essentials: new lykke li + favorite remixes

Are you as excited as I am for the new Lykke Li? Here are the three leaks so far. I love them all. I also threw in my 2 favorite remixes of her, my favorite mash-up, and the FANTASTIC new video for Get Some. If you don't own this Swedish sweetheart's debut album, Youth Novels, get. it. The new album drops in the U.S. in March. Also, check out her collaborations with Kleerup and Royksopp. Such great stuff (couldn't upload them because of the multiply aforementioned douchebaggery of SoundCloud... just click on them).

NEW STUFF

I Follow Rivers by LykkeLi

Get Some by LykkeLi

Paris Blue by LykkeLi

FAVORITE REMIXES & MASH-UPS

I'm Good, I'm Gone (Fred Falke remix) - Lykke Li

Knocked Up (Kings Of Leon Cover) (Death To The Throne remix) - Lykke Li

Good After Time - Lykke Li vs. Cyndi Lauper

GIVE ALL THESE SONGS AWAY? NO, I'D NEVER DO THAT.

TREATMENTeaser

So, I've started a chill night at Rendezvous in Adams Morgan. Every TUESDAY. 10p-close. Come chill, listen to good music, bring your awkward internet date after dinner, and say hi!

Check out the preview mix, below. A downtempo (but not slow), electronic, fun, ambiently loungetastic, nearly dance-club worthy non-stop mix of Royksopp, Dragonette, Lykke Li, Cut Copy, Temper Trap, Van She, and Sneaky Sound System.

TREATMENTeaser - DJ MAJR by shiftdcnet

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yelle stays weird

... and that's why we love her. Here's the new single from Yelle... the only thing making up for how terrible the other leak of the day was. I'm not saying this is the best single ever from Yelle, but it definitely does blow that everyone creamed their jeans over Britney's leak and barely batted a lash about one of Pop's lustrous little starlets in the francophonic Yelle. For shame.

Here's Yelle's newest single, Safari Disco Club, from her new album due out March 29th in the U.S. and March 14th internationally.

I really like it, if nothing else, because it's really well produced and superbly weird. It's good enough to almost make me forget that GrandMarnier, Yelle, and Tepr are taking their show on the road and opening up for the giant turd that is Katy Perry on her UK Tour.

Enjoy!

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britney lets one out

OK, initial reaction = excrement. It's not as bad as Christina Aguilera's fecal return last year, but it is definitely horribly written, obviously produced w/ a casio recorder and a stick of gum, and includes a failed attempt at a tired dub-step breakdown. B-side material. Until her writers learn the magical ways of the (over 8th grade level) metaphor, and Britney learns how to actually spell simile, all of her work will forever be in the shadow of the pop masterpiece, In The Zone. I'm sure this will circulate in the gay clubs quicker than meth in the 90's, and may even be a tolerable drunken dance track... but it's nothing short of terrible for now.

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF (1-CLICK-DL .mp3)

RAW Live Setlist & Recording

Here ya go! Last night was great. The set starts off nice and slow and finishes with some fantastic energy. I really appreciated the chance to play a lot of electro-clash, downtempo dance, and nu disco that never quite fits into my SHIFT dance party sets. It was also a blast seeing a lot of my friends... you know who you are. Anyway, here's what you need:

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Posed To Death - The Faint

International Dateline - Ladytron

Worked Up So Sexual - The Faint

Caesar - I Blame Coco ft. Robyn

Heartbeats - The Knife

Laura - Scissor Sisters

Modern Love - David Bowie

Lisztomania - Phoenix

Take Me Out (Daft Punk remix) - Franz Ferdinand

Kiss With A Fist - Florence + The Machine

Meet Your Master (The Faint remix) - Nine Inch Nails

Never Win - Fischerspooner

I Want Everything - Sneaky Sound System

Drop The Tough (The Twelves remix) - Groove Armada

Stop In The Name Of Love (Alloinix remix) - The Supremes

Fascinated By Gold - Company B vs. Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I Get Around (Midnight Juggernauts remix) - Dragonette

Ce Jeu (The Twelves remix) - Yelle

Mixtapes (Buffetlibre remix) - Plushgun

Any Which Way (Keljet remix) - Scissor Sisters

When We Were Young - Sneaky Sound System

Earthquake (Treasure Fingers remix) - Little Boots

Pocket (The Presets remix) - Sam Sparro

Dancing With The DJ - The Knocks

I Love It - Sneaky Sound System

Ghosts (Cassette Jam remix) - Ladytron

Do What U Like (Tony Arzadon remix) - Bad Boy Bill

Shampain (Fred Falke remix) - Marina & The Diamonds

Hollywood (Fenech-Soler remix) - Marina & The Diamonds

Indestructible (A-Trak remix) - Robyn

Wrap It Up - Whitey

Disco Heat - Calvin Harris

Blue Monday (Verdis remix) - New Order

Crimewave (LA Riots remix) - Crystal Castles

Hot (Treasure Fingers remix) - Big Gipp

We Never Close Our Eyes (LAZRtag remix) - Scanners

Folds In Your Hands (Keljet remix) - Passion Pit

Train - Goldfrapp

Kansas City - Sneaky Sound System

Sexx Laws (Wiseguys remix) - Beck

Cat & Mouse (LA Riots remix) - Nikki & Rich

Sex And Violence - Scissor Sisters

Japanese GIrl - Eskimo Disco

All My Friends (Franz Ferdinand version) - LCD Soundsystem

AA XXX - Peaches

3 tracks: best Madonna remixes

I'm not the biggest Madonna fan out there, but I believe it hard for one not to appreciate her consistency over the years, as well as her (a propos) ambition. She's worked for a great deal and deserves her success, for the most part.

When I am DJing, I rarely play an album track of hers (they're usually too slow), but I do really enjoy some great remixes of her material. Here are my three favorite Madonna remixes, for Three Track Thursday.

I think the best part about these remixes is that the original tracks come from three different eras of her career. Into The Groove (1985) marked the first flush of Madonna's young career, when her sound was just coming into its own. Sidechains always seems to add great edge to their remixes, and this is no different. It transforms a mid-80's pop track into a belligerently electro dance song. This one wins most improved at the reunion.

Hollywood (2003) was the second single from the third straight chart topping record (American Life) in 6 years (after a 5 year period when few thought Madonna would recover from her pariah-like status of the early 1990's). It was this quality-grind era that saved Madonna's career, in my opinion. This remix, by the near-legendary Thin White Duke, made me like a song that otherwise about which I could give a damn less.

Lastly, we have Celebration (2009), a track that was originally written in part by Paul Oakenfold, and then remixed here by Benny Benassi. Does that not spell the perfect dance track? Madonna has this way of employing the best of the best to save and/or replenish her career with quality pop. Perhaps that says a great deal about her aesthetic instincts (and her humility)... and for that you can never doubt her merit over this massive span of 24 years between these tracks.

Into The Groove (Sidechains remix) - Madonna

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Hollywood (Thin White Duke remix) - Madonna

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Celebration [Benny Benassi remix] - Madonna

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fresh: mini-MAJR-disco-mix for RAW

I have the privilege of being the guest DJ downstairs at RAW on Friday! The exciting thing about RAW is that its motif puts an emphasis on the dirty disco side of things. I like disco in doses (yes, I'm getting a little tired of the alliteration here, too), but I can never pass up a track that has both disco and electro infused.

When asked to write something about this and provide an mp3, I could not pass up the opportunity to make a mini-teasermix of electro/disco tracks. Here is a mix that was a lot of fun to make. It includes some of the biggest disco enthusiasts (Scissor Sisters, Sneaky Sound System, etc.), as far as contemporary artists go. It's so disco, you'll have flashbacks of another life when you were passed out in a pool of your own vomit and blow in the Studio 54 bathroom. Hooray!

I'll be DJing downstairs all night long on Friday, so definitely come say hi... and annoy the bartenders by dancing around the oversized bar. Enjoy!

miniMAJRdiscomix - MAJR

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Tracklisting

essentials: Metric remixes

I am a huge fan of Metric. They have produced nothing but awesome albums, over and over, and I still want Emily Haines to have my babies. In any case, they aren't always on the top of my playlists, when it comes to dance club mixes, but they do have some really fantastic remixed tracks out there. Here are my favorite four of such. You should definitely own these.

The Sick Muse remix might be my most often used, as far as live sets go. It's perfectly transformed by Adam Freeland into a danceable track that's heavy on the electro, but not indulgent. The Twelves remix of Help I'm Alive is perfectly disco, and probably the most mass-accessible of these. The distorted, deliberate Applied Science remix of the HUGE hit (in Canada and U.K.) Gimme Sympathy is what I would call an "only for fans" track. It's nice, but only people who love Metric seem to like this remix... but, be my guest to love it too! It's great. Lastly, the remix that started it all for me, MSTRKRFT's remix of Monster Hospital, is my favorite and probably always will be for sentimental reasons. It was one of the first songs I ever used in any mix, and I still get up and move to it when I hear it live (which is basically never, sadly). Enjoy!

Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT remix MAJR edit) - Metric

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Sick Muse (Adam Freeland remix) - Metric

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Help I'm Alive (The Twelves remix) - Metric

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Gimme Sympathy (The Applied Science remix) - Metric

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remix monday: blue monday

It's Remix Monday again! Hooray! Well, here is an old favorite of mine that I would love to share with you all. It's by Verdis, an outfit that has previously shown some talent in remixing Plushgun, Jefferson Airplane, and Radiohead (I guess they just don't like easy songs to remix...). This re-working gives New Order's Blue Monday the perfect edge to play live in my sets, and it never fails in igniting a crowd. I figured it was time to release it to the masses! Enjoy :)

Blue Monday (Verdis remix) - New Order

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10 tracks you'll hear tonight!

Get ready for some serious dancing.

Any Which Way (Keljet remix) - Scissor Sisters

Hot N Fun (Boys Noize remix DJ MAJR edit) - N.E.R.D.

Hang With Me (MAJR mashmix) - Robyn

Get Outta My Way (SDP Extended remix) - Kylie Minogue

Shampain (Fred Falke remix DJ MAJR edit) - Marina & The Diamonds

In For The Kill (Le Castle Vania vs. MAJR remix) - La Roux

Remedy (Buffetlibre vs. Sidechains remix) - Little Boots

Heads Will Roll (DAN OH remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Fire In Your New Shoes (MAJR mashmix) - Kaskade ft. Dragonette

Rockin' High (Benny Benassi remix) - Fedde Le Grand