Felix Cartal

Felix Cartal
Birth name Taelor Deitcher
Born April 9, 1987[1]
Origin Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genres EDM, house, electro house
Occupation(s) Producer, DJ, songwriter
Instruments Bass, piano
Years active 2006–present
Labels Dim Mak Records
Associated acts Steve Aoki, MSTRKRFT
Website felixcartal.com

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)

In 2000, when Cartal was 13 years old and attending New Westminster Secondary School, he 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 and played a wide range of venues across 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, The 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 DJed 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 emerged on the international blog scene alongside early supporters MSTRKRFT with original tracks such as "Moss vs. Tree" and "Parisienne". Just as a couple of his earliest 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 four 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 the 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 was created in just one day and was initially 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 chart in North America. Continuing his success, Cartal started a biweekly podcast entitled The Weekend Workout, 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 4, 2012 Cartal released 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 and The Bloody Beetroots. January 22, 2013 saw the release of "The Alarm" co-written with Autoerotique, which was eventually followed up with its own EP titled The Alarm Remixed, featuring remixes from Keys N Krates and Charlie Dicker. Continuing to create 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 titled "Hail Mary" and releasing remixes for Zedd and The Bloody Beetroots as well as multiple track edits for his weekly podcast. On July 2, 2013 Cartal released "Young Love" (featuring Koko LaRoo) as the first single from his four-track EP titled Past, Present, Felix. On July 25, 2013 the music video for "Young Love" (featuring Koko LaRoo) was released online. Past, Present, Felix was released August 6, 2013. A remix EP was released August 20, 2013 for the single "Young Love" (featuring Koko LaRoo). The EP featured remixes from Valentino Kahn and various other artists. Also released August 20, 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 and October 2013. December 3, 2013 saw the release of "New Scene" featuring 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, the music video premiered December 19, 2013 on MTVu. After a successful tour promoting Past, Present, Felix, Cartal entered the studio and completed a three-song EP entitled "Credits", featuring the lead single "Ready for Love" (featuring Chloe Angelides), which was released April 29th, 2014.

Studio albums

Extended plays

Remixes

Singles and other releases

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "SoundClick artist: dysfunctional - Punk Rock from Canada". Soundclick.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  4. ↑ "MSTRKRFT Kick Off "Fist of God" Tour | News". Pitchfork. 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  5. ↑ "Skeleton EP [Dim Mak Records]". Beatport. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  6. ↑ "Felix Cartal: "Volcano"". Punknews.org. 2010-05-13. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  7. ↑ "Free Music Videos, Video Interviews, Music Video News, Live Sessions and Clips". Nme.Com. 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  8. ↑ "Electric Daisy Carnival 2010". Electricdaisycarnival.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ . Beatport. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  11. ↑ "Connecting to the iTunes Store". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.

External links