POPAGANDA FESTIVAL: STOCKHOLM TONIGHT!

ill be headlining the lilla stage after deportees and in between Likke Li and MGMT… if you are in sweden hope to see you there!

Michael Jackson Remix Suites Continue On…

Photo: Sam Yeh/Getty Images

Two New Michael Jackson Remix ‘Suites’ To Drop Next Month
Five installments will be packaged together as Michael Jackson: The Remix Suites I-V, due October 27.
Posted By James Montgomery Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:49:00 GMT

The first installment of Universal Motown’s expansive Michael Jackson: The Remix Suite project hit digital retailers Tuesday, and already, the label is readying the second edition of the series — and a third too.

Suite II will premiere online September 8 and features some of the biggest names in dance music remixing Jackson 5 tracks: house DJs Frankie Knuckles (“Forever Came Today”) and David Morales (“I Want You Back”), superstar DJs Paul Oakenfold and Steve Aoki (both of whom take on “Dancing Machine”) and disco don Dimitri From Paris (“I Want You Back”).

Suite III bows September 22 and boasts a lineup of some of the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B tackling even more J5 tunes. Jackson’s friend and collaborator Akon remixes the classic “Ben,” red-hot producer No ID contributes a version of “Who’s Lovin’ You” and hitmaker Benny Blanco takes on “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Producers Emile Haynie (“Maria”) and Sturken & Rogers (“Maybe Tomorrow”) also appear.

The just-released Suite I features remixes of Jackson 5 classics like “Dancing Machine” and “ABC” by hip-hop heavyweights like the Neptunes, Dallas Austin and Polow Da Don, and recently, Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus told MTV News that he would be involved in an upcoming Suite as well.

According to a spokesperson for Universal Motown, there will be five Remix Suites released in total, featuring work by artists like Swizz Beatz, Q-Tip and Rodney Jerkins. All five will then be collected in a physical album — called, appropriately enough, Michael Jackson: The Remix Suites I-V — due October 27.

Article at MTV.ca

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Steve Aoki Article in Catch 22 Magazine

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Steve Aoki
To most people, describing their occupation is as easy as ticking a box in on a form. However for Steve Aoki, it’s a little trickier than that…
This entrepreneurial globetrotter is far more than just a DJ.
He runs the successful record label DIM MAK.
Works under the production moniker ‘Weird Science’, which boasts clients as big as Snoop Dogg, Timberland, Duran Duran & Lenny Kravitz.
He’s the host of LA’s hippest clubnight at celebrity hangout ‘CineSpace’.
Hosts a second club night & management company with DJ AM.
Extended the DIM MAK label into a ‘must have’ clothing line.
He’s designed shoes for Supra, headphones for WESC and sunglasses for Ksubi.
Sings in various musical side projects,
AND he’s been immortalized in an NBA video game!
Have I missed anything?
Oh and to top it off, his every move is stylishly documented by his partner in crime, photographer Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter.
Which begs the question, when on earth does he find time to sleep?
Well as the title of his debut L.P, “Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles”, would suggest, this guy only catches Z’s while on the move!

A mere 4 hours after his banging all night set at the Social Club in Paris, I caught up with Steve at his hotel to discuss his European Tour, silly stage names & stumbling up the career ladder.
“The tour’s been really good. Every show has been like last night. Really high energy! It’s different [from America] in Europe, because before something’s no longer cool, they’ve already moved on to the next trend. Whereas in America, that next trend has yet to hit them.”
And it seems that Steve wants to be the one to bridge that gap. His debut L.P sees him spanning the genres with a mix album of diverse artists, from Santogold, to Franz Ferdinand, to J.U.S.T.I.C.E.
“I think what we’re doing is part of this different movement of electronic music, the same way punk was to rock’n’roll. Not necessarily cutting ourselves away from house music, but we’re definitely creating a whole new sound. I think [the crowd] feel like they’re a part of something new as well. It feels new to me every time!”
Ever the entrepreneur, while in college, Steve starting running regular gig nights out of his own living room, hosting up to 450 bands, the likes of which included Jimmy Eat World, The Rapture & At The Drive In.
That’s when he started his record label DIM MAK, a name meaning “Death Touch”, in honor of his childhood hero Bruce Lee.
“I feel like that was more accidental, DIM MAK was never set up as a business. It has to be now because there’re too many responsibilities. But when it first started there was no investing, there were no promo’s sent out, nothing. It was really underground. Our first investors were Benji & Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, which is really strange, but they’re the first people that thought that there was something special with the label.”
With the business wheels in motion, Steve decided to pass on the chance to go to University and live out his dream of becoming a research professor. Instead he went on to discover and sign bands as prestigious as The Kills, The Rakes, The Gossip & Bloc Party, and that was just to begin with! These days DIM MAK, which is now in it’s 13th year, houses a hefty roster of artists including Armand Van Helden, Mystery Jets, The Bloody Beetroots, Whitey, and the recently signed MSTRKRFT.
“When I first decided that I was going to dedicate all my time to this label, I wasn’t making any money whatsoever. The money I was making was from doing small DJ gigs and parties, making $100 here and there. I was just like anyone else struggling in LA, because my parents weren’t helping me out. I was really on my own! So I put all the money I was making from the DJing, into DIM MAK to make it bigger and better, so we could sign bigger bands. For the first 10 years, I was broke, but we had a successful label because I was putting all my money into it. At that point I’d dumped $100,000 into DIM MAK, and I was broke. I had about $2000 in my bank account. That’s the truth. I was giving everything I made to the label.”
I found it quite surprising to hear Steve talk about how he struggled financially with no help from his parents, considering he’s the son of successful businessman Rocky Aoki (founder of the Benihana Restaurant chain).
That factor came to head at an early DJing gig, when the name ‘Kid Millionaire’ was randomly bestowed upon him. It’s a name that has since dogged his career due to the irony depicting his ties to a family fortune.
“Everyone thought that I named myself that because my family are doing well, but it was absolutely not the case. It was complete weird irony. That’s when all the press were eating up that name. Everything was just about me, the name, and the irony behind it”
Surely that in itself makes it more difficult to have credible success away from his family name? However, there’s nothing about Steve that suggests him to be a “trust fund baby”. It’s clear that he has a strongly ingrained work ethic that can only be achieved through trial & error, and he’s worked long and hard to prove that.
After establishing his record label, Steve then expanded DIM MAK into a fashion label.
“The truth is that I kind of stumbled into it. I’d been screen-printing shirts since I was in High School. Then in college, I’d buy thrift store shirts, screen print them, and then sell for five bucks. That’s how we made DIM MAK shirts, but it wasn’t ever a line, you know? Then when I started DJing, I would get booked across the US doing these weird industry parties. One of them that I was consistently doing was called Magic Trade Show. It’s where all the brands go to sell their lines. They gave me a free booth, and paid me to DJ. That’s how it started, I had a free booth to sell clothes, and then we got a few stores. But it started really gangster, with an ‘out of the back of a truck’ vibe. No promotion, nothing! Then I started talking to developers, got some designers in and the line started to grow. It’s been a couple of years and now it’s a pretty substantial and manageable line that’s in-house.”
Clearly not one for resting on his laurels, Steve has also designed lines for a series of other labels, and is currently releasing a range of sunglasses with Australian brand, Ksubi.
“[Ksubi] are really close friends. They’re also developing a unisex line with my sister Devon (Model/Actress Devon Aoki).

In spite of his phenomenal success, one of Steve’s most notable qualities, is how incredibly down to earth he is. A grounded person, he seems very much in touch with the roots of his business.

“My mum always taught me to be a humble person. I’d say the most important thing is to have a really reliable and trusted team that can develop all the different things that you’re working on. That’s the hardest part, finding a team of people you can trust, that can get the job done the way it should be. Most people can take orders and get a job done, but it’s hard to find an entrepreneur that can go down that path with you. So I constantly keep in touch with my staff to make sure all these different projects are handled.

With practically every industry covered, where else is there to possibly go? A DIM MAK Empire maybe?

“I just want all the artists [on DIM MAK] to be successful. My goals are very concrete and short term. I know what I want and need to get done in order to continue moving forward. Five years later, who knows where I’ll be, or what I’ll be doing? I could be a janitor! Who knows? I could be anything. Anything could happen, I could be happy…being a plumber, plumbers make money!

Hardly the words of a ‘Trust Fund Baby’, but with that kind of mindset, it’s suddenly clear why Steve Aoki is successful in all of his ventures.
Occupation: Superstar.

www.myspace.com/steveaoki
www.dimmak.com
www.thoecobrasnake.com

ELEPHANT & DOG BEST BUDS

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ALEX PASTERNAK – LEMONADE

Alex Pasternak was an old friend from the Santa Barbara days. We had a band together called The Fire Next Time in early 2000 era. We recorded an album that came out on Dim Mak. Check out his new band LEMONADE… pretty trippy shit!

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