Thursday, November 18, 2010

comments section

you may have noticed we turned off our comments
option to block the crazy Chinese spammers. we
turned it back on but you have to join the blog to
comment, so follow the blog! you also get first
dibs on limited stuff!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

MIKE DJING IN BOGOTA COLOMBIA THIS WKND

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come on out to Bogota this weekend as Mike takes
his traveling roadshow down south


venue:radio berlin
address: cra 6 # 26 -57
cover: 20k
date: nov 12 9pm


see you there!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

MIKE djing in PHILLY THIS WEEKEND (w/ DJ Kaos)

Mike is driving down to Philly to play with Dj Kaos
(he is the K of T&K fame). Dennis Kaos is from Germany
so be sure to come out and catch a rare overseas dj
do his thing...

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Thursday, November 04, 2010

NEW 7 INCHES ADDED TO THE STORE

Check out the store for some ultra rare Glass Candy singles, & a
new single from our friends in Los Angeles, Terminal Twilight.
Only 35 copies of each...so hurry!

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

FALL IS HERE

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After spending a few extra days in southern California last week
(thankyou for stealing my passport)...I was able to enjoy an indian
summer, catch up with some friends, & lose a lot of sleep. By the
time they let me back through Canadian customs in Montreal, Fall
was in full swing. When i got home, there was a huge stack of
records on my porch. The Chromatics records finally made it.
Apparently, Mike got his the same day in New Jersey. They're
at the top of our mail order store as of late last night. They
won't be officially available at record shops worldwide for
about another month. This is when they'll hit at the same
time as the "Night Drive" double lp. We'll have both "In The
City" & "NIght Drive" Lps in the store for $20 as a bundle in two
weeks. If you are worried about us running out of "In The City",
don't be. We made sure we have enough to last until the bundles
are available. But if you just can't wait, pick it up now for $10.
The vinyl version comes with free mp3 download codes including
a bonus unrealeased track called "The Long Road Home". It was
recorded in 2007 originally intended as the closer for "Night
Drive". But a blatant lift of Francois Hardy's voice made it
impossible to release in time. Enjoy !

Friday, October 15, 2010

THANKS FOR COMING OUT!

It was great to see everyone on the west coast. Seattle, Portland,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tijuana and San Diego. We apologize
to all the people who couldn't get into the shows due to sell out.
We'll be back in the spring with "AFTER DARK 2". Check out these
photos Sadie Mellerio took from the show in San Francisco. It all
seems like a blur now.

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Monday, October 04, 2010

CHROMATICS

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On Saturday, i brought back two suitcases of stuff on the Portland /
New Jersey direct flight. As you know...this weekend we threw two
crazy parties in Seattle & Portland. Sold Out insanity for Chromatics,
Glass Candy, & yours truly. It was the unofficial release parties for
the two Chromatics cds out in a few weeks. "Night Drive" Deluxe
edition & "In The City" mini album. Both albums feature 5
unreleased bonus tracks each. Archiving the bands work in Portland
between 2004 & 2006. Remastered over the summer from the
original tapes. We were also able to grab 19 more copies of the
elusive "Black & White" magazine. The first batch of 50 we had sold
out in less than 6 hours in the middle of the night... so get them
while you can. We also raided Johnny's studio & got 9 copies of the
"Nite" 12" from 2005. We'll have vinyl copies of "Night Drive" & "In
The City" in two weeks... but if you can't wait that long, you can
pick up the cds for $5 each in our mail order store before they hit
record shops. In three days we leave again to hit california. Come
out and see us all live, Chromatics'
& Glass Candy's new songs are sick by the way!!!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

ITALIANS DO IT BETTER WEST COAST PARTIES

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We are excited to announce the Italians Do It Better
family hit the road in full force next weekend.
Chromatics is back on stage for the first time in
over two years. Glass Candy will be giving us a
sneak peak from their new album, & yours truly
will be spinning before, between, & after the live
sets. If that wasn't enough... We have friends making
cameos in each city. We'll also be traveling with a merch
store. 12"s & cds for $5, Lps for $10, & shirts from Glass
Candy & Chromatics. We're bringing limited quantites of
some hard to find Italians vinyl so come see us at the merch
table early. The tour also marks the double release of two
Chromatics albums. "NIGHT DRIVE" CD analog remastered
with 5 bonus tracks clocking in at over 78 minutes. & "IN
THE CITY" CD / LP analog remastered with 5 unreleased
tracks including the instrumental version. "NIGHT DRIVE"
double lp couldn't get done in time for tour due to printing
delays...But we'll have everything in the store in a couple of
weeks so stay tuned...Come out & say hi. This is the first
time we've ever thrown a label party in Los Angeles so you
know it's going to be sick. Get your tickets cheap & early.
Here's the links for the tickets :


THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30
SEATTLE / CHOP SUEY
Ticketweb.com $10 adv.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 1
PORTLAND / ROTTURE

THURSDAY OCTOBER 7
SAN FRANCISCO / RICKSHAW STOP
http://www.rickshawstop.com/

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8
LOS ANGELES / CLUB 740
http://italians2010la.eventbrite.com/

SATURDAY OCTOBER 9
TIJUANA

SUNDAY OCTOBER 10
SAN DIEGO / SODA BAR
www.frontgatetickets.com

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Mike heads south--- then west

Mike will be taking his act on the road this weekend.

check it out:

WEDS 22: EL PASO @ El Pisto
(have never djed in El Paso so come down)

THURS 23: LOS ANGELES @ The Central (Santa Monica)
w/ Paul T (Sarcastic) & Travis TK Disco hot new club alert...

FRI 24: SAN FRANCISCO @ Face (best party in SF)
w/ Eug & J Montag

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Thursday, September 16, 2010

the Italians backstock purge!

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hello. over the next few weeks we will be putting some
old stuff for sale in the store that has been sold out for
quite some time. these arent represses, these are our
personal copies that we have accumulated
over the years. All sealed like new copies. You may notice
round one is up with the Tiedye, the elusive Chromatics In
The City 12" and Life After Sundown 12"s.

Those are our own personal stash of stuff we found in Ida's
basement in Portland a few weeks ago. Keep checking back
all the time because we are putting up some really cool stuff
by Chromatics, Glass Candy, Tiedye, Invisible Conga People,
and some other surprises. We have limited quantities of
this stuff. Some we have 20 copies, some we have 5 copies!

Also we have some more Chromatics books leftover from
some people who never paid. if you are interested email
mike at troublemanunlimited dot com.

Saturday, September 04, 2010

MIKE SIMONETTI & JOHNNY JEWEL "Albuterol" cd (out now on Perseo)

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In December 2007, We threw a huge gala on a cold & rainy Friday
night in Portland with Chromatics & Glass Candy. Mike came out
to spin the party...the after party...and the party after the after
party... We spent the next three days recovering, working on a
mix, & trying to find a place for Mike to lay his weary head. The
damp & grey climate is great if you're writing Wipers lyrics...but
if you left your prescription asthma medicine (Albuterol) in Jersey,
you're pretty much screwed. Day 1 : Mike stays with Me at chez
Ruth / Daphne & Ruby (the sister cats) fur all over the apartment
causes Mike's asthma to flair up even worse. Day 2 : We decided
to relocate Monsiuer Simonetti to Ida's Candy Castle / Marlon's
(the stray cat) tiger stripes almost close Mike's eyes forever. Day
3 : Adam & Natty offer him a warm bed...but Pimp C's (the cat
freed from a shelter on the same day the UGK poet was released
from prison) dander just about closes Mike's windpipe. Then it
occurs to us...there's no cats at the studio, so we spend two days
& nights listening to crates of killer cuts from Mike's library in
New Jersey. Starting with around 80 songs and slowly narrowing
it down to 10 traxxx that really complimented each other. Step 1:
Burn all the records to disc through analog preamps ... Step 2 :
Edit the traxxx live using 3 cdjs. Step 3: Take the best edits and
blend them all together in one long take live to tape. No computers
were harmed on the set of this recording. At Italians Do It Better,
we love our computers... But for a mix this dirty, with almost all live
drummers, it just felt better doing it by hand. The end result runs
the gamut of rock, disco, proto house, boogie, swedish glam, bizarre
italo, soul, & some odd things in between. Not to mention the entire
mix is slightly pitched down. Most likely due to exhaustion & Mike's
almost comatose state. It just sounded heavier this way.
The weekend came & went, & it was time for Mike to fly home... On
our way to the airport, Ida chased a Fed Ex truck down Hawthorne.
Just in time for the flight, the Albuterol finally came. Mike took it &
all was well. There was so much confusion that weekend, I forgot to
label the tape. It got lost in the shuffle. Tours came & went. New
records were being made, & we forgot about it. Five months later
Mike found a rough mix of it on his ipod & ripped a really lo fi
version for the blog. The mix exploded (20,000 downloads &
counting), but no one could guess the full tracklist. A couple of
months ago we started Perseo & around that time I found the
original mix in Portland. Here it is ...the way it was
meant to be heard. Fully remastered back through tubes.

TRACK LISTING
1. The Dead Of Night
2. Pitched Down Pugh (Gothenburg Boat Mix)
3. The Downside Of Gentrification
4. Found You In The Dollar Bin
5. Syntheseized Throbbing Baleric Italo Track With Guitar Solo
6. School's Out Forever
7. Her Magic Spell
8. Pulasky Skyway To Zanzibars
9. Super Sensitive
10. Disconet Dilemma

Total Running Time (50:31)

$5

BLACK & WHITE

Ever wondered what would happen if Helmut Newton chauffered
Colin Self & Raymond Pettibon for a spin thru monte carlo in the
middle of the night? Just arrived in the store today from the italians
do it better print factory... simply titled, "Black & White"... A
conceptual poster magazine designed by Chromatics & Desire.
Part of an ongoing multi media collaboration between the two
groups...the summer issue features thirty 11 X 17 black & white
posters of design, drawings & lyrics. Sneak peaks of upcoming
album art ... movie posters ... 12" sleeve designs ... tour flyers
from the past & future ... luxury advertisements... & new
romance ... GLASS CANDY & MIRAGE both throw cameos to the
mix on a couple of posters. Made for CHROMATICS' west coast
tour with GLASS CANDY in October...Very limited edition.
The bands agreed to part with 50 copies for the
Italians store. Printed & assembled by the bands last spring
while DESIRE was recording in Portland. These things are huge
so shipping is higher than usual.

In other news ... CHROMATICS is in Montreal right now working
their new double lp in DESRE'S suite 307 studio off of Saint Laurent.
Meanwhile, NIGHT DRIVE, is finally at our vinyl pressing plant!
Analog Remastered Double Lp with five unrealeased tracks from
the album... The lost fourth side of the album that never got put
out due to lots and lots of problems beyond our control. I guess
that's what happens when you record on really weird equipment
that is almost impossible to find parts for. Which is why it never
came out on vinyl ...We'll explain more later. & if that wasn't
enough,we are also excited to announce an "IN THE CITY" Mini
lp also at the plant this week. Features the 12" version of "In the
City" plus 6 unreleased B sides recorded between 2004 & 2006
immediately preceding the NIGHT DRIVE sessions. These tapes
were rediscovered in the process of Johnny relocating studio
vaults to Montreal for the new album. Both albums will be in
the store in about a month so stay tuned and get them here
first!

DUE TO THE SIZE OF THE BOOK THEY WILL BE SHIPPED SEPARATE
FROM THE REST OF YOUR ORDER.
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