Felix Cartal

Taelor Deitcher (born April 9, 1987) better known by his stage name, Felix Cartal, is a Canadian electronic music producer and DJ. He released his first EP Skeleton in 2009 once he signed with Dim Mak Records.^[2] Since then he has gone on to release two full length albums, 2010’s Popular Music and 2012's Different Faces and tour around the world with Wolfgang Gartner, MSTRKRFT, and Bloody Beetroots. Cartal set the trend of collaborating with unpredictable vocalists in the dance scene such as Sebastien Grainger of Death from Above 1979, Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds and Johnny Whitney of The Blood Brothers.

Early years (2000–early 2006)

At age 13 in 2000 while attending New Westminster Secondary School, Cartal began playing bass in the punk and hardcore scene with a band called Dysfunctional, named after a sticker they had found.^[3] The sound was inspired from groups such as Refused, NoFx and Anti-Flag. While short lived, they developed a small following in Northern Vancouver played a wide range of venues all over Vancouver and surrounding areas, after releasing two albums Change Is A Good Thing and Bates Motel, and an EP Free To Who?, the band broke up in 2004. They reformed into a more progressive, Mars Volta/Pink Floyd-inspired group named Orange Orange, which released the album Step Into Ecstasy in early 2006 followed immediately by their breakup. At the same time, Cartal was experimenting with Reason and Cubase on the side. Influenced by the club nights and parties DJ'd by local stalwarts Tyler Fedchuk, Paul Devro, and my!gay!husband!, Cartal noticed the energy of the dance scene had the same feeling as the Punk scene had and wanted to create energetic aggressive music that he heard in Punk, but apply it to a new genre.

Skeleton EP and Popular Music (late 2006–2010)

After enrolling at the University of British Columbia (where he majored in English), Cartal started producing his own dance tracks. In December 2006, he started creating a following through his emergence in the international blog scene and early supporters MSTRKRFT with hard hitting original tracks such as “Moss vs. Tree” and “Parisienne”. Just as a couple of his earliest speaker-shredding tunes were gathering an Internet buzz, the beatmaker moved to Scotland for a semester at Glasgow University. In the U.K., Cartal signed with a booking agent and started playing weekend shows across Britain and Europe. His third ever show was opening for Justice in front of 4,000 people. By the time he returned to his hometown four months later, he was already an underground star. He opened for MSTRKRFT on their Fist of God tour.^[4] He released several more remixes before being signed to Dim Mak Records and releasing his first EP entitled Skeleton in May 2009,^[5] featuring 4 songs, including the hard hitting track that defines his early sound, "Montreal Dreams". Only four months later, Cartal released "Drone" as the first single for his debut LP Popular Music. Popular Music came out on February 23, 2010. Along with "Drone", the album featured the singles "Volanco" featuring The Blood Brothers' Johnny Whitney, "World Class Driver" and "Love". Music videos for "Volcano"^[6] and "World Class Driver"^[7] were made. Following the release, Cartal toured relentlessly, hitting large festivals along the way, such as Electric Daisy Carnival,^[8]Camp Bisco, South by Southwest, and Winter Music Conference.

The Joker EP and Different Faces (2011–2012)

In March 2011, Cartal’s fifth EP The Joker was released. The song initially was not going to be released and was created in just one day and was going to be kept just for Cartal to play during his live sets. It ended up being very successful and found its way to being played in the live sets by artists all over the scene, notably by electronic powerhouses Benny Benassi, Laidback Luke and Diplo, transcending across all scenes of dance music. Another EP was made entitled The Jokers Remixes, which featured John Dahlback and Clouds. After extensive touring, Cartal started working on his sophomore album which blended several guest vocalists and focused more on catchy melodies, yet still retained his trademark aggressive sound. Different Faces came out on March 27, 2012, and featured the singles "Dont Turn On The Lights featuring Polina", "Domo", "Black To White featuring Miss Palmer", and "H.U.N.T" featuring Sebastien Grainger. Different Faces debuted on the iTunes Top 10 Electronic charts in North America. Continuing in his success, Cartal started a biweekly podcast entitled 'The Weekend Workout' which is a one hour mix showcasing new electronic dance music including unreleased Cartal tracks. Starting in June 2012, it became a weekly mix broadcast worldwide on SiriusXM and available for free download on iTunes and Soundcloud. On July 25, 2012, a music video for "Higher" featuring New Ivory, was released online. On August 14, 2012 Cartal released the final single for Different Faces, "Tonight" featuring Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds, accompanied by an EP featuring remixes by Autoerotique, Botnek and others. On December 04, 2012 Cartal released a new single "No Sleep" featuring Natalie Angiuli. On December 20, 2012, "Lullaby" featuring Natalie Angiuli was released as a free download for the B-side to the recently released single "No Sleep".

Past, Present, Felix (2013–present)

Following a busy 2012, 2013 started off more of the same for Cartal, constant touring of North America and Europe as well as releasing brand new material and remixes for Zedd (producer) and The Bloody Beetroots. January 22nd, 2013 saw the release of "The Alarm" co-written with Autoerotique, which was eventually followed up with its own "The Alarm Remixed" EP featuring remixes from Keys N Krates and Charlie Dicker. Continuing to collaborate new music with other artists in the dance scene, Cartal and Clockwork released the single "The Fire (featuring Madame Buttons)", meanwhile producing a track for K.Flay featuring Danny Brown (rapper) "Hail Mary" and releasing remixes for Zedd (producer) and The Bloody Beetroots as well as multiple track edits for his weekly podcast "Weekend Workout". On July 2nd, 2013 Cartal released "Young Love (featuring Koko LaRoo)" as the first single from his 4 track EP titled "Past Present Felix". On July 25th, 2013 the music video for "Young Love (featuring Koko LaRoo)" was released online. "Past Present Felix" was released August 6th, 2013. A remix EP was released August 20th, 2013 for the single "Young Love (featuring Koko LaRoo)", the EP featured remixes from Valentino Kahn and various other artists. Also released August 20th, 2013 was the remix EP for "The Fire (featuring Madame Buttons)" which featured remixes by LoveHigh and Henry Fong. A 16 date headlining North American tour was announced in support of "Past Present Felix" through September - October 2013. December 3rd, 2013 saw the release "New Scene feat. Ofelia" as the final single from "Past, Present, Felix", it was accompanied by remixes from TOKiMONSTA, Lazy Rich, Deorro, and a joint effort from Lucky Date & Felix Cartal. Following the release of the single, came the music video which premiered December 19th, 2013 on MTVu.

Studio Albums

• Popular Music (February 2010)
• Different Faces (March 2012)^[9]

Extended Plays

• Skeleton (May 2009)
• Volcano (February 2010)
• World Class Driver (June 2010)
• Love (October 2010)
• The Joker (March 2011)
• Felix Cartal & Keatch - Solar/Lunar (April 2011)
• Felix Cartal & Keatch - Animals (June 2011)
• The Joker Remixes (September 2011)
• "Domo (Pierce Fulton, Etienne De Crecy Remixes)" (February 2012)^[10]
• Black To White Remixes (feat. Miss Palmer) (May 2012)
• Tonight Remixes (feat. Maja Ivarsson) (August 2012)
• The Alarm Remixed (feat. Autoerotique) (June 2013)
• Past Present Felix (August 2013)
• Felix Cartal & Clockwork - The Fire (feat. Madame Buttons) Remixes (August 2013)
• Young Love (feat. Koko LaRoo) Remixes (August 2013)
• After Dark (feat. Koko LaRoo) Remixes (September 2013)
• New Scene (feat. Ofelia) (December 2013)

Remixes

• Ashlee Simpson – "L.O.V.E." BOOTLEG (January 2007)
• MSTRKRFT – "The Looks" BOOTLEG (January 2007)
• Hostage – "Gluttony" (April 2007)
• Dragonette – "Take It Like A Man" (July 2007)
• Moving Units – "Crash N Burn Victims" (September 2007)
• Britney Spears – "Outrageous" (September 2007)
• Franz & Shape – "Psichedelica" (January 2008)
• Mr. Miyagi – "Pick Your Poison" (January 2008)
• Lazaro Casanova – "Vengaza" (March 2008)
• Ugod – "Hips" (June 2008)
• Julien K – "Spiral" (June 2008)
• MSTRKRFT – "Bounce" (July 2008)
• From Monuments to Masses – "Beyond God and Elvis" (November 2008)
• Evil Nine – "They Live" (December 2008)
• Acid Kids – "Mitch" (February 2009)
• Colin Munroe – "Piano Lessons" (March 2009)
• Laidback Luke – "Need Your Lovin'" (March 2009)
• The All-American Rejects – "Wind Blows" (April 2009)
• Nore featuring Kid Cudi – "Floatin In The Sky" (August 2009)
• Xzibit – "X" EDIT (December 2009)
• Hussle Club – "I Have High Expectations For What I Want To Be But In The Mirror I Don't See Them Staring Back At Me " (January 2010)
• NKOTB – "Droplet" (February 2010)
• Green Velvet – "Harmageddon" (June 2010)
• Valerna – "Look Ma!" EDIT (August 2010)
• Style Of Eye & Slagsmalsklubben – "Homeless" EDIT (October 2010)
• Underoath – "Paper Lung" (November 2010)
• Chris Brown featuring Benny Benassi – "Beautiful People" (April 2011)
• Joachim Garraud – "We Are The Future" (May 2011)
• Wolfgang Gartner featuring will.i.am – "Forever"(June 2011)
• John Dahlback – "One Last Ride" (September 2011) ^[11]
• Britney Spears – "I Wanna Go" BOOTLEG (October 2011)
• Etienne De Crecy – "Am I Wrong"(February 2012)
• Crystal Fighters – "Plage" (March 2012)
• Neon Hitch – "F**k U Betta" (June 2012)
• Vitalic – "Bluesy Tuesday" EDIT (July 2012)
• Autoerotique – "Roll The Drums" (July 2012)
• The Loops of Fury – "Don't Stop" (September 2012)
• Steve Aoki & Tiesto – "Tornado" (September 2012)
• All That Glitters – "This Sound" (November 2012)
• Bro Safari & ETC!ETC! – "The Clap" EDIT (December 2012)
• The Killers – "Miss Atomic Bomb" (January 2013)
• Zedd – "Clarity" (February 2013)
• DigitaIism Vs Jewelz – "Toxic Zdarlight" EDIT (March 2013)
• M Machine vs Soulwax – "Together We Are E Talking" EDIT (April 2013)
• The Reef – "Ignant" EDIT (April 2013)
• The Bloody Beetroots – "Spank" (May 2013)
• Attaque – "Motion" EDIT (July 2013)
• JFK & John Legend – "Radar" (TBA)

Singles and Other Releases

• "Decadanse" (December 2006)
• "Moss vs Tree" (December 2006)
• "Drugs" (March 2007)
• "Parisienne" (May 2007)
• "Montreal Dreams" (September 2007)
• "Vancouver" (November 2007)
• "L'Amour" (July 2008)
• "1987" Unreleased (December 2010)
• "Kung Lao's Theme" (Mortal Kombat Soundtrack) (April 2011)
• "Don't Turn On the Lights Feat. Polina (December 2011)
• "Black to White" Feat. Miss Palmer (March 2012)
• Felix Cartal & Bart B More - "Cascade (March 2012)
• "Plains" Unreleased (May 2012)
• K.Flay feat. Felix Cartal - "Rest Your Mind" (August 2012)
• "Tonight" Feat. Maja Ivarsson (August 2012)
• "No Sleep" Feat. Natalie Angiuli (December 2012)
• "Lullaby" Feat. Natalie Angiuli (December 2012)
• Felix Cartal & Autoerotique - "The Alarm" (January 2013)
• K.Flay feat. Danny Brown - "Hail Mary" Produced (April 2013)
• Felix Cartal & Clockwork Feat. Madame Buttons - "The Fire" (May 2013)
• Felix Cartal Feat. Koko LaRoo - "Young Love" (July 2013)
• Felix Cartal - "Young Love (feat. Koko LaRoo) [Acoustic Mix]" (October 2013)
• "Slow Motion (feat. Haerts)" (November 2013)
• Hot Mouth & Felix Cartal - "The Assassin" (TBA)

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Soundcloud- Felix's Soundcloud where he frequently posts new or unreleased material