Gothenburg, Sweden is a hotbed of diverse and escalating musical talent. From the mighty Soundtrack of Our Lives to idiosyncratic songsmiths José González and Jens Lekman, to the unpredictable pop styles from the likes of Love is All and Audrey, Gothenburg now boasts the dynamic, organically soulful pop sounds of Little Dragon. Featuring radiant vocalist Yukimi Nagano, Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrick Källgren (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards), Little Dragon stepped into the spotlight with the release of their first double A-side single on Peacefrog (home to José and Findlay Brown), ‘Twice’/’Test’. Yukimi has sung with Sweden’s electronica-jazz outfit Koop, and both Yukimi and Erik play live with José González. Little Dragon take tired musical traces and styles, give them a shot in the arm to leave us with something fresh and positive. It is a debut full of subtle touches, capturing fleeting emotional moments, twinned with gnawingly memorable pop flourishes and hooks.

Listen: Little Dragon - "Blinking Pigs" (via RCRD LBL)

“We are Crystal Fighters.

We make fast dance music with Basque instruments, synthesizers and our voices.”

“From somewhere high above the old hills of our home,

The love will come to conquer. “

Crystal Fighters juxtapose the eerie flavour of traditional Basque folk music with churning basslines and catchy energetic vocals, resulting in a jubilant and uplifting sound unlike any other.

They offer raved-up, percussive folktronica, veering from Klaxons-style euphoria to Animal Collective-toned delicacy, underpinned by a progressive contemporary London bass sound. Though their distinctive production techniques take in all this and more, Crystal Fighters draw a broader and more profound influence- the energy and wild liberty of the 80s Spanish/Basque 'anti-todo' youth movement, including the songs of bands such as Eskorbuto, Sinistro Total and Golpes Bajos.

The story is as engaging as their music ~

‘Crystal Fighters’ is the name of an unfinished opera written by singer Laure’s deceased grandfather during his final months of insanity. She came across it while clearing out the reclusive old man’s remote abode in the Basque countryside, and quickly became obsessed with the scrawls contained within it. Captivated by its seemingly prophetic contents, the band took on the name and attempted to expand upon the wild and deranged spirit of the old man’s writings.

2009 has already been an immense year for Crystal Fighters. Their debut single XTATIC TRUTH was released on the uber hip Kitsune label in June garnering feverish response worldwide. ‘Xtatic Truth’ was chosen as “Single Of The Week” on BBC Radio 1 by Nick Grimshaw and featured on Annie Mac’s BBC2 show Sound – a monumental feat for a band’s first single. All this whilst receiving high praise across both the indie and dance worlds as both the NME and Mixmag awarded it their respective “Single Of The Week/Month” crown. ‘Xtatic Truth’ also featured on the Kitsune Maison 7 – Lucky One compilation, establishing Crystal Fighters as one of the hottest and most promising new acts in the world.

Not content with this, the band have been busy in the studio remixing, turning their hand to Magic Wands’ “Black Magic” on Young & Lost, peaking at #1 in NME’s “10 Tracks You Have to Hear This Week.” Other remixes in the pipeline for this year include CSS, Pony Pony Run Run and MIT.

Crystal Fighters’ live shows have become legendary - described to be unrelentingly raw, intense, and passionate. Having headlined the Kitsune Maison 7 party, become regulars at Vice Events across Europe party and secured a 6 weekly residency at Barcelona’s infamous Razzmatazz; the coming months sees dates in Japan and New York whilst headlining 6 dates on the Mixmag UK tour.

All this follows the already impressive 2008 which saw the group take London by storm, being featured in all the cutting edge underground press – Dazed & Confused, FACT, Clash, Mixmag, iDJ magazine, and a Radio 1 Live Session for Rob da Bank. 2008 was rounded up with their ubiquitous online hit ‘I Love London’ voted in Mixmag’s Top 100 Records for 2008, the only unreleased record in the 100, crashing in ahead of the likes of Toddla T and Bloc Party.

Crystal Fighters are currently in the studio writing their debut album, and the second single “I Love London” will be released via KITSUNE the 1st December ‘09.

Scribe fell in love with music at an early age and never fell out. "I used to march around the house with my grandfather banging pot lids together as cymbals." His interest progressed, quite naturally, from pots and pans to violin to piano to synthesizers to samplers to turntables. Inspired by Public Enemy and The Pharcyde (among others), in the golden age of hip-hop that was the early 90's, he began collecting records. "Hip-hop, especially at that time, was unique in the history of recorded music, because for every new record that came out, there were three more you got educated about through the samples. My music knowledge and my collection were moving forwards and backwards through time simultaneously. I got hooked." Hip-hop (along with the dancehall reggae and acid jazz of the time), led him back in time to soul, funk, disco, r&b, roots reggae and jazz, and would later expand into a musical repertoire spanning afrobeat, house, broken-beat, latin, and his beloved 80s pop childhood roots.

Without turntables of his own, Scribe taught himself how to mix on live radio on WOBC FM at Oberlin College in Ohio, where he then began to cut his teeth as a dj at house parties and campus events, eventually opening for A Tribe Called Quest in front of 3,000 people. It was the first show of their groundbreaking Low End Theory Tour. Back in NYC after college, Scribe dabbled in hip-hop production under the guidance of Russell Simmons' RUSH Producers Management, and deejayed part-time, opening major concerts for A Tribe Called Quest again, and Digable Planets.

Fast forward to present. DJ Scribe has been spinning full-time since 2002. In that time, he has developed numerous notable and acclaimed residencies in NYC: Love Revolution at Joe's Pub, a freeform soul night that often featured Tortured Soul playing live, and guest djs such as E-Man, Carol C. of Si*Sé, Will "Quantic" Holland, Qool DJ Marv, and Ian Friday; Tag, in partnership with Wax Poetics Magazine, whose unique format featured Scribe alternating every other record all night with such legends as Yam Who?, Kool DJ Red Alert, Justin Strauss, Jazzy Nice, Prince Language and Rich Medina; Stone Soup in conjunction with BBE Records; Soulnado, at the world-famous Knitting Factory, a joint effort with DJ Busquelo, fusing the headsnapping broken beat drum tracks of London's underground CO-OP scene with classic dancefloor jazz (another UK staple) played live and fully improvised by rotating top-notch instrumentalists; and one of the most respected parties at Miami's annual Winter Music Conference since 2006: the Raw Fusion Miami party, which has featured the best of the best djs, Spinna, Karizma, Simbad, Daz-I-Kue, Benji B, Phil Asher, Mad Mats, Freddie Cruger aka Red Astaire, Karl Injex, and many more. Raw Fusion is a 12-years-running party in Stockholm, Sweden, founded by Mad Mats.

In 2006, Scribe and partner OP! (Suite 903) founded Nu-iSh, a multifaceted venture dedicated to representing, supporting, and exposing the best new music. Nu-iSh, partnering with a who's-who of quality independent labels around the world, began as a monthly party at Element, a weekly music review column on Coolhunting.com, a concert presenter for emerging artists like Heavy, and more.

Then, in 2008, Scribe and OP!, under the Nu-iSh umbrella, launched the monthly instant smash Raw Fusion NYC, the New York arm of the Raw Fusion franchise, at APT, one of NYC's top dj venues. Raw Fusion NYC has featured guest djs such as Simbad, Daz, 7 Samurai, Probe DMS, and live performances by Muhsinah, Kissey Asplund, Taylor McFerrin, TK Wonder, Zaki Ibrahim, Stephanie McKay, Daru, Erik Rico, Cecilia Stalin, and Ivana Santilli. Raw Fusion moves to nyc's best soundsystem, Love, in July 2009.

And most recently, in May 2009, Scribe founded I Love Vinyl, an all-vinyl party, with six resident djs. himself, Ge-Ology, Anthony Khan aka The Twilite Tone, Amir (Kon & Amir), OP! and Jon Oliver. The first party, at Le Poisson Rouge's Gallery Bar, was packed and jumping. In conjunction with the party, Scribe started a vinyl appreciation page on Facebook which attracted 10,000 fans in 10 days (now 14K+), and is also launching a line of I Love Vinyl merchandise with the logo, by popular demand.

Scribe has shared the marquee at live music venues like the Highline Ballroom, Le Poisson Rouge, SOB's and Joe's Pub with Floetry, Roy Ayers, Black Eyed Peas, Scratch of The Roots, Omar, Eve, Dwele, Les Nubians, Stephanie McKay, Antibalas, Little Dragon, Chin Chin and others; moved the crowd all over Western and Eastern Europe; and traveled extensively within the US and Canada, including multiple appearances at the annual Candela Art and Music Festival in Puerto Rico, Winter Music Conference, and the Detroit Electronic Music Festival.

A socially/politically conscious and committed individual, Scribe has done benefits with such organizations as Green Drinks, Third Wave Foundation, Active Listening, Paper Tiger TV, and Momentum Aids Project; and has also done major industry events for Gen-Art, and The Fader, Esquire, Details, Talk, and Elle Girl magazines.

In 2005, Scribe founded the DJ Collective, a forum for musically-oriented djs in NYC to develop resources and address the concerns of the dj community. The group also produced a number of benefit events, including a fundraiser in conjunction with Turntables on the Hudson at NYC's Cielo for rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Scribe has also done extensive studio work with DJ Spinna, including mixing remixes he did for Michael Jackson and Shaun Escoffery, and The Beyond Real Experience Vol.2 album for Spinna's Beyond Real label; as well as producing and mixing much of Tortured Soul frontman Christian Urich's soul project Cooly's Hot Box's album Take It, on Dome records, including the UK classic "Make Me Happy".

As of 2005, Scribe runs the stateside offices for Mad Mats' Stockholm-based Raw Fusion Recordings, as US Label Manager.

DJ Scribe spins dynamic sets from the heart, ranging from deep soul to dancefloor killers. acoustic jazz to glitch-hop and techno. coming to a dancefloor near you.


Q and A with I Love Vinyl Party founder, DJ Scribe