Discovery - January 27th - August 2nd, 2021

Discovery is my first full length album since 2017, and was written and produced in the midst of the worst pandemic of the modern era, and the mentally arduous lockdowns that occurred as a result. When I began this project, it had nearly been one year since I'd been further than 10 km from my home. Throughout my time stuck indoors, with my motivation at an all-time low and my life on hold, I ended up spending a lot of time daydreaming of the simpler and happier days in the before times. I decided to try and channel these memories into an album, which could transport the listener into the places and moments I'd been fantasizing about, through music. However, what began as a fairly simple concept eventually grew increasingly more emotive and personal as time went on. Discovery became more and more about my own personal developments, and how I rose to the occasion to tackle them head on, learning more and more about myself as I progressed. The album began to transform into a diary of sorts, becoming a source of comfort and stability throughout one of the most tumultuous periods of my life. Over the course of making this album, I dealt with an upheaval of my daily routine, an uncertain future, a full perspective change regarding my place in this world and in the lives of others, relationship dissolutions, family turbulence, friendship upheavals, and the loss of not only my most cherished musicians and musical influences, but the heartbreakingly sudden loss of two of the most formative and loved people to have ever graced my life. This album is a true testament to the determination, strength and bravery I have developed over the time of its creation. I genuinely couldn't be more proud of myself, and I'm incredibly grateful for living in what is probably the most content period of my life thus far.





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Discovery

Download: 
https://shiruetto.bandcamp.com/track/i-think-about-you-daft-punk-tribute
Official Video: https://youtu.be/WdyHtC7pZM8

I think about you (Daft Punk Tribute)

I adore albums which have songs with runons to the next track, which is something I implemented throughout Discovery. Downtown Wednesdays makes up a trio of songs right at the core of the album, acting as a bridge between the album's more upbeat beginning and melancholic end. I wanted to evoke the feeling of wandering lost through the streets of Tokyo at night, something I found myself doing countless times over my year there. Its title is also a not so subtle reference to one of the TV shows that kept me sane during the lockdown, and allowed to me reconnect and reimmerse myself with my time in the east.

Downtown Wednesdays contains samples from "Explosion" by I.C Bell, and a segment from the TV series "Wednesday's Downtown".

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Downtown Wednesdays

Minato Beats is one of the more experimental tracks on the album, and marks a forte into inspirations from different genres of music. During the lockdown, I became deeply interested in early house and hip-hop tracks and song structures, doing a lot of research into the history of the two genres. Through the Daft Punk remix of Ian Pooley's "Chord Memory", I found a vocal sample from that era which really stood out to me, and decided to experiment with combining elements of early house and Japanese city pop, two musical genres which were flourishing at the same time in two completely opposite parts of the world.

Minato Beats contains samples from "Dear Breeze" by Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe, "Set It Off" by Big Daddy Kane and "Jump" by Kris Kross.



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Minato Beats

Although every song on Discovery corresponds to a distinctive area of Tokyo, AKB-K represents one of the clearest musical interpretations of a location or vibe I've ever created. The song's name is a pun on "Akiba-Kei", a term used to describe the distinctive culture and themes of the Akihabara region of central Tokyo, an area I spent a lot of time in and am incredibly fond of. The song harks back to the countless hours I spent hanging around the Electric Town Exit of Akihabara Station, soaking in the atmosphere and feeling the energy of the area. This is also where I spent my first and last evenings on my most recent trip to Tokyo in 2020, just weeks before the pandemic strengthened its grip.

AKB-K contains a sample from "Caribbean Blue" by Hiroko Moriguchi.

AKB-K

Takeshita was among the longest songs on the record to finish, owing primarily to an uncertainty over what direction to take it. I had the idea early on in its creation to pay homage to the eclectic and infamous Takeshita Street 
in Tokyo's Harajuku disctrict, and worked the sample into a more traditional house song early on. Midway through its production, with a number of demos under my belt, I decided to completely scrap the song and start right from the beginning, chopping the sample up more finely and playing around with the arrangement. I came up with the bassline live and played it along to one of the later demos, realising that the song I'd created was a much better representation of the area and vibe I was trying to emulate.

Takeshita contains a sample from "I'm in Love" by Tomoko Aran.

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Takeshita

When writing Discovery, I had the idea to make the album occur over the course of an imaginary evening in Tokyo. Welcome to the Weekend was inspired in part by Daft Punk's "Give Life Back to Music", the opener to the pair's seminal final album "Random Access Memories". As I wrote the song, I pictured an early evening house party just as the sun sets, a painful far cry from being under one of Europe's strictest lockdowns. This song is also my first instance of using machine learning to remove the vocals from a track, a technique I utilised at various other points throughout the album.

Welcome to the Weekend contains samples from "Fake Love" by Summer Dream and a segment of "New Plague Just Dropped Billions Of Insects Hatching Soon!" from the YouTube channel Internet Today.


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Welcome to the Weekend

I spent more than 2 months trying to figure out how to open this album, trawling through samples and trying to cultivate a vibe that I felt was appropriate. When I first started compiling Discovery, I was in a completely different mindset to where I was when I finished; I was upbeat, enthusiastic and hopeful for what tomorrow would bring. Although my outlook on life and the future has since improved, there was a large period of time in the middle of the album's creation where I had hit rock bottom and experiences several losses. I decided to keep the opening tracks on the album, and work on transforming it into a more comprehensive overview of my time over the past few months, whilst still maintaining that twinge of nostalgia which inspired me in the first place.

Hajime contains samples from "Hollywood Illusion" by Himiko Kikuchi, "A Hope from Sad Street" by Anri, and a segment from the TV series "Susunu! Denpa Shōnen".


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Hajime

The performance they released yesterday 2.22.22

Daft Punk - Alive 1997 Live At The Mayan Theatre In Los Angeles 12 - 17 - 1997

A free gift for all my fans! My version of this awesome track! Enjoy.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgwsgkr0cn9sdoh/Junior%20Senior%20-%20Move%20Your%20Feet%20%28Tobtok%20Remix%29.mp3?dl=0

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet (Tobtok Edit)

We're beyond thrilled to welcome French house music pioneers Alan Braxe & DJ Falcon who share with us with their recent set from Golden Plains Festival! 

Fasten your seatbelts for a high-octane genre bending encounter, packed with plenty of cult French house classics mixed with the duo's signature blend of indie pop, disco and techno with some special edits they made just for the set. 

@braxe1 + @djfalconofficial

Q. What inspiration did you both draw upon when planning for this set at Golden Plains? How would you describe the feeling in the crowd, and what kind of a story were you hoping to tell with the music that night?

Alan Braxe:

Weeks before playing at Golden Plains many people and friends told us this one is going to be special, you’ll love it! So we were very excited. When we arrived on the site we immediately felt very good energy with a big crowd focusing on the music. All these lights everywhere made it quite unreal, a bit like in a fairy tale. When we played we tried to be quite eclectic covering a wide range of the music we like. We even prepared some special edits backstage before the set when we realized how good the atmosphere was.

DJ Falcon:

As Alain said we were already excited to play there as we had tonnes of great feedback from our Australian mates weeks before the show. We knew this festival was going to suit us well as we’re constantly flirting with pop, rock and electronic music. Honestly we simply play the music we love and tell a little bit of our story, some of our French classics combined with a selection of tracks we like from the moment. 

Q. What were some of your favourite moments from this particular set, and how do you guys find the right balance between the nostalgic classics and the newer French house sounds when preparing for your sets together? 

AB:

As said above we love to play eclectic with a bit of techno, house, French house, indie pop, we don’t really prepare the set, it’s more an improvisation based on our respective selections. It doesn’t really matter to us if the music is new or made 20 years ago, it’s more about playing tracks we love 100%. My fave moment was probably when I played the 1st track “I Saw” by Young Fathers that I edited a few minutes before the set. On stage, when I saw this very enthusiastic crowd, I felt like wow we have full freedom to play whatever we want.

DJF:

Favorite moment, for me, is when you arrive at the place and you instantly know that you’re gonna have a good time. Also after 10/15 mins of our set we were able to know that the audience is super receptive, that’s a good satisfaction for us. Talking about the right balance between classics and newer tracks is mainly dictated by the energy of the audience. I feel like we’re simply going with the flow, we’re somehow just some kind of energy sensor…

Q. Now having completed this long awaited Australia tour, how did you find the experience of returning to the country after so many years, this time as a duo, and where are you hoping to take the Braxe + Falcon project next? 

AB:

It’s been a very pleasant tour, we did other festivals with also a very positive reaction from the people, touring as a duo is also very exciting as there is this common excitement backstage before playing, and also my son is now living in Sydney so I had the chance to spend a lot of time with him. Next for us is studio time to release more music, our next single is set to be released on July 10th on Smugglers Way / Domino, and there will be more to come later in 2024.

MDC.297 Braxe + Falcon

SAMPLE: The Manhattan Transfer - Spice of Life

Futurefunk

Free Download : https://prelude88.bandcamp.com/track/cant-stop-loving-u-3

Can't Stop Loving U  (晴子赤木)

"Hey guys, what's good, it's FIBRE here. Hope you enjoy this mix. Thank you to all of the wonderful people that have helped to make Montaime possible. This mix will showcase some unreleased material from us, and also material from other collectives such as Future Society and Sexy Brut. Keep an eye out for our releases soon!"

Follow FIBRE:
@fibremusic
smarturl.it/FIBREFacebook
smarturl.it/FIBRETwitter
smarturl.it/FIBREInstagram
smarturl.it/FIBREBandcamp

Follow Montaime: 
@montaime
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twitter.com/montaimerec
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Tracklist:
FIBRE x VANTAGE - Celestial [00:00]
FIBRE - Overture [01:06]
Isaac Galvez - Aquarius [03:37]
Bazz - Knights [05:50]
I Am Harlequin - Kill The Night (Fusq Remix) [09:16]
PROUX - Grape Crush [11:50]
Bazz - Bennu [13:18]
Pablo J & The Lobsterettes - Disco Panettone [15:46]
Suken - Lift Off [17:49]
Ichiban - Uncontrollable [19:23]
VANTAGE - いきなりUh-Oh [20:47]
Suken - Japan Night [23:00]
BASTION - Palace [23:50]
JNL - Smooth Change [25:00]
Lenno - Fever (feat. Benson) [26:36]
Suken - Linear Love Story [29:20]
Daft Punk - Digital Love (Acapella) [31:02]
Pablo J & The Lobsterettes - So Much Love [31:36]
Captain Cuts - Love Like We Used To (Lenno Remix) [32:50]
Supersex420 x Tendencies - Fast Lane [34:33]
Boulevards - Forgot To Mention (Prod. Isaac Galvez) [35:08]
Fusq - Suiito [36:18]
VANTAGE - Breaking Away [36:49]
Pablo J & The Lobsterettes - Do It Like Disco [37:12]
Cavego - Red Light [38:43]
L’Etranger - Falling For You [40:36]
Le Phunk - One Night Stand [42:26]
L’Etranger - Touch [43:12]
Uppermost - Retro Digital [44:59]
The Whispers - It’s A Love Thing (Amherst Edit) [48:22]
Fenech Soler - Lies (The Phantom’s Revenge Remix) [50:53]
Pablo J & The Lobsterettes - You’re The Only Thing [53:20]
Unibe@t - 二人の顔 [55:48]
pride - On est ou la (FIBRE Mini-Edit) [57:13]
Mr Oizo - Hun [57:49]
FIBRE - Skylight Ballad (Outro) [59:35]

Artwork by @fibremusic
MTMX-001

DOWNLOAD

FIBRE - French House Mix

Stardust EP

Music Sounds Better On Holiday

"ALIVE 2020" is an official mix by Skylar Spence.

Download audio: 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rtlkzf5om6lxm53/AAAGoVdoS6GxQ1EGONn46ZiJa?dl=0

Buy "Hit Vibes" 12" repress here while supplies last: https://found.ee/9lHR

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aintpepsi
Facebook: @drinkyoung
Instagram: @skylar__spence
Twitter: @skylar__spence

TRACKLIST:
Skylar Spence - Alive 2020 Intro
SAINT PEPSI - Enjoy Yourself (Remix) vs. Daft Punk - Da Funk
Hall & Oates - I Can't Go for That vs. Daft Punk - Around the World/Robot Rock
SAINT PEPSI - Hit Vibes (Remix)
Skylar Spence - All I Want vs. SAINT PEPSI - I Tried
SAINT PEPSI - Isaac Washington (Remix)
SAINT PEPSI - Private Caller (Remix)
SAINT PEPSI - Greg (Remix)
Skylar Spence - ID (unreleased) vs. Nelly -  Ride wit Me
Skylar Spence - ID (unreleased)
Skylar Spence - Having's Only Half the Fun (demo) vs. SAINT PEPSI - Cherry Pepsi
Yves Tumor - Gospel for a New Century vs. ZHU - Faded
Carmine Boys - Baby
SAINT PEPSI - Change (unreleased)
SAINT PEPSI - Skylar Spence/Fantasy
Skylar Spence - Fall Harder vs. Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks vs. SAINT PEPSI - Gin City
SAINT PEPSI - Mr. Wonderful pt. 2
Skylar Spence - Ridiculous
Skylar Spence - Advice for the Bride (unreleased)
SAINT PEPSI - fazz

Skylar Spence - "ALIVE 2020"

Le Knight Club - Santa Claus (Paul Johnson Remix)

Irish future funk and dance musician.
Heavily inspired by the forefathers of modern dance music and the electric eccentricity of Japanese pop culture. Combining classic and smooth old school sounds with retro unique visuals!

Downtown Wednesdays

Yappari!

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