SEBASTIAN FOR PRESIDENT

We've always considered him the most arguably underrated artist on Ed Banger, but I think we have a serious contender for DGAF Winner of 2011... and World President of 2012.



This video doesn't do his show at the Avalon (Friday, September 9) any justice (pun intended); you HAD to see this in person. No spoiler alerts here, but if you missed a date on his recent Primary Tour, I can only hope for your sake that he keeps this up for the next time you're able to catch him.

No need to rig that shit, our votes are already in.

Baby, I'm DGAF

Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane) - HD from Ed Banger Records on Vimeo.

Leave it up to an old school medium like watercolor to push the art of music videos forward. Let's face it, it's an art form that stalled in the late '90s... you might have noticed that most of them from the past decade, especially mainstream ones, still follow a formula that hasn't evolved much since the pre-millenial end of MTV's heyday. But it's dope ass shit like this that gives me hope... or maybe it's just the sight of Breakbot with a keytar.

Breakbot, I'm Yours.

EDGAFNIES

Whoomp! There it is!


So-Me knows what's up...


... and so do fusion taco trucks


We are the crowd, we're coming out, got my flash on it's true...


Busy P, WTF?


Busy P, FTW!


Pack it up


Pack it in


Let me begin


I came to win


Battle me that's a sin

For those who missed it (and I feel sorry for you who did, you know who you are!)... not only did they play Mr. Oizo twice, but So-Me took to the mic and RAPPED parts of a French hip-hop song. Yes, RAPPED, and totally pulled it off. I don't know how frequently this happens, but we've been to our fair share of Ed Banger parties and we have never witnessed this, and we certainly never anticipated this. Whatever it was, it earned So-Me undisputed DGAF of the night. The place was super packed and we were worried at one point that we wouldn't be able to get in... so even if we'd missed everything else and only saw that part, it would have still made the ENTIRE night worthwhile.

So-Me? More like... So-DGAF

DGAF Cats

Ed Banger DJ's, free beer, cookies, mini-cupcakes, and pizza on a sunny afternoon. Whoever can think of something better wins a prize.


Busy Pizza Party


They TOTALLY planned to match. I don't care what anyone says.


Gettin' down with Busy P


Even Jesus showed up!


Jesus Christ, Breakbot!


Gaspard: no Justice, no peace


Brian Bell, what the hell?


Ed Banger KILLS it every time.

It doesn't matter if it's at a small club, at a festival, or at a Cool Cats pop-up store like the one at Barracuda on Melrose... Ed Banger know how to bring the party and keep it DGAF. They even brought the Dubstep this time, FUCK YES.

Apparently they're going to be back in LA next week, stay tuned!

aNYway: day 7

Yes, it turns out that Day 7 was also the same day as the Ed Banger 7 at Terminal 5. Here's where the visuals go down in both quantity and quality a little bit... of course my backup digital camera that was working fine right before the trip decided to crap out on me during the trip when I needed it. I mean on the upside, it still took photos. On the downside, the display was broken so we couldn't see for shit what we were taking pictures of. talk about the blind leading the blind! The camera also stopped taking pics too, it got filled up and we had no way of deleting them to make more room. We should have been better prepared, but whatever. We still managed of course to have the time of our lives, and also take a few pics from that night:







We arrived a little late, but managed to catch the very end of Mehdi's set. The place was already packed and bumpin'. Coat check was already closed. The special guest was A-Trak, as he dropped what seemed like a nearly flawless set, except he did not play the obvious Duck Sauce crowd pleaser "aNYway"! He did somehow manage to fit in the intro of "Circle of Life" from the Lion King without skipping a beat, though. Utterly baffling. But the crowd was going insane, with good reason. The next surprise guest was Uffie, who had a short 2-song set. She was cute but not hugely impressive. I am still confused as to what happened after her set, right before Busy P came on. Everyone got on stage as this giant cake was unveiled, and there was a balloon drop... I just can't really explain it. I still have no idea what happened. Just watch this video to get an idea:



The crowd was getting more chaotic, and I had to get out of the crowd as Busy P started his set. (It's awkward being stuck in a dancing crowd when you have to hold onto you coat.) I love how he drops the Crookers remix of "To Protect and Entertain" every time he plays. Busy P always knows how to bring the party, it's a well known fact.

Justice are cute if a little low on bass. Gaspard is not doing anyone a favor by wearing those creepy glasses. I once told him he was hot at Cinespace and I couldn't imagine doing that now. We realized we were actually more excited for the afterparty with SebastiAn, So-Me, and Feadz. After Shimosh gave A-Trak a high five in the hallway, we decided to roll up to the Webster Hall in a taxi. It was a good decision, as we arrived just as the party was starting. So-Me was already killing it!

The smaller venue and more low-key vibe made a huge difference, as there was actually room to get up to the front, and more importantly, to dance! We'd already decided the afterparty was way more fun. When So-Me took us back to the '90s with "You've Got to Show Me Love", it was more like, you've got to So-Me love. But when he continued the '90s with Wu-Tang's C.R.E.A.M. (which is WAY more fun to sing at karaoke than Prince's "Cream", by the way), that pretty much made my night. The only major difference I've noticed between NYC and LA electro fans at clubs is that EVERYONE KNOWS WU-TANG LYRICS IN NYC! I felt right at home. Peanut Butter Wolf would have been be so proud.

So-Me ended his set by doing a VERY DGAF backflip into the crowd. Then SebastiAn made his entrance by playing none other than Mariah Carey's "I Can't Live (If Living is Without You)" which cracked us up and confused the hell out of us al the same time. Then he flipped everything on us when he began the 11 minute long mind fuck of an intro of his new song "Threnody". The whole crowd was left in a state of suspense until the song dropped, and the party kicked up again. SebastiAn is never short of surprises when he DJs, which definitely makes him one of the most interesting around right now. He does it all with a straight face, no matter how ridiculous it gets. Even when he plays a string version of Killing in the Name Of.

Now Feadz, who we practically discovered that night, is a completely different kind of DGAF. I don't remember seeing anyone else from Ed Banger who was feeling it more than he was. I don't remember seeing him stop dancing around for a second, and he was clearly wasted and making the most out of it. He even messed around with the crowd a bit before throwing an Ed Banger 7 t-shirt into the crowd, waving it around like a matador would with a bull. The shirt was even red, LOL and he was getting a kick watching the crowd freaking out in anticipation. Hell, I was too, and I was in the crowd! I still have no idea how he managed to pull off a really smooth DJ set while most likely drunk. He seemed to know every word to every song he played though... if Busy P brings the parties, Feadz definitely brings the fun.

The afterparty was over at 5 a.m. with no regrets whatsoever. What followed was an odd taxi ride back to Greenpoint, which involved our taxi driver picking up an additional customer who was about to get ripped off by a private cab. We'd officially discovered that the G train, near our friend's apartment, wasn't running from a nice old lady who randomly started talking to us when we got out of the taxi. Good thing we took a taxi. Good thing we're DGAF.

FREAKBOT!!!

Breakbot is an artist on the Ed Banger record label based in Paris, France. He is a crazy man.

flier for Control

No, just kidding. But he did DJ in Hollywood at the Avalon, at Control on Friday, November 27th, 2009 (yeah, yeah, this post is really late. We DGAF).


Dancing in the infinity net

CMYK and Ed Banger—we just can't resist their French charm. The night started off with the opening acts C-Town, Sleazemore, and resident Mr. White.


OHHH BREAKBOT

For some reason, DGAF and friends went really overboard with freaking the entire night. We apologize to Breakbot if we freaked him out in any way, because he's pretty low key. But it was a sign of good times, and let's face it, Breakbot dropped every tune like it was hot. We just wanna thank him for tolerating us and putting on a freak-worthy set. That's quite a feat.


Breakbot surrounded by a bunch of crazy LA kids

Next superstar DJ of Ed Banger? I don't see why not!

OIZO CONTROL

A couple months ago, I posted a DGAF profile on mr. oizo and CMYK finally got a chance to see him spin live in Hollywood. It was further proof that he deserved that profile. In fact, he's so DGAF i'm posting about him again.

So on Friday, 10/16/2009, Suz, Don & I went out to see Mr. Oizo spin at Control (at Avalon).


taken from Control Friday's myspace

When we got into the club, the doors to the main floor was closed, so everyone was hanging around the bar. I got myself a water, and Suz got herself an Incredible Hulk (Hennessy + Hypnotiq). The doors opened and Deth Hertz played a pretty solid set. Then Mr. White went on at 12 and played bon jovi's "you give love a bad name" into lmfao's "shots." it was probably the funniest mashup i've heard in a while (Shot through the heart and you're the blame! shot through the heart! shot shot shot shot shot shot EVERYBOOODY SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS EVERYBOOOOODY! = WTF?). I was literally on the floor laughing.


Don does not approve of LMFAO

Then, finally, the beardy Frenchman himself, Quentin Dupieux, aka Mr. Oizo took over the decks with an amazing DJ set that made my mind melt with goodness.


Mr. Oizo is cooler than you.

Fans gathered around him as he was walking towards the backstage area, including myself. But my intention was not to tell him he was the best DJ/director ever (although that was part of it), but to do the Chivers handshake with him. I stopped him and said "CHIVERS!" (not sure if he heard this) and did the motion to the first part of the handshake. He smiled and did the handshake with me. Needless to say, that made my night.


in case you didn't read the other post and don't know what a Chivers handshake is

So anyway, when Mr. Oizo goes up, the audience goes apeshit. He starts djing with CDJs WHILE smoking AND drinking champagne (straight from the fucking bottle!). And of course, he played Flat Beat! <3 It was amazing to hear him play that. The best part is, when he plays a CD, he takes it out, breaks it, and throws it into the audience. DGAF enough for me? you better believe it.


Don, Suz & the Nabil Linus ready to melt their faces off to Mr. Oizo

Also, at some point in the night, he sprayed the audience with his white foam champagne. There were a few people who brought their Steak DVDs to get him to sign it. People passed it up to photographers on stage who put it up on the table for him, and he signed it for them. DGAF, yet still nice enough to sign autographs during his DJ set. What a guy. What a beard! And one of the guys from Club Soda had a CHIVERS jacket!


It's bootleg, but it's still rad

The point is, if you ever get a chance to see Mr. Oizo, do it. Because it'll blow your brains.

Busy Discotheque

What an amazing party. We are officially stoked for Hard Summer.

We got there at around 1015 this time, and Acid Girls were rockin' their solid house beats. People were slowly coming in around then, so it wasn't packed, but in about an hour the place was filling up fast.
The Mad Decent Basement party was pretty great, they know how to party. ;) There was a good vibe going on downstairs and people were dancing and having a good time. They seem to consistently drop dirty baile funk/fidget house that sometimes make it tempting not to go back upstairs... but the Acid Girls was getting the crowd pumping and there was a good bunch of crazy partiers.

Sorry to be biased, but the highlight of the night was Busy P & SebastiAn. When Busy P & SebastiAn got there, they got mobbed by everyone who wanted pictures and autographs from them. And by silly girls who had silly gifts for them...


.
These cats are way too nice. They are adorable and polite to all their crazy hipster fans. They played an extremely eclectic THREE HOUR set that kicked off with Black Sabbath, and continued with "Wake Up", and our personal favorite remixes: "Busy P" (Crookers), "Killing in the Name of" (SebastiAn), and "Electric Feel" (Justice). They also made sure to drop a few tracks from Daft Punk and Justice, and rocked the crowd with everything from the Strokes to Notorious BIG. Sorry LMFAO, but no one knows how to rock the beat and rock the show like the Ed Banger crew.



As we predicted last week, Busy P wins DGAF of the night. He would not stop dancing around and he passed out drinks to the front row. So DGAF.

However, we have a runner up this time—a guy who was rocking out way too hard in the front. it was awesome.




Now we're heading out to HARD Summer...who knows what retardery awaits us.

DGAF Profile #4: Flat Eric + Mr. Oizo

via Mr. Oizo's twitter

Flat Eric is an adorable, yellow fuzzy creature from Filmmaker/Musician/Artist/Frenchman Mr. Oizo (real name: Quentin Dupieux)'s head. Flat Eric was based on another creature that Oizo had made before, named Stephane. Eric is almost exactly like Stephane, except Stephane has ears and Eric does not.
Here is Stephane in Mr. Oizo's "M-Seq"


very similar indeed.

However, Eric gathered a lot more fame and exposure after starring in a series of commercials for Levi's. He drove around with his friend Angel (Phillipe Petit) avoiding the police and getting haircuts:


The name "Flat Eric" came from the idea that he was run over by a car that flattened his head, but that got scrapped. The name stuck, though, and thus the Levi's commercials were born (i guess).

Flat Beat, by Mr. Oizo—a huge hit in 1999 in Europe:

That noise that Flat Eric makes is just too much. I love it. <3

He sits in a huge office, makes calls to whoever he wants and plays Flat Beat for them, and smokes sausages in place of cigars (wtf?). Did i mention he's a muppet? i think most other muppets sing silly songs about counting or cookies or mah nah mah nah. Flat Eric was made by the Jim Henson company, built by Janet Knechtel. And do other muppets end up on the cover of Heat?


probaby not. Coolest muppet ever. Yes, even cooler than those on Avenue Q.
Flat Eric has a cult following by more than just little kids learning how to spell and count. Flat Eric is awesome.

But the real reason Flat Eric is such a DGAF character is because of his creator, his daddy: Mr. Oizo.


Mr. Oizo (ps, pronounce it Monsieur Wah-Zoh) is a French artist who makes badass films, badass electronic music and is just a total badass weirdo. According to Wikipedia, he was signed to F. Communications after Laurent Garnier of FCom bought a car from Quentin's father and found out about Quentin's crazy artsy talents and asking Quentin to direct his video for "Flashback" in 1997. He released Flat Beat in 1999 and the EP sold over 3 million copies. Three Million. That's a lot of copies.
His music is fucking weird. FCom even called his second album, Moustache (Half a Scissor) unbearable (but that's bc they're fail and Mr. Oizo is win and knows better and left their sorry asses and signed on to Ed Banger)—it's weird, but it's awesome. I am totally fascinated by this weird man and his weird music and his weird film and his all-around weirdness. He's not limited in his art—he's made a few music videos, directed the Levi's ads with Flat Eric, and has a couple movies: Nonfilm (2001) and Steak (2007).

Nonfilm is a totally bizarre film set in the desert, kind of goes nowhere, and shot all hand-held and freely. It has Oizo's friends and fellow DJ/electro artists Kavinsky & Sébastien Tellier. I did not understand it, but it was just so surreal and hilarious and it's because Mr. Oizo DGAF: "fuck standard filmmaking, i'm going to go to the desert and shoot a shoot and call it a film." And for that, i salute you, Quentin.
Steak, however, makes me bow down in worship (think: WE'RE NOT WORTHY! —Wayne & Garth). I don't even know how to describe it, except that I thought it was the funniest thing to exist in DVD form. It's about two friends (Eric & Ramzy, a famous French comedy duo) who have been separated and reunited in a time where facelifts and big retro trucks are the fad, and the Chivers are the coolest of the cool. It's also reallly fucking weird and they drink milk all the time.



lol. Sébastien Telier and Kavinsky are also in this movie, along with Oizo's Ed Banger labelmate SebastiAn. Mr. Oizo, Tellier and SebastiAn made the (weird) soundtrack for the movie. It's amazing.

Honestly, I don't know if Quentin Dupieux gets into a ton of crazy shit and get up to some crazy antics and does a shit-ton of drugs like some of our other DGAF highlights, but he just makes such rad shit that he's a DGAF badass.
yeah, fuck the haters.


but who cares? @oizo3000