San Francisco, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Rough Trade Records) - Hot on the heels of their critically acclaimed debut Rock and Roll is Evil ("4.5 stars: one of the finds of the year"), San Francisco's Luxxury return with Sweet and Vicious: The Remixes. The album features all-new remixes of the songs on Evil by an international roster of up-and-coming producers from the UK to France, and from Brooklyn to Hollywood.
The foreign disco affair begins with London producer Janus's minimal techno take on "Drunk (London/Berlin Remix)", which evokes the Berlin sound of Ellen Allien and the Kompakt label. Vancouver-based blog darlings All Night Dance Party kick things up a notch with "Sweet and Vicious (More Vicious Than Sweet Remix)," a guaranteed dancefloor filler that might just turn you Canadian. But if it doesn't, fellow Britsh Columbian production duo Low Pressure System are sure to seal the deal with their splendid dance-rock remix of "Understood." Meanwhile, French (as in "from France") duo Toulouse Fight Club blend DFA 1979 with LCD Soundsystem in "Drunk (Toulouse Fight Club Remix)" with glorious rock-meets-acid-synth-squelch results.
The American response starts with Brooklyn producer (and part-time Luxxury member) Devin Dirt. The term "banger" was invented with his Machine Punk'd version of "Rock and Roll is Evil (Fat Elvis Remix)" in mind. DJ Barbeau, co-founder of L.A. electro legends Dirty Sanchez, strips "Sex With Rich People (Lucky Synth Remix)" to its sleazy Moroder core, while SF's hardest working electro-house DJ Audrock gives "Drunk (Loaded Remix)" a dark, rainy night ambience.
Luxxury singer/producer Baron von Luxxury's "Drunk (Lovesick Vocoders at Night Version)" and "Sweet and Vicious (Exxpensive Re-Edit)" both pay homage to the classic extended remixes of the Duran Duran and Depeche Mode 80's: keeping the original song largely intact but turning the dance-o-meter to 11. By contrast, 21-year-old Bay Area wunderkind Johnatron has produced nearly complete re-inventions of the original songs with "Sweet and Vicious (Short Circuit Remix)" and "Drunk (Groundpounder Dub)." Watch this kid, he's going far
For the album release parties in San Francisco May 25, San Jose May 26, New York June 21 and London (date TBA), von Luxxury and bandmate Johnatron have, in essence, "remixed" the live Luxxury experience. Inspired by Simian Mobile Disco and Van She Tech, which are the 2- person electronic production offshoots of their corresponding rock bands (Simian and Van She, respectively), the duo will be performing stripped down live versions of the remixes at select performances. Says von Luxxury: "When I was wrapping up the remix album I realized it didn't make sense to keep on performing the songs in their original recorded form. Now that I'm so used to hearing them in the different remix incarnations, I want to try to play those versions live, and indeed to create totally new versions on the fly. Hence this new incarnation as an electro duo."
Baron von Luxxury is a producer who has done remixes for Scissors for Lefty, Dirty Sanchez, CSS, Robots in Disguise, and Glass Candy. He is also a member of The Workout, a DJ/production team who have a monthly residency at Duplex in San Francisco and a daily updated MP3 blog at www.discoworkout.com. BvL's remix for Scissors for Lefty's "Ghetto Ways" will be released on Eenie Meanie and Rough Trade Records on June 12.
EVENTS:
"Sweet and Vicious: The Remixes." Album Release Parties:
Friday May 25, 2007, San Francisco
Lights Down Low @ 222 Hyde, San Francisco
Live: Luxxury + All Night Dance Party
DJs: Devin Dirt + Sleazemore
myspace.com/lightsdownlow
Saturday May 26, 2007, San Jose (co-presented with MissingToof.com)
@ Johnny V's, 31 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose
Live: Luxxury, All Night Dance Party, Devin Dirt
DJs: Barbeau (Dirty Sanchez), Basura (Atomic)
myspace.com/johnnyvslivemusic
Thursday, June 21, 2007, New York City (co-presented with Black Van Records)
Machine Punk @ APT, 419 W 13th St @ 10th Ave, NYC
Live: Luxxury, more TBA
DJs: TBA
myspace.com/blackvanrecords
