Calvin Harris + Katy Perry + Dizzee Rascal

Listening to "Ready for the Weekend" on repeat as I studied for my economics midterm put me in a no-nonsense Calvin Harris mood. (That said, I'm more or less in a perpetual Calvin Harris mood.) So when I realized that I hadn't yet posted his remix of Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas," my fingers went to tapping and typing. Love Katy (the above picture is one of my favorite things on the face of the earth), love Calvin, and the combination almost made me weep with joy.



But of course two C.H. tracks in a row simply isn't enough. Thus, "Holiday." Dizzee and Calvin did a great job on "Dance Wiv Me," and I might like this cut even more (maybe, just maybe). The cut didn't really make a strong impression on me the first time I heard it, but it's since become a favorite. So good, blah, blah, blah. Check it:



"And I'll never let your belly get empty - even when your belly's full you're still sexy."

EDIT: Second video got removed. Replaced it, but it's mad quiet. Deal with it - turn up your volume.

EDIT 2: O.K. Looks like we're gonna have to wait a second to get a video with the latter track. Sorry, kids.

Calvin Harris - "Ready for the Weekend"

My love for Calvin Harris was well-documented the pages of the old Panda Toes. The illest girl in the history of the universe - Erika - and I interviewed the dude before he was too big to deal with such lowly blogs, I reviewed I Created Disco (and in retrospect seem to have given it too low a score), put it in my Top 10 of 2007, etc. Blah, blah, blah. But when the great .mp3 swipe of 2009 hit our pages, all history of Dumfries love was lost.

But Panda Toes version two may or may not be even stronger than was version one. Similarly, Calvin may or may not be killin' it in an even bigger way on album number two than he did on album number one. "I'm Not Alone" was an absolute monster, and I thus had high expectations for "Ready for the Weekend." Yet upon hearing the latter jam for the first time I was underwhelmed (to put it mildly). I've since realized that I was a moron. This song is enormous, infectious, delicious. The album of the same name will be as well.



P.S. Beautiful girls + simple colors. That is all.

P.P.S. Blogger won't let me add pics right now. Bummer. I'll get on that later.

Josh Goes to Camp Bisco, Madness Ensues

So my last travels had me stuck on a boat in an uncomfortable sea of hair gel and steroids - my next adventure put me smack dab in the middle of a drug-fueled carnival of horrors. Trade Heinekens for horse tranquilizers and hot 30-somethings with plastic surgery for angry wookies that haven't showered in weeks - throw them in a knee-deep mud bath in central New York for a weekend and sprinkle some good music over it....that about sums it up.

There are few festival experiences where I've been truly blown away by the tenacity and idiosyncrasy of my fellow attendees - Burning Man was one, this was the second. That said, I had fun, and despite having contracted one or more bacterial infections through my mud-covered feet, I saw some great music. I arrived late Thursday after the first of several monsoons decimated the festival grounds, but managed to catch the tail end of a wonky left-field-dub set from Flying Lotus. He pulled a pleasant trip down memory lane to his Adult Swim days with a sample from the always-awesome Steve Brule. If you don't know what I'm talking about here, you don't spend enough time on the internetz.

Moving on - my good friends at Red Bull (ok, just kidding, I work for them now) hooked me up with some VIP bracelets and each night the VIP tent was packed with a festival performer. Thursday night I watched Ben Silver and Bethany Lokken of omni-genre DJ crew Orchard Lounge rock a Michael Jackson tribute set while Allen Aucoin of the Disco Biscuits absolutely raged it on drums. I'm awaiting a sync'd up recording of this set, but for now check this little video bit from the occasion (followed, rather unceremoniously, with a short clip from the late-night DFA Disco Tent set that James Murphy and Pat Mahoney (of LCD Soundsystem) played).

The other photos aren't in chronological order - the Disco Biscuits played a Tractorbeam vs. The Perfume set (where they mix vocal-less versions of their songs with fully re-imagined covers of their own songs), lots of crazy people wore lots of crazy things, AC Slater and Kill the Noise brought the fidget-step to the hippie masses, and Somali-Canadian rapper K'Naan made me believe in hip-hop again - but I'll save that for another post. For those that are confused about the first photo in this post - that's Frank McElroy of Dr. Dog on the left and Marc Brownstein from the Biscuits on the right.

Orchard Lounge

Kill the Noise

Brownie during Tractorbeam vs. The Perfume

DFA Disco Tent

Josh Goes to Toronto, Hilarity Ensues

I guess Greg's the only one who noticed I've been missing lately - I've been here and there and figure I owe ya'll some stories from my travels. First up in this post, July 1st, I made my way to sunny Toronto to celebrate Canada Day with my main man, house legend (and all-around awesome dude) Hatiras. You may know him from his ragga-tinged crossover hit, Spaced Invaders, that blew up in the early 00's, or from some of his newer bangers that rage the Beatport top-10 on the reg. Either way, his fiance let me know they were celebrating Canada's independence on a mother-effing boat and I jumped at the opportunity to drink legally and call it work. I'm not going to downplay the immense fun I had that day (or the bomber set he rocked), but I'm going to let the photos do the talking as to what kind of upstanding Toronto-ans came out. Props to my stand-in and party-captain, Angel, who made sure we got the sexiest of the sexy people in front of the lens.

Every single morning, I wake up and thank the good lord I didn't end up a club promoter.

Drake + Fabolous

Everybody. Loves. Drake. And quite frankly, I just don't get it. I'm into the dude's singing, but his rapping just doesn't do it for me. And though I could understand a dude with his skill set racking up a sizable fan base, I never expected him to hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Seriously.

But enough with the hate. Dude just teamed up with Fabolous for his "Throw it in the Bag" remix. And, well, it's hot. Maybe I just like the original. Maybe it's Drake's bit that really does it for me. Honestly, I dunno. What I do know is that I'm well into this here track. Check it:

Juan Maclean + Surkin + A Bemused Frog

A few months ago, Josh Stansfield (hey Josh, where you at?) posted up Surkin's remix of the Juan Maclean's "One Day." The song, in case you can't remember, is friggin' incredible. The video, on the other hand, isn't even a video - it was just a picture. Not acceptable for such a fine piece of music.

Thus, my friend A Bemused Frog went out and did up a nice little video for the cut. This is a remarkable summer jam, and dude whipped up a serious summer vibe for his flick. Countless hours of deliberation and filming, a few thousand still shots, and days upon days of editing later and a music video had been made. Check it out, show A.B.F. some love, and please re-post like crazy.



P.S. Come meet A Bemused Frog this Saturday in Brooklyn. He'll be chillin' at the Last Exit bar (where I'll also be DJing with ex-Panda Toes contributor Dan Kagan - DJing MySpace page).

At the Drive-In + Grindin Top 15

Every once in a while you sit down to do some work, put on headphones, and realize that half of the music you listen to sounds exactly the same. And then you think to yourself, "Self, why do I do this to my ears? Why don't I give them something new - something exciting - to listen to?" This happened to me not but thirty minutes ago. It was not a good feeling.

Luckily, the crisis was soon resolved. Instead of looking for something new and invigorating, I took a trip back in time. About five years back in time, that is. To a time when I listened almost exclusively to At the Drive-In. It was a good time, a blessed time. And here I am sitting in the library realizing that A.T.D.I. was an incredible band and Relationship of Command is still one of my favorite albums to cruise to. Remarkable.



On a less high school note, check out Grindin's Top 15 for July. Ill songs, none of which can top "Party Time."

1. F.L.Y – "Party Time"
2. Lemonade – "Big Weekend (L-Vis 1990 Remix)"
3. Joy Orbison – "Hyph Mngo"
4. Egyptrixx – "Just Say Really (Bok Bok Remix)"
5. Riton & Primary 1 – "Who’s There?"
6. Holy Ghost – "I Will Come Back"
7. Mariah Carey – "Obsessed"
8. Crystal Fighters – "Xtatic Truth (Renaissance Man Remix)"
9. Rampage – "Lovin You Is Easy"
10. Boy 8-Bit – "Wolfen"
11. Silvio Ecomo & Chuckie – "Moombah (AfroJack Remix)"
12. R1 Ryders – "Rubberband"
13. MJ Cole – "Gotta Have It (Feat. Digga) (MJ’s Funky Dubb)"
14. Rye Rye – "Bang (Feat. M.I.A) (Buraka Carnival Remix by Buraka Som Sistema)"
15. Momma’s Boy – "Give It Up"

Blaqstarr + Diplo + Jack Beats

O.K. Let's pretend for a second that y'all aren't blog fiends that snatch up thousands of .mp3s per day (most of which you never play more than once). And since y'all are normal, law-abiding citizens, you've been waiting patiently to cop the enormous Jack Beats remix of Blaqstarr and Diplo's "Get Off." Well, your time has come - head on over to the Mad Decent blog for a grip of links to places you can drop some cash for some high-quality audio.

Seriously. Go buy this joint. I've seen the sort of kids that request "LoveGame" while "Poker Face" is playing get a bit crazy to this. Just. So. Massive. No more words. Watch the video, spend a measly couple of bucks, feel good about yourself:



P.S. "LoveGame" is on point, but we'll get to that later.

Laidback Luke + Steve Angello + Robin S.

Yes, this song is quite old. Robin S. first dropped "Show Me Love" back in 1993, meaning it came out when most of y'all were probably still kickin' it in the womb. Track killed it in the U.K. and squeezed into the Top 5 on the U.S. charts as well. And then came the electro remix.

That's the version crafted by Panda Toes favorite Laidback Luke and DJ HBBS favorite Steve Angello, of course. The cut's a tasty mash-up (the other track being the aforementioned dudes' "Be"), which was "inspired by" the Hardwell mash-up. Blah, blah, blah. The point is this: the track's hot, so here's the video (which I didn't know existed until Thursday):

Fast Life Yungstaz + Gramophonedzie + Peggy Lee

Since I last hollered at y'all, Fast Life Yungstaz have come out with yet another monster jam. I was convinced that their "Swag Surfin'" would be my summer anthem, but the strength of their "Party Time (Surf Party)" has me questioning my previous assessment. Yea, it's cheesy. In fact, a fellow blogger called it "Disney Channel Trap Music." But if you so much as tell me this isn't one of the catchiest tunes to hit your ears this summer, watch out for a slap upside the head.



And on a note less likely to tick off you elitist folk, check out Gramophonedzie's "Why Don't You?". The cut samples Peggy Lee's "Why Don't You Do Right?". So good. Seriously so, so good.



P.S. If you're in N.Y.C. tomorrow night, be sure to stop by Kurve between 11 and 3. I'll be DJing up a storm with ex-Panda Toes champion Dan Kagan. Expect to hear the lots of house, electro, and disco - don't come looking for a Top 40 overload.

P.P.S. Show our DJing MySpace page some love!