Luxxury in Billboard and Pontiac Ads

I'm not a TV watcher so I haven't seen the marketing blitz around the Transformers movie, but local artists Luxxury have had their song "Drunk" used for a Pontiac/Transformers tie-in commercial, enabling, as detailed in the Billboard article here, the paying off of a mighty big loan (pull the image onto your desktop and it will be big enough to read). All in all, it's a nice success story for a local artist, and goes to show that sometimes that big break can come out of nowhere if you've put the time, effort, and money into a solid promotions strategy. As one of my friends is fond of saying, "you can't win if you don't enter." Here's hoping that Luxxury will be able to capitalize on this success and help put San Francisco electronic music back on the map.

If you want to get in on some of the Luxxury action for yourself be sure to drop by the monthly Workout party at House of Shields, where the Baron and Johnatron spin, and also keep your eyes peeled for their appearances around town. Check out my review of the Luxxury "Sweet and Vicious" remixes, as well as the Workout parties at House of Shields and the former location, Le Duplex.

Event Review: The Workout at House of Shields

The Workout has definitely stepped up in the world in its new location at House of Shields, and though this reporter had to make it short night, I'll definitely be adding to it my regular calendar of events.

The boyfriend and I met at House of Shields around 10PM, he having gone off to see the latest Stephen King flick, 1408, while I stayed at home and twiddled some knobs. When I got there around ten there was a smallish crowd that seemed more like overflow from The Palace Hotel across the street, but there were definitely a few kids there for the evening's festitivities, and as the hour approached midnight their numbers increased substantially. The House of Shields is an old-school, dark wood panelled bar that looks like it's been there for at least a hundred years. There is an upstairs mezzanine area where the DJ gear was set up, and I expect this probably serves as a small dance floor when it gets really rockin' (I think it may have been a sort of orchestra loft back in the day). In keeping with the old-school motif drinks were generous and reasonably priced, $5 each for a well cocktail and a draft import beer. It was a really fun space to hear electronic music, if only for the contrast between the old world and the new, both joined together by the spirit of people wanting to go out and have a good time.

Johnatron was on the decks when I first arrived but passed off to Pozibelle shortly thereafter. The sound was a tremendous improvement over Le Suckplex, though I pitied Pozibelle and her lack of a monitor. Nonetheless she soldiered on and laid out some fun tracks of an electro techno dance variety to warm up the evening, including one of Lord Kook's favorites from his Drunk and Horny days, "Greetings from Flashbackville" by Gods of Blitz. Around 11.30 she started into more hip-hop territory, I expect to set the stage a bit for Ghosts on Tape, but both the boyfriend and I needed to call it an early night, so we didn't get to see just how crazy things got.

This has the makings of a really cute little scene (with some cute boys, too) for a Thursday evening, and I'd strongly encourage you all to go check it out. The Workout kids definitely have an ear for what's new, cool, and interesting, and I look forward to seeing what they bring to our little scene.

CD Review: "Sweet and Vicious Remixes" by Luxxury

If, like me, you spent most of the late 90s hanging out in industrial clubs, going to Depeche Mode tribute parties, getting all swoony over Groovy Man of the The Thrill Kill Kult, and pondering the intersection of industrial and techno, there is much in the "Sweet and Vicious" remixes from local kids Luxxury (Baron von Luxxury and Johnatron) that you will find both familiar and appealing.

Though "Sweet and Vicious" is the main star of these remixes, the album also contains remixes of "Drunk," "Sex with Rich People," "Understood" and "Rock and Roll is Evil." The titles alone should tell you something; at the heart of all these tracks is the same dark, sexy synthpop sound that drove the glam side of goth into its eventual electro evolution. Of the "Sweet and Vicious" remixes my favorite has to be "All Night Dance Party's More Vicious Than Sweet" version. Big chunky bass thumps with classic acid house handclaps and highhats, crazy phased vocals, ah, I can see the lights sweeping the sweating masses now. Second place would have to go to the "Exxpensive Re-edit," a classic piece of synthpop that puts the vocals right up front and would go lovely with side of Depeche Mode or Wolfsheim. Of the other tracks I really dug the dirty electro sound of "Rock and Roll is Evil (Devin Dirt's Fat Elvis Remix)" and "Drunk (Lovesick Vocoders at Night Remix)," which sounds like something I would have encountered on the dance floor of Berlin's Duncker when the DJ was headed into his harder industrial moments. All in all a great set of tracks for those nights when you want to put on your eyeliner and go play with the disco vampires.

Since Luxxury is a local phenom you have plenty of chances to catch them in both live and DJ incarnations. This Friday at Lights Down Low they'll be having a CD release party, featuring DJ sets by some of their remixers and a live performance ("Two men, two synths, one bass guitar, one vocoder and one talkbox…come smell the magic!"), and every fourth Thursday (that's tonight, kids) Baron von Luxxury and guests set your heart pumping with Disco Workout at Le Duplex (and did I mention the free cupcakes?). And these kids just keep on giving - check out their blog, discoworkout.com for daily MP3s of their favorite artists. And don't miss their YouTube video for "Sweet and Vicious," in which they save London from a LOLcat. Whew, so much productivity!

Now if I could just hook Baron von Luxxury up with Lord Kook . . . .