Dusted Features Every Friday, Dusted Magazine publishes a series of music-related lists determined by our favorite artists. This week: Mike Martinez a.k.a. Electric Birds and renaissance man Bobby Conn. Tweet

Listed: Electric Birds + Bobby Conn

Mike Martinez

Martinez splits his time between current moniker Electric Birds and label head of Deluxe Records. His debut in 2000 was one of the year's best electronic moments and Martinez has since released four full-lengths, the latest being Gradations. As the leader of all things Deluxe, he's released records by Blevin Blectom, Matmos, and Disc. Prior to his incarnation as Electric Birds, Martinez performed in Cars Get Crushed, one of the better Bay Area acts of the late 1990's.

Top 10 - Summer 2002

1. Theorem - Experiments in Synchronicity (Minus) - Simple, catchy, mellow and gorgeous tech-house. Nothing groundbreakingly new, just great atmospheric sounds, melodies and composition... classic.

2. Closer Musik - After love (Kompakt) - Another gem from the Kompakt label, clean intimate micro/tech-house with a soul, vocals, nice melodies... mmm...

3. Le Tigre - Feminist sweepstakes + s/t (Mr. Lady) - Le Tigre is on constant play at the deluxe offices and for good reason. Smart, groovy and fun for all.

4. Warren G (w/Nate Dogg) - “Regulators” (Violator) - This song is the daily soundtrack to the start of my day - classic west coast g-funk with a Michael McDonald sample and Nate Dogg's smooth crooning. dope to say the least.

5. V/A - Cash Money instrumentals (Cash Money) - "Bling bling" and all the hits from the cash money crew, but instrumental. Sick beats from the dirty south.

6. Tim Hecker - Haunt me, haunt me, do it again (Substractif) – Tim Hecker (aka jetone) makes really beautiful and raw music. Nicely processed guitars, drones, pianos push and pull with compelling, powerful textures.

7. Matmos - Freak'n'you 12" (Fatcat) - This rare Matmos 12"(split w/Motion) has the dancefloor killer "freak'n'you". arguably (to me anyways) one of their best tracks ever. Find it if you don't already own it.

8. Blevin Blectum - Talon Slalom (Deluxe) - Crazy, fun and deep all at the same time... Blevin gives new meanings to the art of sound design/sound collage.

9. Ellen Allien - Stadtkind (Bpitch Control) - Raw, groovy electro and techno from Berlin. Nice stuff, great for drunken dance parties or driving really fast in your car.

10. Some other stuff: I've been listening to new upcoming albums by Bizz Circuits, Random Inc, Soft Pink Truth, Warmdesk and Swayzak.

Bobby Conn

Mr. Bobby Conn was welcomed back from England where he played David Bowie's Meltdown Festival, among many other dates, by sluggish, hundred degree weather in Chicago. Before looking ahead to going back to the UK this month to play the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Mr. Conn shares with Dusted his top ten ways to stay cool in the sweltering summer heat. Bobby Conn is set to tour Europe this September as part of the Thrill Jockey Tenth Anniversary Tour, and will be performing exclusive karaoke sets for all European dates. Adopt Bobby's methodology and you'll be sure to escape the remaining days of stagnant humidity that is summer.

How I stay cool when the world is on fire:

1. Nudity - That's right, I'm naked as a jaybird right now. Anyone who wears clothes in the privacy of their own home on a day like today obviously has some powerful AC, or is dangerously repressed. Take it off. If you're at work, take as much off as possible

2. Booker T. & The MG's "Melting Pot" -- Don't watch TV or listen to the radio unless you want to get pissed off at all the shitty news. Palestine vs. Israel. Corporate "leadership." It's just gonna raise your temperature the more you think about it. So if you read the paper, listen to Al Jackson, Jr. lay down an effortless groove with Steve Cropper & Co. They were not sweating when they recorded this.

3. Kiddie Pool - Go ahead and buy one for $10 even if you don't have a kid. Fill it up with ice water and sit in it, naked if possible, with cans of Old Style or Hamm's floating around. Don't worry about the neighbors.

4. DAF "Alles ist Gut" - This emotionally retarded German synth rock will chill you down. Plus the cover has hot portraits of the cute shorthaired DAF guys on it. Put your head under the faucet and dance to the (live) robot drums. So simple and good.

5. Pretend to be an Insect - I don't really know if this helps bring down the heat, but the heat certainly has increased the number and activity of all the flies, ants, maggots, beetles, hairy centipedes, fleas, spiders and other crawly things that live in our house. Why do I feel so sluggish? Not enough legs and rotten fruit, I suppose.

6. Wu-Tang "36 Chambers" - The production on this record is like the blurry waver of a highway on a hot day. So many mirages and underwater miracles. Maybe it makes me feel like I'm drowning in cold syrup.

7. Melanie "Beautiful People" - Who can resist the sunny optimism of the summer of love, albeit super-produced Polish New Yorker style? The arrangements on this record are so nice and give a weird European sophistication to Melanie's super powerful voice. I want to hand out free "beautiful people" buttons in Central Park and then go skinny-dipping in the lagoon.

8. Singing into a Fan - We sold our crummy AC window unit at a yard sale to raise some cash so now we survive with fans. I like to sing songs into them and hear how my voice gets all garbled and hollow. You can get lots of different effects if you change the distance and angle of your head. I did this for hours yesterday.

9. Sweet "Desolation Blvd." - The midrangey AM loudness really cuts through the roar of the fans. And with The Sweet, I never have to think too hard to enjoy the music.

10. Get an Office Job - I haven't actually tried this, but if anyone knows of an air-conditioned office building that needs me to sit somewhere and do whatever it is that people do in those buildings, let me know. I'm a fast learner, and motivated to get out of the house. Let me know if you think of something.

By Dusted Magazine

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