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It hasn’t been too long since Chronic Mncher had to move on to bigger and better things, but no evil comes without some good. Even though a major piece of C+A+D will be missed, a whole new life is born in the form of Alton Square. A DJ duo of Irvine’s own Godzilla Toboggan (Chronic Mncher) and Alan Artin. Together they’re throwing down some synthy house tracks that I’m pretty surprised to say I love. Not that I’d expect anything less…but it’s awesome when some of your homies get together to make something great. Their tracks range from dubstep to house to remixes and hip hop. All this experimenting will definitely find them a niche where I know they can thrive. I’m so pumped to see what else they put together in the future. In the meantime, here are some of their latest tracks that you can pick up from their soundcloud.

Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream (Alton Square Remix)

Alton Square – Del Playa

Alton Square – Kryptoknight

For the past two weeks or so I’ve been jammin out to this low-key Norwegian duo, Lemaitre. Smooth riffs, hard kicks and refreshingly peculiar breakdowns, they’re a sort of indie electronica. These guys are bursting with creative genius; think Ratatat meets Royksopp with a lil Deadmau5 on the side.  I can dig.

Lemaitre – Momentum
[audio: https://controlaltdelight.com/Music/WW00000MP/womp8/Momentum.mp3]
Lemaitre – The Friendly Sound
[audio: https://controlaltdelight.com/Music/WW00000MP/womp8/The%20Friendly%20Sound.mp3]
Lemaitre – Nishio
[audio: https://controlaltdelight.com/Music/WW00000MP/womp8/Nishio.mp3]
Lemaitre – Fossil Fuels
[audio: https://controlaltdelight.com/Music/WW00000MP/womp8/Fossil%20Fuels.mp3
Lemaitre – 1:18
[audio: https://controlaltdelight.com/Music/WW00000MP/womp8/1_18.mp3]

In a scene congested with mundane electro music, one mans been producing in a more intricate and abstract way. Chunky basslines, adamant distortion and relentless drops, Vancouver based Felix Cartal has been busy pioneering new strains of attention-grabbing house. Just last month, Felix dropped his newest EP, ‘Solar/Lunar,’ on Dim Mak Records and wow; I can vouch that it’s some of his best work yet. I had the pleasure of catching Felix Cartal, in all his glory, at 8Eighty8 a couple weeks ago as he dropped a stupefying barrage of musical ingenious. I caught a word with him after his set and told him my readers would roll over on their keyboards for a quick interview.

C+A+D and Felix Cartal

C+A+D: How did you get started?

Felix: Started out creating a few electronic interludes for my old band’s albums, from there I got more into the software I was using — particularly Reason, and started creating full tracks. Other DJ’s showed support for my music, and then it just sort of snowballed from there.

C+A+D: Which came first, DJing or producing?

Felix: Producing for sure. Never thought of myself as a DJ until recently.

C+A+D: What was it like touring with Wolfgang Gartner?

Felix: It was great! He’s one of the few producers who puts out amazing music consistently with every release. Really respect his work ethic, so for him to choose me as an opener for some of the dates was nothing but flattering.

C+A+D: Word on the street is you like Mario Kart 64, who’s your favorite racer?

Felix: Luigi. He’s such an asshole.

C+A+D: I noticed your hometown is Vancouver. What’s the EDM scene like there?

Felix: It’s doing really well. Blueprint is the company running things down here, and they consistently bring through amazing events. My local friends Expendable Youth are doing great things too, with a release coming out on Mad Decent soon.

C+A+D: What inspires you these days?

Felix: It’s always changing. But been doing a lot of online crate-digging and listening to the earlier types of electronica. Everything from Raymond Scott  to later stuff like Bernard Estardy. Fuck, I sound pretentious. Getting back into Ratatat again too!

C+A+D: What can we expect in the coming months?

Felix: Second EP ‘Animals’ I did with Keatch comes out next month. I did a remix for Wolfgang Gartner’s ‘Forever.’ And also, Style of Eye and I did a track called ‘The End.’ That, and working on album #2.

Felix Cartal – The Joker (Original Mix)
Acidkids – Mitch (Felix Cartal Remix)
Felix Cartal – The Riddler (Original Mix)
Valerna – Look Ma! (Felix Cartal Edit)

Chris Kaeser is one of those producers that actually enjoy staying under the radar. He’s creeped into Beatport’s top 10 a couple times but he’s kept relatively quite over the years. His remix of ‘Move It 2 The Drum’ is one of my all time faves. It’s got a hard beat, dutch synths and best of all, a euphoric piano piece that keeps me smiling for days.

Romain G is an 18-year-old Swiss producer. Romain is recognized for his bootlegs, in which he fuses two or more tracks skillfully and harmoniously. ‘Strobe Together’ is an interesting track, Romain utilizes Deadmau5’s ‘Strobe’ as a build for Swanky Tune’s feel good house banger, ‘Together.’

Belgian DJ Basto got his name out there when teaming up with John Dahlback to create, “Out There”. Proving himself to the world, Basto went lone wolf and created ‘Gregory’s Theme’. This song is so beautiful, it makes rainbows and butterflies seem unpleasant.

No idea who Digital Mode or Layla Moore are, but my gawd, they know how to make a hell of a track.

Swanky Tunes have been churning out tracks left and right. This new one, XOXO, really pulls on the ol’ heartstrings. I picture Lassie saving lil Timmy from the well, and then they go to get ice-cream while XOXO plays in the background.

Chuckie – Move It 2 The Drum (Chris Kaeser Remix)
Swanky Tunes vs. Deadmau5 – Strobe Together (Romain G Reboot)
Basto – Gregory’s Theme (Original Mix)
Funkerman – Fallin In Love (Digital Mode & Layla Moore Remode)
Swanky Tunes – XOXO (Original Mix)

It’s finally summer vaca, time to let the w0bble loose. This week I’ve got some essential dee-you-bee to keep those playlists fresh and those speakers kickin. I’m gonna keep this post quick n’ dirty so I can continue the endless mission that is figuring out how to use Ableton Live.
Another week. Another w0mp.

DJ Fresh – Louder (Flux Pavilion & Doctor P Remix)
Rusko – Everyday (Netsky Remix)
Flux Pavillion – Got 2 Know VIP
Minnesota – Bass Power v.4 (The Frim Remix)

What a week for house music! Tons of big names. Tons of big tracks.

First off we have the highly anticipated Swedish House Mafia project, codenamed ‘Save The World Tonight.’ It’s good but… Wait wait, let’s rewind for a second. Ever since SHM came out of nowhere and dropped ‘One’ last year, they’ve been desperately trying to churn out another bombshell to please their newfound hype. They squeezed out ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’ a few months later, but it just didn’t satisfy our thirsty ears. Well here we are, Swedish House Mafia’s most recent attempt to silence our ever-growing lust.

In my opinion, it’s eh.
We all know SHM is the epitome of mainstream house, but this new one takes it too far. The vocals are a bit girly and the chanting is quite irritating. This is some shit I’d expect from David Guetta.

Next up we have fresh goodies from Afrojack. I wont go much into ‘Selecta’. A strong kick leads us into a heavy build, followed by an emblematic Dutch drop. Typical Afrojack. However, this other new track is something worth mentioning. ‘Pop On Acid’ is a restoration of his world-renowned classic, and my favorite Ajack banger of all time, ‘Pacha on Acid’. It’s completely rebuilt from the 4-bar to the white noise. The new leadsynth sounds like an angry raccoon about to prance on an unsuspecting trashcan. It’s perfect. Things get really spicy at the 3:30 mark, Ajax shows us how deep the rabbit hole goes with an artistic piano piece, slowly and reassuringly raising the tempo back into the final and epic drop.

Lets see what else I have in my goody bag. Ah of course, Avicii. Everybody and their mothers have been awaiting the official release of ID. Well here it is! Beside’s the name nothings been tweaked; but you know what they say, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Last but not least, I have this uncageable beast from Peacetreaty. This track from hell has been safely locked away in my arsenal of dance floor inducing mayhem. It’s time to let her run free. That huuuuuuuuuge bass kick combined with ruthless dutch energy guarantees frenzy.

WEDNESDAY W0MP #4

Swedish House Mafia – Save The World (ft. John Martin) (Original Mix)
Afrojack – Selecta (Original Mix)
Afrojack – Pop On Acid (Original Mix)
Avicii – Levels (Original Mix)
Peacetreaty – Change (Original Mix)

– Chronic Mncher

Michael Woods has been establishing himself well on Mau5trap records. With the tremendous success of ‘First Aid’ and ‘Dynamik’, Woods is proving to be a worthy contender in the house arena. Well, I just got my hands on his newest banger and I gotta say, it’s one of the sexiest dance floor destroyers I’ve heard in a while. Bottomless bass and topless synths explode with Wood’s familiar flavor; ‘No Access’ is about to be my neighbor’s new favorite track. Whether they like it or not.

Michael Woods – No Access (Original Mix) <-♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

– Chronic Mncher