100% Silk

STRIDES OF MARCH

CUTICLE CUT-ICLES

click moi for cut-icles

STRATEGIC MOVES

Sweet STRATEGY, "Bolly Valve 2000" from the upcoming "Boxy Music" EP, dropping on February 23rd...

SILK AT WELTENBUERGER

Here's me in my recent WB score, Boy London villain shades

Weltenbuerger is my absolute favorite store in Los Angeles. And now I'm ecstatic to say they're carrying 100% SILK records along with all their other avant treasures.

Please go visit when yr in LA for mindblowing future-thinking apparel (and, now, SILK-y sounds).

www.weltenbuerger.org/us/

THE WINTER OF YOUR MALKINTENT...

...made glorious summer by this Afterhours mix ("AND THE LAUGHTER ECHOES ONLY IN ONE'S MIND...")

Nick Malkin is an LA Vampire, a Jersey finist, a 'Deep Web' surfer, and he sleeps in jean cut-off shorts. We love him. And needed to hear more from him...

SILK: give me the best record or song for the morning, the afternoon, the night, and the super after hours.

NM: it's something like rock and roll in the morning and drone in the afternoon and jazz at night and then trip-hop real late. but that's kind of an exercise in self-flattery. i mostly just get interested in one or two things and listen to them all day long for a month. like this Lemongrass record 'Drumatic Universe' or Bob Seger's greatest hits.

SILK: in terms of mainstream radio, who right now in yr opinion is 1) the most prescient, 2) the most successfully comedic, 3) the biggest trendsetter/trailblazer?

NM: this was the first year in a while where i was paying more attention to pop music than anything in the underground, listening to the radio more than i was listening to tapes or records. that said, i don't think it's easy to point to one or two people as being especially prescient. maybe people want to believe in the idea of the artist mastering their craft, but i think the thrill of pop music is its accidental nature. someone like Ester Dean writes a few lousy singles over the year, but also writes 'Super Bass.' Cristyle wrote 'Only Girl (In The World)' along with a handful of shit you've never heard. and even Dr. Luke, who has probably done more than anyone else to shape mainstream sonic and melodic aesthetics in the past few years, has recorded plenty of mediocre material, this year especially. i guess i don't know enough about it to say anything. there are so many teams of writers. whoever is responsible for bringing that euro club thing into every hit on the radio should probably be given credit, though i wasn't much of a fan of that sound.

as far as being comedic, i don't think there are too many to consider. LFMAO are there, i laughed at that. Nicki Minaj has her moments. i guess tastes are moving back into a more serious and emotional place, which is alright, it goes both ways. the ballads. i was surprised Adele succeeded the way she did, especially with 'someone like you.' and i liked that, but on paper it doesn't seem like something people would want.

SILK: you're collabing with Octo Octa right now both in LA Vampires and with your own personal project, what's Mike's special sauce?

NM: there are a hundred thousand assholes running around making pathetic music, convinced of their genius, expecting immortality. some of them have probably eaten dinner at my house. Michael is making such wild music and he doesn't act like anything. i don't know if he's unaware of how good he is or what. but he has a real light touch and his recordings are beautiful in their subtlety. it isn't minimalist music, but it comes off that way. there is a quiet melancholy in his songs, even the upbeat ones. i'm partial to that, especially in dance music. he's also a good driver.

SILK: what's yr favorite keyboard setting? both for actual sound and/or for the name?

NM: "waterpiano" is one that i like. it sounds, you know, like an underwater piano. "silkyverysilky" is nice for strings, makes everything seem urgent and sad. "lonely brass" is pretty good, but i haven't used that on any recordings. most of them have better names than sounds.

SILK: would you rather dance music make you want to dance, or make you cry?

NM: both at once, isn't that what everyone will say? that's the better catharsis than one or the other. 'rhythm of the night' will make you feel like that. when the chorus comes in for the first time in 'Only Girl (In The World).' i was at Akbar one night and watched people break into tears when that chorus came around. that seems real.

CJ FROM DETROIT

SILK's obsession with Coyote Clean Up can be your possession. Coming soon, 'Frozen Solid' cassette (and a follow-up 12" EP later in the year).

Go HERE for CCU's Ice Cold Chrissy 'Thawed Out' mix too.

BUY MORE RECORDS

SILK Outlet: Buy all 3 new 100% SILK 12 inches and get a free SILK tour tee !! S, M, L -- specify size please. While SILK-y supplies last! Lovin U is easy cause you're beautiful...

PEAKING LIGHTS "936 REMIXED" 12" (SILK014) $12
Ponies from the SILK stable turn ‘936’ dub-a-dub lullaby groovers into full-on synth-sex, acid-bubble, twinkle-starshine dance ditties on this remix redux. Beat it with the chic vocal pitch n’ bounce and metallic/mechanic swing of Ital’s take on “Marshmellow Yellow.” Bring it on baroque with Xander Harris’ Sly and Dario giallo-reggae revision of “Birds of Paradise.” Innergaze hi-five the minimal wave of “All The Sun That Shines,” transforming the original into a syncopated psych-out dark-disco-dose FX fest. And Cuticle’s got the bleary bleep-bloop best of sweet serenade “Tiger Eyes” with Casio keyed-up flourishes, hi-hat space jams, and damp ramp-up breakdowns. Even beater than the real thing; let the Domino fall for ‘936’-gone-nightlife.

SFV ACID "GROWN" 12" (SILK016) $9

Like the permanent midnight warm up at a Genesis ’88 bash, the empty squelch sounds of SFV ACID are at their tab-on-tongue-in-cheek, acid burning best. But don’t come listening for the happy-faced ecstasy-laced house-for-rent vibes of the free-samplin’, glory vocalin’, disco duckin’ SILKy celebrators. These are heady, midsummer night dreams of a bygone house era. There’s luxury and play to SFV ACID’s homegrown arcade grooves, as the DJ tweeks and turns sci-fi sounds over luscious piano leisure. It’s alien versus elator, Robo-copiousness. Driving down an alley in the San Fernando Valley never felt like this; woozy and wound up, sensual and cell-blocked, bouncy and breathy; like, gag me with a silver spoon. As one electronic element bends, another synthetic sonance breaks, into a pleasure pulse that bubbles up like a shaken sparkling water. That’s the fizzy tingle, the SFV ACID aftertaste.

BOBBY BROWSER "JUST BROWSING" 12" (SILK017) $9

Bay Area bruiser Andre Ferreira aka Bobby Browser makes PeopleMover music: taking his sweet time to glide. Side A Bass-ic backdrops are ever-changing: wade through winds on the night yacht, dewy fields for the drumline, front row Fashion Week, whirl-a-girl-globe-twirl. Side B Glist-opher Guest vocals by Mara Barrenbaum give the EP that art-echo-deco, opulent opera, Blessed House happy-hedonist feel. Rollin’ Roland silly strings play cucumber-cool Q and A with bubbly-bath acid stabs. It’s sunny techno, rat-a-tat trance, Tom Bomb Club Dub, woodwind hopscotch, Rob Rouser five-star quality. For your Uplift Mo’ Blow Party Plan. Just Browsing? Just Buying.