I’m extremely pleased to present my latest remix for your listening enjoyment. The song is “Warm Heart of Africa” by the group, The Very Best, and it features Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend on vocals. The band has been called “best new music” on multiple occasions by Pitchfork, they are adored by Stereogum, and you can read about them… well… just about EVERYWHERE!
The group is a collaboration between Malawian-born singer, Esau Mwamwaya, and London electro-producers, Radioclit. Their debut album came out digitally on August 25th, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop. It’s an amazing fusion of traditional African melodies with modern electronic synths, beats, etc… and the results are eeeeeeeeeeLECTRIFYING!
And when I was offered the chance to remix for them, I of course leapt at the opportunity. It was a total blast to work on, and I’m thrilled to share it with you here! By all means, PLEASE share it with your friends and fellow-music-lovers. Spread that ish like hot butter on your breakfast toast!
NEWS NEWS NEWS! I’ve just about completed work on two new fancy and “official” remixes of some delightful bands, and will be starting on a few more shortly thereafter… If all goes as planned, I should be sharing one of them with y’all within the next week or two! Stay tuned…
And some more reviews came floating in for “Pink and Purple” – hard to believe it’s been almost 3 months since I released that puppy, and even harder to believe that people are STILL reviewing it! But I ain’t complaining!
Indie Soup Runner – [Interview] “Aural and blissful decadence… This artist and funk-meister’s ear for precision in the studio and Philip Bailey-esque falsetto make you wanna dance until your ass turns into a mush of muscle.”
Green Owl Records Blog – [Interview] “Producer / multi-instrumentalist Alan Wilkis reminds me a bit of his namesake’s ’supernatural extra brilliant intelligent’ line from Footnote to Howl. Wilkis is a magnanimous mothaf***a, a friend of a friends, someone that probably knows people you know in Brooklyn.”
Concerning This – [Interview] “Electro-ish, funky, feel good music… It’s very good. Check his stuff out, seriously.”
Bon Ton – “Fan-frigging-tastic… Like being transported back to my teen years, only better… Chock-full of 80s vibe, but it’s not derivative at all… It has upped synth and beat to the next level, creating something as modern as it is retrospective. It’s a slim six songs long, so you don’t get bored, and I dare you not to at least chair-dance.”
And if you’re still reading at this point, here’s two things I’ve been loving this week (in case you missed ‘em on the old Twitter). The first is a delightful piece of glitched out electronic music from a gentleman named Wolfgang Gartner:
The second is a song and the accompanying 1979 music video for “The No. 1 Song in Heaven” by Sparks. If you’re not familiar with Sparks, they are SO weird and SO awesome… Very difficult to describe their music, but I’ll try: performance art, with a twisted sense of humor, yet deeply-rooted in pop music tradition and catchy as hell… Their career spans several decades, and they’re still making music nowadays, I believe, so they don’t really fit in one genre – they EVOLVE… This song is from a record they did with disco-super-producer, Giorgio Moroder – chock full of awesome disco and extreme falsetto super-cool-numba-one!!!! Enjoy:
Today I post the final installment of the “Pink and Purple: REMIXED.” It’s another international set of submissions, with remixers hailing from California, Denmark, and France! Check out: Jason Sundstrom, Parker & Lewis, Prophet Panther, and Music for Modern Man.
Below there’s links to each individual remix, and if for whatever reason you missed any of the previous weeks’ tracks, you can grab all 11 by CLICKING HERE.
Thank you to all the talented folks who offered up their nassssstee remix skillz over the past few months – ideas were exchanged, fun was had, what more can I ask for…
UPDATE: Entrance to Hiro Mezzanine is on 9th ave between 16 and 17th. Big Japanese door with a doorman and velvet rope in front… FANCYYYY!!!
Friends!
Tomorrow night, Thurs Aug. 26th, the Bailey Regal DJs are throwing a little party to celebrate the release of “Pink and Purple!” It’s going to be at the Hiro Mezzanine in the Maritime Hotel, which is located at 363 West 16th street (9th Ave. bet. 16th + 17th). It’s NOT the Hiro Ballroom… different room in the same building.
Festivities begin at 10:30, no cover charge, and $3 beers, I’m told. Should be a great time! For more info, visit the Bailey Regal site.
It’s a bit last minute, I know, but come through if you’re around!
The folks at GOOD Magazine just released a new video + put my song, “Gotta Get You Back,” all up in it!!! Check it out – it’s a really cool idea: what if you could Photoshop the world around you with your glasses?
Pleased to present two new “Pink and Purple” remixes for your free-downloading pleasure. The first one comes from my main man, Tucker Dawson, a.k.a. Tuck Digz, and you can peep his dubbed-out instrumentals at myspace.com/tuckerdawson. I’ve known Tuck for a few years, and he’s another one of those freakish multi-talents… A supremely-funky drummer and all-around musician, and as you can tell from his remix, quite the hip-hop producer… He constructed his track entirely out of samples from “Pink and Purple,” but slooooowwwwwed it down, or as he put it, “J-Dillatized” it… Just imagine me sippin on sizzurp and ghost-riding the whip:
The next remix is brought to you by Canblaster and Myd of Club Cheval, a collective of producers and remixers from France. Their remix has some serious 80s-cheese in it, and that says a lot coming from me, considering the amount I typically pack in… It more or less preserves the form of the song, but they recorded loads of new parts, re-harmonized the chord progression, and threw in some tasty 8-bit synths for good measure… and maybe I’m crazy but I hear traces of “Everything She Wants” by Wham in there. Check it out!
It’s been 2 months since I put out “Pink and Purple,” and the reviews continue to roll in – now don’t I feel special?! Take a gander:
Would Be Hipster – “It’s so cool it’s hot – and so hot … it’s awesome… Layered, smooth-as-silk production, catchy vocals, and funky attitude to spare… A fun, awesome listen that’ll put a smile on your face and get you tapping you feet… It’s infectious, and listening was a sheer delight; pop as it should be – fun and unashamed of it’s levity.”
Too Much Happiness – “The funky beats are pure sensory overload… Some might say it’s like the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack on steroids with vocals arranged by Earth Wind and Fire and a couple samples of Jamiroquai thrown in to boot. This mother fucker is equal parts smooth and rad.”
Music Liberation – “This record’s funk rating is through the roof… The tunes are so very phat, so very danceable and so very retro… So good I think I’m addicted. If this doesn’t become a floor-filler within a year there is no justice in the world.”
Berlin Battery – “DiscoFunk is back… Really fun and makes you smile… And don’t forget to listen to this funky shit on his myspace or better: just buy the E.P!” [INDEED!!!]
The Coolest Out – “[re: the remixes] They all sound amazing to me”
Attack Attack Attack – “Underrated NY genius… Think Chromeo in bed with Prince… [Re: the Remixes] The results are a diverse mixture of reworkings.”
Chic Moustache Club [Posted Father Abraham, Jack Tennis, and Music for Modern Man remixes]
Too Many Sebastians – “Alan Wilkis wants you to get down and dance, so much so that he made an EP that practically forces you do so… A happy little EP that is sure to put you a good mood.”
Stereoscope.FM – “Prince-esque sound… has something of (gasp!) an early-Michael Jackson thing going on.”
The Dissident Times – “I have been waiting for some new funk for ages. Prince has kept up the funk, and George Clinton as well. But we need the new FONK… Here it is. PINK AND PURPLE is this new release.”
I’m on the latest Indie Soup Runner Podcast – it’s a monthly free podcast that features the latest in high-energy exercise-friendly indie music… This month’s episode features yours truly, alongside some other great music, and if I could ever force myself to exercise on any kind of regular basis, this would be the mix for me:
Alan Wilkis – “Gotta Get You Back”
YACHT – “Psychic City”
My Awesome Mixtape – “Washing Machine” (Washing My t-Shirt Peluche Remix)
Valery Gore – “Shoes of Glass”
Electric Owls – “Magic Show”
Flashguns – “I Don’t Not Love You”
Ash – “Return of White Rabbit”
Gossip – “Heavy Cross”
Skatan – “Shine”
Discovery – “So Insane”
Napoleon IIIrd – “Zebra”
The Longcut – “Repeated”
TiMaria – “Pretty Girls Are Pretty High”
Patrick Wolf – “Hard Times”
Marian Call – “Volvo”
Plus you can hear me dorkily introduce myself at the beginning… If that doesn’t make you wanna get up and run out the door, then I don’t know what will
Pleased to present the second “Pink and Purple” remix – this one’s from Father Abraham, a top-notch Boston hip-hop emcee & producer extraordinaire. Abe is an old friend and a force to be reckoned with. He’s self-released several albums, and his current project, “52 Pickup,” is both impressive and borderline insane… The long-and-short of it is that he has set out to write, record, and produce a song a week for a year, which he then puts up for free download at his website www.52pickup.us. I believe he just released his 31st track…
Now, let me say that again… A SONG A WEEK FOR A YEAR, people… The scariest part is it’s all totally legit… SO MUCH hard work, creative juice, and determination needed to attack something like that. It actually reminds me in a way of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois and Michigan albums from his 50 States Project – they both require a certain breed of meticulous/obsessive/ambitious human… Please visit 52 Pickup and download some tracks, see what Abe’s been cookin’ up!
And that brings me to today’s remix, “Pink and Purple (Father Abraham Black and Blue RMX),” (also the 28th installment at 52 Pickup). On it, Abe basically reworks the beat into an agressive hip-hop party jam, while slicing and dicing my vocals + synths, and then KILLS it on the mic… So cool.
Download it for FREE right here, and share it with your friends, tweet it, facebook it… Show some love & spread the word if you’re feeling it!!!
Welcome to Wilcassettes, the home of everything Alan Wilkis. Alan is a Brooklyn-based musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and general musical mover-and-shaker... Anything else you'd like to know? Ask Alan HERE: http://www.formspring.me/alanwilkis
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