Blisspop will be hosting Ewan at U Street Music Hall tomorrow night, Feb 22, along with Protect-U of Future Times. Doors are at 9 pm and it’s free for 21+ ($5 for 18-20).  RSVP here.

So…how’s 2012 treating Ewan Pearson?

It’s been great so far – I’ve been hidden away in the studio mixing the debut album from Footprintz for Visionquest. It’s turned out well I think – chock full of songs and melodies and loads of atmosphere. I hope people will like it. I’ve also done a single for my friend Jono Ma ex of the Lost Valentinos which has been picked up by a new sub-label from XL and getting lots of radio play in the UK. So I think we’re going to be working on an album for that. Plus I will be back in the studio with Tracey Thorn soon too. And then quite a lot of DJing and wandering about too. All good.

Between DJ’ing, producing for others and creating original work you’ve got your hands in quite a few pots. While all related to music these seem like vastly different experiences. Is there one that you find more fulfilling or pleasurable than the others? Do you see yourself doing all three activities for the foreseeable future?

I kind of think of them all as facets of the same thing to be honest; they’re all about introducing people to and enthusing about great new stuff, whether it’s DJing, writing, remixing or production. In terms of sheer satisfaction making music has got to be the most rewarding thing, but it’s also the hardest and sometimes the most frustrating. But I still love my DJing too – I’m turning 40 soon and I have no desire to give it up yet.

As a self proclaimed “recalcitrant airport tweeter,” how do you manage spending so much time on the road? The inherent loneliness of being a touring DJ isn’t something discussed very often (not a very sexy topic, is it?). What do you do to stay productive (read: sane) while traveling?

Despite my Twitter habit, I have a fairly well-developed anti-social streak and I actually enjoy being on the road quite a bit – the travelling side of things gives you time to yourself, time to read, to catch up on stuff – I listen to a lot of speech stuff, podcasts and audiobooks too and I do some writing. And then it’s interspersed with meeting people and some enforced bursts of social activity at gigs so it’s not like it’s lonely. I think the only time it can feel vaguely anti-climactic is that asynchronicity that sometimes happens after you’ve played – everyone is dispersing after they’ve partied and you’ve just got yourself into the mood for a party yourself. Mind you many of my colleagues seem to be expert at finding the people who want to carry on! I do too from time to time.

You’re a published author and regular contributor for Groove. What magazines, blogs, etc. do you read on a regular basis to stay abreast of everything going on in the dance music world? Anything you particularly enjoy that isn’t music related? And what books would you recommend to someone in the same vein as Discographies?

I read a lot of different stuff; much (if not all) of it isn’t really about music to be honest. But for music writing I think the UK site The Quietus is very good at the moment although it doesn’t do that much on dance music – they have really good long pieces by smart writers and I’m a fan of their editor John Doran’s own column Menk too. I tend to use Twitter as a kind of RSS reader on steroids and take referrals for things from lots of the people I follow. I subscribe to a few different magazines; Tape Op and Sound on Sound for gear-sluttery, the London Review of Books which is my favourite magazine by quite a ways – apart from very fine in-depth reviews it has very good politics and analysis pieces, the New York Review of Books too and then Sight and Sound, the British film magazine I love too.

As for academic stuff about dance, I haven’t kept up with it particularly. Or rather I’m not sure what there has been in the same vein to be honest – Jeremy my co-author on that who’s a proper full-time academic tells me that he’s a bit surprised more hasn’t been written in it’s wake. We thought we were kicking something off really. But there’s still lots of good stuff written about music – at the moment I’m massively enjoying Will Hermes’ book Love Goes to Buildings on Fire which is a musical memoir of New York from 1973-78. And I loved Dorian Lynskey’s book 331/3 Revolutions Per Minute which came out last year on protest and politics in pop music.

Just have to ask — are there any producers who have piqued your interest in the past few months? Any labels you find yourself getting excited about?

The biggest killers in my sets at the moment are coming from Rebolledo and Superpitcher in their Pachanga Boys incarnation – they’ve only released a handful of tracks so far but a couple of them are instant classics as far as I’m concerned. I love the Kindness album that’s coming out in March – I’ve been playing a couple of tracks from that a lot in my DJ sets. Studio Barnhaus from Stockholm are doing great stuff, Oliver Ho has lots of brilliant music out from his Raudive things to a new band project called the Eyes in the Heat for Kill the DJ which I really like. Psychemagik’s balearic crossover things sound great and they have a major label album coming this year I’m told. There are lots of different people really.

You’ve been doing this whole music thing for quite some time with no signs of slowing down. What it is about the, for lack of a better term, electronic music experience that keeps you coming back?

Erm, it’s just a love of music in general and a surprise and gratitude really that I am allowed to do this for a living. I don’t want that to stop so I have to keep working hard.

Monsieur Adi – Fire Fire Fire

The album is set in an orchestral landscape filled with dark, mission-hungry electro that influences both the instrumentals and vocals throughout. Monsieur Adi ignites the album into a “modern-day symphony” that peaks at many epic scenes with pulsing beats and rock-influenced flow. For vocals, Adi reached out to top UK singer/song writer Gary Go who gave input for the tracks “Fire Fire Fire,” “Blood,” and “Last Stand.”

During the 2 years since his first EP “We Are The Romans,” he’s been releasing a variety of collaborations and remixes from the works of Visitor, Daft Punk, Justice, Ellie Goulding, and Madonna that indeed gave listeners much anticipation for the EP. However, as Fire Fire Fire is expected to grasp a considerable amount of respect, Adi is labeling it only as an excerpt for what’s to come. Later this year, he plans to release a full-length album titled Empire – stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can now purchase Fire Fire Fire today on iTunes.

Monsieur Adi – Blood

In addition, Adi is currently spearheading a remix contest for his track “Requiem” until March 5th. He’s thoughtfully posted the stems for the song in a SoundCloud set that you can download and begin transforming. Three winners will be selected: “One remix will be chosen by Monsieur Adi and Technofavrik. The other will be chosen by the people.” You can follow the status of the contest, and later on, contribute to voting on his Facebook and Twitter.

Cézaire- Pleasure

Jean has been sporadically releasing his work online for the past year, giving us a taste of Cézaire’s fluid funky rhythms and meaty basslines. Despite no noted intention of a debut EP or official releases in the near future, you’ll quickly discover his talent is one to appreciate and keep in contact with as he definitely will be going places soon. Take a listen to the tunes streamed here then jump over to his SoundCloud for an essential collection of more French house gems.

Cézaire – Malibu

Cézaire – True

Cassian has hit the ground running in 2012 with appearances at The Big Day Out Festival (Australia’s iconic touring music festival) and most recently alongside John Digweed. He’ll head down to WMC in March to join forces with Gigamesh and Fred Falke but not before meeting up with one of our favorites, Aeroplane, to help finish off his tour. Be sure to check them both out this Saturday at U Street Music Hall. More info can be found here while tickets can be purchased over at Ticketfly.

Between his hectic schedule, we were fortunate enough to pull him aside and pick his brain on Aussie influences, joining a Country Club, and getting deep.

You live in Sydney, Australia. Tell us about the music scene and how it’s affected/influenced you as a DJ/producer.

When I first started producing my own music, the scene in Sydney was great. Every club was full with mostly local lineups. You had acts like Bag Raiders, Miami Horror, Van She and Cut Copy all playing around Sydney pretty regularly. I’d say a lot of my early influences in electronic music comes from those guys.

Have Australian-based bands like Cut Copy and Miami Horror and their presence overseas made it easier to reach a global market?

Having Australian acts doing well overseas has undoubtedly made it easier for guys like me to try and follow in their footsteps. Catching up with friendly faces from home while touring is great as well. It’s also great to know people who have been exactly where you are at and can give advice on how to best navigate things like overseas touring.

Tell us something about Sydney we most likely wouldn’t know…

90% of the clubs have jukebox DJ’s playing a combination of “party” music and top 40 pop tunes.

You’ve released EP’s on Bang Gang but most of your work has been on the remix side. You also have your own website/blog where you host a mix series called Cassian Presents. Do you strive to keep a healthy balance or do you have a secret desire?

This year I definitely want to produce more original material. I’m about to release an EP that I produced with Shazam called Country Club, which has 4 original tunes on it. I still think it’s important to do remixes but at the moment I’m more interested in focusing on original music.

Yes, I have been hearing good things about Country Club.  Please tell us more!

Ah yes! Our first EP is coming out soon through Moda (UK based label run by BBC Radio 1 hosts Jaymo & Andy George). We’ve done 2 remixes; one released through Sweat It Out and one through Kitsune (which isn’t out just yet). We’ve had great early support from acts like A-Trak, Bag Raiders and Yolanda Be Cool and the tunes have been working a treat in my DJ sets!

You recently did a remix for Citizens! on Kitsune and you said, “It’s about as far removed from a club track as you’ve heard from me but it was an absolute blast to do.” I had a good chuckle when I saw your quote because I was thinking the same thing. Not what I’d expect to hear from you yet a delightful surprise. How did you step outside that box and walk into unfamiliar territory?

When I heard that song, I immediately had the idea to do a poppier version of it so it wasn’t too difficult. With remixes I’ve never tried to force a song to become something it’s not by turning a 110bpm pop song into a 125bpm club tune or vice versa. I also hate changing the speed of a song when remixing it as it degrades the audio quality of the parts you use from the original.

Your mix series is heavily influenced by deep, electro house. Is that a fair assessment? An indication of where you are headed in 2012?

Yeah there is definitely a lot of deep house and deep tech type stuff. I’m definitely not headed that deep.  I think my “How Deep is Your Love” remix, Snake Charmer remix and the upcoming Country Club EP are a better indication of what is coming up for me. The reason the mixes have all sounded like that is because I’ve only done those mixes with close friends from Sydney and there is definitely a small (but growing) scene for that type of music in Sydney at the moment. Expect a broader range of sounds for the next few as I’ll be asking people outside of Sydney to do them.

Who is the next big thing to come out of Australia that nobody knows about?

I think the promising “new” guys at the moment are What So Not and Lancelot. Check them out if you haven’t already! Actually Mic Newman (aka Fantastic Mac) is a big name in certain circles but definitely underrated on a broad scale.

Besides making your Washington, DC debut at U Street Music Hall Saturday, what else are you most looking forward to?

About coming to DC? Being in the same city as all those legends over on K Street!!

The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love (Cassian Remix)

Gigamesh – When You’re Dancing (Cassian Remix)

Monkey Safari – Fat Papa (Country Club Remix)

Just about a month ago, Will gave his introduction to Tourist by streaming the album’s first song titled “Placid Acid.” The track carries the orchestral rhythm and high-pitched electronic characteristics that we saw with his work as Little Loud and has already received a substantial amount of feedback from listeners. This week he let loose another EP preview, “Jupiter,” which is yet another catchy tune that stretches vocal echoes across an electropop landscape – listen to it streamed below. Both of these previews give us another refreshingly smooth taste of his production in anticipation of the EP to come. From initially being a known as a remixer and slowly dabbling his way into original production, Will has certainly worked his way up to confidently building an EP as well as beginning to do live performances.

Stay tuned to his Facebook and SoundCloud for more upcoming previews and the official release of Placid Acid EP. Tracklist is as follows:

1. Placid Acid
2. Forgive
3. Jupiter
4. Fires

Most of his previous work as Little Loud has been disposed but some tracks are still available for listen on Myspace.

While growing up listening to, and taking influence from, Daft Punk and Paul Johnson, to name a couple, she became more passionate in the production of disco and French house. “I would see my older brothers playing with their turntables and always wanted to be in music… When I had time during the summer I would try my hand at music, I wanted to become really good, I would practice at night after class all the way into the early morning.”

Over the past month, she’s been letting loose a series of catchy, disco-heavy tracks under their New York-based label Digital Love Records. With each full of energy, lustful vocal samples, and a rhythm to compliment the warmer seasons of France, you’ll find her work to be a quite irresistible collection of tunes that will keep you dancing all night long.

Enjoy some of her work streamed here, head on over to her SoundCloud for the newest releases, and be sure to support this up-and-comer on Facebook as well.

Blisspop: We’re excited to have you in DC! Is this your first visit?

Bit Funk: Most people don’t know it but I was actually born in DC. It’s all slightly complicated because I’ve moved so many times. I’m really looking forward to coming back to DC though. It’s been a while since I was there.

You’ve often been mentioned under the name “Randolph Anatole Vespasien III.” Major props if this is your actual birth name! If not, how did this name/alias come about?

Nah, that was just a joke. My real name is Federico Vasco Raymundo Jr. [...that was most likely was another joke]

Can you tell us about your background growing up Toronto, living in windy-city Chicago, and what led your decision to move to Brooklyn?

I actually did most of my growing up way over on the east coast of Canada in Halifax, then I moved to Toronto after that. Toronto is a great city. I love it there. It has a really active indie music scene and the people still have that Canadian friendliness, even though it’s a decent sized city. Chicago is awesome too – it has an amazingly rich history in dance music, which unfortunately I think is forgotten by a lot of people there today. The few people still working to keep that legacy alive are amazing. Moving to Brooklyn, was kind of inevitable for me. I’ve known I would eventually get here since I was about 10 years old. My family are all originally from New York.

Where exactly did your interest with music production first spark? What or who is the honorable cause(s) of your disco fusion?

I started playing music when I was 8. First piano then soon after I switched to the drums. I was very serious about learning drums, and it’s actually how I first got into production. I played in bands and studied with an amazing coach for many years. He would always come up with these totally insane exercises for me to do. Things where each of my hands and feet would be playing in totally different time signatures and completely ridiculous stuff like that. I was never the greatest sight reader, but I found that if I could hear it, I was pretty good at figuring it out and being able to play it. So I found a free program called MOD Tracker for my computer and programmed in these beats so that I could listen to them any time. Trackers basically look like Excel spreadsheets that play music. It’s really old school. Anyway, that kind of sparked an interest and I just slowly got more and more serious with writing my own music and learning production.

Your recent track, “Rap Music,” got huge response when it was released last year and has been a lively banger on the dance floor ever since. What are some specific influences that helped guide your idea for this track?

To be honest “Rap Music” is kind of a joke track. The vocal sample is from the classic hip hop record “Urban Sound Surgeon” by 4-Ever Fresh. I had that sample sitting in my “use this in something” folder for a while. I just loved that vocal line “create rap music ’cause I never dug disco” and thought it would be silly to make a ridiculously banging disco house song with it. The rest of the track is from “Straight From The Heart” by Loose Change which is really a golden track to begin with. I could probably make an entire disco house album just sampling different parts from that one track. But, I ended up only using a few notes of horn and wrote new bass, guitar and synths for it. I guess “Rap Music” was fairly successful. Probably mostly just because I gave it away free. Hah. Everyone goes nuts for a free download these days.

Living in New York must offer great opportunities to share your music and it seems you’ve been doing just that with all the local performances. In what ways do you feel NY’s audience has transformed your music?

The audiences in New York have been great. In terms of making music here, there is definitely a push toward the extremes. Most producers either go full on mainstream or totally deep and only accessible to the die hard fans. I’ve always tried to ride the middle line, so it’s been interesting.

Where can people usually hear you perform in New York? Do you have a regular venue or do you normally just jump around different places in the city?

It’s kind of all over the place at the moment. New York has a lot of great venues and parties.

By the looks of your Instagram photos on Tumblr, it looks like you’re quite a fan of food and traveling. What are your top 3 restaurants? Where are they and why are they such nom-toppers?

Hah! Well, I’ve been on a little bit of a “take a picture of my food before eating it” kick lately. Instagram is great for that. But, to be honest I’m really not a gourmet restaurant kind of guy. I’ll take a run down family owned place that looks like it hasn’t changed since the 50s over some new flashy bullshit any day of the week. So, instead of my top three restaurants I’m gonna give you my top 3 late night greasy eats. The number one has to be Mars Diner in Toronto. I used to live a block away and absolutely love that place. Get the Space Burger. Second place is Super Sub in Chicago. Try the Gyro platter, or if you don’t mind shortening your life expectancy from the grease, their Philly Steak is great. Third place, winning by default because it’s the only thing that stays open late in Greenpoint where I live now is Palace Fried Chicken, it’s pretty horrible but anytime you’re there you won’t care.

As one who is consistently ahead of the curve, Brian Billion and his DJ sets are not to be missed. Arrive early to U Street Music Hall this Saturday night and catch Brian’s opening set before Classixx and Bit Funk. Doors open at 10pm, purchase tickets here.

Brian Billion – Leap Year

Make sure you check her out tonight at U Street Music Hall alongside Jesse Rose and local support Jubilee. RSVP here.

Blisspop: You played U Street Music Hall back in September. How’d it go? What were your impressions of the club, crowd, vibe, etc.?

J.Phlip: Well I definitely won’t be complaining about the sound system there!!! ;) Which is the most important aspect of a party to me. I HATE PLAYING ON SHIT SOUND! The people seemed educated about my music and ready to rave! Really great vibes on the dancefloor…people screaming my name in the breakdowns ‘n shit. Nuts. Plus they have good beers on tap and really neat poster designs and a super rad staff.

You definitely don’t appear to be a slave to the typical house and techno 4/4. Where does your eclectic music taste come from, and how do you find a balance between that and more expected, straightforward dance music in your sets?

My eclectic music taste comes from the fact that I don’t like to be BORING!!! I just like to dig and find music that other people don’t have and I spend a lot of time figuring out how my tracks fit together like a big puzzle. My tastes have just been shaped by years of being a huge music freak. I don’t know how exactly I got this way. I just feel the music or I don’t. It’s funny too because a lot of people send me music and say “I think you will love this” and over half the time they are way off. I’m very particular in what I like and don’t like, but I can’t really explain or generalize my taste.

You were picked up by Dirtybird a few years ago. Did that feel like a pretty big moment in your career? How did you link up with Barclay (Claude VonStroke) and company? And how has that relationship evolved since?

HUGE moment!!! Not just in my career but in my life! Doesn’t everybody know this story by now? [laughs]

I met Justin Martin in Chicago at Smartbar while he was on tour with Ben Watt just after he put out “The Sad Piano.” He was just a fuckin’ awesome dood…and dirtybird only had a couple releases at that time but I thought it was some of the most fun dance music I had ever heard. So I tracked them down at WMC in Miami after that…met the whole crew…ran around to some parties with them. Barclay was Justin’s manager then and didn’t even have the [Claude] VonStroke moniker yet. [laughs] I just totally clicked with all of them.

They kinda just kept me around as their side kick homegirl from Illinois. I dunno why? Over time they started having me out to SF to DJ and eventually after signing “Rumble Rumble” in 2008 they put me through dirtybird boot camp and made me an the official member of the crew. They must be pretty happy with this decision because they haven’t kicked me out yet! It’s the only love story of my life that has had a happy ending so far.

Looks like in 2011 another relationship blossomed, this time with Cats N’ Dogs, as you had a release on their (relatively new) Pets Recordings label. Your music seems like the perfect fit for their catalogue, but how did that all come about? Any future releases for them in the works?

Yessssss!!! I love Voitek and Greg. Voitek was my roommate for 6 months when I first moved to Berlin. We just got along really well…and then later I wrote “Fever” and sent it over to him just to see what he thought. Not necessarily for Pets or anything. He was just so into it! And it definitely was not a dirtybird track. I contemplated shopping the track around, as Pets was just gaining momentum around this time. But then I thought about it, and how lovely my career has been working with people who I know and love. I thought…why send this off to some labels where I don’t really know the people behind them or whether they’re the kinda people I want to work with and whatnot? I should just keep it in the fam…yes, for sure…I want this to come out on Pets! And I couldn’t be happier with that decision.

I plan on doing another EP for them this year! Just need to finish it someday!

2012 is relatively young, but I’m sure a lot of people are starting to abandon their New Year’s resolution to go to the gym more. Did you make any goals for the coming year, either professional or personal, that you’d care to let us in on?

Nothing too crazy actually. I just want to up my production game a bit more. 2011 was my best year for producing so far, and I was really happy with the music I wrote but I want to dig deeper into myself and my own sounds.

And I wanted to finally try to be a tad bit more responsible this year [laughs] and adopt a kitty. I guess it was meant to be because my friend recently found a starving stray kitty outside of San Francisco. I’m in love with her so it looks like Muschi will be coming with me to Berlin! (PS look up what muschi means in German)

Other than that I was just way to busy making people dance and worrying about sets and when I might get some sleep to really think much about myself or the upcoming year. Shit, I can’t believe we are already a month in…what happened???

How happy are you that, until now, we haven’t asked one gender-related question in this interview?

Thank you….YOU KNOW this makes me SOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!!! The dreaded female DJ questions…ugh…I will bring you a huge awesome hug this weekend!!!

Moon Boots – Aretha EP

Blisspop had a chance to catch up with Moon Boots and talk about mixtapes, producers on the rise and the new EP…

Much of your production relies on a combination of disco and R&B boogie. Were these genres big influences on you growing up? Do you enjoy listening to other genres as well?

I remember hearing things like “Love is the Message” and “I Found Lovin” at block parties as a kid, so maybe some of that influence crept in by osmosis. In general, it was much harder to discover this stuff when I was younger!

Even though I mostly listen to disco and house-based stuff, I still love all kinds of music — synth pop, soul, all kinds of rock, etc.

Your tracks, “Gopher It” and “Off My Mind” were consistently featured in mixes among fellow DJs/producers in 2011. Can you talk about the mixtape phenomena and how it’s changed/altered the ability to get your music out to the masses? Do you see yourself making mixes in 2012?

I think it’s great for producers and DJs alike for a lot of reasons. To name just one, people want to know what their favorite DJs are playing without having to trainspot tracks at a club! It also helps give producers more outlets for their tracks outside of sending them to blogs, for instance.

As for my own mixes, I’ve done one mix so far for CC Disco (listen and download here), and I plan on doing more in the near future!

Could you tell us about a couple DJ’s/producers/record labels we should look out for this year?

Maxxi Soundsystem and Disclosure have already put out amazing tracks in 2012, and I’m very excited to see what they do next. Goldroom and Psychemagik have been doing excellent stuff as well. I also think this will be a big year for the French Express family, including Perseus, Jonas Rathsman and Chris Malinchak.

You’ve got your first EP being released on January 31 through Nurvous Records which features remixes from Kid Color, Zimmer and ColeCo. Could you tell us about the process of making an EP and how you went about deciding which DJs/producers you wanted to work with?

They were all people I’d been in touch with recently and we were excited to work together. Zimmer and I did a remix trade — I have a remix of one of his tracks, “Bay Bridge” coming out soon on Discotexas. ColeCo’s been releasing great material and I hit them up as soon as I heard the Magician playing their track, “Can’t Stop.” Kid Color is a good friend as well as an excellent DJ/producer.

What else does Moon Boots have in store for 2012 ? How about a U.S. tour?

Many more new tracks! Some with vocalists, some with samples, and yes, a tour as well.

Do you own a pair of moon boots ? Ever consider adding them to your stage attire?

I have some, but no one could see them from a DJ booth anyways!

More Moon Boots below! And don’t forget to check out his SoundCloud page.

Moon Boots – Gopher It”

Moon Boots – Off My Mind