Ahhh, 2016 – another year, another Daft Punk rumor; yet, for once, the rumors of touring, studio work and new projects might have some sound footing. Coming hot of the release of The Weekend’s new track ‘Star Boy’, it’s very evident that the French duo has been back in the studio and laying down a little something something. Regardless of your personal raves and / or rants about the quality of the track, it begs the question: how long have they really been in the studio?? And now, there’s the website; if you’re a tried and true DP fanatic, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
But first, a little history. Deep in Birmingham’s Que Club, back in 1997, Daft Punk recorded the audio for their Alive 1997 – later released in 2001. Then, a decade later in 2007 – Daft Punk released a long anticipated follow-up album, aptly titled Alive 2007 (surprise). Both of these albums were accompanied by tours. With 2017, and their twenty year alive-aversary just a few short months away – could they be teasing a third live album, and mayyyybe even a tour?? A techno kitten can dream, can’t she? So when I saw the website for Alive2017.com – I might have freaked out, just a bit.
The website itself is a bit bland at first glance; however there is a little, itty bitty number sequence hiding right behind the I. Plus if I’ve learned anything about the way the world works: you should never judge a book by its cover, but you can definitely judge a website by its code. So, I dipped in – below, I break it down.
The first set of numbers looks like code, and the last four lines really look like location coordinates (I might watch a lot of CSI…).With a little plugging and chugging of each line of data, and slight manipulation like inserting a . between numerical segments, the first line 48 51 24 2 21 03 becomes 48°51’24.0″N 2°21’03.0″E, which is the longitude and latitude of Paris – France’s château de Techno. Plugging in the rest, you get:
48 51 24 2 21 03: Paris
34 03 118 15: Los Angeles
51 30 26 N 0 7 39: London
40 7128 74 0059: New York
35 6895 139 6917: Tokyo
23 5505 46 6333: Sao Paulo
39 0200 1 4821: Ibiza
33 7206 116 2156: Indio
That last location might be the most important: ARE THE COACHELLA RUMORS FINALLY GOING TO BE TRUE?!
Then, we get to the end of the code – the first thing I noticed was the ‘Wake Date 2016-10-27’; put a reminder, make a note, draw with permanent pen or get a damn tattoo – this date is important.
Last, but not least – ‘Shep Logged Out’: Shep was a character in the esteemed anime movie Interstellar 5555. And, as if we needed another nod, deep in the source index there’s an interval of 5555. Is it fate? Is it phony? Either way, I’m going to put on Homework back to back with Discovery and pray to the music gods that I’m not just addicted to Mr. Robot and this is all real.
In the tangible world, it’s only been two months since’s Autograf’s last remix; but to tried and true fans of the Chicago triumvirate those sixty some days can feel like a lifetime. Admittedly, he sultry Future Disco forerunners have been keeping themselves busy by taking their signature sound to clubs and parties on the East Coast and releasing exclusive mixes through Dancing Astronaut, Gotta Dance Dirty and most notably, THUMP and Too Future as of late. This morning, they returned to their downtempo, day party vibes with their take on the synth heavy, electro pop summertime anthem ‘Gust of Wind’ from Pharrell and the legendary Nu Disco duo Daft Punk.
Eliciting feelings of Pretty Lights, Griz and Late Night Radio, Autograf’s mix takes an equally eerie and seductive turn – reminiscent of their takes on classics like Marvin Gaye’s ‘Heard it Through The Grapevine’ and Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’. The end result is a groove perfect for pool parties and cruising to at high volumes in your ride.
“With the hot sunny days upon us, we decided to start the Future Summer remix series. For every month this summer, we’ll be taking a song we’re really feeling at the moment and giving it our Future House, summer-inspired remix treatment…And we’ll be giving them all away for free as a thank you to our fans. As a new group, it can be hard to get noticed, so we really appreciate people taking the time to discover and share our music. For the first one in the series, we couldn’t have thought of a better song to remix than Pharrell’s collaboration with one of our all-time heroes, Daft Punk.”
If the caliber of their remixes is any indication of future success, make sure to keep your eyes and ears out for Autograf in 2014. Be sure to grab tickets to their upcoming shows and stay up to date with them through their socials.
Looking back at my posts from the last year, one that stands out the most to be is my 2012 Year in Musical Review. Partially, because it’s catalyzed my writing career on multiple fronts – but mostly because music, especially kickass live music, is something I truly care about to my core. Music influences our moods, our personalities and even our daily interactions. Unless there’s something highly important and technical that I have a deadline for, I’m literally submersed in music 24/7 – from the time my alarm and I wake up, to my morning runs, to the drive to work, you get the picture: I more or less have provided myself with a soundtrack to my life. With my attention span as short as it is (…squirrel!…), I constantly refresh my collection of original jams, remixes and singles and try to take in as much live music as I can.
I’ve been leafing through the ticket stubs and reminiscing about the excellent year in music that I just had. From attempting to co-start a music forum site and to with The DJ List, my daily extra-curricular activities have always circled around new music, fresh artists and the latest and greatest they have to offer. Somehow, even though I’ve managed to be busier than I’ve ever been I’ve definitely managed to fit in some quality R&R (Rave & Relaxation) into the mix. So, without further ado – here are my musical musings for 2013; enjoy!
Truth be told, I’m sitting here trying my hardest to even place Cosmic Gate in second place because Above & Beyond’s sunset at Avila Beach was just so spectacular! It was a small crowd with unexpected surprises in store for everyone in my friend group – we each found someone at the event from out of town (LA, Riverside and SF) that we didn’t know was in attendance and were all simply wowed by the musical prowess the group possesses. But Cosmic Gate is not a team to be underestimated, during the live show they brought out my favorite pixie blonde vocalist, Emma Hewitt, and Jonathan Mendelson who gave a phenomenal first live vocal performance during Nic Chagall’s ‘This Moment’.
Best D&B show: Modestep at the Nokia Club, High Contrast w. Camo & Krooked at Dim Mak Studios
Best Deep / Tech House Show: Kaskade @ Focus OC’s 10 Year Anniversary
Best Progressive House Show:Eric Prydz / Pryda / Cirez D @ Create
Best Electro House Show: Gareth Emery @ XIV
Best Festival: Lightning in a Bottle
For the last six or seven years I’ve been a self-professed seasoned festival go-er and have a host of Insomniac, HARD and GoVentures events under my EDM belt (almost 40 if you want to get specific), but truth be told last year I only attended three festivals, one of them being Sea of Dreams on NYE. For as much as the lineup to HARD Summer thrilled my pants off, the event didn’t…however, Lightning in a Bottle and Sea of Dreams surely did. Each was musically right in their own right but on a more personal level, I truly felt bonded to the community that LIB and Burning Man cultivates and have actively been seeking out similar events ever since.
Best Festival Set:Keys n Krates, Dillon Francis, Alex Metric ((HARD Summer)) HeRObust, Pumpkin, Rusko, The Polish Ambassador, Odeza, Andreilien ((LIB)), LowRIDERz, A-Trak, Thievery Corporation ((Sea of Dreams))
Best Venue: Sea of Dreams @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium | NYE was one of the most amazing musical experiences I’ve ever had, everything about the night was golden and a lot of that is due to the venue and soundsystem that came with it; top notch.
Weird but Rad Venue: Lightning in a Bottle @ Lake Skinner, Temecula, CA | I was tempted to give LIB the gold star for ‘Best Venue’ but after the all of the shenanigans with the county and residents of Riverside, I’ll wait until next year to grant the festival that award. Basically, I want to see it shine in all of its glory; not just in my personal experiences but for the greater community in attendance as well.
Best Pool Party: Daylight
Best Party:Sea of Dreams
Best Up and Coming Venue:Sound in Hollywood
Favorite Reopened Venue: Create (previously, known as Vanguard)
Best Crowd: DoLab shows –Avalon | If you only remember one thing about the music scene in LA, let it be this: the Do Lab will always do you right. I always look forward to the art infused musical events they throw. Whether they’re at the Nokia Club, King King or out in the middle of nowhere Riverside – they make sure to cater to all of your senses and the people who show up are some of the nicest friends you hadn’t met you.
Douche-iest Crowd: XIV by Hyde, Greystone Manor, Sutra | I still hold by last year’s statement about Sutra, but now that I’ve finally attended events at Greystone and XIV I can easily bump those two to the top of the list. Maybe it goes hand-in-hand with my appetite for all things Do Lab and underground, but I can’t wrap my head around wearing 3″+ heals to a club and cozy-ing up to people just snag an extra drink (or five). I prefer the let-your-freak-flag-fly mentality of other events and prefer stomping around in flats to trying to maintain a proper demeanor in an outfit that’s definitely not meant for dancing.
Best Lasers:Create and Exchange have most definitely stepped their laser game up in the last year, far surpassing anything that Avalon has ever done (sorry guys – not knocking the place (it’s still rad!) but it’s true).
Ferry Corsten @ Exchange Hit us with those laser beams *pew pew pew*
Artists
Favorite Set/Act of 2013: Above & Beyond in Avila Beach
Best Surprise of 2013: Crywolf, Mitis, Kill Paris, Disclosure, Keys n Krates, Flume
So Glad I (Re-)Discovered: Bonobo, Emancipator, Shpongle, The Magician,
Remixes So Nicely: SubFocus, Flume
Best Remix-er: Boy Noize, Dillon Francis, Cazzette
Favorite Vocalists: Jonathan Mendelson, Alex Clare, Annabel Englund, MNEK, Chet Faker, Florence Welch, Emma Hewitt
Most Disappointing: Daft Punk everything; maybe because it was directly juxtaposed to Keys’n’Krates with their live instruments, but Duke Dumont was also pretty underwhelming live and looked like he was just pressing a button; last but not least, Cedric Gervais did absolutely nothing for me.
Vocalists Who Shouldn’t Perform Live with DJs: Danny Brown
People Who Should Be Reminded They’re Not DJs: Will.i.Am, Paris Hilton
Songs:
My Top 10 Songs of the Year
Depeche Mode – Soothe My Soul (Steve Angello + Jaques Lu Cont Remix)
Darkside – Papertrails
Oliver – Night is On My Mind (Dillon Francis Remix)
Disclosure – You & Me (Baauer Remix)
Seven Lions + Myon & Shane 54 – Strangers
Minnesota – Stardust Redux (Crywolf Remix)
Maya Jane Coles ft Karin Park – Everything
Thomas Jack – Booka Shake
Flume ft Freddie Gibbs – Holdin’ On (LKids Remix)
Lane 8 – Be Mine
Mat Zo – Lucid Dreams – (M Machine Remix) [runner up]
We’ve been having some strange weather as of late – April Showers bringing more May showers, not flowers (shake of fists) and lots of wind; but there’s a saying that you have to put up with the rain to get the rainbow, and in LA – when we have less than 20 rainy days a year, we really need to learn to take what we can get 😉
The Return of Daft Punk
I was going to come up with some cheeseball headline or witticism to drop on everyone; but when it comes to Daft Punk, there’s been so many rumors and so much hoopla about their comeback that it’s best to simply cut to the chase! In addition to the release of their next albumRandom Access Memoriesand their first single ‘Get Lucky’ – they’ll also be interviewed by Pete Tong during this week’s BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix *mini tribal*
If that wasn’t enough, listen to this itty bitty Tong Teaser from the man himself. He had the opportunity to interview Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, better known as the men behind the masks and creative genius of Daft Punk, at Coachella a few weeks back and seems like he couldn’t wait to share it with his fans. So collectively, from us to you – thank you, Pete Tong!
And what the hell, here’s there last Essential Mix from ’97:
Dexter: The Final Cuts
It’s like there’s some form of entropy in the entertainment world right now – one great thing comes back and another great thing makes it’s exit. For anyone and everyone who spent the last few years Darkly Dreaming Dexter, this is going to be a hell of a bittersweet Summer. June 30th marks the kickoff of Season 8 – the final chapters. When we left off in the Season 7 Finale, Deb had put an end to LaGuerta but had only just begun to feel the moral ramifications of being in Dexter’s world; Dexter, on the other hand, still has loose ends to tie up with Hannah McKay…or does he? Either way, this is the season not to miss!
Gettin’ Catty
There are a select ways I choose to kill time and roam the interwebs while I’m on a break at work: there’s Reddit (or, for the visual types – Scrolldit), Twitter, Thought Catalog – and lately, Buzzfeed. They all consistently have thought provoking (or, conversely – thought impairing) articles, blasts, facts, anecdotes and downright hilarious messages to get me thinking, laughing and catapulting myself through my day with expert precision. And let’s face it, I’m a sucker for a good cat meme…so click through the picture to see a whole lot more First World Cat problems!
“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.”
Groucho Marx
We’re down to the tail end of yet another month in 2013 and it’s left me sitting here, shaking my head while staring at my computer screen while I wonder where the time effing went. Sure, February’s the shortest month of the year but it was pretty stacked socially and, let’s be honest for a second, entirely exhausting! I’m looking forward to a few weekends of good R&R with the kitties, catching up on a few good books and getting my life back together. Well, until I’m threatened with a good time…and we all know how I react to fun 😉 There’s been so much exciting stuff going on in the past few weeks that I’m just going to get down to it; it’s the last Wednesday of the month – let’s go!
The Olympics Just Got A Whole Less Manly
The next Summer Olympics will be unlike any other – but primarily because one of the sports that can be traced back to the 18th Olympiad all the way back in 704 B.C. , has been eliminated: wresting; to put it in perspective, we’re now entering the 4th year of the 697th Olympiad. It’s not that I’m a huge fan of the sport, but I’ll agree that it’s both a graceful and powerful endeavor, and to boot one I’m surely not equipped to take part in. And the Olympics without Wrestling? That’s like the Bulls without Jordan, the 49ers without Steve Young, McDonalds without hamburgers…you get the picture. It’s just plain wrong – and upset fans, competitors and coaches agree; Japan’s Wresting Foundation has launched a petition to get it back into the Olympics, Las Vegas has already decided to bring the cash cow on home for some good old fashioned sports betting and some have even gone as far as returning their gold medals. First it was Bulgarian medalist Valentin Yordanov who returned his ’96 Gold Medal from Atlanta and now it seems that Russia’s Sagid Murtazaliev has followed suit and returned his Gold from the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Now, in the wake of it’s untimely Olympic exile – there’s a new question on the table: what sport is set to replace it? There are seven sports currently competing to take it’s place – baseball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wusho; if it’s not baseball or karate, I say nay.
We Want to See The Light
Even though I was just in that city of sin, I’m ready to head back – but there’s a whole new reason that I have that Las Vegas itch! Mandalay Bay has paired up with Cirque du Soleil and host of A-List DJs. Earlier we knew that Skrillex, that saucy minx, was in talks with the Cirque du Soleil crew but now we have confirmation that acts like Zedd, Alesso, Baauer and Sebastian Ingrosso will also be on the bill. Not that we needed it, but this elite pairing is further evidence of the staying power, and commercialization, of EDM – but knowing the caliber of the cast associated with LIGHT, there’s no doubt that this will be a top notch production. Mark your calendars because LIGHT is scheduled to open April 26th – just in time for the pool parties! For an all encompassing look at the talent LIGHT will boast – check out out that stacked lineup below the video!
Pluto Gets a Friend
I don’t know about you guys, but when Pluto’s planet status was demoted I was a little sad – I grew up with the guy, he was part of my dioramas, part of my science fairs. But then, in 2006, Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet. Since then astronomers have discovered several new moons that rotate Pluto with a strange orbit in addition to Nix and Hydra, discovered in 2005, and Charon, discovered in ’78. Until now, those moons have simply gone by P4 and P5. Their names were put up to a vote the other week through the SETI Institute and the winning name is …drumroll, please….Vulcan. That’s right, Trekkies everywhere rejoice – William Shatner entered the name late in the game, but it somehow still ended up on top. Live long and prosper!
In Russia, Moon Lands On You
To the complete shock of basically everyone, a meteorite broke through our atmosphere and decided to land itself on Mother Russia, the only country with dash cameras in every car. The meteorite broke apart over central Russia injuring approximately 1000 citizens, and the resulting shock waves rocked the infrastructure of the city and blew out windows like the big bad wolf on steroids. Scientists have been working to trace this meteorite back in time – and it seems that the meteor (which is what you have before it enters our atmosphere), originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. In turn, this has inspired NASA to team up with the Air Force to search for a way to prevent more detrimental asteroid attacks; anyone else picturing a real life Armageddon?
Welcome Back, Daft Punk!
I can’t tell you a time where there wasn’t a hot and heavy rumor about Daft Punk making a comeback – every other week we would hear something new but the sources were few and far between and we just couldn’t seem to catch a break. Well, the other night while we were all sleeping sweetly and our computers were dreaming of electric sheep – something was a buzz over at Daft Punk HQ: the famous french DJ Duo has not only ditched Virgin Records to join Columbia, but among the rumors they’ll be releasing a new album in May it seems that they’ve updated their logo. Should we take this as a sign? I say HELL YES; it’s been too damn long!
Time is seemingly just skipping on by this year. I swear just a few weeks ago I was lamenting how it was already summer and now – all of a sudden, fall is upon us. If you take the time and think about it, the older you get the faster time respectively seems to fly -when we’re younger, we have a lot of ‘novel‘ first experiences that stick their roots in us as monumental; as we get older, there are less and less of those unique milestones in our lives. Think about the first long drive you took – I bet it took forever, but on the way back didn’t it seem like a breeze? But if you’re one of those people that’s dragging their cute butt through the week, keep reading and maybe this will kick things into a higher gear.
Science
Amidst a considerable amount of controversy, UK based Channel 4 made a daring (and entertaining) move by observing participants under the effect of the recreational club drug MDMA. The study was designed by David Nutt and Valerie Curran – respectively professors of neuropsychopharmacology (say that five times fast) at Imperial College London and psychology at University College London. This study, much like a previous study on psilocybin, was conducted both in hopes of observing brain changes via fMRI and in the treatment of mental illnesses like depression and PTSD. Though not all volunteers will be shown on television, amongst the 26 were Evan Harris, a former member of Parliament, Lionel Shriver, a writer, and actor Keith Allen. If you’re like me, you won’t want to miss this – watch live this today (9/26) and Thursday (9/27) here.
Football
I can’t say that I’m a huge football fan, actually it’s one of my least favorite sports – next to the nonsports of professional golf and cheerleading. How-to-the-ever, I know enough football fanatics – including my best friends and parents, that I definitely can empathize with the current referee situation. On Monday, the Green Bay Packers faced off with the Seattle Seahawks in what ended up being an unfortunate loss by the CheeseHeads due to some Bone Headed officiating by replacement referees.
The NFL Officials are currently on strike – asking the league to provide thousands of dollars a year toward their pension plan. Per usual, the owners are being obstinate – hiring abysmal replacement referees and doing the best they can to keep the 2012-13 season in play. Also to note, the less clothed and talented Lingerie Football League had apparently fired some of the same replacement referees from their own league.
Entertainment
Following in the stellar footsteps of Daft Punk, Skrillex is venturing out of his dubstepbox and doing huge things for himself. Currently on his plate is the score for the upcoming James Franco movie the Spring Breakers as well as the upcoming Disney movie, Wreck It Ralph. He’s catching some considerable flack from parts of the EDM world but I think it’s actually pretty neat. I can’t think of many DJs, beyond Feed Me and potentially the ‘Mau5, that would excel at doing the score for the movie so major Kudos to Skrillex. And to boot, he gets his own cameo alongside John C Reilly and Sarah Silverman; the cameo isn’t in the trailer below but no matter -it still gets me excited!
Technology
Google Maps is at it again; no, this isn’t an anti-iPhone post – rather, it’s me getting excited about an innovative look at geography. They’ve paired up with the Catlin Seaview Survey to provide amazing underwater maps like the one below. We all could use a vacation, and now you don’t have to leave your desk to take one – head on over right now to take a gander at sea turtles, coral, schools of fish and sunsets from exotic locations like Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii.
It’s not so often that you can find your favorite movie in a hat trick like this – for free, in its entirety, and online. Well, someone’s gone and done it for Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555. Set to their album, Discovery – this is one of my all time favorite animated flicks to pop in during a lazy day.
Hands down, they’re one of my favorite DJ Duos (ironically, I had to explain their musical influence to my team at work to better market the movie Tron for Walt Disney Studios); if they were start touring again, believe you me: I will spend my last pretty penny to see them do their thang.
So, without further ado….the video that started it all for me:
![Pharrell - Gust Of Wind (ft. Daft Punk) (Autograf Remix) [Future Summer. Issue 1]](https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000081523077-iwbr77-t500x500.jpg?30a2558)
If that wasn’t enough, listen to this itty bitty Tong Teaser from the man himself. He had the opportunity to interview Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, better known as the men behind the masks and creative genius of Daft Punk, at Coachella a few weeks back and seems like he couldn’t wait to share it with his fans. So collectively, from us to you – thank you, 
The Bouncy Kitty 
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