"There's a place for us scattered and uprooted peoples," says Sinkane mainman Ahmed Gallab, "a place we can all know as home, with elements of all our homes." That place, as it turns out, is Mars.
On one level, Mars is dense with deep, polyrhythmic grooves that hail directly to Africa; on another level, it's a 21st century party record that acknowledges the global music village in which we all now live. The music of Mars is kinetic, sexy and catchy. But at its core, it's one man's way of working through a very American story.
While elements of Mars come from all over the world, the album is very firmly rooted in a specific place: "This," Gallab says, "is very much a New York album." He met virtually everyone who appears on Mars within his first year of living in the Big Apple. But more to the point, Mars is the sound of someone figuring out how to exist in New York, as a stranger in a strange land - a feeling anyone can relate to anywhere.
That's why the album is called Mars. People use Mars to describe some place alien, weird, foreign, a place they don't understand. "It's where I feel like I am right now," says Gallab, "a desolate, tropical place filled with hope, ambition and love."
A formidable player on guitar, bass, keys and drums, Gallab is a virtual one-man band, playing at least four instruments on every track on Mars. But he enlists some top-flight musicians, like Twin Shadow, Yeasayer bassist Ira Wolf Tuton, former Shai Hulud guitarist Oliver Chapoy, members of Afrobeat band Nomo, and saxophonist/flautist stutzmcgee.
Tracklist:
1.Runnin'
2.Jeeper Creeper
3.Lady, C'Mon
4.Making Time
5.Warm Spell
6.Lovesick
7.Mars
8.Caparundi


More

One of Ireland’s finest and DFA mainstay Shit Robot returns to James Murphy’s legendary label, seven years after his last release for the New York heavy hitters.

Four classic cuts from the twisted machine mind that is Shit Robot. Distinctively punk, daringly futuristic, with a driving heart that’s as warped as it is welcoming. Entrancing body music for basements and big rooms alike, featuring Suzi Horn (Prinzhorn Dance School) and Mutado Pintado (Warmduscher, Paranoid London) on vocals. Recorded in London with Al Doyle (Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem) and mixed by James Murphy for the DFA.

DJ support: Optimo, Ivan Smagghe, Justin Strauss, Heidi Lawden, and Horse Meat Disco More

Shit Robot reunites with Nancy Whang for a sharp blast of raw-to-the-floor acid house - Spencer Parker bosses it on the remix, delivering a road-tested, siren-and-sub ‘Workmix’ and dub that’s in the (red) zone More

Holy Ghost! release their second twelve this month, more fantastic work from A/JUS/TED - the pairing of fellow DJ & Producer Justin Strauss also part of Whatever Whatever and Teddy Stuart/Eddie Mars (UNONYC). The remixers take on 2 consecutive singles from the Holy Ghost! LP "Dynamics" - both "Okay" and "Bridge & Tunnel" get stripped tweaked and reworked into 4/4 floor fillers, songs rebuilt from the ground up. Their current remix of the Blood Orange single "Uncle Ace" really has proved that this duo are on an official winning streak, and this 12" is a fantastic document of what they are capable of. A/JUS/TED have had steady single releases on Plant Music, Southern Fried and Under the Shade, and now back to back break through remixes. The 2 had this to say about Holy Ghost! Holy Ghost! has been an integral part of the New York music scene for so long now it seems - it was a pleasure to remix them. We both share an affinity for old analog gear -it seemed like a very natural collaboration. With "Okay" the idea was to build up to a re-imagined vocal and base a track around it. For "Bridge & Tunnel" we thought a more stripped down and chunky club jam would be a nice compliment to the original." More

The Crystal Ark return with a double pack 12” containing some wildly engaging stripped down mixes of 4 tracks off their debut album on DFA. Contains new versions of the songs Rain, Paradise, Ascension & We Came To. More

Limited vinyl edition of two previously digital-only singles by Berlin singer, songwriter, and producer. Dan Bodan, hailed by Pitchfork as "an expression of the storied NYC dance label's more oddball tastes." First up is "Anonymous", a poignant portrait of yearning for the post-Facebook generation. The A side is rounded out with a remix by DJ Richard (1/2 White Material with Young Male) that manages to drag the track to even deeper depths of anxiety. The flip features 2013 single "Hunger Games", a widescreen epic of a track that will be stripped down to the bare minimum on Dan's forthcoming LP. It features production by left-field dance geniuses Physical Therapy and Ville Haimala of Renaissance Man. Comes in a custom spineless picture sleeve featuring an illustration by Julien Ceccaldi. More

i did the "this beat is talking to you" (club mix) at my parents house in my old kinderzimmer. i forgot to take my blood pressure pills back then so maybe thats the reason it sounds like that. jacques renault is a old friend of mine who is one of the best djs. he told me he was working with mark verbos in the studio so i had to ask both for a remix. mark has already released awesome acid in 1994 on labels like DJAX-UP-BEATS and he is responsible for the best live performance i've seen in a hotel room in miami! secret circuit is eddie ruscha who doesnt need an introduction. but i heard his release on "beats in space" records and i fell in love with his 707 madness. furthermore looking at his sweaters was trippy enough for me to ask for a remix More

‘How You Say’ is the new single from Factory Floor. This is the third of three 12” singles and contains part of a wide and wonderful selection of remixes. This third 12" contains new versions, both from Bookworms, who turned in 2 new versions that were so good, we had no choice but to put them both out. Bookworms aka Nik Dawson, had recorded many striking singles for both L.I.E.S. & Confused House, collaborating with Steve Summers. This is his second remix for DFA (the first was for Larry Gus) and we are thrilled to have him back in the mix. More

This first 12 contains new versions from Daniel Avery (Phantasy), who released a striking debut album last year, as well as a string of much-played 12” singles. The 12" also contains a remix from Invisible Conga People (DFA), which marks the return of this elusive act, who recorded a fan-fave 12” for DFA in 2011, and have not been heard from since. More

‘How You Say’ is the new single from Factory Floor. This is the second of three 12” singles and contains part of a wide and wonderful selection of remixes. This second 12" contains new versions from Gunnar Haslam, who released a striking debut album last year on L.I.E.S., as well as a lean percussive house 12” single on Chicago’s Argot Records. The 12" also contains a remix from Helena Hauff (Werk/PAN),who made a distinctive mark in the dance community with a brilliant debut 12” on Werk as well as single on PAN under the alias Black Sites. More

Dedication is an ongoing collaboration of Japanese musicians and Western singers brought together by producer and DJ Felix Dickinson and Japanese artist Mikey Yamada. Felix Dickinson aka Foolish Felix has been releasing and remixing stellar disco for years, as L.H.A.S., Foolish & Sly and several releases under the name Dedication via his label, Cynic Music. Felix was part of the legendary Tonka Sound System with DJ Harvey, a pioneer of the early UK House music scene. He also co-hosts the Bring It parties alongside Idjut Boys. "I Aint Gonna Tell You" is Dedication's DFA debut. The single features the vocals of UK soul singer Brendan Reilly and a remix from DFA alumni DJ Kaos. More

The Juan Maclean returns with “Get Down (With My Love)” - part 3 in an alleged dance-floor trilogy that also includes the 2 singles released in 2013. “You Are My Destiny” & “Feel Like Movin’ were both instant classics and both were awarded Best New Track from Pitchfork. Both are still in heavy rotation. But part 3 in this 4/4 Odyssey is here now, and it cannot be ignored, so make room for all of them in your playlists and record bags. A full length album by The Juan Maclean is being mixed now for a Summer 2014 release. More

DFA is pleased to announce a split 12" single featuring remixes of Shit Robot by Paul Woolford and Juan Maclean by Leon Vynehall. Extremely limited, so move quickly. The creative partnership of Marcus Lambkin aka Shit Robot & Reggie Watts yielded "We Got A Love" one of the wonkiest house singles DFA has released. When we asked DFA remixing alumni Paul Woolford to have a crack at the tune, we had no idea Paul & his Special Delivery project would take off in such a major way. Either way, he strips and flips the rubbery soul of it into something leaner - and does very nuanced work to a special track. Feel Like Movin' was named Best New Track by Pitchfork. This officially makes it relevant and "critically acclaimed" so we won't spend any more time except to say it is the best song made by anyone ever and includes Nancy Whang on vocals. The remixing duties of this went to the capable and English hands of "overnight sensation" Leon Vynehall who turned in a sensational remix virtually overnight. As many have already brought to our attention, the remixing "rules". It does. More

The Hi-NRG history of Luke Jenner's hometown San Francisco is freshly revived for Shit Robot's cheekily-titled "Feels Real," on which Jenner plays the slinky Sylvester to Marcus Lambkin's Patrick Cowley wizardry. Meaty and a bit menacing, Jenner asserts "I think you'll always want my love" over washes of organ. It all builds to an ecstatic, shouted peak before the whirligig synths implode under the weight of Jenner's pure falsetto. For the remix, Luke Solomon scrapes off some gloss and opens synthetic space around the ghosts of a guitar lick, while extending the blissful vocal peak over analog bombast and tasteful strands of acid. More

The Juan Maclean has clearly reserved some crackling energy for "You Are My Destiny," his 19th release on DFA. Refracting frequent vocalist and former LCD Soundsystem band member Nancy Whang's vocals into glossolalic whirls before crashing into a full-on progressive peak-time tool, "You Are My Destiny" manages to make you believe the endearment of the title. Saved Records head Nic Fanciulli takes the reins for the b-side with a stripped remix that subverts the soaring vocal and numerous crescendos into a claustrophobic thump, while a crunchy bass line plays hide-and-seek with shy pads More

Lace Curtain is James, David & Mikey from Total Control, Rat Columns, Rank/Xerox, Eddy Current Suppression Ring et al, exploring an electronic world of pleasure, frustration and sadness. Bedroom dancers, synthetic singers, basement kicks in a romantic void. Influenced by the Germans, the Italians, pale British button pushers, glamorous alien pop futurists, Mid-Western sweat, NYC disco dreamers, undercover kings and queens escaping a dull grey world with rhythm and noise, sound and vision. 4-track EP with picture sleeve and digital download card. More

"Fall Back" is the first single from the forthcoming debut LP on DFA Records. The track is 8 minutes 30 seconds long. If you like Factory Floor, you will like this song. If you don't like Factory Floor, you will now. The B-sides are exclusive to vinyl and feature 3 separate loops taken from the single, created each by Dom, Gabe & Nik. The LP is due for release May, 2013. More

Holy Ghost! step out of the studio with a new track, "It Gets Dark". Recorded during the sessions for their next LP (coming in 2013), this dark dancer comes as a limited edition of 600 on single-sided vinyl, featuring the original and an instrumental. Comes with a free digital download card. More

"We Came To" is the 4th single by The Crystal Ark, the developing collaboration between Gavin Russom & Viva Ruiz. The song is a dance music rally cry - profound in its bare bones and raw production, and equally for the spanish/english lyrics - which praise ancestors and call out for liberation. The "House" and "Dub" versions featured on the single were mixed alongside the album version, which will be released later this year as part of the self titled debut LP by The Crystal Ark on DFA Records.
More