From Dj Haircut to M. Hawthorne; The Mayer of soulfulness visits El Chuco.

Before there was Mayer Hawthorne, and before he became a big part of a small group of rising young artists creating undeniably retro music he was one,Dj Haircut. Growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan right outside Motown, there was never a shortage of soulful funky records for him to digg on. However retro his music may sound now as Mayer Hawthorne, when Dj Haircut graces the 1's 2's it is an eclectic ride through soulful music from disco funk to techno and dance music alike. And thanks to Joe Nava and Late Night Social Club tomorrow night, Friday the 29 that is exactly the trip we can all expect to take with Dj Haircut as he rolls through Chuco Town for the first time. If you like to hear good music, if you like to shake yo ass and you wanna see a truly talented up and coming star, don't sleep on this one and get to Lowbrow Palace early. It's gonna be good. Oh, and I better not hear anybody complain that its just a Dj set. Sure I would love to hear homeboy croon his lungs out for us, but getting the opportunity to see him do what he's been doing way before Stones Throw signed him as Mr. Hawthorne is something you shouldn't take lightly! Headed to Austin on Saturday, lets do our part to make El Paso rep hard for the Mayer of Soul!! -nick

Stick to My Side

You can hear something expressive and moving and realize that from the instant you heard it, it’s saved in your mind forever. You can hear something wild and rambunctious and feel the same way about it: forever imbedded in your mind. Music has a way of affecting like no other art; it’s the most natural, the most seamless and again, for the billionth time, the most aesthetic. Whatever that means, electronic music is also the most unforgiving when it comes off as dry, dull or otherwise, cold. Pantha Du Prince’s blend of electronic music is fortunately, the blissful collaboration of classical with techno in a way that it enthralls the various senses. Like a whirlwind of all-encompassing emotion, stirring strings, bumping drums and more, he’s made music as an electronic DJ/producer for years now. Mostly because I’ve drum up a bad block, here is a song off his latest album Black Noise, which features Panda Bear and a remix of it by Four Tet – all done so seamless and smooth that it’s sublime.

Everything just seems to happen so naturally. The best things in life come through effortless wonder and in a likely manner, the layers and beats and drums continue to fuse together. You can hear a distant rustling that almost beckons a tide of crushing waves and then you hear a stumbling bass line that always seems to propel forward; the synths are striving through swift terrain, by the time Noah Lennox’s voice comes warbling through everything opens up. Like his methods for Animal Collective Lennox’s vocals aren’t like a shining ray of light but more like an emotive effect of the best kind: atmospheric and aesthetic, like the rest of the accompanying music it just seems to happen so naturally. As the washing and waning of the melody continues to soak, there’s an underlying tension built upon the flowing strings and those same tinkling chimes heard throughout, it’s obvious why the song was such a fantastic hit last year.


Supplying a scrolling synth line that seeps of space travel, Four Tet’s version is immediately much more conducive to live instrumentation. Whereas you start to bleed into the singular Four Tet traits of exceptional percussion parts that sparkle with enticing rhythms, the intertwining he does with the melody and those aforementioned synths is directly impressive. The amazing aspect of the original “Stick to My Side” was the way Pantha Du Prince meshed Panda Bear’s vocals so they came in timely and still, grandly sneaky, is still ever so sweet on Four Tet’s version. Where the liveliness of the music has opened up, Four Tet greets it with a forward-thinking remix that supplies the impeccable ebb and flow Pantha Du Prince’s music is known for. Employed by a skillful approach, even the ending is creatively crafted – it all happens so naturally, too; as all best things in life. – Bryan

Gang Gang Dance – "Glass Jar"

Unassuming at first, the entryway is filled with a misty fog that while permeating, never truly dissipates neither shrouds the view too much. You feel as if you’re sort of reaching for a new horizon into space and as if the onward frontier is moving closer. The background chatter is maybe intended to ease the mood a bit – as if to say to the listener, “you’re not exclusively required to consume all of the inflated noise idly by” – but it’s mostly a mere afterthought once everything comes together. There’s a distant discourse of tones delayed in the bells while the percussion and auxiliary continues to embellish with spurts of energy here and there. The wooooosh that supplies the atmosphere when the whistling melody comes bursting through the hedges is then purposely steadied with the trembling, yet potent awakening of the drums. There’s a constant flicker of light that always points straight and while the journey is extensive and undeniably testing, it’s not a race. Ethereal in essence: anticipation, anxiety and above all, a profound synthesizer blare through the discord with the calling of the rush and after it all pounds away around the 6:15 mark it’s all sayonara from here on out.

Follow the mist and haze with an ending four minutes that pulse and vibrate with tension and fervent passion. Gliding on some sort of aircraft, we’re greeted with desirable female vocals that pair up with an almost ‘steel drum-esque’ timbre melody that reigns in on the ending dissension. The drums pound louder and louder, the sounds cascade like a rushing, gushing waterfall – there’s distinct clamor in the music’s identity. It’s forward-thinking merely because it challenges your ears to take in its ten minutes of sheer grandeur but even through the wire, the basis is still a tremendous hook that explodes for a blaring, boisterous ending.

And in the end, I’ve played it so many times throughout the past month or so (attempting to discover within myself whether I seemingly like it or not) that it’s desperately obvious I have some kind of fondness for it. The rest of the album continues to soak in my drenched brain but I thought I’d share this first song since it’s pretty impressive and maybe the rest later, if you really wanna hear about it. – Bryan