Tamara de Lempicka, Devo, James Murphy, Lovefoxxx, CSS, ELO, Jeff Lynne, Berlin, Justice, Peaches, Midnight Juggernauts, Riton, fjords, Tom Ford, fjords designed by Tom Ford, Ellen Allien, Luxxury, Ladytron, Roxy Music, gin, tonic, Moroder, Johnny Jewel, Robots in Disguise, Miuccia Prada, Jamie Lidell, The Faint, 70's porn, Erol Alkan, PiL, the pyramids at Giza, the pyramids of Daft Punk, the pyramids of Gary Numan, Tones on Tail, Boys Noize, Kissy Sell Out, drum solos, Humbert Humbert, The Young Ones, Sisters of Mercy, your sister, your brother, the brothers Gibb: Barry, Robin, Maurice, Andy; Vendela, Theresa, Jeremy
Here is where you can download Baron von Luxxury remixes, courtesy of the best blogs ever (I WUV U ALL!)
Sunny Day Sets Fire - "Brainless (Baron Von Luxxury Remix)" (February 2008) "Syncopated moments of silence can still be golden, and San FranDisco newcomer Baron Von Luxxury's suave take on "Brainless" is proof enough. A buzzing bass lulls you into an understated frenzy, and you keep expecting the interplay between beats to spiral out of control, but BVL keeps his cool, and you wouldn't have it any other way." - CMJ
Glass Candy - "I Always Say Yes (Baron von Luxxury Remix Parts II + III)" (January 2008) "Best Glass Candy remix I've heard yet. Wow. Big thumbs up to Baron von Luxxury for putting this one together. Here's the story: Von Luxxury, Johnny Jewel, and Ida spent nine months working on this remix! Johnny and von Luxxury were quite the collaborative team as they kept bouncing ideas off of each other, passing around edits, and critiquing each incarnation of the edit. The final cut wound up being nineteen minutes long, believe it or not (hence the Parts II & III thing)! The von Luxxury remix is dark and ambient like Glass Candy songs ought to be, bouncy and post-punk-infused, but with just enough disco gloss and atmospheric shimmers to bump it up to moody dance floor fodder (if also very smart and expertly arranged). It rocks, rocks!" - Bibabidi
Scissors for Lefty: "Ghetto Ways (BvL's Super Thanks for Asking Remix)" (November 2007) "Far better than the original!" - Radio Sidekick "Disco-goodness, complete with a sneaky Rush sample!" - Get Weird Turn Pro "Smooth, buzzing, disco-y, electro-y. Great track for the early evening." - La New Shit
CSS: "A la la (BvL's Lovefoxx + BVL = BFF Remix)" (September 2007) "Comme dans les chansons pour jeunes filles, je suis ton meilleur ami… Pourtant, je préfèrerais être ton pire amant..." - Monsieur P
Hilary Duff: "Stranger (BvL's Eyes of Laura Mars Remix)" (June 2007) "Anyone who could make Hillary Duff's puffy pop songs sound like edgy, lusty, club music must know how to mix a track. The San Francisco singer/songwriter/DJ, Baron Von Luxxury, creates lethally addictive electro-rock songs that sound like a retrofit of Devo combined with the modern, pulsing beats of Daft Punk. Relying mostly on synth and bass guitar, Baron manages to splash a dance party into every note drawing inspiration from glam rock, disco, and pop. Luxxury's mash-ups of Scissors for Lefty and Dirty Sanchez's tracks show notable creativity and showcase his unique ability to find the gritty core of a song and shock it into throbbing, yet controlled euphoria" - URB
Luxxury: "Drunk (BvL's Lovesick Vocoders at Night Remix)" (May 2007) "Luxxury is another gem out of Frisco….If you're not familiar with them, you've encountered them at the perfect time b/c they've commissioned quite a list of up-and-coming producers to remix their "Rock and Roll is Evil" album. The result is a whole lotta dance-rock-disco-electro goodness. Luxxury has actually adapted their live show to play the remixed versions of some of the songs. I picked out my favorite little morsel of the bunch. awwww, is it too hard for you? I thought you told me that you liked it hard..." - Miss Toats @ Big Stereo/IHEARTCOMIX
Blake Robin’s great grandfather was the music director of the Russian army. Now, using the fake name Baron von Luxxury, he continues the family tradition in a slightly less violent fashion: sending disco troops to battle on the dancefloor.
Baron von Luxxury wears many hats. Like fellow multiplatform multitaskers James Murphy (DFA/LCD Soundsystem) and, hell, Timbaland, he’s a songwriter, performer, and producer, not to mention a DJ and label owner. As singer/producer/songwriter for San Francisco’s electropop/indie darlings Luxxury, he concocts shiny, sexy sonic cocktails combining the modern electro sounds of MSTRKRFT and Daft Punk with the classic, quirky dance/pop/rock sounds of New Order, ELO and Devo.
Luxxury's debut album "Rock and Roll is Evil" employs 1980's influenced dance beats, synths, heroic guitars and sardonic lyrics to chronicle the rise and fall of legendary 70's Sunset Strip groupie Sable Starr. The album, recorded and mixed in Berlin, Los Angeles, Brooklyn and San Francisco, features an original cover by internationally renowned artist Jeremy Blake (Beck's "Sea Change"). Released in late 2006 on von Luxxury’s own Nolita label, it was quickly hailed as a future-retro classic:
"Lethally addictive. Throbbing, yet controlled euphoria." - URB
"Dance-rock-disco-electro goodness. Luxxury is a gem." - Big Stereo
"Unbelievably addictive. Disco fury. Dazzling!" - Subba Cultcha
An album of remixes, “Sweet and Vicious” was released in Summer 2007 featuring re-imagined versions of Luxxury’s songs by an international roster of up and coming producers from London to Toulouse, and from Brooklyn to Hollywood. It quickly became a massive blog favorite with songs featured on Big Stereo,
PalmsOut, MissingToof, HateSomethingBeautiful, La New Shit and dozens more.
Luxxury has also been a favorite on radio, and TV. The song “Drunk” was recently used in a national Pontiac commercial and "Sweet and Vicious" was recently heard on MTV's "The Hills." Both songs, as well as "Sable Starr" and Luxxury's cover of Frida (from ABBA)'s 1982 hit "Something Going On" have been played on hundreds of radio stations worldwide, including SF's Live 105, XFM, Virgin Radio London and LA's KROQ.
As a producer, BvL’s remixes have included:
* Glass Candy: "I Always Say Yes" (Baron von Luxxury Remix Odyssey)”
* Sunny Day Sets Fire: "Brainless (Baron von Luxxury Remix)”
* Robots in Disguise: "We’re In the Music Biz (Baron von Luxxury's None More Black Remix)”
* Hilary Duff: "Stranger (Baron von Luxxury Eyes of Laura Mars Remix)"
* CSS: "A la la (Baron von Luxxury Lovefoxx + BVL = BFF Remix)”
* Scissors for Lefty: "Ghetto Ways (Baron von Luxxury's Super Thanks for Asking Remix)”
* Dirty Sanchez: "Really Rich Italian Satanists (Baron von Luxxury Remix)”
Like Justice, Simian Mobile Disco and Jamie Lidell, von Luxxury’s solo live performances blur the line between performance, live remixing and Djing. Playing solo with a stripped down setup of synths, laptop and vocoder, he performs Luxxury’s live songs and remixes as well as his remixes for other bands. Luxxury has also toured the US and UK as a 3 and 4 piece group, playing with bands such as Scissors for Lefty, Scanners and 80's legends ABC.
In his DJ guise, BvL has DJ’d at some of the finest indie electro venues from SF to NYC, and is a member of The (Disco) Workout, a DJ/production team in San Francisco that runs a daily updated MP3 blog at www.discoworkout.com.
What’s next for Baron von Luxxury? Having just signed a songwriting and co-publishing deal with Razor and Tie , he is currently writing songs for some major international artists, all the while continuing to work on remixes, Djing, signing new artists to his label, and working on his debut solo album (tentatively titled “Baron von Luxxury is My Fake Name.”) He has also just been signed to Downtown Records’ new imprint RCRD LBL, for whom he will be releasing an EP of material in early 2008.
Nobody ever said being a Russian disco hustler was easy.
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singings going swell i've moved to leeds now and go to london alot to do some larlaring. goa... lucky you. british weathers going insane snowing one minute shining the next. wish i was there too. ha. when you coming back here??
