25/12/2013

Fluon top ten tracks of 2013

You probably have already read through some "best of 2013" lists. I didn't agree with the ones I read, so I decided to compile Fluon's top 10 tracks of 2013. When choosing the tracks I took nothing, but my own feelings into account. So have fun with this, listen and comment if you think something is missing. Also merry Xmas.



10. Awkwafina - "Mayor Bloomberg (Giant Margaritas)"
NYC nerd girl rapping to the mayor about giant margaritas. The video is as random. What's not to love?



9. Proxy - "Cobra Combo"
The soviet jungle's rambo Proxy delivers a new batch of bulldozer bass. His tracks are kind of a whole, but if I had to pick one then I'd go for the Cobra Combo with its crazy fidgeting.




8. James Blake - "Retrograde"
This track is the only one that matches between me and the big media tops. Hauntingly slow and dreamy. Is this song sad or happy, groovy or winding? It's perfectly in between everything and the little details rock the mood.
P.S. took a while to find an embed able audio source. Idiots at UMG (Universal) have disabled embeds for blogger for this and a couple more tracks on this list.




7. Bloody Beetroots - "Reactivate"
The "Hide" album is a great as a whole and when I first got it, I played it around five time in a row. They mix edm and different types of rock effortlessly and the finished tracks are dance able, but also tell a story. I picked "Reactivate", because it is one of the most high energy tracks and the most consistent as a dance track. "Please Baby" was a close second.




6. Disclosure - "Grab Her"
One of the roughest tracks off "Settle". A Very groovy dance floor track. I don't think there's a need to introduce Disclosure further. Never mind the video, this is the embed able version of the track.



5. M.I.A. - "aTENTion"
The freshest track off "Matangi" with a fresh vibe and it blends calmness with cockiness. M.I.A. radiates vision and confidence in everything she does and all of the music is fresh. I love the 90s vibe in "aTENTion". This might not be the final version by the way.

 


4. Digitalism - "Lift"
Digitalism reminds me of some of my own music without their rock influences. Their tracks with vocals are a special treat for the ears. Especially this year's Lift. Their Boiler Room mix gives clues of more great releases on the way.



3. Alesia - "Jezabel"
This track sound like the dominator hanging with trapsters and doing shots in a bar. Nothing beats hard French electro groove. And they are the ones to keep your eye on.



2. Gesaffelstein - "Hate or Glory"
Gesaffelstein was one of my favorite artists overall this year. He achieves the effect which I have strived for, but with a tempo that is twice as slow.
I'm not the biggest fan of the "Hate or Glory" video, but the music is pure genious with its minimal tension and the contrast between different parts.




1. Kanye West – "New Slaves (Dj Snake Remix)"

It's hard to beat Kanye's album Yeezus. When one of the best tracks off it is remixed even harder then it's a magic combination. Dj Snake is on the same compilation with Alesia, so it's a power combo. I hope 2014 will bring more of Yeezus.


See you soon, maybe even before new year.
Barthol

16/12/2013

Christmas, sofas, busted knees.

kanye west is heeeeeere

Expect new music and visual goodies very soon.

Everything started on Wednesday when we went to Sofar Talinn's concert number two. I guess you already know about Sofar, but in short it's a series of concerts that take place in people's living rooms. There's no ticket but you have to register in advance to go there. Three acts play and you won't know which ones before you get there.

Audience at Sofar 2, Chalice in the middle.

This time the acts were Markus Nylund, Vul Vulpes and Chalice/Jarek Kasar. Markus was standing in for Faun Racket. I had mixed feelings about that substitution, I love Faun Racket's electronic sound, but I'm not sure they would have rocked through the small speakers.

It's the sound of my shoes.

We were somewhat late and so we didn't get a good spot. Instead we hung on the indoors balcony. There were people from advertising, fashionistas and musicians in the audience. The building was in the Luther quarter and it was truly impressive. The passing trams were a nice finishing touch.

Photo battle casualty

Friday was one of the quietest in a long time. We hit Von Krahl, as we didn't get to go to the "AKGP 21" neon special event. It was a Kuduro party with not that many people there. A few drinks and dances to breakcore and we left. I hit Noorus to say hi and continued from there towards Telliskivi. We never made it there.

The girls on the left were supposed to dance on the speakers.

Saturday was once again a wild night. My first Christmas party this year was at Slothrop's book shop. A great place for feeding your brain. All the people working there are interesting in different ways.

Microcobra is ready.

I was to play a Dj set at Red Emperor. I was excited to see how do russophone glitch/8bit/breakcore acts and DJs interact with Australians, other foreigners and xenophile girls. I was a little late to see the experiment, as the foreigner concentration was fairly light when I got there.

Girls
I got on stage at 2:30 am. After the first 15 minutes the crowd got on the stage with me and stayed till the end of the night.

Olya rocking it.

The set was loads of fun. A lot of people came up to me while I was playing and I think only half of them requested a track. After an hour I gave the stage to Olya who was a real master of continuing the vibe. Big thanks to her for organizing the event in the first place.


I managed to bust my knees that night, as Tallinn is the slipperiest city in the world. To my surprise a passing guy pulled me back on my feet instantaneously. I ended the night at a birthday I can't tell you about.

See you soon
Barthol

08/12/2013

Friends throw the best birthday parties

I don't usually listen to music like this, but it sounds pretty good here

Our glamorous birthday girl.

This Friday was precious. It's always fun to go to friend's birthdays and this time there were many at once. Tõnis and Tiia were having their 54 years combined party at Protest. At the same time Diana was having her jubilee at undisclosed location. I played a set at both of the celebrations.

Glamorous birthday boy

I started at Protest, greeted the birthday boy and girl, tasted the mint punch and met more friends. The theme was Gatsby glam, guys were asked to suit up. I just wore a tie, as the second night also had a dress code which didn't match the suit style. I couldn't stay for long because I was supposed to play at the undisclosed location first.



The location is in the very center of town. You have to know the right people to get through the door. There are no signs and most of the time you wouldn't ever know that there was something going on in there. I got let in by a glamorous girl. I later learned that she was the burlesque dancer.

Olya at the red carpet event with "champagne".

I played my set 90 minute electro set as one of the first DJs because I was the "crowd friendliest" that's probably a first time when this has happened to me. At times I was accompanied by Edvin who was playing the flute on top of the electro tracks. A big thanks to the barman who kept bringing me the "welcome" shots while I was playing.

The fire show

There was a fire show happening soon after my set. We stood and watched the flying fire while tiny speakers were playing Lana Del Rey. Passing people stopped and admired the show with the guests.

One of the best looks, wearing Triinu Pungits.

The second act of the night appeared. I've never been to a birthday with a burlesque show. It was sexier than the stripper we once had back in Tartu. For obvious reasons she was hotter than Marco at this party. The performer was Chrissy Kiss.

Contrasting beauty against the shabby wall.

It was nice to meet up with Olya, whom I hadn't seen for years since she moved to Berlin and then London. You might see us playing together soon enough in Tallinn.
I headed back towards Protest around 4 am. The place was packed full and the concentration of friends was high. We proceeded with a bottle of half-frozen champagne to remember the old days.

Girl looking for change in Protest.

After pondering whether I should play or let the house and techno wave prevail, I decided to give electro a fighting chance. I played for half an hour after Tõnis, and stirred up the place.

People feeling Tõnis play.

The night ended at 8 am. It's been a while since I have taken the bus home from a party. If you liked this then you can read how we celebrated Diana's birthday some years ago. Last year's bash with Tõnis. And how I played Tiia's party at Protest some years ago.



See you soon,
Barthol

02/12/2013

Dark days

So you want to be the cocaine of music

Welcome back,
The snow finally came and lets see what happened before that.

Two girls found each other at a Noorus' night.

I'm playing a half-private night this Friday, if some of you want to hear that, then drop me a line.

Rave Dave kicking it with a beer before we headed out
to show off his beard at Red Emperor.
Meeting Finnish students at Red Emperor who challenged people to drink beer
with two tampons in your mouth. Eventually the challenge was excepted
and the guy did it in about ten seconds. He turned into a belly button
beer fountain.

Meeting in the earlier hours of a Tartu night.

Two zombies looking at the pool party and befriending a cat. We tried to take it to the bars with us, but it had ADHD and short legs.

Paavo Matsin hosts the sickest book launches. This time it consisted of  a tenor singing, a violinist playing, best presentation of travel photos ever, an overview of Latvian drinks,  sword fighting and Bartitsu the martial art of gentlemen. The tradition of drinking shots of pure spirit (96.7) continued.

Dj Girti playing at Noorus



See you soon!
Barthol

20/11/2013

Super lives

You should move Fluon to Tumblr

We've had tons of fun at the two latest shows. I have no photos of either one, which is a sign that I should start bringing my own photographer with me to shows again. Enjoy this video from Von Krahl.


The Depeche Mode fan club's and Trash Can Dance's birthday were great lives which marked a new direction in my shows. The DM birthday had a special bus to take people from Tallinn to Tartu and back, so half of the party took place there with a stop in the middle to buy moose sausage.

Seeing Argo Vals play first Tallinn Sofar event.

The party was catered and the bottle of golden tequila I had asked for was waiting for me. All the adventures continued until 9am and I pretty much missed the next day.

Patrolling the streets of Tartu.

During the shows most of the left EPs got sold, so at this moment I have 6 left to sell. There might be some additional ones left at Biit, World Clinic and Genialistide klubi. All in all the EP is a success even despite no reviews of it having been written. For this year it seems that the live performances are over, with a last private one on new year's eve in Tartu. Get in touch if you would want to be there.

Reaching the Tequila worm.

We're already working on the next release which will be a mixtape on Trash Can Dance's label. It will be mostly old tracks mixed creatively but there will also be new unreleased tracks.

Resting from Tequila at 7am.

Trash also put "TV Bitch" on the birthday tape, which is the first cassette my music has ever been released on. If you weren't the first of hundred visitors at Von Krahl then there's no legal way of getting a copy. The party was wild. The bill had seven artists playing and I got on 20 minutes later than I should have. While some tired fans had already left, they were compensated by a wild pack of girls. Their determination to dance and take the best of the night was inspiring. You can see them from the video.

Metal nosebleed at Trash Can Dance's birthday.

There will be a single out before the year ends so keep an eye on my Facebook, Soundcloud and Twitter.

Jarmo at "the worst party ever" and finally on Fluon.

It will feature vocals by me or someone else, so you can finally sing along.

...or gtfo.

See you soon!
Barthol

28/10/2013

Stylish weekend

Play the original track!

The crowd at Noorus.

Welcome back,
Thanks to everyone who came to Noorus. It was mad fun. The Friday night was the longest one this weekend. First I played a three hour set at Noorus. Before I took over from Ellen Vene and Elisabeth Aare, the police raided the place and asked everyone for ID. I was lucky to have mine on me, as otherwise the night could have been short.

Taking a selfie in a selfie at Rundum Photo Expo.

At the same time a model was celebrating her 18th birthday in the back room. I didn't get the time to go there, but people kept telling me stories about what was happening while I played in the front. As always I got a bunch of requests while playing. I did have a remix of one of those to play.

Girls gambling

After Noorus we went to see the afterparty for Tallinn Fashion Week at former club Korter. It was now called Välk and we made it there at 4:30am. Jack Dj crew was playing and yet again models were strutting around. I was told that models hate to be asked if they are models. As the vibe was strange there I headed out towards Protest in an hour, where our friends were supposed to be.

The rave crew came to raid Noorus

As we made it there Jack Dj crew was playing and there weren't any models. I was asked to play as I had my records with me. The speakers had been blown so I played around 6 songs of bass rumble and then quit it.

The models and I leaving Noorus.

On Sunday we went to a birthday which took place at a secret venue. I was forbidden to take photos, because "it makes people nervous"(?) but check out the coolest toilet ever down there.

Put your hands in the air, Välk Fashion week afterparty.

That was this weekend, check out the scheduled shows and come to have fun with us.

The coolest toilet, there's even a bed in here.

On other fashion news, another H&M was opened in Tallinn. I haven't been to any of them yet.

Unwrapping the H&M

See you at the Birthday of Estonian Depeche Mode fanclub,
Barthol

24/10/2013

Carrying on

[Estonian pregame] it's a bit less drinking games and more just drinking like mad fuckers

Awing exhibition art piece.

Welcome!
It has been a while but I have three shows coming up. First this Friday 25.10 at Noorus I will play a Dj set as Fluon. Secondly on 7.11 I will play a live at Rock'n'Roll Heaven in Tartu, sharing the stage with Faun Racket.


Last rays of sun for this year.

The third performance is on the 15.11 at Von Krahl where we celebrate the birthday of Trash, sharing the stage with Wick Blaze and others.

Tommy Cash at Biit's birthday, Congratulations!

The music video is out and somewhat controversial. Cast your vote to keep us going on the Top7 Tv show. Especially if you don't want the evil emo dwarf to win again.

S.S. Fabrique playing at EKKM.

As the autumn keeps getting darker and colder it's the perfect time for making music, going out and taking photos. Expect a lot more of those three things!

Technotiiger at Genialistide Klubi with chain boots.

If you end up somewhere with an amateur DJ, then I recommend taking the edge off with the drinking game we created.

Amateur Dj drinking game:

plays the track to the end.............................................1 sip
messes up the transition...............................................1 sip
plays a bad quality mp3................................................1 sip
accidental silence..........................................................1 sip
no one dances..............................................................5 sips
the room empties out.....................................finish your drink
someone spills their drink on the gear.............finish your drink

Add your ideas to the comments.

Worship the triangle at Indiroonika.
I'll meet you at the dance floor and we'll get it on. Stay cool, I'm getting on the new track.

See you in Noorus,
Barthol