Crosstown Rebels announce Rebel Rave Global Tour

Crosstown Rebels has announced a worldwide Rebel Rave tour beginning this month.

The extensive tour will celebrate the label's first decade in business and will feature some of its most popular DJs. The Rebel Rave Global Tour began earlier this month and continues through to the beginning of May, marked by a new and forthcoming instalment of the Rebel Rave series, including a mix by recent RA podcaster Subb-an.

Over the next few months the tour will hit cities in Australia, Japan, Canada, and the US, with a stopover in Hong Kong as well. The mid-spring European leg will bring the Rebels to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Germany and several dates in Italy, before winding down on a final trip through the UK, Russia, Sweden and Mexico.

Among the many artists billed to perform on the tour are founder Damian Lazarusand core Crosstown artists Jamie Jones, Maceo Plex, Art Department, Dinky, Subb-an, jozif and Amirali. Carl Craig, Roska, Cassy, Apollonia and Tiga have also been tapped to play.

Venues have not yet been announced, but initial lineup details and a complete list of cities are available below. The label have prepared ashort trailer for the tour as well.

CROSSTOWN REBELS 10 YEAR TOUR DATES Jan 25, Untitled, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Damian Lazarus, Subb-an Jan 26, El Rosario, Lima, Peru: Damian Lazarus, Infinity Ink, Subb-an, Jozif Feb 16, SCA, Sydney, Australia: Damian Lazarus, Subb an, Shaun Reeves, Francesca Lombardo, Brohn Feb 17, Brown Alley , Melbourne, Australia: Damian Lazarus, Subb-an, Shaun Reeves, Francesca Lombardo, Brohn Feb 22, Womb, Tokyo, Japan: Damian Lazarus, Subb-an Feb 23, Small & Tall, Hong Kong, China: Damian Lazarus, Subb-an Mar 01, Private Loft, Chicago, US: Damian Lazarus, Art Department (Kenny Glasgow), Infinity Ink, Subb-an Mar 02, Williamsburg, Event Space, New York, US: Damian Lazarus, Art Department (Kenny Glasgow), Infinity Ink, Amirali, Subb-an, Droog Mar 08, Stereo, Montreal, Canada: Damian Lazarus, Infinity Ink, Subb-an Mar 09, Moskito, Toronto, Canada: Damian Lazarus, Infinity Ink, Subb-an Mar 14, Public Works, San Francisco, US: Damian Lazarus, Art Department (Kenny Glasgow) Mar 16, Los Angeles, US: Damian Lazarus, Art Department, Maceo Plex, Maya Jane Coles, Subb-an Mar 23, Electric Pickle, Miami, US: Full Rebels Crew & Very Special Guests Mar 30, Into the Deep, Amsterdam, Holland: Damian Lazarus, Infinity Ink, Fur Coat, Richy Ahmed Mar 31, Nordstern, Basel, Switzerland: Damian Lazarus, Francesca Lombardo Apr 07, Venue T.B.A , Barcelona, Spain: Damian Lazarus, Fur Coat, Subb-an, Francesca Lombardo, Bill Patrick Apr 12, Cafe D'Anvers, Brussels, Belgium: Damian Lazarus, Amirali, Francesca Lombardo Apr 13, Bob Beaman, Munich, Germany: Damian Lazarus, Deniz Kurtel Apr 19, Spazio Energie, Rome, Italy: Damian Lazarus, Infinity Ink, Subb-an Apr 20, Link, Bologna, Italy: Damian Lazarus, Infinity Ink, Subb-an Apr 21, Moxa , Mantova, Italy: Damian Lazarus, Infinity Ink, Subb-an Apr 26, Canal Mills, Leeds, UK: Damian Lazarus, Art Department, Francesca Lombardo, Tiga Apr 27, Warehouse SE1, London, UK: Damian Lazarus, Ali Love, Deniz Kurtel, Subb-an, Francesca Lombardo, Matthew Styles & Dinky, Kiki & Silversurfer, Pier Bucci, Rob Mello Apr 28, Arma 17, Moscow, Russia: Damian Lazarus, Jamie Jones, Art Department, Bill Patrick May 04, F-16 , Stockholm, Sweden: Damian Lazarus, Art Department, Deniz Kurtel May 07, Marvellous Island, Paris, France: Damian Lazarus, Art Department, Deniz Kurtel, Subb-an, Francesca Lombardo May 08, Panorama Bar, Berlin, Germany: Damian Lazarus, Art Department, Infinity Ink, Amirali, Francesca Lombardo May 11, End of Tour Party, Mexico City, Mexico: Details TBA

Hot Waves 4 Revealed

Hot Creations sub-label Hot Waves will release its fourth compilation later this month.

Hot Waves Vol. 4 sees a number of new faces joining the label's roster, with the likes of Lil' Mark and Carlo Gambino appearing for the first time. A number of Hot Creations/Hot Waves regulars also feature, including label co-founder Jamie Jones, who turns in an edit of Alexis Raphael'sHNQO follows up last year's Pain ‘n’ Love EP on Hot Creations with a track called "City Lights". The compilation will follow the same pattern of previous instalments, with a vinyl sampler preceding the the full digital release.

Tracklist
01. Buckley feat Ives St. Ange - Back The Tower
02. HNQO feat. Bip - City Lights
03. Simon Baker & Robert James feat. England Brooks - Get Up High
04. Lil Mark - Fat & Destiny
05. Alexis Raphael - Rave (Jamie Jones Edit)
06. Human Life & Anabel Englund - Falling
07. Filthy Rich - Do It Again
08. Tom Ruijg - S For Sticky
09. Denney - Shake The Club
10. Julien Sandre & Dast - Reality
11. Blond;ish, Balcazar & Sordo feat. Bastard Love - Island Eyes
12. Carlo Gambino - Body 2 Body
13. Kameleon - Fuel To The Fire
14. Mike Gill - Furious
15. Mykel Haze & Marco Darko - Computer Love
16. Metrika & Bastard Love - Not My Lady

Hot Waves will release Hot Waves Vol. 4 on January 28th, 2013.

Maceo Plex: Sleazy Rider Interview

Success is a blessing and a curse. Just ask Eric Estornel. 2011 was his biggest year yet as a musician. But he got there under a name he wasn't expecting—Maceo Plex—and the speed with which it happened was almost too much to handle. "I was surprised," he says. "I couldn't believe it. But that's the power of Crosstown [Rebels]." Damian Lazarus' imprint released Estornel's debut Maceo Plex album, Life Index, to rave reviews last year. It came at a moment when slower, funkier house was just beginning to take over clubland, and deep and sexy tracks like "Vibe Your Love," "Your Style" and "Can't Leave You" became monster hits as a result.   

And now? Now is when things get interesting. Riding high on the new wave of interest in his work, Estornel started his own label—Ellum Audio—late in 2011, and is already six releases in. While its first record was yet another Maceo Plex monster hit, "Stay High Baby," Estornel says that he is slowly heading away from the sound that made him famous. "I think the biggest mistake would be to do too much of one thing," he explains. And Ellum Audio's latest release is by his harder, more techno-oriented project Maetrik... albeit with a Maceo Plex remix. "I don't want to veer off too fast," he says.   Ellum Audio, which was originally started to simply provide an outlet for the enormous amount of music that he was writing, has now become a more considered affair. "Now we're actually, like, let's think about where we want to go musically instead of just getting out what's been written now. We're actually trying to write things for it. Hopefully this time next year it's going to be ten times more serious than it is now—and much more of a force to be reckoned with."  

This is the curse of success. How to maintain it after it first comes. How to build upon it to make it something even bigger. Talking to Estornel, it's obvious that he wants to take it to the next level, but he wants to do so on his own terms. He wants to be able to bring all of his aliases along with him for the ride. "Pretty soon, I'll find the balance, I'll be able to satisfy that thirst to make good underground records as well as big dance records. If I don't, I'll go insane," he explains. "It's funny, because you make these records that people love, and it's nice to see that these big dance records have connections with so many people. You just wish they connected more with you. It's your records that don't sell and nobody cares about that are the ones that you connect most with personally, so you kind of have to find a balance."  Estornel knows a bit about records not working. At the start of his career, he admits, the stuff that he made was too experimental. He grew up in the surprisingly vital Dallas scene, learning to produce from Gerard Hanson, AKA Convextion and E.R.P. "He's one of my best friends. He was kind of the one that taught me how to produce. Him and Dan Kurzius were the ones that I met when I started buying gear. They sold me their gear. It's a little bit sad to think about all my friends who made really, really good music but never got any attention."   

Estornel was the same for a number of years, working part-time jobs to make ends meet while he made electro—his first love—IDM, glitch and "minimalist techno." The focus, however, was much more on the music. Not as much on the needs of the party. "In my early days we were pretty purist about the music we listened to. I eventually kind of put being a purist aside [to try] to make dance records. About five or six years ago, I started going to clubs more and realizing that my music didn't work. There was a pretty major paradigm shift around 2005 where I started making tech house that could actually be played and enjoyed in clubs... Some artists are fine with that, and some others start realizing well, I dowant to make people dance. I respect the purists that just don't care, because there is a side of me that is like that, but at the same time I was like, well I could put my technical skills to use and actually make some dance records."    

"In an underground purist  sense, I sold out."     

Looking over Estornel's voluminous discography you can see what he means. His electro/IDM alias Mariel Ito had a very short-lived history, apparently the result of his epiphany that occurred in clubs (many of them European) in which he saw his music falling flat. (Soon, he'll revive the alias with a track on Ellum Audio—backed by an E.R.P. remix.) "I was kind of weirding people out. I started realizing that I should stick around and watch [other people's] sets and I remember listening and thinking 'Oh my God, it's so easy. It's got a 4x4 beat, typical sounds and typical loops.' I was so into this sound design stuff. [But] then I realized it wasn't as easy as it looked to make people dance. It took a while to learn how to make dance records."  

By this time, Estornel had a decent following for his Maetrik alias—and plenty of labels eager to give him the room to figure things out. This resulted in plenty of chances to release his music throughout the latter half of the '00s on labels like Treibstoff, Dumb Unit and Dirtybird sub-label Mothership. It was here that things started to get simpler in some ways—and more complex in others.   

"Deep down inside I would rather become more [recognized] on the experimental side, but I'm not the best experimental person either so something is better than nothing," he says, now referring to his success as Maceo Plex. "I could have probably tried to be better and better in the experimental and techno and minimal techno scene, but it wasn't until I tried out the house thing that people actually cared."  So, where do we go from here now that people do? This is the question that Estornel is wrestling with. As mentioned, he's cautious not to veer too quickly into a different sound—lest he confuse his new hard-won fans. He's also cognizant that his old fans are probably a bit confused as to why he's seemingly made such a wholesale move to house music. "In an underground purist sense, I sold out, but the way I justify it is that I don't make as bad records as others, so at least I sold out halfway [but] not too far," he says. "Now it's a matter of trying to reincorporate the sound design and the actual things I care about and getting the attention again of some of my earlier supporters that are kind of missing the old days. I'm trying to find a balance now." 

Hot Waves Vol.3

Hot Waves, a digital offshoot of Hot Creations, will release its third compilation later this month.

Hot Waves Vol. 3 mostly features new additions to the Hot Creations family like Mark Jenkyns, Tom Ruijg and France's Julien Sandre. Some of the usual suspects make an appearance as well, though, including Alexis Raphael, label co-founder Lee Foss and Hot Creations staples Richy Ahmed and Miguel Campbell, who deliver a collaborative track, "Tell Me Why." Per usual, the compilation will be available digitally, preceded by a double 12-inch featuring six selections from the full 14.

In related news, Hot Natured, the key duo behind Hot Creations, just got twice as big: core members Lee Foss and Jamie Jones have welcomed Luca C and Ali Love into the lineup. The four artists have been busy recording an album together in LA, with the first single, Benediction, due out at the end of October.

Tracklist
01. Alexis Raphael - Warhorn
02. Julien Sandre & Dast - Wanna Be
03. Lee Webster - Spending All Her Money
04. Robert James - Body Movement
05. wAFF - Sunshine
06. Bartolomeo - Jean Is Not Death
07. Tboy & Wildkats - Denied
08. Tom Ruijg - Space Frase
09. Guilhem & Remi Mazet - Zohra
10. Lee Foss - Life On Mars
11. Mark Jenkyns - Moola
12. Richy Ahmed & Miguel Campbell - Tell Me Why
13. Digitaria - Crazy Life (Funky Fat Remix)
14. Dirty Channels - So Special

Hot Waves will release Hot Waves Vol. 3 on September 24th, 2012.

Back In Flight School Miguel Campbell Debut Album

Miguel Campbell will release his debut album, Back In Flight School, this October on Hot Creations. 

Campbell has been on the scene for years, DJing, making tracks (both under his own name and as part of the duo MAM) and running a label, but his career really took off in 2010 when Jamie Jones heard his track "Something Special" at the Miami Winter Music Conference. Jones released it the next year on Hot Creations, bringing Campbell into the fold of one of the year's biggest labels. His new LP works with the same ingredients that made that song a hit: house production, disco swagger and moments of unabashed pop crossover. It features guest production from Matt Hughes, Campbell's partner in MAM, plus vocals from a cast of Leeds artists (Becks Lott, Naroe, Olly Smith, Alex Mills and Ninjitsu). 

Back In Flight School will be the first full-length on Hot Creations. It will reportedly be followed by albums from Hot Natured (Jones' duo with fellow label head Lee Foss) and Foss solo, both due out in 2013. 

Tracklist
01. Flight School
02. Love Electric
03. Not That Kind of Girl
04. Into Your High
05. Rockin’ Beats
06. Boy
07. The Avenger
08. Something Special
09. Beams of Light
10. Life
11. In Motion
12. Night Mode
13. Dedicated Music
14. Sky Mode
15. Take Off

Hot Creations will release Back in Flight School on October 29th, 2012.

Rob da Bank - Jamie Jones Interview

One of the biggest DJs in the world dropped in to Rob's show on Saturday July 21st for a chat and to play some incredible new music!

To hear the full interview head to www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/robdabank (online until Saturday July 28th)

Rob da Bank - strange and beautiful leftfield music - Saturday 5-7am BBC Radio 1

Jamie Jones Interview

Pulse Radio Interview With Jamie Jones

Last October in Sydney, the Circus came to town via the infamous hedonistic party that is Circo Loco, bringing with it the one and only Jamie Jones. Since he was last in Australia around 12 months ago, Jamie has been producing some pretty heavy releases through labels like Crosstown Rebels and his very own Hot Creations, alongside winning a Best of Brit Award for his dance floor anthem 'Summertime' while holding down his residency at Circo Loco in Ibiza. Not too bad for a punk from Wales who started on a Playstation. Ladies and gentleman, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce the amazing Jamie Jones…

Pulse: When you first started mixing, did you have any idea you would make your living from being a DJ? Jamie Jones: I didn’t even think about it to be honest, I don’t remember at any point thinking about the money and career aspect, I just wanted to make and play music. It’s only when I started to actually get gigs and an agent that I started to look at it as a career.

"I was there (Circo Loco) the first time everybody did the sitting down thing on a breakdown, nobody knew what the hell was going on, but it was, without sounding too cheesy, magical."

I read somewhere you taught yourself beats and melodies on a Playstation, is this correct? If so, what game was it? Yes, I remember the last actual game I ever played on any console was Tomb Raider 1. Once I completed that the next game I bought was Music. It was a pretty simple sequencer, which had a load of drum samples and synth sounds. I just made tracks everyday after school for hours.

What kind of music came out of these earlier compositions? It was kind of progressive, a bit trancey. At the time the big records around were things like Nalin and Cane with Beach Ball. I was more into house, even then, but the sounds were pretty synthy so you were a bit limited. For example, you couldn’t sample disco like Armand Van Helden and Daft Punk were doing.

Obviously your music and studio has evolved since then, what are you using in there at the moment? Now I mainly use analogue gear, I have several synths and drum machines, including a Jupiter 8, 909, 606, 101, various Nords and Korgs which all run around a Midas Venice 32 channel desk, and a Mac Pro… Wow, geek off [laughs].

Do you have favourite software or pieces of equipment? It has to be my Jupiter 8; it’s my pride and joy. There was only 2000 ever made and it was Roland’s flagship synth, probably still is, even though they don’t make them anymore. The sounds from this thing are incredible.

Is there any rules or basics you stick to when producing? I have a formula, but I’m always looking to change that formula and do something different, so no rules really.

Recently you won the Best of British Award for Best Single with Summertime. How does that feel? Yeah, it was really cool. I mean I’m not big on awards, but readers of Dj Mag voted for this, so its nice people like my music and want to support me. It’s always good to know people are listening

Did you have any idea Summertime would be so big? Not at all, I sat on the original version on my laptop for ages, as I wasn’t sure anyone would like it. It took Clive Henry to hear it and instantly love the hook before I even played it to anyone else.

Do you have any stand out memories from Circo Loco? Wow… so many. I was there the first time everybody did the sitting down thing on a breakdown, nobody knew what the hell was going on, but it was, without sounding too cheesy, magical. The early days were super good also, 2000 to 2003; I was so young, and just going crazy every single week of the summer. It’s such an honour to be part of the team now.

What’s in the future for Jamie Jones? So many things are going on. A second solo album is almost done, a debut album as Hot Natured with Lee Foss is half done and some amazing music is coming out from new artists on my Label Hot Creations.

Finally, analogue or digital? Oh, Analogue always when possible, but digital when necessary is nothing to turn your nose up at.

Alana Whiting

http://www.pulseradio.net/#/articles/2010/11/jamie-jones