Friday, January 18, 2008

Will Eastman! Remixes! Le Freak! Washington D.C.!

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Codebreaker, "Riviera On The Moon (Will Eastman blisspop remix)" (YSI link)

Air, "Once Upon A Time (Will Eastman blisspop remix)" (YSI link)

The Hourly Radio, "Crime Does Pay (Will Eastman blisspop remix)" (YSI link)

Oh, did I mention the Pound for Pound reference on the Washington Post online site? That's right, friends, this humble blog got mentioned by one of the biggest sites in the world. Can't stop, won't stop until Tom Friedman uses me as an example of the world flattening in another of his awful columns. Get at me paper of record, the takeover has begun. Seriously though, congrats to Will Eastman on this great write-up, good to see the local press catching up to what we've been saying for a minute about this dude's talent. This is a good chance to re-up this post and the songs, don't sleep if you missed this one before.

It's been a shitty week, but I'm so super psyched to post up these remixes from DJ Will Eastman, a DJ that I hope will get much more attention and hype ASAP. For longtime readers, I'm sure that you've caught many references to Will and his various parties in Washington D.C., he's been one of the bright spots in a city not know for its raging. He got started in 1998, spinning indie, britpop, dance, disco and just about anything good at various spots. He started the Bliss monthly party at The Black Cat in September 2000 and this one's still going strong all of these years later. All of this is to say that this dude deserves far more attention than he gets; he's a talented DJ who mixes all kinds of music from the past, present and future with an eye to the dancefloor, who has been on the grind, making a scene where one might not naturally exist. Like I've said before, there's nothing that makes me happier than shining the spotlight on all of those people who hustle and make a city what iut is and hopefully help them get to a bigger audience.

I hope that these remixes above are just the ticket to get the word out, as they have been the soundtrack to my week. I'm honored to be given the exclusive first shot at his remix of Codebreaker's "Riviera On The Moon." This is like looking into a blog crystal ball and seeing two names that will be hyped from Brooklyn to Budapest, as Codebreaker is a super rad electro-funk band from Madison, Wisconsin. Eastman turns the original and makes it even more dance floor friendly with a huge bass, some vocal fuckery and driving drums. The chika-chika guitars find there place perfectly in this version, especially love how he takes everything else out and leaves the vocals over that guitar work, very nice. This is just really great stuff, sitting right on that pop/dance fence where so much of the best stuff coming out falls.

I've also upped two other remixes, the Air remix is as beautiful as you'd expect, blisspop indeed. However, it's The Hourly Radio remix that you need, an official remix for the single (Shiny Toy Radio contributed another one). Eastman's taken a really great song and turned it into something awesome, turning a indie song into a dance track with that (signature?) warm bass, hi-hats and cool 80s scratching synths.

If you lie in D.C. you really should just take a second, jot down my dude's schedule and pencil those parties into your day planner or Blackberry. His monthly Bliss party goes down again soon, February 8th, the perfect way to warm up this winter or to forget about the inexplicable fact that Obama won't put mandates on his health care plan. Even better, Will has his Friday night weekly called Le Freak at the Napoleon Lounge (1847 Columbia Rd.) in Adams Morgan going full steam ahead. If you haven't made it through, tonight's your chance to find your new weekly stop. No cover, doors at 10 pm, half-priced champagne (!!!) from 9-11, Will with special guests playing all of the music you want to hear - booty bass, disco, electro, classic house, pop, rap

For the rest of the country, check out Will's myspace page or the Bliss party one, bring him to your city. I know that he was just in Minneapolis for the Too Much Love jawn with Soviet Panda, I'd love to see some of my Pound for Pound party people and promoters and DJs help him destroy some other cities. Finally, for everyone else, download those songs, check out the Bliss website for new info and songs, be friends on said social networking site above, keep reading Pound for Pound, as we will hopefully have much more from Mr. Eastman. Yeah! Blisspop!

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