“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” seems to be the operative adage in Green Label Sound’s philosophy. In this modern age of file sharing and ADD-style consumption of music thanks to the almighty blogosphere, we live in a culture dominated and dictated by “the single” (this really goes without saying). As record companies and album sales feel the heat, Green Label got with the program; backed by Mountain Dew (yes, Mountain Dew), GLS showcases independent artists through releasing exclusive tracks for a free download. After the success of working with dance duo Matt and Kim and The Cool Kids, Flosstradamus got the fateful tap on the shoulder to release an original collaboration track, a first for both the label and the Chicago DJ duo.
Josh Young and Curt Cameruci (J2K and Autobot, respectively)—renowned for their high energy DJ sets and ability to keep bodies moving on the dance floor the whole night through—saw this as their opportunity to showcase the softer side of Flosstradamus. For this, they turned to indie darling Caroline Polachek of the Brooklyn-based band Chairlift, whose song “Bruises” tickled the hearts of many after being featured in one of those career-making iPod commercials. The result of this collaboration is “Big Bills,” a song with a certain je ne sais quoi-type elegance both in its vocals and production, an addictive hook, and a darker message than its sugary-sweet surface seems to suggest.
“We knew we wanted to make it a dance track and make it a little more poppier than a lot of our other stuff. And it was for the ladies, to be honest. We wanted to make something more dance floor-friendly and a little bit more on the girl-pop end of things. And [Caroline] was perfect for it,” says Young.
In true 2009 fashion, the bulk of the collaboration was done virtually; the Flosstradamus boys crafted a series of 30 second instrumental loops and submitted them to Polachek, who then chose her favorite. “We worked on the preliminary stuff for the collaboration very similarly to Postal Service—just sending tracks back and forth via e-mail, talking a lot on the phone, exchanging references, talking about big ideas remotely. We didn’t actually meet for the first time until we were both in L.A.,” Polachek explains. They recorded the track in Los Angeles over a period of two days, where it took on a different shape and feel than previous Floss tracks.
“The whole process has been a totally different thing…before we just made little edits of songs—little, fun mash-up-y, remix-y things,” says Cameruci. What started out as fun and games soon turned into a more serious opportunity for the duo to become legitimate music producers; much of this artistic growth for the duo has taken place over the last year, including expanding their musical repertoire and commandment of equipment and technology. “[We've been] learning new software and what synths do. We had no idea how synths worked, like what knob does what…It’s like my new little hobby, I want to figure out the next thing and buy some vintage gear and all that. It’s a whole new phase in our lives,” he says.
Go to any of the sweaty, raunchy, epic dance parties that these boys put on and you’ll be hip to the fact that Flosstradamus is no stranger to playing and experimenting with diverse genres of music; yet, this new direction has caught some devoted fans by surprise.
“We’re fans of every different types of music, and we can create every type of music. So, when we did this with Caroline, we wanted to make this girly dance floor track, and that’s what we made. Some of our original fans were like, ‘Oh, I thought you were going to make a banger!’ And we can make a banger,” says Cameruci. “We’ve gained a lot of new fans because of this.”
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