IF100: 15 Years of IF?

This baby's been a long time coming.

Celebrating the 100th IF? Records release and exactly 15 years of the label on the job, with some of the original Melbourne (Australia) artists plus brand new ones from the same city – and a wealth of internationals remixing their tunes.

With IF100, think new material by ZEN PARADOX and TR-STORM, who appeared on the first ever IF? release, the Zeitgeist compilation in 1995. Then add G3, aka GUYVER 3, who had the first solo artist release (Perception Camera) through IF? in 1996. Sprinkle in some LITTLE NOBODY (first appearance on Zeitgeist 2 in 1996), ISNOD (who designed the Zeitgeist 3 cover in 1997 and featured on Reaction Hero in 2001), plus SCHLOCK TACTILE (Reaction Hero), SON OF ZEV (one of the IF? live stars in the ‘90s and ‘00s) and DJ FODDER – responsible for the 'Cocaine Speaking' phenomenon conjured up in 1999 and since remixed over 30 times by Mijk van Dijk, Dave Tarrida, DJ Hi-Shock, Pocket, Captain Funk, Jason Leach, etc, etc.

Then fold in brand new stuff by the storming, reasonably more recent Melbourne posse that includes excellent artists like BEN MILL, ENCLAVE, ALKAN, CRAIG McWHINNEY, KODA, ELEKTRONAUTS, VERONICA du LAC, CONVERSATIONAL DENTURES, DICK DRONE, RYSH PAPROTA and KULTRUN.

As icing on the proverbial cake we’ve added in some rather juicy remixes from PATRICK PULSINGER, BILL YOUNGMAN, SHIN NISHIMURA, SECRET SURFER, DSICO, SETTEE OF INDUSTRY, LEON NAGANT M1895 and DJ WARP, plus a Little Nobody remix of E383 and a Chairman of the Board mix of TALL TREES.

TRACK-LIST:

1. Isnod ‘Pripyat’
2. DJ Fodder ‘Cocaine Speaking’ (Dsico remix)
3. Craig McWhinney ‘Confined Spaces’
4. Andrez Bergen ‘Merian Cooper’
5. Funk Gadget ‘Blah Blah’ (Patrick Pulsinger remix)
6. Little Nobody ‘Get Away From It All’ (AB- Mix)
7. Ben Mill ‘Dance Floor Confessions Of A Stalker’
8. TR-Storm ‘Cylitic’
9. Koda ‘Snipper’
10. Little Nobody ‘Poiseworks’ (Shin Nishimura remix)
11. Kultrun ‘Underground’
12. Tall Trees ‘Broken Friend (Hurting Youself)’ (Chairman of the Board remix)
13. Alkan ‘In Your Skin’
14. Son Of Zev ‘Swelter’
15. Enclave ‘Pulse Overture’
16. Zen Paradox ‘Mindmelt’
17. Rysh Paprota ‘Her Flew’
18. G3 ‘Onigoroshi’
19. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira ‘Robota’ (Elektronauts remix)
20. Veronica du Lac ‘Because It Pays So Thin’ (Bill Youngman remix)
21. Jungle Taitei ‘Taitei Drums’ (Secret Surfer remix)
22. Little Nobody vs. Magnet Toy ‘Depth Charge’ (DJ Warp remix)
23. Koda ‘Tilb’
24. E383 ‘Radion 2’ (Little Nobody remix)
25. Kultrun ‘Drift Away’ (Andrez Bergen remix)
26. Schlock Tactile ‘Kouture Krash’
27. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (Settee Of Industry remix)
28. Dick Drone ‘Wash’ (Mix 2)
29. Conversational Dentures ‘Suicidio’ (Leon Nagant M1895 Remix)
30. Curvaceous Crustacean ‘An Electric Blanket & Minimum Chips’

Look out for this baby exclusive to Juno Download on December 15, 2009.

The Greatest Necessity of the Age!

Sometimes things aren't so subtle after all, especially when you have a big, slightly blacked-out loo (stuffed, apparently, with used toilet paper), on the cover. This is the brand new EP, The Greatest Necessity of the Age!, out through IF?

It's by an apprentice expat French plumber in Tokyo - and we're unsure if he's an apprentice expatriate or new at his job.

One thing is for sure, we certainly dig the moniker, Joseph Gayetty. Rarely have more appropriate names reigned so truly - and if it's for real, then the world is full of suitably surreal unintended humour.

Funk Gadget - Patrick Pulsinger remix

This one's out today - with big thanks to Patrick Pulsinger and the people at Sydney's Hypnotic Room Special Edition imprint.

Patrick harks from Austria, and being Australian myself, I always had a special affinity for the breed since we're continually mistaken for one another when we travel overseas, despite the variant native language and wildly different lengths of history. Besides, one of my favorite films is The Third Man, shot in late '40s Vienna.

My own interest in Patrick Pulsinger, however, has different origins.

From 1994 I had a radio show on community station 3PBS FM in Melbourne. It was called 'Cyberdada', and it was my other baby aside from my record label IF?, and in 1995 the most-played record on the show - amidst awesome 12-inches and tapes of stuff from Relief, Axis, Tresor, Trope, Sativae, Mosquito, Ninja Tune, Force Inc. (and IF?) - was actually a double-CD from Austrian label, Cheap Records.

The title? 90 Minutes in the Eyes of iO. It was produced by label bosses Patrick Pulsinger and Erdem Tunakan, with mates.

The release quite literally decked me, and Pulsinger has continued on as a mainstay influence in my own musical reference palette ever since, via the Austrian producer's own output (on labels like Disko B, Compost, Studio !K7, R&S, and International DJ Gigolo), as well as some of his brilliant remixes of people like DJ Hell, Chicks On Speed, Tosca, Tanzmusik and Ken Ishii. He certainly seems to have an eerie knack for a shnazzy remix.

Which brings us up-to-scratch - and my own somewhat cantankerous Funk Gadget project persona.

There's a Funk Gadget track I recently did called 'Blah Blah', which owes a great deal to the inimitable Paul Birken, and when it came to choosing a remixer for the track, Pulsinger's name was at the very top of the list.

Why? Because the man continues to do my head in, in completely cool Pulsingerian ways, a decade and a half after I first heard his mischief.

"I had a good feeling about the track and an instant idea for a remix," he says now, after having finished off the grand master challenge (it was released yesterday through Hypnotic Room Special Edition on July 10).

"Since the original has a good, funky rhythm track, I tried to keep that and give it a more four-to-the-floor approach. The klonky stuff is all cut-up from the original; I just added a Juno and a Moog Bass, and here you are. I was aiming at people who go out to clubs, listen, dance, enjoy a big bass, a drink, a smoke, nice company, are nice to animals, love peace - that sort of thing!"