People taking the initiative is always welcome in a time where being bland leads to being cool. So, when someone puts out a product on a culture that’s in a creative limbo, we get to see its ups, downs, and all-arounds. With The Electro Wars, director and creatvor Stephen Vasquez wanted to capture the essence that is electro culture–from the skimpy skirts to the tightest jeans and the most distorted sounds humanly possible to manipulate. With an upcoming screening during the 2010 Winter Music Conference in Miami, Stephen took time to elaborate on his film and his origins of being a electro “warrior.”
For a little more hype around How to Make it in America, Cudi and his crew have released this mixtape as if it were a roster of who’s who right now. But this is quite good, starting early with a current favorite, the remix of Dan Black’s “Symphonies” featuring Cudi, and touching on Chromeo, Lupe and Kenna’s Haiti track, and UK indie firecrackers Florence & The Machine and The XX, among others. In the intro, Cudi says the way to make it in America is to “cut through all the bullshit.” This mix sounds honors that statement.
I've always liked the DJ-Kicks series especially when the compilers are not shy about going deep for their audience. Following suit, electro-pop darlings Chromeo have put together an impressive selection of various strands of disco, successfully flexing their record collections (an original copy of Toba's "Moving Up" could easily set you back a C-note) while educating their fanbase to the music that influenced them and informed a new generation of artists.
Though I find myself wishing the boys let some of the tunes run a bit ...
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