it here (YSI).

Usually dubstep is a serious matter, dark and grim. But this spoof of Caspa's remix of TC's Where's My Money? is a good laugh. Via You Can Call Me Pelski.

Parker - Where's my monkey? Get it here (YSI).

the very best since Township Funk

With the new Dutch Dolls website online, and a break from my regular illustration work due to the summer holiday, I finally found the time to start working my picture book. I’m not giving away too much about the plot, but I can tell you it’s about music and various types of animals, especially lots of apes…

At first I thought it would be fun to do a musical blog post with an ape-theme (The Apers, Can Your Monkey Do The Dog, etc.). But as I was doing lots of studies of apes from books, I was taken to tropical places like the jungles of Southeast Asia and the savanna’s of Africa. I decided it might be more interesting to post some tracks based on their geographical origins. I'll do a post on Southeast Asian tunes later, I now present you a few songs from Africa. Enjoy the very best of what has come from this continent since Mujava’s Township Funk!

Hip hop artist K’naan was born in Somalia and has been living in Canada since he was 13. His third album, Troubadour, has just been released and I dig it a lot!! On the album are guest appearances of artists such as Damian Marley and Mos Def, and now Afrikan Boy joins in on a remix of T.I.A..

K’naan- T.I.A. (Remix feat. Afrikan Boy). Get it here (YSI).

Husband and wife Amadou and Mariam are what you could call musical veterans. They’ve been playing together ever since they met at Mali's Bamako Institute for the Young Blind in 1975! Their popularity has been growing steadily over the years, and jumped when Manu Chao worked with them in 2003. Now they seem to have entered the realms of mainstream, with even a Bmore remix of their single Sabali!

Amadou & Mariam - Sabali (Uproot Andy RMX). Get it here (YSI).

Now for The Very Best, that's what the two guys from Radioclit (from London) and Esau Mwamwaya (from Malawi) call themselves. And I must say, they live up to their name. I'm a fan! They are working on their debut album Warm Heart of Africa and Ezra Koenig (singer of the afro-indie-pop band Vampire Weekend) lent his vocals to their first single. We’ll have to be patient, the album isn’t coming out until this fall. But they’ve got a mixtape/bootleg album out, which you can download for FREE from their MySpace!

The Very Best - Warm Heart Of Africa (feat Ezra Koenig). Get it here (YSI).

a hymn to Cymru

In my last blog post I was whining about how much I missed Holland. Here we are, a week later and the homesick feelings have vanished. It must have been my hiking trip along the Pembrokeshire coast. Absolutely STUNNING. Not exactly rock 'n roll, but it is wild and rugged, hell yeah. And such friendly people. The bus driver, our neighbour at the campsite, the farmer… Oh so sweet I wanted to take them home with me!

Another plus about Wales is that the Welsh love singing. The singing during a rugby game is deafening! Wales has spawned some very famous singers: Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and let's not forget the notorious Charlotte Church. Wales is also pretty well represented when it comes to the female singers who have been dominating the (indie)charts lately. Duffy, Adele (okay okay, she’s only half Welsh) and more recently Marina & the Diamonds and Ellie Goulding. I really dig the latter one. She is a folky singer songwriter, who fiddles with electronics. And like every other self-respecting female singer using electronics, there just has to be a dubstep remix. Her's is done by Jakwob. It isn't as massive as "the other one", but still very good.

Ellie Goulding feat. Frankmusic – Wish I Stayed. Get it here (YSI).

Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (Jakwob Remix). Get it here (YSI).

When did heartache become so much fun?

Yesyes, we've blogged about La Roux before, I know. But I just LOOOVE this song called Quicksand - for sometimes, I'm in it too..

This UK-based act consists of two people; the lovely redhead Elly Jackson and her co-writer/producer Ben Langmaid. Their sound is not one I've never heard before and goes hand-in-hand with acts like Little Boots, Jenny Wilson and Sally Shapiro, so is best described as eighties style synthpop, with a female singer and lots of catchy hooks and melodies.
So why am I obsessed with this song, if it's not that original anyway? I think it's mainly the voice which screams despair and gives me goosebumps. Not surprisingly, an up and down relationship was the inspiration for the whole album. Pfff, love stinks, but it makes wonderful songs! You might say that these lyrics come STRAIGHT from the heart but are not too complicated or sentimental at all. I can relate but they also make me wanna boogie! When did heartache become so much fun?

I'm hooking you up with every possible remix of the song that I could find. So you can listen to it in many ways... Enjoy!!

La Roux – Quicksand. Get it here (YSI).

La Roux – Quicksand (Mad Decent RMX). Get it here (YSI).

La Roux – Quicksand (Chateau Marmont RMX). Get it here (YSI).

La Roux – Quicksand (Joe And Will Ask? RMX). Get it here (YSI).

how does he do it do it?

O how we love remixes! So this record should be a real treat for us. Amsterdam duo The Moi Non Plus invited befriended artists to remix the songs and artwork of their debut album. Our good friend About was one of them and he did an excellent job on What If We Do It, mashing it up with a tune by Michael Nyman. The remix clearly bears the About signature: cut up electronics but still poppy and catchy and dancy! You can download it for free, legally, from the Subbacultcha website (or at the bottom of this post)!! A whole bunch of other (visual) artists have contributed to this unique multimedia thing, like Kania Tieffer, Aux Raux, Machinefabriek, Aquil Copier and Paul Borchers, just to name a few. Paul is playing as Yobkiss TONIGHT at the launch party in Gallery W139 in Amsterdam. As well as the boys of TMNP of course.

The Moi Non Plus - What If We Do It (ABOUT's Crossmatch Re-Edit).
Get it here (YSI).

here come the girls

It's time we put some more music up here! Thing is, I’ve got a soft spot for female vocalists. No matter what genre, indie, hard rock, soul, hip hop, I dig it. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not into EVERY female singer (Celine D., Lady Gaga, Within Temptation... God forbid!). But two women who do combine a great sound with a great voice are Zarif and VV Brown. They’re both based in London, they're both in their early 20's (23 and 24) and they both draw on 60's soul, funk, girl groups and doo-wop. They mix it with 80's pop and indie respectively to create tunes that are going to be MASSIVE in 2009. I'm telling you!!

Zarif - Let Me Back. Get it here (YSI).

Zarif - Let Me Back (Toddla T feat Mr. Versatile Mix).
Get it here (YSI).

VV Brown - Quick Fix. Get it here (YSI).

every high has its low

Sorry for the hiatus, but right after LOWRIDERS both Dutch Dolls fell ill. No not the swine flu, but an ordinary stomach flu. With extraordinary consequences, but we’ll spare you the details. Thank God for the lap top. To be able to write from my bed. Its warmth a comfort for my tummy…

So while I’m recovering I thought it might be nice to share a couple of (more easy going) tracks from our LOWRIDERS set with you. For all you guys who missed out!! First up is Madera Limpia from Guantánamo, Cuba. They mix hip hop with dancehall and traditional Cuban music. This remix of La Lenta by Münich trio Schlachthofbronx makes it an irresistible track. Plus we’ve got two remixes of our favourite female MCs for you: Kid Sister’s Get Fresh remixed by Alex Gopher and Lady Sov’s So Human gets a dancy make over by Sinden. Both are absolutely dancefloor fillers!


Madera Limpia – La Lenta (Schlachthofbronx Remix). Get it here (YSI).

Kid Sister – Get Fresh (Alex Gopher Remix). Get it here (YSI).

Lady Sovereign - So Human (Sinden Remix). Get it here (YSI).

The hormone-dance

Spring is finally here, hoorray!!! It seems like those first rays of sun set off an inner party where hormones are dancing to secret tunes. If I was a hormone in spring, I would definately get my groove on to any song by Sebastien Tellier!

This french dude with massive facial-fur has been doing well since his album Sexuality came out last year. Besides making a huge deal with American Aparel, he was also asked to represent france in the eurovision songfestival performing the supersmooth Divine. Which he never ended up doing because 'the french' didn't think a song in english would be appropriate (pfff). His work before the slick-album is also very worthwhile. The Politics album is a fine blend of folky melodies, combined with afrobeats. Not great for the hormone-dance. But it matches perfectly the last part of summer where they would be too tired to dance, and would just want to chill.

Here's one for TODAY, the first day of spring, remixed by canadian superstar-DJ A-Trak (currently touring with Kanye). What can I say, this youngster knows how to do a remix. Get your inner party started!

Kilometer- Sebastien Tellier (A-Trak extended dub). Get it here.

our latest flame

Dutch Dolls on both sides of The Channel are digging LA ROUX, with her flaming hairdo and a voice that makes the windows crack. As described on her Last.fm page she really is a 'siren'... If you haven't already heard it, have a listen and you'll hear what we mean. But it works sooo well with her electropoppy tunes! We're especially digging the godfather-of-dubstep-Skream remix of In For The Kill!

La Roux - In For The Kill (Skreams Let's Get Ravey Remix)
Download it here (YSI).

On her website you can sign up for her mailinglist and you'll get two MP3s for FREE, weehoo!