A friend of The Tripwire who goes under the production credit of Music Is Magic recently sent us a mix of songs he mashed-up. Included in the mix were a bevy of indie staples we prescribe to, including Gang Gang Dance, M83, Black Dice, Burial and MGMT among others. But the track “Gupdegup” mixes arguably three of our favorite summer jams together to make what we are deeming the perfect track to escape the city to.

By combining Dan Friel’s already catchy as hell “Ghost Town (Part 1)” with a live take of Animal Collective’s “Taste” and using Steel An’ Skin’s “Reggae Is Here Once Again” and “Afro Punk Reggae Dub” for the rhythm, we dare you to listen to this song without feeling happy and bobbin’ your head. Just wait until about 50 seconds in when the melody from the Friel track kicks in and try not to smile. It’s impossible.

Music Is Magic – “Gupdegup” (Dan Friel, Animal Collective, Steel An’ Skin Mix)

Anyone who’s familiar with the Brooklyn and Baltimore scenes has run across GDFX at one point or another. You might know him better as one of the members of Teeth Mountain and the newest drummer for Liturgy. Or maybe you’re looking forward to seeing him on his current stint backing Dan Deacon as part of Deacon’s 14-person touring ensemble. And if you’re really in the know, maybe you’ve booked a show at Market Hotel through him or are hip to his micro-label Infinite Limbs. Either way, Greg Fox is a man who wears many hats whose solo project goes by the title of GDFX.

GDFX sees Greg step away from the drum kit and take a stab at twisting knobs. Filled with integrity, we’re actually fond of his work as GDFX because of it’s pop-sensibilities. Much like our friend Dan Friel — although with heavier nod to the 8-bit gods — Greg’s hob-knobbery (like that one?) is filled with plenty of catchy hooks. Too bad few of them are present in the clip below, because as fate would have it, Greg’s gear — along with a flash card that held the last five years of GDFX material — was stolen before his New Year’s show with, ironically enough, Dan Friel and These Are Powers. From the GDFX >MySpace blog on New Year’s day, 2009:

thank you to the people who broke into my car and stole all of my gear

be wary of the false gdfx.

But don’t fret, GDFX has pressed on, as his show last night with Double Dagger and Future Island and the brand new 20-minute epic track “Long Chord” will attest.

GDFX – “Long Chord”

Another freak, electronic outfit who now calls Brooklyn home and like giving away their music for free, which is good news for us. With an ambiance of Soft Circle, the frenetic craziness of Lucky Dragons and the pop sensibilities of Dan Friel, dANA mixes anything and everything to pull off hipster noise-art that doesn’t make us cringe.

Once again taking a tip from our friends who have their ears firmly planted to the ground, Impose posted the entire Vvssta EP (”Vista”) here, of which we have the unquestionable banger, “Luv Express”. But before you go condemning Impose for just giving it away, take note of dANA’s musical philosphies. The Bard-based band with ties to warped electronic projects like Best Hits and GDFX preaches, “free share, no violence// say NO to copyright, NO to agro music bros, NO to grassroots capitalism, NO to limited edition fetish, NO to lmt edt’d krautpsychfuzzpsyche. death to the cult of genius+beauty. tear down the boys-only music club. !! ffree is easyy/ easy is fun. copyright is boring violence of+against minds. copy/use/steal/share/burn/decompose/dissemble/eat/profanatize/de-sanitize.” [sic]

Coming soon to a d.i.y. show or a NY Times review near you.

dANA – “Luv Express”

Another freak, electronic outfit who now calls Brooklyn home and like giving away their music for free, which is good news for us. With an ambiance of Soft Circle, the frenetic craziness of Lucky Dragons and the pop sensibilities of Dan Friel, dANA mixes anything and everything to pull off hipster noise-art that doesn’t make us cringe.

Once again taking a tip from our friends who have their ears firmly planted to the ground, Impose posted the entire Vvssta EP (”Vista”) here, of which we have the unquestionable banger, “Luv Express”. But before you go condemning Impose for just giving it away, take note of dANA’s musical philosphies. The Bard-based band with ties to warped electronic projects like Best Hits and GDFX preaches, “free share, no violence// say NO to copyright, NO to agro music bros, NO to grassroots capitalism, NO to limited edition fetish, NO to lmt edt’d krautpsychfuzzpsyche. death to the cult of genius+beauty. tear down the boys-only music club. !! ffree is easyy/ easy is fun. copyright is boring violence of+against minds. copy/use/steal/share/burn/decompose/dissemble/eat/profanatize/de-sanitize.” [sic]

Coming soon to a d.i.y. show or a NY Times review near you.

dANA – “Luv Express”

We’ve given a lot of love to multi-instrumentalist Dan Friel recently, mostly as a very integral part of Parts and Labor, but we’re also a huge fan of his solo work. So when we got the news that he’s hitting the road in April to support his latest solo album Ghost Town, we wanted to make sure and share it with you.

Ghost Town is Friel’s first full-length solo release for Night People Records, despite a handful of singles and tape compilations for labels like Night People’s original incarnation Racoo-oo-oon, and it is garnished with the same experimental electronic pop magic we’ve come to expect (check out “Ghost Town (Part 1)” below). Dan will be supported on all the dates by Chen Santa Maria, an electronic improvisational duo made up of George Chen and Steven Santa Maria who put out their self-titled debut last year, released by avant-garde veteran Randy Lee Sutherland’s GSSD label in collaboration with the new imprint Shit On Records.

Dan Friel – “Ghost Town (Part 1)”

Dan Friel with Chen Santa Maria
04.25.09 – Portland, OR (Pocket Sandwich)
04.27.09 – Portland, OR (Valentine’s)
04.28.09 – Oakland, CA (Totally Intense Fractal Mind Gaze Hut)
04.29.09 – Irvine, CA (Acrobatics Everyday @ UC Irvine)
04.30.09 – Los Angeles, CA (The Smell)
05.02.09 – San Francisco, CA (Oven51)