Guns In The Sun x Hit City USA invade Dance Right. Yes. RSVP & Facebook.

This Thursday, February 16, come celebrate the release of Matchstick with us at Townhouse in Venice Beach. Live performances from American Royalty and our Eastside friends Hands, along with dj sets from Guns In The Sun and & Bixel Boys. Copies of the Matchstick 7″ will be on hand for purchase. More info on Facebook.

Full press release after the jump.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2012

American Royalty, the Los Angeles three piece known best for their explosive live show and genre-bending blend of psychedelic blues-rock and electronic experimentation, are pleased to offer a streaming “first listen” of their Matchstick EP courtesy of FILTER magazine. To celebrate the EP release, the band will be performing this Thursday, February 16th at The Townhouse in Venice Beach, CA before embarking on a tour of the West coast en route to several performances at SXSW. A full list of dates is below.

Listen to Matchstick EP now in its entirety via FILTER magazine.

Available today, February 14th via Guns in the Sun Records, Matchstick was written in the summer of 2011 in Venice Beach where front men Billy Scher and Marc Gilfry were couch surfing, waiting for their tour to start.

“We came to the studio with these demos that were inherently very electronic, because we wrote them in our friends’ living rooms,” said Scher; “We were lucky enough to record at Infrasonic Sound with lots of great vintage equipment that helped us sonically flesh out the demos by adding a complementary analogue instrumentation.”

The EP showcases the trio experimenting with the balance between both genres.

“We had this idea for the EP to try to interplay between analogue and synthetic,” said Gilfry, “At times in the final recordings it’s hard to tell what is man and what is machine – there are electronic drums using samples of our live drum kit, synths running through grungy amps sounding like guitar. We’re excited because we feel like this is a step in a new direction for us, which is obviously exciting for any artist.”

As previously announced, the trio enlisted Brooklyn based illustrator and animator Jeff Scher to create the video for the EP’s title track. A kaleidoscopic trip through a spectrum of prismatic watercolor images, the clip features dancers, shapes, flowers, and houses twisting and turning to a lonely piano and vocal melody as it effortlessly weaves through a maze of fuzzed-out guitar play and haunting arpeggio synth.

Track List:
01. Matchstick
02. I’ve Been Fighting For You
03. Blood Keys

Live Dates:
02/16 Venice, CA, Townhouse*
02/18 San Francisco, CA, Rickshaw Stop
02/21 Portland, OR, Mississippi Studios
02/23 Seattle, WA, Chop Suey
02/25 Boise, ID, Neurolux
02/28 Salt Lake City, UT, Kilby Court
03/01 Denver, CO, Larimer Lounge
03/02 Vail, CO, Agave Lounge
03/05 Denver, CO, Rhumba (DJ Set)
03/08 Fort Worth, TX, Aardvarks
03/09 Houston, TX, Minks
03/10 Denton, TX, 35 Denton Festival
03/11 Corpus Christi, TX, Threads
03/13-17 SXSW
03/24 Las Vegas, NV, Royal House Indie Music Fest
03/31 Los Angeles, CA, USC Derby Days^
*EP Release Party
^w/Theophilus London

All photos at website.Tommy B’s site.

The clip for “Matchstick,” which was created by Brooklyn-based artist and animator Jeff Scher, is a kaleidoscopic trip through a spectrum of prismatic watercolor images. Dancers, shapes, flowers, and houses twist and turn to a lonely piano and vocal melody as it effortlessly weaves through a maze of fuzzed-out guitar play and haunting arpeggio synth.

We’re teaming up with the homies at Collaborative Media to bring you Beni, Goddollars, Guns DJs & Tropicool at V-Lounge in Santa Monica. RSVP & Facebook.

It’s been a bit since we’ve caught up with our boy Jordan Feller AKA Light Year, AKA the Prince of New South Wales, AKA “the techno albatross” (have you seen this guys wingspan? Opening deejays I’d say get your shit packed up and get off stage before his first drop… or you and your abletron controller are going to get an unintentional backhand). The only way we’ve been communicating with Jordan is from him putting his various new techno bombs in a bottle and floating them over the Pacific ocean, with us finding them washed up on the Venice shore. Pretty recently we found a seaweed covered bottle packed tight with a new remix he and Gus did for Boys Noize, and to say it’s a salty tune is an understatement.

Lemonade (Light Year & The Finger Prince Remix) by Light Year

We figured we’d better give him a holler to catch up.

Mr Feller, good day. What have you been up to lately musically? Tell us a bit about this new EP that’s coming out in 2012.

Ahhh well top of the morning to you too sir!! I have been putting the finishing touches on the new LY EP called MODERATION. There are 2 new tracks and remixes from techno legends Etienne De Crecy and Jori Hulkkonen. I wrote the main hook of Moderation over 2 years ago, but for some reason it took me a while to come up with a concept to finish it. The B-side ‘Reversion’ is a deeper remake of the original. The EP is dropping later this month on BangGang with a ‘rave’ inspired video for a complete sensory overload of techno vibes.

Would you say this new EP is a bit more in the house vein, or are you staying true to the good clean techno bombs that LY is known for?

I would say maybe more acid house, Moderation is not a ‘banger’ in the sense of 5 Girls or Sex Ed but the big sounding production is still in full effect. There is an obvious and I think natural sounding progression with this new stuff and I’m going to continue to do that with every release. The thing is producer’s like Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, Tiga, Green Velvet, are guys I look up too. They have stayed relevant to me by evolving but there are certain characteristics and a certain level of quality in their music that allows them freedom to do whatever they want. I’m trying to stay true to that idea that all my releases have similar characteristics but Light Year isn’t any particular sound. I’m calling it Chameleon techno !!

What would you say the main difference is between this new EP and the previous record “5 Girls”?

Mmmm these questions are so probing…. I guess the 5 Girls EP was like a collection of tracks that were finished at the time where as this EP has more of a combined sound.

Who have been your favorite artists as of late? Like if we were to get the Light Year “Best of 2011” list, what would it be like?

There has been some next level heat seeking hotness released this year, in a completely random order here are some of my favs:

Jamie XX & Gil Scott Heron – We’re New Here
Phil Kieran & Green Velvet – Michael Jackson (Mic Jack in Version)
Toro Y Moi – Still Sound
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Jay Z & Kanye West – Watch The Throne
Azari & III – Reckless With Your Love (Tiga Remix)
Tyler, The Creator – Analog (There is a remix floating around which sounds amazing too)
Gesaffelstein – The Lack of Hope/Control Movement
Bibio – Mind Bokeh
Jono Ma – Come And Save Me
Julio Bashmore – Battle For Middle You

What other deejays in Australia in particular have been hot lately?

My favourtie Oz DJ is Gus from BangGang, the way he mixes is so unique. I just posted a mix on my website http://lightyearofficial.com/ from a dude called Chux who has been playing some super house & techno stuff and throwing some great local parties. Also, keep your eyes peeled for Jensen Interceptor…

What were your best gigs in Australia in 2012?

Parklife was fun. The set time was quite early but half an hour in there was a few thousand people pop lockin’ and finger snappin’ to some low down techno, then Harvard Bass (who was wearing an LY Tee) came on and ruled it.

Splendour In The Grass was scary standing in front of the biggest crowd I have ever played too and being washed out by the band sound checking off stage. The second set was 100 times better with the bass player from The Friendly Fires playing the Sex Ed baseline while sound checking.

What clubs / nights in Australia do you think are the strongest at the moment?

There is a great techno/house scene starting to develop, thankfully everyone has moved on from the rise of disco and ‘nu disco’. Nights like Sydney Dance Party, Slow Blow and this underground techno night called Motorik are starting to get great numbers and a strong loyal following here in Sydney. This is such a relief because Sydney has been pretty stagnant for the past 3-4 years.

Do you find that your relationships with other artists has helped with the growth of Light Year? Any particular artists that have been especially supportive of the LY project?

Thankfully some pretty influential people have supported LY. I guess this is where I name drop right? Having Erol, Tiga, 2manydjs, Brodinski playing LY records is great for exposure and really helps in getting your music heard. That support makes it easy to build solid relationships with some people you never thought. For instance I’m doing a remix swap with Etienne De Crecy, he has been such a pleasure to work with and his early stuff was a big influence. If you told me I would be giving EDC feedback on his remix of the new LY track I wouldn’t have believed you.

How did this whole thing get started anyway?

LY started out as a dynamic duo with the now Jensen Interceptor, but has evolved into a seismic solo mission of techno.

We’ve heard rumors that there was once a legendary hip hop deejay playing the most grindin parties in Sydney by the name of “J Flex”. Do you have any connection to this character?

Well there is no direct connection per se but there was this myth of “J Flex”. Apparently after winning 12 consecutive DMC World DJ championships with his patented ‘MAKE IT RAIN’ style of cutting and scratching he simply quit, melted all his wax and is now making scented candles that are sold at home depot. His name lives on through the hip hop scene in whispers and murmurs.

We hear you may be making a visit to North America in April? Is this true? Any cities in particular that you would like to play?

I’m keeping my fingers so tightly crossed that they are losing circulation. I can’t really choose any particular city; I am looking forward to going to LA though. I have a bunch of mates who live there so really looking forward to hanging out with that crew.

From what you have heard through the grapevine….Who are the most handsome, wise, and respectable deejays living in Venice Beach at the moment?

Wow!! this interview has really asked the TOUGH questions. Well there is this one superstar crew I have heard about over the Internet (we get that technology here in the commonwealth countries) that has LA on lock down, the Sons With Guns Crew?

I know one has a cookie duster, one put CRAP on my face and the other… well… lets just say if you give him some masking tape, 3 cloves of garlic and a thermometer he’ll make your dreams come true TRUST ME !