First Fridays Mix: Shake

DJ Angus Wong is the resident DJ at the W Hotel Hong Kong and is currently on the W Hotels Worldwide X Burn Studios DJ Lab 2012 Global Tour, which has him traveling to such excellent locales as Barcelona, London, St. Petersburg and Paris to show off his skills. In between dance floors he’s found time to create monthly mixes highlighting some of his favorite music from the month before. We’re stoked to be premiering each mix every month here on ATG in a segment we’re calling First Fridays.

This month we’ve got the fourth installment, Shake, which features choice cuts and remixes from some amazing artists. The mix includes Justice, Knightlife, Brodinski, Justin Faust and more. Highlight for me is Paul McCartney’s “1985″ transformed into a disco jam. Full track-listing after the jump. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: DJ Angus Wong – Shake Mix

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Neon Indian – Fallout

Neon Indian‘s ”Fallout” sounds like a lost cut from the Drive soundtrack. The Era Extraña number deserves to accompany Ryan Gosling and his scorpion jacket on night cruises around the city with its 80s attitude, syncopated drum beats and heavy bass. The track got a richly animated video that premiered on Adult Swim today. This psychedelic collection of colors and patterns packs a storyline that proves at the end of the day, it really is all about the girl.

STREAM: Neon Indian – “Fallout”

Pelifics – Can’t Promise Anything (Feat. Human Life)

The Norwegian group Pelifics is set to release a two part EP, one next month and the other in March. The March edition will bring us a collaboration with Canada’s AXXE, who I had the unique opportunity to interview last year. The February portion will feature two new tracks, one with Electric Youth and another with Human Life. Human Life first came on my radar with “Wherever We Are,” a seriously 80s disco track with vocals to match. These Californians get their collaboration on in ”Can’t Promise Anything,” a track that promises more 80s vibes, male/female vocal interchanges and cascading synths.

STREAM: Pelifics – “Can’t Promise Anything (Feat. Human Life)”

Nobody Beats The Drum – Blood On My Hands

Nobody Beats the Drum sounds like a dark electric circus meets Pac-Man. Hailing from the Netherlands, this three-piece electro group is made up of two producers and one visual artist. Their diverse talents are employed in their live performances as well as videos, all of which are produced in-house and expertly coordinated with the music itself. The one for “Blood on My Hands” depicts a seemingly harmless women on a cooking show as she starts preparing a cake. But as the music builds up, so does the action behind the kitchen counter.

If you want to see more, check out their video for “Grindin’,” or catch these guys while they’re stateside at Electric Forest and Sasquatch. Their album Currents is out now on Basserk.

STREAM: Nobody Beats The Drum – “Blood On My Hands”

Sophia Knapp – Close to Me

Sophia Knapp, of the girl-trio Lights (now Cliffie Swan), is branching out on her own. Her debut LP Into the Waves will be released late this month on the talent-packed label Drag City, and will feature the musical company of Americana’s favorite gravel-voiced bedroom-crooner Bill Callahan on several songs. If “Close to Me” (which does not feature Callahan) is any indication, the album will be delightful. On this light and fluffy sonic-gem Knapp shoves Stevie Nicks, sparkling champagne, pineapples, piña-colada mix, and a fairy dusting of funk into the blender and mixes up a sexy cocktail of girl-pop. Drink this puppy up and you’ll be dancing with diamonds on the soles of your shoes. Guaranteed.

STREAM: Sophia Knapp – “Close to Me”

Headliners: New Jamie XX Track

Spin: After admitting that she “basically exists on Adderall, Sonata, Abilify, sugar and cigarettes”, Courtney Love is found unfit to own pets.

Rolling Stone: Dave Grohl reveals plans to produce a show on FX about a rock band in therapy.  I was hoping for a Food Fighters reality show, but what can you do?

A.V. Club: The thrill of the fight: 80′s one-hit wonder Survivor are suing Newt Gingrich for using “Eye of the Tiger” without their permission.

Pitchfork: Justin Vernon wants to create a songbook of American women featuring Alicia Keyes and Bonnie Rait.  Looks like he’s going to need a bigger cabin.

WaPo: Facebook goes public, values itself at a relatively modest $5 billion.

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St. Lucia – We Got It Wrong (Starsmith Remix)

st lucia

Sometimes a song is so good you just want to cast its essence in bronze and hang it in the National Gallery where families of Taiwanese tourists can take illegal flash photos of it and fly them around the globe. Sometimes a remix does this for you, which is nice, because where the hell do you get tin anymore? Enter All Things Gold 003 alumnus Starsmith, whose reworking of St. Lucia’s “We Got It Wrong” from Neon Gold Records elevates and pays tribute to the original with a mastery unseen since Donatello transformed raw molten metals into enduring paragons of triumph. Caribbean-style pop is hard to nail without sounding forced and gimmicky, and even harder to expand on without falling into easy traps like “more steel drums!” If St. Lucia is the island to visit, Starsmith is the airline attendant making sure to check your dreary baggage curbside. And no, it won’t be waiting for you when you land.

MP3: St. Lucia – “We Got it Wrong (Starsmith Remix)”

Interview: Gigamesh

Gigamesh‘s physical and online presence can’t go unnoticed. In addition to being one of the tallest producers in the game, he also has held the top spot on Hype Machine’s Most Popular list with several of his remixes. Gigamesh hails from the Midwestern state of Minnesota where music icon Prince also calls home, so it’s no surprise that Gigamesh is also making a name for himself.

Gigamesh remixes have been in heavy rotation here at ATG. He demonstrates his versatility with the spectrum of tracks he’s covered – everything from Foster the People to Citizens! to Katy B. He demonstrates his abilities as a producer by turning all of them into dance floor hits. Basically the man has great taste and it shows. In addition to being a great remixer, Gigamesh has also put his creativity into producing original tracks, some of which were released as part of a self-titled EP late last year.

I had the fantastical opportunity to ask him a few questions before he takes over All Things Gold 007. Read what he had to say after the jump.

MP3: Gigamesh – “Burnin’”

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Pretty Lights – We Must Go On

Pretty Lights is out with a new soulful single called “We Must Go On.” The track hearkens back to Derek Smith’s earlier days of combining verses from old soul classics with an extended instrumental intro as the heart of the song builds on itself, creating some agonizing tension in anticipation of the full melody. It’s a dreamy track that oozes with musical self-reflection. The accompanying video seems to confirm this with street scenes filtered on top of each other, creating a memory mash-up. Krystle Blackburn, director and girlfriend of Derek, adds grainy, indecipherable imagery that, in her words, “communicates a range of feelings and open ended ideas.” It’s a unification of sound and vision, and it certainly moves the soul.

STREAM: Pretty Lights – “We Must Go On”

Headliners: Happy Mondays Going On Reunion Tour

Guardian: Happy Mondays getting together for reunion tour. Tony Wilson still infinitely missed.

Billboard: Lana Del Rey proves that all press can actually be good press with anticipated #2 album debut.

LA Times: Soul Train creator Don Cornelius found dead in apparent suicide.

PMA: Princeton is back with some new jams. Looking all mature and such.

Hypebot: Spanish Prisoners using Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for van for SXSW.

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