The Dark Esquire, “Situation (CFCF RMX)” MP3

The original version of “Situation” was The Dark Esquire’s LCD Soundsystem-esque harrowed manifesto, but FADER fave CFCF cut through the disco funk and just left the goth bits, exponentially upping the angst. It’s interesting to hear CFCF do something like this, considering his other remixes lean more toward the Dark Esquire realm—synthy and fully danceable, whereas this mix sounds more like the tumbleweeds rolling through the empty space of somebody’s cobwebby heart. CFCF, you okay dog? Maybe this will cheer you up: THE SITUATIONIST. Society of the spectacle!



Download: The Dark Esquire, “Situation (CFCF RMX)”
(via Audioporn)

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CFCF, “Big Love” MP3

If you follow The FADER you know that on one of our favorite dudes in the world is New York writer and bon vivant T Cole Rachel. Cole has a DJ night where he almost exclusively plays Fleetwood Mac (and we get kinda drunk), but we also know him to like some dance music. So consider this CFCF cover of the Mac’s 1987 new age jam a dedication to Cole, but take it for yourself as well—it’s like balearic weed pop, or hairy wizard disco or something. If you like it, there’s plenty more on CFCF’s new album Continent, now available from Paper Bag Records.



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Premiere: CFCF, “Monolith” MP3

What initially drew us to CFCF was his restraint. The way he could make instrumentals sound interesting without turning them into full blown rave-ups and the way he could capture gauzy nostalgia in his music without the sense that he’s looking back at some time he never actually lived. “Monolith” is just over seven minutes of carefully crafted (and spaced out) build, culminating in a piano line that sounds just classic enough for us to feel like we spent the entire night doing dangerous drugs in a warehouse. Good times? CFCF’s debut full-length Continent will be out at the end of October.



Download: CFCF, “Monolith”

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Exclusive Premiere: Memory Cassette, “Last One Awake (CFCF RMX)” MP3

Memory Cassette just dropped their Call & Response EP, which is all excellently woozy, rhythmic cloud-surfing… but it’s already completely sold out. Rather, the 500 limited edition hard copies are sold out… enterprising young internetters may still cop the digital traxx from Acephale, and in the interest of preserving our well-preened reputation as the anti-Debbie Downers of music reportage, we present to you a remix of “Last One Awake” by our main dude CFCF, the Quebecois whose thoughtful synthpop tracks stay on the office stereo. For “Last One Awake” he’s worked the gauziness of Memory Cassette’s fabric into a “Rhythm is a Dancer”y nuovo trance, his choppy synths and muted drums dramatizing the Memory Cassette vocals you can never quite see past the mist. A whole remix EP is coming later this week, videos to follow, so feel free to wait with bated breath.



Download: Memory Cassette, “Last One Awake (CFCF RMX)”

Freeload: The FADER Issue 62 Podcast

We and you and everyone we know has been trumpeting the Summer Of Love 2009, and it was our mantra as we put together FADER Issue 62. We scoured the universe for the summeriest, most barbecuey music this year and came up with an issue that, if you scratch-and-sniff it, smells vaguely coconutty like Hawaiian Tropic (not really). As such, this issue’s podcast, presented by Bacardi B-LIVE, is about as clear a definition of what we think you should be listening to in the coming months as we could possibly make. It’s got songs from every artist in the issue from cover stars Phoenix, Major Lazer, Maluca, DJ Sega and Popo; featured power-bros Young Dro, Dum Dum Girls, Wavves, Crocodiles, Family Time Records fam, Gen Fers Omega, D-Lo and Sleepy D, Esser, CFCF, and like a trizillion more people! Download it below and listen while reading the issue, scorching hot like the sun on newsstands right now. And come back to TheFADER.com in two weeks for the free issue PDF that you can save on your computer until the robots take over.

Download the FADER 62 mix as an mp3 (right click, save as)
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Check the tracklist after jump.

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Video/Freeload: CFCF, “You Hear Colours”

CFCF’s “You Hear Colors” sounds a fair amount like Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” which is presumably why video creator and vintage synth album enthusiast Tommy Boy decided to grab a bunch of footage from—what else—Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner, a film about a kid who gets into trouble and then finds solace in running really long distances. Also, according to our research (Wikipedia), Iron Maiden adapted the story for a song of their own. But you’re here for the CFCF version, which features all of our favorite CFCF traits: airy synth, subdued drums and a bassline that propels the whole thing forward. “You Hear Colors” is from CFCF’s new 7-inch on Acephale.

Download: CFCF, “You Hear Colours”

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Freeload: CFCF, “Forbidden Colours” (Sylvian & Sakamoto Cover) + “Crystal Mines” Video

We’re hesitant to say that music videos made up of edited scenes from random movies are a good look, but CFCF gets a pass for “Crystal Mines” because it’s clips from the 1975 French film Shadowman, which is about “a thief whose head is covered by a red mask, and his cat-suited assistant, [as they] try to find the fabled treasure of the ancient Knight Templars from a surviving sect in Paris.” We’ll pretty much leave it at that. In addition, you can download CFCF’s cover of Sylvian & Sakamoto’s “Forbidden Colours” below. It kind of sounds like his remix of Cassie and Lil Wayne’s “Official Girl,” except instead of Wayne’s sex raps, we get CFCF singing (!) us softly to sleep.



Download: CFCF, “Forbidden Colours” (Sylvian & Sakamoto Cover)

Freeload: CFCF, “Crystal Mines”

At the end of 2008, we sang the praises of the CFCF remix of Cassie and Wayne’s icily detached “Official Girl.” It’s not that we didn’t like the original, it’s just that CFCF’s version had a lot more life, like it was a misguided love letter from the high school version of Cassie to her incredibly creepy older boyfriend Lil Wayne. In addition to his remixes and weekly show on Viva Radio, CFCF’s also been working on original material, which is now taking shape as an EP called Panesian Nights (out Jan 20th on Paper Bag Digital). First single “Crystal Mines” might not be our favorite song on the EP, but it does turn the played concept of music that sounds like old Nintendo games on its ear, using the fuzzy lo-fi keys associated with that sound as layers that are part of a larger, more interesting whole.



Download: CFCF, “Crystal Mines”

Freeload: Cassie f. Lil Wayne, “Official Girl” CFCF Remix + Mixtape

At last year’s SXSW, somewhere between screaming like teenage girls when The Tough Alliance came on stage and our twentieth trip to the make your own Bloody Mary station, Acéphale label founder Patrik North slipped us a CD-R of these jammers from Montreal’s CFCF. Since then, CFCF has popped up around the internet with remixes for everyone from Apache Beat to this one of Cassie’s “Official Girl,” where he takes the robotic detachment of the original and transforms it into a song full of warm sci-fi synth ripples that conveniently emphasize the ultra-creepiness of Wayne’s verse. Also, over at Discobelle, CFCF put together a mix of some of his favorite songs of the last couple years. Impressive, considering we have a hard enough time picking our favorite songs of the last two weeks.



Download: Cassie f. Lil Wayne, “Official Girl” CFCF Remix

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