Roni Size
Photo: Island

The world's top tier of electronic music artists — including the Crystal Method, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Tenaglia, Armand Van Helden, BT and Roni Size — will gather in August for a 10-city North American tour called Mekka. The outing, which kicks off August 4 in Montreal and wraps up September 2 in Los Angeles, will celebrate the launch of Mekka, a global entertainment company focused on the promotion and development of electronic music culture, according to the tour's publicist.

Acts from various genres of electronic music will be represented, from hip-hop to techno to drum'n'bass to trance. Deep Dish, LTJ Bukem, Mix Master Mike, Sandra Collins and Junior Sanchez are among Mekka's other top names. Several hip-hop acts will be announced later this month.

Mekka will include a rare live set by Detroit techno legend Carl Craig. BT, the Crystal Method, the New Deal and Überzone will also be performing live. Working the many turntables on the tour will be DJs Jimmy Van M, Derrick Carter, DJ Rap, Doc Martin, Dave Ralph, Stacey Pullen, Christopher Lawrence, Dieselboy, Mark Farina, DJ Craze, DJ Dan, Terry Mullan, Bad Boy Bill, Misstress Barbara, Andy C, DJ Hype, Grooverider and Mr. C.

Halo and Hipp-E of the Chicago DJ collective H-Foundation, who will also be spinning at Mekka, and Sanchez will mix separate CD compilations in conjunction with the tour. Release dates have not been announced. The tour will be the summer's third major tour featuring electronic music. Moby, Oakenfold, Carl Cox, the Orb, Timo Maas and others will be part of the Area: One tour on July 11 in Atlanta (see "Area: One Festival's Details Come Into Focus"), while Perry Farrell's Jubilee festival, headlined by Jane's Addiction, is also expected to feature top DJs and producers (see "Jane's Addiction Touring In August"). Details for that tour have not been released, though publicists for several electronic music stars, including Size, have said they have been invited to join the outing. Mekka will be held in outdoor venues, such as large fields and fairgrounds. Venues will be announced at a later date. The artists will perform on multiple stages and in tents. Mekka, the company, will specialize in artist management, wireless applications, magazine publishing and music distribution and publishing.

Mekka Tour dates, according to the tour's publicist:

• 8/4 - Montreal, QC
• 8/5 - Toronto, ON
• 8/8 - Dallas, TX
• 8/10 - Jacksonville, FL
• 8/11 - Miami, FL
• 8/18 - New York, NY
• 8/25 - Chicago, IL
• 8/30 - Seattle, WA
• 9/1 - San Francisco, CA
• 9/2 - Los Angeles, CA

• The Crystal Method
• Roni Size
• BT
• Paul Oakenfold
• Mix Master Mike

Jurassic 5
Photo: Interscope

When the electronica revolution hit Austin, Texas' South By Southwest festival four years ago, it was hard to picture how anonymous DJ culture was going to coexist with four nights of indie rock, Americana and roots music.

But now, even though the electronica invasion has faded somewhat from public consciousness, you're almost as likely to see a rapper or button-pushing mixer during the fest as you are a standup bass player or string-tie-wearin' Tex-Mex combo.

When the 14th annual music gathering kicks off Wednesday, it will have the usual wide variety of acts — 1,000 total. But as far as creative director Brent Grulke is concerned, at this point beats and boots are just business as usual in this music Mecca.

"The interaction between electronic music and hip-hop now represents a really significant part of the festival in a way that was virtually nonexistent a few years ago," said Grulke, who has been involved with the festival every year of its existence.

Part music-industry confab, part band showcase and all about schmoozing, SXSW is the kind of place where you can see ya'llternative singer/songwriter Sally Timms playing just a few doors down from ghetto tech star DJ Assault.

Its 8,000-plus registered attendees will descend on the college town and state capital to stumble from venue to venue, drink beer, eat barbecue and check out panels on such topics as, "How Do You Publicize a Mike Watt in a Britney Spears World?" "It's not just the numbers [of hip-hop groups] involved," Grulke said. "We now have very established talent that performs, we have two of our largest venues, Stubb's and the Austin Music Hall, with entire nights dedicated to hip-hop this year." Among the big names on tap for this year are twangy singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams, who will debut some of the material from her upcoming album, Broken Butterflies, (due in the spring) and the Black Crowes, in town to preview songs from their upcoming album, Lions (May 8).

Also performing are hip-hoppers Jurassic 5, the Liks and Black Eyed Peas; local rockers Fastball; experimental turntablist DJ Spooky; and a rare show from ex-Tina Turner hubby Ike Turner with his Ike Turner Revue.

Psychedelic popster Robyn Hitchcock will head up a reunited version of his late-'70s psych-pop band the Soft Boys, and Juliana Hatfield will take the stage for a reunion with her mid-'80s Boston pop rock group the Blake Babies.

Other acts performing on more than 40 stages include bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs, Los Angeles rock 'n' soul act the Bellrays, arty poppers the New Pornographers, Japanese pop punkers Ex-Girl, Canadian live house band the New Deal, turntablists X-ecutioners, world beat star Thomas Mapfumo, Latin all-star band Los Super Seven and Los Angeles punk rockers Texas Terri & the Stiff Ones.

Grulke said the festival also will feature one of the biggest slates to date of world music acts. Joining such international rock bands as Aterciopelados (Colombia), Coccoon Pit (Japan), the Gift (Portugal) and Yao (China) will be more than 70 other acts spanning the globe, including Moroccan reggae group Sawt el Atlas, world beat singer Henri Dikongue (Cameroon), Hungary's DJ Pozsi and hip-hoppers Pepe Deluxe (Finland).

SXSW's star-making mythos has been overstated in the past, but it is a good opportunity for bands to get in front of what is arguably one of the biggest concentrations of U.S. music media. No pressure, right? Just imagine if it was among your first-ever U.S. performances. That's the case for English hip-hop/punk group Brassy, who will have played just five shows in this country before unleashing their Digital-Hardcore-meets-Luscious-Jackson sound on the media elite Friday night.

"I don't know anything about it," said lead singer/guitarist Muffin Spencer, 32, an expat American who said she left the U.S. 14 years ago because she thought British bands were more interesting. "We met with our former publishing company and there was a little old man there who said it [SXSW] is a place to go and get smashed on tequila, which sounds fine." Spencer, younger sister of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion leader Jon Spencer, said she thinks the festival will be a good chance for critics who might have missed the recent U.S. release of the band's full-length debut, Got It Made, to check out their energetic live show. The 17-track album features such break-beat pop as "Work It Out" and the band's electro-punk anthem "No Competition." Grulke said one thing that won't be as prominent in the festival's sprawling trade-show area this year is the proliferation of dot-com booths that sprung up like weeds last year. "A lot of those companies that didn't know what their business agendas were are gone," Grulke said.

• Jurassic 5
• DJ Assault
• The Mekons
• Lucinda Williams
• The Black Crowes

The New Deal
Photo: Jamie Shields

Standing at the unlikely intersection of electronic dance music and neo-hippie jam bands is Toronto's the New Deal, an instrumental keyboard/bass/drums trio who enliven audiences with a style that's equal parts house, trance and funk. With house music's warm thump as their guide, the New Deal conjure the feel of an epic DJ set, without the use of samplers, sequencers or drum machines. "We are trying to re-create the energy, beat and trancelike state of electronic music," explained drummer Darren Shearer on the phone from the band's hometown of Toronto, "but we add a human element, by playing live instruments and improvising 95 percent of our sets." A term the trio coined, "live progressive breakbeat house," is the most accurate description of the band's music yet, as their sound has more in common with the washes and ambient grooves of the Orb or the dramatic swells and drops of Underworld than the greasy organ jazz of Medeski Martin & Wood.

While the New Deal openly ape electronic-music styles like house, breakbeat, trip-hop and drum'n'bass, the band sets itself substantially apart from a typical DJ or producer in several ways. The live-human element and the trio's improv aesthetic are obvious distinctions, manifested through each member's unique contribution. Keyboardist Jamie Shields pours out wave after wave of bouncy ear-grabbing melodies on a stack of analog equipment, providing elements of both smooth house and acid-tinged techno; bassist Dan Kurtz effortlessly switches from enveloping low-end boom to upper-register acid-house bubbles, which alternately propel and mesmerize; and Shearer's drumming adds lightly shaded nuances through hi-hat tension, off-beat snare accents and a bass-drum pulse that never descends into monotony. The band works through its seamless live shows — often highlighted by hour-plus sets — with a combination of hand gestures and sonic symbols that cue everything from key changes to rhythm and tempo shifts to new stylistic directions.

Admittedly "bored with acid jazz and 15-minute guitar solos," Shields is a confessed ex-Phish fan who played in what he called "funky jammy bands" before the New Deal formed, at the end of 1998. Since then they've released three live albums on their own Sound and Light Records, the most recent of which is Live: Guelph On Can 4.5.00, recorded earlier this year in southeast Ontario. With only two tracks (each more than 20 minutes long), the disc is a faithful document of their eclectic and expansive vision. The first cut, "Glide/Deep Sun," showcases their talent for constructing epic dance marathons from scratch, gradually building into a fist-pumping climax of psychedelic house, powered by a freaky analog wiggle and an evil bass drone. "Ravine/The Escape" is a far choppier trip that highlights the group's ability to mesh a grab bag of genres — breakbeat, ambient dub, drum'n'bass — into a workout for the head and hips.

"Our goal is to bring live instrumentation back to DJ and dance culture," said Shearer, "which is why we play at both raves and nightclubs." The band's high-energy live sets are also attracting major-label interest. "I was absolutely blown away with how good they are at what they do," gushed Neil Harris, director of Jive Electro, which is also home to the live-house duo Groove Armada. "There are a lot of people who are trying to do live dance music and taking influences from electronica instead of old-school disco," he said. "But the New Deal are the only ones who really impress me." In fact, Harris was so impressed that Jive Electro inked a deal with the trio over Thanksgiving. The band is currently recording music for a new album to be released on the label in May, which will be preceded by a month-long tour beginning January 19 in Boulder, Colorado. "We want them to expand what they do now," Harris said, "have them play raves, the jam-band circuit, even jazz festivals, because they are such good musicians." Although he envisions the New Deal as more oriented toward making albums than singles, he said the label will also market them to club DJs by releasing 12 inches: "Our goal is to make their records good enough so DJs will want to spin them." The New Deal Tour Dates:

• 1/19 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
• 1/20 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Zephyr
• 1/24 - Bozeman, MT @ Zebra Cocktail Lounge
• 1/26 - Missoula, MT @ The Ritz
• 1/28 - Seattle, WA @ Baltic Room
• 1/29 - Portland, OR @ Ohm
• 1/30 - Eugene, OR @ Taylor's
• 2/1 - San Francisco, CA @ Justice League
• 2/2 - Santa Barbara, CA @ The Edge
• 2/3 - Los Angeles, CA @ Fais Do Do
• 2/8 - Boston, MA @ Milky Way
• 2/10 - New York, NY @ Wetlands
• 2/11 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star
• 2/12 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Carnegie Mellon University

• The New Deal

Standing at the unlikely intersection of electronic dance music and neo-hippie jam bands is Toronto's the New Deal, an instrumental keyboard/bass/drums trio who enliven audiences with a style that's equal parts house, trance and funk. With house music's warm thump as their guide, the New Deal conjure the feel of an epic DJ set, without the use of samplers, sequencers, or drum machines. "We are trying to recreate the energy, beat and trance-like state of electronic music," explained drummer Darren Shearer on the phone from the band's hometown of Toronto, "but we add a human element, by playing live instruments and improvising 95% of our sets." A term the trio coined, "live progressive breakbeat house," is the most accurate description of the band's music yet, as their sound has more in common with the washes and ambient grooves of the Orb or the dramatic swells and drops of Underworld than the greasy organ jazz of Medeski Martin & Wood.

While the New Deal openly ape electronic-music styles like house, breakbeat, trip-hop and drum'n'bass, the band sets itself substantially apart from a typical DJ or producer in several ways. The live-human element and the trio's improv aesthetic are obvious distinctions, manifested through each member's unique contribution. Keyboardist Jamie Shields pours out wave after wave of bouncy ear-grabbing melodies on a stack of analog equipment, providing elements of both smooth house and acid-tinged techno; bassist Dan Kurtz effortlessly switches from enveloping low-end boom to upper-register acid-house bubbles, which alternately propel and mesmerize; and Shearer's drumming adds lightly shaded nuances through hi-hat tension, off-beat snare accents and a bass-drum pulse that never descends into monotony. The band works through its seamless live shows — often highlighted by hour-plus sets — with a combination of hand gestures and sonic symbols that cue everything from key changes to rhythm and tempo shifts to new stylistic directions.

Admittedly "bored with acid jazz and 15-minute guitar solos," Shields is a confessed ex-Phish fan who played in what he called "funky jammy bands" before the New Deal formed, at the end of 1998. Since then they've released three live albums on their own Sound and Light Records, the most recent of which is Live: Guelph On Can 4.5.00, recorded earlier this year in southeast Ontario. With only two tracks (each more than 20 minutes long), the disc is a faithful document of their eclectic and expansive vision. The first cut, "Glide/Deep Sun" (RealAudio excerpt), showcases their talent for constructing epic dance marathons from scratch, gradually building into a fist-pumping climax of psychedelic house, powered by a freaky analog wiggle and an evil bass drone. "Ravine/The Escape" (RealAudio excerpt) is a far choppier trip that highlights the group's ability to mesh a grab bag of genres — breakbeat, ambient dub, drum'n'bass — into a workout for the head and hips.

"Our goal is to bring live instrumentation back to DJ and dance culture," said Shearer, "which is why we play at both raves and nightclubs." The band's high-energy live sets are also attracting major-label interest. "I was absolutely blown away with how good they are at what they do," gushed Neil Harris, director of Jive Electro, which is also home to the live-house duo Groove Armada. "There are a lot of people who are trying to do live dance music and taking influences from electronica instead of old-school disco," he said. "But the New Deal are the only ones who really impress me." In fact, Harris was so impressed that Jive Electro inked a deal with the trio over Thanksgiving. The band is currently recording music for a new album to be released on the label in May, which will be preceded by a month-long tour beginning January 19 in Boulder, Colorado. "We want them to expand what they do now," Harris said, "have them play raves, the jam-band circuit, even jazz festivals, because they are such good musicians." Although he envisions the New Deal as more oriented toward making albums than singles, he said the label will also market them to club DJs by releasing 12"s: "Our goal is to make their records good enough so DJs will want to spin them." The New Deal Tour Dates:

• 1/19 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
• 1/20 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Zephyr
• 1/24 - Bozeman, MT @ Zebra Cocktail Lounge
• 1/26 - Missoula, MT @ The Ritz
• 1/28 - Seattle, WA @ Baltic Room
• 1/29 - Portland, OR @ Ohm
• 1/30 - Eugene, OR @ Taylor's
• 2/1 - San Francisco, CA @ Justice League
• 2/2 - Santa Barbara, CA @ The Edge
• 2/3 - Los Angeles, CA @ Fais Do Do
• 2/8 - Boston, MA @ Milky Way
• 2/10 - New York, NY @ Wetlands
• 2/11 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star
• 2/12 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Carnegie Mellon University

• The New Deal