Caravan Palace Live Review - Syed goes weak at the knees

Syed could barely contain his excitement when one of the world's top electro-swing acts swung into his home town of Toronto.

Caravan Palace are one of the giants of Electro Swing who hail from Paris, France and have placed flags of their fame all over the world. One just can’t expect to buy a ticket on the day of the concert if you are going to watch Caravan Palace perform in your city. If you hear that Caravan Palace are coming to your city, you must buy tickets as soon as you get an internet access and a credit card.

A few months ago I heard that there would be a TD Toronto Jazz Festival during the months of June and July which sort of interested me because of my recent love of vintage music but I prefer a very specific sub-genre of jazz: swing music. Little did I know that Caravan Palace would be one of many performers participating in TD Toronto Jazz Festival.

Among my 500+ list of ‘friends’ on Facebook, only a few people seemed to show interest in the upcoming Festival. If I had not added the main vocalist of this band, Zonia, on my Facebook, I would not have known that Caravan Palace were coming to Toronto and were part of the festival. TD stands for Toronto-Dominion and it is one of the 5 major banks in Canada. If TD sponsors an event, it got to be worth it.

I was very excited. Caravan Palace had come to Toronto before but somehow I missed it. I purchased the ticket which was a pretty decent price considering how famous they are – just about three times expensive than a small regular Electro Swing night in Toronto. After buying the ticket, I found out that one my close friends (not just a Facebook ‘friend’) was also coming which got me even more excited and motivated. I think the excitement and motivation was a result of the fact that she was the only other brown person who knew what electro swing was!

I have been closely following Caravan Palace for almost 6 years and am well aware of their music style. Except a couple of songs, e.g. Beatophone, they don’t really rely on house beats to make their music known. Their use of vintage + modern instruments in a very inimitable way makes them really unique – some of the examples, which come to mind, are Rock It For Me, Jolie Coquine and Dramophone. Their music is also very vocal heavy and Zonia really can sing at any pace while the band members keep up with their live instruments.

Parking was impossible to find outside Toronto’s The Phoenix Concert Theater – where they were performing. After driving around aimlessly, I managed to find a spot after getting some assistance from a couple who also going to see Caravan Palace. However, they did not know what electro swing is [(!) Ed.]. When I entered the theater, I noticed hundreds of people standing and dancing to Benny Berigan’s Snake Charmer and, later, some songs by Parov Stelar. It was an empty stage and Caravan Palace, who were supposed to begin at 9:00pm, were still backstage. The standing crowd shouted for them while they danced to house beats being mixed by DJ Richard Medicineman – one of the few organizers of electro swing nights in Toronto who also runs Toronto Vintage Society.

Eventually, the seven-piece band appeared on the stage which was introduced by a host with the words including “electric sound” and “music from 1920s”. The term “electro swing” was never used and I wish it had been. This could have helped some of the unknown, but boundary-pushing, producers from all over the world. Oh well, I think it was still somewhat accurate description of Caravan Palace who can’t REALLY be called an electro swing band because of their musical style even though they are one of the most well-known among electro swing fans.

Despite I have been following their music for a long time and even have bought their CD from a now-closed called HMV, I could not recognize their first song. But, God, their performance was amazing! The DJ had a giant LED-based Caravan Palace’s logo in front of his cool and complicated equipment which lit up as the beat dropped or as the tune glitched (during Je M’Amuse). It really added to their performance I must say. Zonia was high on electro swing and gave a mind-blowing performance in every song she performed. There was even a slow Jazz track during which she sat on a chair with her legs crossed and basically turned on every person in the audience with her voice!

I had seen some of their live performances on YouTube and Rock It For Me probably has highest number of views. As soon as that classic swing tune began, I knew they were going to rock it for us. I literally yelled out, “Whooooo!” during the very sudden and unexpected quiet moment in the audience (while they waited for their next song to start but they were still quiet). Many people turned around and looked at me and I yelled out the next word, “Finally!” This was during the middle of their performance and the word “Finally” sort of expressed my frustration. I had gotten a bit disappointed by then. My disappointment was not due to their performance (which was out of this world throughout) but was with the use of really heavy house beats in almost every song. For ONE second I started to wonder what would happen if I had hacked their DJ equipment and played my really amateurish house track which I made in few minutes. I was sure that people would dance in the same way knowing Caravan Palace were standing in front of them even though my shitty beats would have been playing through their hacked system.

Rock It For Me had more jazz in it followed by their signature solo + pair swing/Lindy Hop/Charleston dance routine which they had done to this song around the world. The timing was exquisite and that was probably my favorite performance of the night. Later, the songs turned back to them singing-their-guts-out-while-band-members-played-their-hearts-out-through-not-so-dinstinctive-musical-instruments-but-people-only-danced-hard-when-the-beat-dropped.

All in all, it was still one of the best experiences of my life and the best experience since Swingrowers visited Toronto. People absolutely loved them and there was so much noise, when they did the final pose before leaving, that I was almost certain I had lost my hearing. People would not stop cheering for them and they deserved it I must say. It would have been nice if they had finished with Dramophone (their most celebrated song probably) and Lone Digger (one of the most famous electro swing tracks from last year) but they still finished it on a high and with audience full of insatiable energy.

Julien IncontroL - Syed meets a pioneer

Julien IncontroL was one of the first artists that this blog ever came across, and his take on the swing-house sound has informed many copy-cats, surely a mark of greatness. Here's what happened when Syed spoke to him about his latest project.

In one of my earliest posts, I went over my specific musical journal as a listener only. After living for six years in Canada, when I discovered House Music, I went crazy and listened to every 4x4 beat I could get my hands on: classic 1980s through newest releases. When it started to bore me and when “We Speak No Americano” went past my listening limit, I turned to Saxo-House. There was not enough good Saxo House out there but it kept me hooked for a while.

The first ever track, I heard, by IncontroL, I took it as a Saxo House track but better than anything I had heard in a very long time. I listened to it so many times but I never got tired of it. It is called Le Swing Ist King. It was right up my alley. I should have tried to listen to more stuff by IncontroL and Wolfgang (the duo behind the making of Le Swing Ist King) but, by then, the electro swing world had already opened up to me and, without caring who the singer/band/producer was, I was already living in a modern swing era, but, as a tourist.

Over the time, I came across many electro swing tracks by IncontroL and, as a swing house fan, he became one my favourites of all time. Julien IncontroL is a French producer + DJ, a former French resident who lives in New Caledonia, Canada now. Though some of his swing house tracks (some with Wolfgang Lohr, a German electro swing DJ/producer) made him really well-known in electro swing community (most of its newest members mostly start with swing house), he has taken upon various vintage music styles/genres including minimal swing, swing hop and electro blues among many others. His brand new album, Let’s Fall In Love, contains something for every electro swing listener. Every song is refreshingly unique and no two songs sound the same. He really has pushed the boundaries when it comes to blending different elements of vintage musical styles even including the vocals.

He got a chance to speak with me about his personal musical journey as a listener and as a producer/DJ and, also, about his new album, Let’s Fall In Love, which will be released on June 30^th, 2017 and has been available for pre-sales since June 15^th, 2017. It can be found on Itunes, Spotify, Bandcamp and Google Music.

Here is the transcript:

Syed: Thank you so much.for speaking with me.

Julien: Thank you. You taking (out) time for me. I appreciate that.

S: No no, not a problem. Thank you. Well, it’s a bright new day in New Caledonia, eh [it was 7:15pm in Toronto and sun was setting in about 2 hours].

J: Yeah, when I moved in with my girlfriend, there was a lot of light so we have to put on glasses [shows me view outside the window]

S: That is very nice. Oh my God.

J: That is Nouméa, you know – the place I live in. It is cloudy but there is so much light that you need to put sunglasses (on). [laughs]

S: Just want to start here: I have been listening to your music for a very long time. You know one of your songs, Le Swing Ist King – I don’t know if I am pronouncing it correctly – that was the first song that got me into electro swing in the very first place a long time ago. Back then, I used to search for Saxo House music and then you used saxophone in this (track) and it really opened my path towards electro swing because of that. I have noticed that you and Wolfgang Lohr worked on many songs before. You, as a New Caledonian resident, and him, as a German resident, how did you guys meet?

J: Actually, I just came back to New Caledonia two years ago. When I met Wolfgang, I was living in France actually. I was DJ’ing in Switzerland and Germany very often. I just sent a message to him: “I really like what you do (so) maybe we can do a track together”. It was very nice and easy. He said, “Yeah, come to my place and we can start a project”. We started on internet and, then, when I went to Berlin, we worked on this song: Le Swing Ist King. This is between French and German – French and German words in the same sentence.

S: Oh, I see. I never caught that.

J: « Le » is french, « Swing » is universal, « ist » is german and « king » you know… Le swing ist king !

S: [Looking at IncontroL’s earliest post on Soundcloud which is an electro swing mix] Were you producing when you got into electro swing?

J: Yes, yes. I started to produce when I was maybe 18. It was the beginning of Soundcards and computers – you know you could buy a Soundcard for cheaper price. It was home studio when I started to play with different things. Yeah, sure, I did.

S: Many of your earlier electro swing tracks can be put into the category of swing house, especially You Got me Voodoo, Indian Chief, Baton Rouge, etc. I am personally a huge fan of your swing house tracks. What attracted you towards Swing-House in the beginning over other sub-genres of electro swing music in your earlier days?

J: Do you mean what track inspired me?

S: I mean, what inspired you about Swing House as compared to other forms of electro swing music in your earlier days? Why did you begin with swing house?

J: When I first discovered it – do you know G Swing?

S: Yes, definitely. For sure.

J: It is in my CD collection here. I bought the CD and I was with one of my best friends. The first time we came across electro swing was through Caravan Palace. I was living in Paris and a few people knew them. We just went to a show and we saw them live. It was very exciting and it was very good to see this music being played this way. I really thought that this was a great (way of) mixing: DJ’ing and mixing with swing music at the same time. [Julien is also looking for the album through his collection] I don’t know where the album is. It is somewhere in there. We discovered Caravan Palace. Then we looked on internet and found G-Swing – that project really inspired me the most. Most of the tracks were swing house and swing hop. I don’t know when I started to produce [swing house]. I like all genres of music.

S: For sure, I noticed. You have many variations on your Soundcloud page.

J: My album is also very different.

S: Exactly, I was going to talk about that actually [laughs]. Before we get into that, you probably see the posts on Electro Swing public page (on Facebook), many electro swing artists have criticised the 4x4 swing house music and they have claimed that, because of this, electro swing may die one day or it is not evolving when everyone keeps making swing house. What is your personal opinion on that?

J: I think that in some way they are right. I like swing house. For me, it was natural to make swing house music. There are many great artists who make great swing house music but I also think most of the artists making swing house music are not taking it very seriously. They don’t have much of jazz and swing culture. They are doing it like McDonald’s songs – doing it very quickly, and just taking a loop/sample and putting it together. 

I think most of the people do not know the story of jazz. They just do it because it is trendy and they want to do something which could have play counts on the Soundcloud and ‘likes’ on Facebook. I think they [electro swing listeners/artists/DJs criticising excessive production of swing house music] are right in that way. I think people who criticise swing house music also like and play some of these tracks (the nest ones). There are great tracks in swing house. I would say 90% is not good.

As a DJ, when I look for swing house, it is getting harder and harder to find good tracks. If you are open minded and a music lover and a good DJ you just select good music, call it swing hop, swing hop, electro jazz or whatever… [laughs].

S: As an electro swing artist, how hard is it for you to remix or cover the older swing tunes as compared to creating brand new swing tunes with the help of people who can play musical instruments? Some artists are taking older swing tunes and some artists are actually hiring people to [play musical instruments for their tracks] or they play [instruments] themselves including piano, trumpets, sax, etc.? What is your approach towards [making] electro swing music these days? Do you think it is more effective to dig the older tunes or spend some money and hire people [to have a bigger band to play the music]?

J: I like to do both. Sometimes, I play the guitar and get friends playing saxophone or [other] instruments. But, it does not really matter. If it is good, you are happy with it, people like it and have a good time listening/dancing to it, it is fine with me. To me, it is not important. I think, if you are using samples, you can play on the samples. Then, it creates new harmonic landscapes and you can go in other directions. It is very interesting to have samples in the beginning, take them off, play/get inspiration from the samples, and go in different directions. This is something I personally do sometimes but there are many different approaches. If the result is good, whatever you way you get there…

S: What are some of the challenges you have faced as an electro swing artist?

J: Maybe, [one of the challenges] is getting new ideas and make them grow – not stay in the same [for example] swing house like you said. You could make more than one tracks easily but try other things. When we started, we were very excited about electro swing. [After making] more and more, [now] it is more like global beats, world music, [special] kinds of old tunes, special vibrations – I think I would not even say that I am [an] electro swing [producer/artist/DJ] only. The challenge is to make new songs and keep being happy making them.  The best challenge for musicians/artists is to just do new things and not [use] the same recipe: “Oh, this is working so I will do this, this and this again”. In Swing House, maybe that is [what the] critics [are saying]: “[They] just add the noise and just do the same thing over and over”. As a good artist, try different things. Songs are evolving/changing and that is what I am trying to do.

S: Thank you for sharing your album with me. I really appreciate that. Thank you. I did listen to it and it is beyond amazing. I have noticed that your new album has a very refreshing unique style of electro swing/vintage music bordering electro blues with some swing hop in it and some minimal swing. There are a lot of different/unique and refreshing styles merged/blended together. Tell me a bit about your new album and what kinds of surprises the listeners can look forward to?

J: If they know me from before, the surprise would be that it is not really club music. It is more downtempo. This is the kind of music you want to listen to in your car or at home. The surprise is that every track is different. There are different styles of music [in the album]. I really hope that people take time to listen to it from beginning to end because when you are doing an album, you are trying to imagine a little story. I am trying to create a journey.

S: It’s a great album.

J: Thank you very much. I hope people enjoy the music because that is basically what we try to do: make people enjoy the music. It was great to work with all the musicians [involved in this]. It was really nice to meet all these people and do all this together. More importantly, many artists contributed to this album.

S: Was this album, if you don’t mind answering, self-funded?

J: Yeah. I got money from a music contest in New Caledonia. [As] I told you [that] I came back 2 years ago to New Caledonia. When I came here, there was a music contest here. I won some money in that because I applied at the contest and they liked my project. I got some money which allowed me to make some CDs and pay for good mastering. Mainly, it was from that money that I won and the rest was [paid] by myself. There was no fund-raising.

S: Could you please tell me about your any upcoming tours or future plans – maybe to play some of the songs from your new album around the world? Do you have any plans?

J: I have some friends who asked me to come back to play in Europe. For now, I am going to stay in New Caledonia. Next time, when I come to Europe, I will get some shows like a mini tour. I think I can organize something. But, right now, I am doing a live set to play the album here in New Caledonia. It is a small country. There are not so many people but there are good musicians [here]. It is more like experimenting stuff: how to play the album with this kind of setup [showed me his setup] including mixer, loopers, turntables, a guitar, etc. I want to leave room for live improvisation. I will use loopers too. I will take some elements from the album and try to play it live. This is big challenge for me, something exciting and maybe I’ll come to tour in Europe or somewhere else. Ever since I came here, my life has changed so much. I am going to bed early [laughs]. I got away from the clubs because it was too crazy for me. I just want to take time and live with the nature. It is a different lifestyle totally. I really enjoy making music. For touring, I don’t know – I have no plans yet, we’ll see…

S: I know your album has been released on bandcamp. Has it been released on any other places where we can get it from?

J: It will be everywhere: Itunes, Spotify, Google Music….everywhere. There will also be some CDs from CD Baby. They are not made yet. I think I will get them in 15 days or a month – I don’t know.

S: Will your CDs be available in the other countries as well?

J: You can buy CDs off CD Baby and they can send it anywhere in the world.

S: That’s perfect. Thank you so much Julien for speaking with me. You are one of the earliest electro swing artists I know of. There are a lot of new people/DJs and copycats but you, Wolfgang Lohr, Parov Stelar, etc. are one of the earliest ones who brought this (music) around the world. I remember one of your songs was posted on the electro swing page (called Big Voodoo) and everyone was going crazy trying to figure out who made that song. You had shared that song a long time ago. It has been an honor speaking with you. I hope you have a good rest of the weekend.

J: It is my pleasure. Thank you so much for taking time and doing this. Just keep on listening to good music.

S: I will. Thank you so much. Have a good one.

Please, give his album a listen when it gets released on June 30^th. I was lucky to hear it earlier and loved every bit of it. There are some mind-numbing brilliant tunes in there. Please, as Julien IncontroL said, take some time to listen to it. You will enjoy it and will want to play in your car or to just dance to it!

Alligatorz – Vintage Remix’s First Supergroup?

Chris Inglis, the worlds only vintage remix researcher, considers whether the vintage remix world has its first supergroup.

One of the newest groups to hit the vintage remix world is Alligatorz – a production duo formed of DJ Greem and Mighty Mezz, of C2C and Caravan Palace respectively. These two have been performing together since the start of the year, and as of last week, have begun to release original music. Upon discovering this act, my first thought was to question whether one could call this the genre’s first ever supergroup.



Of course, this isn’t the first time that individuals from various vintage remix acts have come together to produce new music. When thinking of other groups to compare, my first instinct is to go to the Dutty Moonshine Big Band: formed of Hypeman Sage, Maria Laveau of the VooDoo Collective, the Temple Funk Collective brass band, and Dutty Moonshine himself. Other examples could include the Swing Towers, a duo formed of Cab Canavaral and Tony Maroni; and Tuxedo Junction, formed of Father Funk and Bear Twists.

But I would hesitate to refer to any of these acts as supergroups. Let me compare with perhaps the most well-known supergroup of all time: the Travelling Wilburys, formed of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. What made the Wilburys stand out is the distinction that each of the members had already won significant acclaim as a musician in their own right. The significance is the key point; were one to define a supergroup as simply an act made up of musicians who have already performed in other acts, virtually every band ever could be described as a supergroup.



So what does significance mean? Well it would differ from genre to genre – each of the musicians from the Travelling Wilburys has enjoyed a degree of success that even the most popular electro swing artist could only dream of. As a fairly niche genre, the popularity one must attain to be considered significant within the vintage remix world, would be considerably lower than for other, more widespread styles.

I’ve chosen to do a quick investigation into looking at the most popular acts within the genre. I’ve looked at Facebook likes for my methodology, mainly due to the fact that it is the quickest and easiest method I can think of. This of course does not come without its flaws – an artist such as Caro Emerald, for instance, enjoys a much older fan base than many other vintage remix artists, and her Facebook likes would therefore not represent her record sales as accurately – but I think it’s a fair method for a study as brief as this one. Setting the threshold at 100,000 likes, the most popular vintage remix acts appear to be:

• Parov Stelar (1,000,000)
• Postmodern Jukebox (890,000)
• C2C (624,000)
• Gramatik (555,000)
• Caravan Palace (345,000)
• Chinese Man (299,000)
• Alice Francis 250,000 *
• Caro Emerald (248,000)
• Goldfish (204,000)
• Deluxe (145,000)
• Mr. Scruff (122,000)
• Molotov Jukebox (112,000)

I may well have missed out one or two acts, and of course there may be some disagreement regarding the eternal debate of what is and isn’t electro swing, but in my brief search I couldn’t find any other acts above the 100,000 mark.

The results are certainly interesting. An immediate realisation of mine is that the only two British acts are at the very bottom of the list. France is certainly leading the way, with four of the eleven acts being from there. So it is no surprise therefore, that Alligatorz –who we can now conclude are indeed vintage remix’s first ever supergroup – hail from France.

With each of the members belonging to an act from within the top five most popular vintage remix acts in the world, Alligatorz are bound to have an impact on the scene. I look forward to hearing more of what they’ve got to offer.




* This post was edited to include Alice Francis in the list.

Aye, aye, Kaptin - Jack meets the man behind BoomTown's music

As the world gears up for Glastonbury, and those of us who didn't manage to get a ticket start to feel those pangs of jealousy and #FOMO, I thought I'd try take your minds off it by reminding you that there arejust a couple of months to go until BoomTown Fair. I spoke to Kaptin is Dead, one of the men behind BoomTown and one half of Big Swing Soundsystem, to get his story and his take on the festival. Read on to find out why BoomTown knocks Glasto into a cocked hat. Glasto-goers, fear not, most of the artists mentioned here are also playing this week at Worthy Farm, though you might have to look a bit harder for them.

Jack the Cad: Afternoon Cap'n, thanks for agreeing to chat. First of all, can you let everyone who you are, in terms of Big Swing Soundsystem and BoomTown?

Kaptin is Dead: I'm the Sheriff of BoomTown, but I also get to programme most of the music at the festival. Matt The Hat and I started Big Swing Soundsystem but we've also been DJing together since 2004.

JtC: You're a pretty big deal in the festival world - how did you first get involved?

Kaptin: I knew I wanted to be involved with festivals the first time I performed at Glastonbury in 2004, I was rapping with a band called Dark Chunk and also a contemporary Dance group called Reform Dance, although I'd been to Glastonbury a few times before, that weekend changed my life. The next year Matt and I took an Inflatable Church to Bestival and through that many festival friendships were formed.

JtC: How did you first come to be involved in the Vintage Remix scene?

Kaptin: We first began as The Chaps back in 2005. We dressed up in boaters and blazers and played a mixture of Old Swing, Nu-Swing and what would later be classed as Electro Swing. We even had an extremely short lived band, playing silly swing covers. We carried that on until we ran out of Pimms and moved on to the next incarnation, which I seem to remember was a Swedish Apres Ski duo called Stefan and Jurgen. 


Big Swing Soundsystem Summer 2014 from Something Creatives on Vimeo.


Many years later Chris Tofu introduced us to the idea of Electro Swing and we realised it was just a continuation of what we'd been doing as The Chaps, so we instantly clicked with it. We started a night called In Full Swing at a club we were running called Cardiff Arts Institute, and as we didn't actually know many Electro Swing DJs back then, we booked various bands that fitted the bill and took up most of the DJing ourselves. Eventually the brewery shut us down for being too outrageous and we realised we'd have to find other places to play.


JtC: You're a proper muso - what is it about VR that grabbed you?



Kaptin: I think more than anything it was the excuse to be silly and have fun. I think both are incredibly underrated ways of being. I was raised on Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and Spike Jones and his City Slickers, and I'd say both of those were instrumental in my love for Vintage Remix. Even now, although I play all sorts of music under different hats, I have the most fun playing Vintage Remix.



JtC: There's not many festivals with such a huge area dedicated to the VR sound - to what extent are you responsible for BoomTown's MayFair Avenue?

Kaptin: Well Chris Tofu and the Word's Tallest DJ are responsible for bringing Vintage Remix to the festival and they still run The Ballroom, which is our main venue in Mayfair Avenue. Even though I do the music programming there now, I still make sure I run everything by them and take on board any of their recommendations.

JtC: Vintage Remix, and in particular Electroswing, seems to be a bit of a Marmite sound, especially given the recent Eurovision travesty - why do you think it causes such differing opinions?

Kaptin: Because it's such a broad spectrum and different sides of it appeal to totally different people. I was chatting to someone on New Years Eve who kept stating that he hated Electro Swing, but then admitted he came to all of our In Full Swing nights and loved every minute of it. Plus you do have to dig through a lot of tripe to find the good stuff, but as an old vinyl digger, I quite like that.

JtC: I'm going to be picking my 'Don't miss these guys' list - which acts would you, with your intricate knowledge of the line up, recommend for readers of this blog?

Kaptin: Well I love everyone on the bill but as a lot of the French acts don't get to play here that often, with maybe the exception of Caravan Palace, I'd say definitely catch them. I went to see Deluxe (part of the Chinese Man Records family) in Bourges a couple of months back and they are one of the best live bands I've seen all year. Also a Gypsy-Swing Hip-hop band called Soviet Suprem are a lot of fun, or if you like Electro Blues then Scarecrow are not to be missed. Plus there are some great French DJs such as Bart & Baker, Grant Lazlo and Kiwistar.



JtC: For those who haven't been before, tell us why BoomTown is so different from other festivals.

Kaptin: It's actually really hard to explain for anyone who's never been. The whole concept of a pop up city seems to baffle a lot of people, especially when you start trying to explain the Post Office, the Job Centre, the Leisure Centre, the Town Hall, etc. It's definitely something you're a part of, rather than simply an observer and it's a completely different, rather twisted, but ultimately magical land indeed. It's worth reading up on the storyline that runs though the festival, I hear there's whisperings of revolution this year. Plus even if you don't like Vintage Remix, we have lots of different stages with all kinds of music. There's no focus on cool and trendy bands whatsoever, the bookings are all based on the quality of music and performance.

JtC: Finally, where can we catch BSSS and what can we expect from your performances?

Kaptin: Unfortunately I don't really get any time off during the festival so we shall be closing The Ballroom on Sunday night and going out with a bang. We shall, of course, have our partner in crime Hypeman Sage with us, but also plenty of special guests as well.

You can also catch us at Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, WOMAD, Camp Bestival and Bestival.

Jack's Boomtown Picks - 4 acts not to be missed at this year's festival

A week or so ago the national media got all hot and bothered about the fact that there were just 100 days to go until the General Election, but for me there is more important event on the horizon – Boomtown 2015. If, like me, you are counting the days, I can tell you that at the time of writing, there were 177 days to go until the gates open and the craziest town in the world is open for business once more.

Last week May-Fair Avenue’s aristocratic overseers Mr and Mrs Fitz-Sloane released the full programme of performers for this year’s festivities, and bugger me sidewise with a magnum of champagne, it’s a veritable Who’s Who of Vintage Remix royalty.

Closer to the time I will do a more in depth post about the whole line-up, but for now I am going to pick out a few of the names which have already got my heart racing in anticipation and my ever-so-shiny dancing shoes twitching.

First off, it is hard to miss the fact that Caravan Palace, pioneers of the electro-swing vibe, are top of the bill. Having seen them perform in sweaty, crowded London venues, I am very much looking forward to seeing them in a festival setting, where hopefully the cooling Hampshire breeze will allow for some vigorous dancing. Their on-stage energy and Zoé’s perfect vocals make them one of the unmissable acts of the festival. I can’t quite work out which stage they will be playing, but given how fast their shows sell out when they come to town, let’s hope its one of the bigger ones.

Another performance about which I am so excited that I nearly soiled my trousers (something which my tailor would be very unhappy about) is ‘Brass Band Remix’. Taking the concept of Soundclash to a place never before imagined are two of the biggest names in the Vintage Remix world: Dutty Moonshine and Chris Tofu. They have teamed up with the Temple Funk Collective and the Brass Funkeys respectively to create what may be the epitome of the electro-swing sound: Live brass bands remixed live.

Speaking to Mike from Dutty Moonshine earlier today, he told me that the Dutty Moonshine Big Band "is made of several existing acts. Hypeman Sage on vocals, Maria Laveau - a female singer and rapper of Oxford Jazz Hip Hop outfit Voodoo Collective - plus the seven-piece brass section and drums come from the Temple Funk Collective."

They have performed with this set-up only once before and like an idiot I missed it, but in my head it sounds (and looks) a bit like a lorry-load of drums and synths crashing into a marching band at 150mph (or should that be 150bpm?): loud, messy, and with the potential to cause serious, potentially irreparable damage.

There so many excellent DJs on the poster that I’m struggling to work out which is top of my list, so instead I am going to pick out two names I have yet to catch live: DonJohnston, the man behind the amazing video below; and Grant Lazlo, who is joining his fellow Frenchies Caravan Palace in hopping over the channel for the event.

For all the details and info on the MayFair Avenue performers, and those on the other stages, head over to the Boomtown website, and watch this space for more Boomtown related posts from me.

Sam and the Womp - you heard them here first!

It's official - electro-swing has hit the big time. On Sunday evening it was confirmed that Sam and the Womp's single 'Bom Bom' (also featured on the Barcardi advert at the moment) is the UK's new official number one single, having deposed Rita Ora from the top spot.

Those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning will remember that I included them in the post on Bands a few months ago. I don't want to brag tooo much, but yes, you heard it them here first, ladies and gents!

Sam and the Womp are not what one might call typical of the electro-swing scene, and they would probably not class themselves as such - indeed I seem to recall that on their old Soundcloud page they described their style as Jewish-Gypsy Dub, whatever that might mean. The sound, as you probably know by now, is one of unbridled fun - brash brass and, of course, big wompy noises, and that is enough for me to claim them for my preferred genre. I can not verify this, but I am told that Sam (of the Womp) used to play with Molotov Jukebox... can anyone confirm this?! You can certainly hear that they have the same influences, especially in the trumpets...


I see this as a very important moment in the progress of the genre to the mainstream... yes, I know that there was that Gramaphondzie song a few years ago, but that was what I might call commercial house with some swing, but these guys start from the balkan end of things, which to my mind is a significant difference. I feel that the sudden and unexpected popularity of 'Bom Bom' is a symptom of the growing popularity of electro-swing in the wider public, thanks, no doubt to the massive festival presence this summer from people like Caravan Palace, Madam Electrifie's Discoteque and the Swingrowers. A friend who was at Boomtown Fair said the electro-swing stages and tents were rocking, and I have seen it suggested that royal bum-flasher Prince Harry and his toothy cousin Eugenie were seen dancing to the Electric Swing Circus at WOMAD...

Once again, I should acknowledge that the Fabulous Miss Fox has once again shown remarkable prescience: she was the first to recommend the Correspondents to me, and  Molotov Jukebox and Sam and the Womp. Her knowledge of unsigned bands is remarkable, and comes from a love of live music - without her, you would not be reading this blog!

Lots of Love

Jack

The Dancee Dancee pt.II

This was shared on Facebook last night by White Mink and I absolutely love it. Not only is it a fabulous new song from Caravan Palace that I have not heard  before, but the dancing is so much fun - a great little routine, with a fantastic flourish at the end - very impressive to pull something like that off, and to sing immediately after such an energetic performance. The very same post seems to suggest that they might come to the UK quite soon... exciting stuff... check this one out too... looks like a great gig! 

love


Jack

Bands

Most of my posts this far have focussed on DJs and producers, but I think it is important to recognise some of the live acts out there, some which are firmly electro-swing, others which paddle in the shallows. Having already spoken before about the Electric Swing Circus I shall mention them here and then move on.

The first band to mention is Caravan Palace. The video below was perhaps the second or third electro-swing clip I ever saw.

The band consists of six members, with the delightful Sonia Fernandez Velasco on vocals. Reportedly they formed when three of the band members were asked to record the soundtrack to a silent porn movie, which might explain the seedy sound they produce. This Paris based electro-swing and gypsy jazz outfit have been stalwarts of the scene for several years, - it is rare to attend an electro-swing night and not hear one of their tracks.

From Paris we head east to Austria and a brief word about Parov Stellar and his band. The news that he would be gracing the Koko stage at the end of May was extremely welcome as he has never played a live gig in the UK, despite his popularity in Europe. Sadly, if you have not got a ticket yet you will just have to watch this video and wait for my report as tickets sold out in a matter of days.

Back to London now, to mention Molotov Jukebox. These guys played at my office Christmas party back in Feb (long story) and really got the crowd going. Their music includes influences from afrobeat to flamenco to balkan swing to dubstep. With brash brass, violin, accordion and the gorgeous Natalia's sexy delivery they had, until recently avoided a genre label, but the style has recently been referred to as 'gyp-step', which leads nicely into the last group...

Sam and the Womp an 8-piece band fronted by the eponymous Sam, formed in 2009 and play a style that owes a great deal to dubstep, balkan brass and Ska, or as he so eloquently puts it "Gypsy-dubstep-in-your-face trumpet madness". These guys really love to rave, and their live shows are really quite bonkers - if you get the chance you must see them. They have performed at Secret Garden Party and have womped crowds at venues as diverse as The Notting Hill Arts Club and the BBC London jazz Festival. They have produced this handy instructional video on how to Womp properly. You didn't know you had been doing it wrong, did you?

Lots of love,

Jack