We’re having a benefit fundraiser for the movie Sunday 11 June and really hope you can make it out. We are planning our shoot-heavy month in Europe and want to film some things and make some extra plans our current limited budget cannot allow. The trailer invite is here.

The benefit costs $50, but for those 50 bucks there are complementary beverages, some food, DJs all night and, most exciting, a “special thanks” in our movie. Our producer, Jason Redmond of IFF Boston thought this was a good idea and we did too. Donate $50 to Speaking in Code and become a mini-movie mogul.

(Did I also mention there are complementary beverages?)

We’ll screen 6 rough segments from the film for your approval and discussion. We’re also looking at this as a chance to get feedback from our supporters, so bringing a critical eye is recommended. In the next few days, we’ll reveal screen shots from the segments and corresponding mp3s. DVDs and CD compilations will be on-hand while local DJs Jon Schmidt, Mike Uzzi, Erik Pearson and David Day will spin tunes relative to the movie.

By the way, thanks to everyone who made it out for the Jan Jelinek + Modeselektor show Thursday (pics here). We lost some dough, but we brought two amazing acts to The Hub and got to work with them on some new footage.

Speaking in Code is also on MySpace now. Be our friend I suppose.

As for tunes, it’s Memorial Day and cars are out. In our neighborhood, this means Reggaeton, Reggaeton and more Reggaeton. At first, the insistent beat was a drag: constantly working its way from your ears to your hips. That was until we went to Mutek last year and saw Senor Coconut perform his version of the genre: ACITON.

Mueve la Cintura = It Moves the Waist, which it does. We loved the sound so much it’s one of the anchor tracks of our Friday night party: Pan Am Fridays.

Don Atom feat. Tea Time - “Mueve La Cintura (Live Version)”

June 11. $50. Mark your calendars, and thanks for the support.

Thursday May 25th

MODESELEKTOR (BPitch Control) with

JAN JELINEK (~scape Records)

Live Thursday, May 25th @ 9pm

at the Enormous Room, 567 Mass Ave. Cambridge, MA

$10.00 in advance via PayPal, 12 USD at the door

Presales are closed. There will be limited tickets available at the door. Thanks for the support.

Jan Jelinek is one of the premiere electronic musicians in the world. His latest album Kosmischer Pitch is a stunning meditation on looping beats, glorious drones and dubby sounds. For this tour, he will be with multi-instrumentalist Andrew Pekler (a/k/a Sad Rockets) and drummer Hanno Leichtmann. This will be their US debut.

Modeselektor make live party music. Using MCs like TTC or Jamaica’s Paul St. Hillaire, the duo create live, edgy electronic funk (visit their website for a streaming live set as a sample). Modeselektor is Szary and Gernot. Their CD debut Hello Mom! is on Ellen Allien’s BPitch Control label.

Throughout the night, DJs from FESS will provide the rest of the sounds.

Total fire.

Saturday night we visited the secret party zone of Unlockedgroove and friends to film them coming together in The Hub. It was so cool to see all the DJs and producers pitch in to throw a party. They clearly enjoy what they do and they do it well. They’re in our film of course.

At the moment, we are tuned into the stylus podcast which features the trimphant return of sQuare friend Michael F. Gill as a new robot voice: Dissertation. Hilarious. The podcast also features the new remix from the Wighnomy Brothers: “Royksopp - Beautiful Day Without You (Wighnomy And Robag Whruhmes Spekkfakkel Remikks)” about 11 minutes in. Real glorious stuff.

And it looks like we will be going to Detroit after all. We’ve heard rumours and rumblings that Kompakt DJ hero Superpitcher is headlining one of the stages at Hart Plaza, the main downtown-Detroit venue where tens of thousands gather each Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the city that gave techno it’s name. That makes it fairly essential to the storyline.

We’re not focusing too heavily on Detroit and it’s history of techno music (other films do that with more verve and knowledge anyhow). However, the fact that the neu-techno of Kompakt is meeting the Detroit diehards on such a scale is pretty compelling stuff.

Last week saw the release of Orchestra of Bubbles, the collaboration of Apparat BPitch Control leader Ellen Allien. It’s been met with critical acclaim, and with good reason. It’s the culmination of two remarkable talents, pushing themselves to make dance music more powerful and exciting that ever. BPitch Control crosses a number of boundaries in the film, from the MFA, who’s song lines our trailer, to the exciting sounds of Modeselektor who we are bringing to town Thursday May 25th at the Enormous Room and who are playing the Mutek festival.

Our DVD features a number of edited pieces with various clips to whet the appetite. Here’s a screen grab of Modeselektor talking about minimal versus maximal music:

They’re hilarious, adorable and, most importantly, make some of the funnest electronic music on the planet. Visit their MySpace page for an easy to hear sample.

For more than screen grabs of the film, contact the director Amy Grill.

Finally I want to point out that the MFA are a part of the Border Community label alongside James Holden and the ambient savant Nathan Fake. Here, Apparat remixes the ambient sound of Mr. Fake to create a remarkable track that is as good as the buzz says it is. I’m not ashamed to say the first time I heard it I got a little choked up. It’s always emotional to hear someone you like come through so proper, creating music that is new, transcendant and so so correct.

Nathan Fake - “Charlie’s House (Apparat Remix)”

Show info, flyer and PayPal button in the next few days.

As the momentum picks up on our film, our events and the times in general, you have to keep focus on what got you where you are.

Tonight was a frustrating night. As we were recording the set over at Make It New, our newly-purchased iKey flamed out (long story short: do not plug your iKey in with non-chargeable batteries inside!). The shame of it was how much Mike Uzzi and Erik Pearson were killing it. Guess we’ll have to charge another one to the credit card.

Pearson is one in a million. I met Erik pretty much at random one night at the famed River Gods. A mutual friend brought him by and the next thing I know he was up in the booth. “Can I spin for a while?” he said (or something like that). Moments later, Erik is grabbing my own record pile and, one by one, mixing them with agility… the thing is, I don’t think he’d heard a single one. Hell, I don’t think I’d heard a single one.

So, Erik is now a secret weapon of sorts, mixing it up at both the PanAm night at Enormous and the Make It New night at Middlesex Lounge. I hope the secret is out.

With the film and so forth, we have a lot to do in the weeks ahead. The limited money we have needs to be spent wisely, and we’re on a strict budget. The film could be great, though, and we’re planning some fund-raising events in the near future. All this will be seen here. The new mailing list form (to the right there) should be filled in by all y’all.

This summer will be the film. We’re spending almost a month in Europe, to see old and new friends, plan to revisit the Mutek festival and the other characters in the US. in one form or another..

Mutek and Montreal comes to mind beacuse of Marc LeClair, aka Akufen. Akufen is one of the most well-developed electronic musicians in the world. His long-overlooked Canadian import Musique Pour 3 Femmes Enceintes gets wider distribution this summer. He’s much of that voice in the trailer, too.

Musique is one long, gradual piece divided up into 9 tracks, each named after days of a cycle. This is the 236e Jour (236th day). It bounds from speaker to speaker, all beat and warble, until you’re enveloped in its rhythm:

Marc LeClair - “236e Jour”

Guys like Pearson and LeClair have something in common: they don’t like to force their talent on you. Yet their talent inspires people time and time again… I guess it’s why we all do what we do. To get our friends and our passions some exposure.

More over the weekend, including details on our 25 May show with Modeselektor and Jan Jelinek.

1. Nick Holder Feat Jemini - No More Dating Djs Yam Who Ra (3:47)
2. The Source - You Got The Love (w/Candi Staton) (6:54)
3. Stone Roses - I am the Resurrection (Jon Cater Remix) (7:04)
4. Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (Original Mix) (7:35)
5. Teenage Bad Girl - Ghost House (5:18)
6. José González - Teardrop (Massive Attack Cover) (3:02)
7. Gamat 3000 - Into This Lonely Crowd (Joshua’s Short Dub Mix) (6:50)
8. Le Knight Club - Nymphae Song (5:34)
9. Gui Boratto - A1-Twiggy (6:40)
10. Till West & DJ Delicious - Same Man [Original Mix] (6:46)
11. trentemoller - Track 8 (4:51)
12. Alyoa - it´s been too long (4:54)
13. Slam - This World (Hugg and Pepp Remi (5:50)
14. Varios - Disco Inferno / The Trammps (3:32)
15. Jürgen Paape - Jürgen Paape - So Weit Wie Noch Nie (Playhouse Mix) (6:15)
16. The Egg - Wall (Radio Edit) (4:27)
17. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Arthur Baker Remix) (4:21)
18. Gas - Untitled (7:23)
19. Phonique - Weapon (Tracks And The City Re (6:39)