For our current single we went a bit more into this deep bass line vibe. It’s our interpretation of the whole deep house and ’90′s house thing that’s currently rocking the clubs right now, but we added a little Choco oomph ;-)
The song features the amazing jazz & soul singer Colonel Red, who you might remember from our tracks Back Home and For Your Love.

Out Now on Defected

We just received this amazing artwork for our upcoming single ‘Destiny’ featuring Colonel Red, and it has totally blown us away. It’s created by Marc Sokpolie, who also did the ‘Visit to Laika’ art for our last few singles. We think this is one of his finest pieces yet.

You can easily say that this year’s Defected In The House party at ADE will be rather massive. Lucky for us that we’ll be spinning some tunes too that night. Ha!

Here’s a copy-paste from the Defected website:

“At this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event, we’re creating house music history with an unsurpassable line-up at Amsterdam’s newest and most innovative club.

On Friday 21st October, House legends Frankie Knuckles, Kevin Saunderson with Inner City (Live) and MK bring the flavours of Detroit, Chicago and NYC to the most eagerly anticipated of parties at ADE; Defected In The House at AIR.

The influence of the original pioneers of house music has never been more keenly felt than in 2011, with the majority of the year’s breakthrough artists owing much of their success and popularity to artists who first introduced the scene to the world’s dancefloors more than two decades ago. Defected’s ADE parties are legendary and always one the most eagerly anticipated events of the Conference. For its inaugural event at stunning new Amsterdam venue AIR, Defected have brought together three of the biggest names in house music for what is set to be a once in a lifetime line-up of pure house music.

Frankie Knuckles’ influence in shaping the landscape of house music as we know it is unsurpassed, in many ways unsurpassable. From genre-defining records such as ‘Tears’ and ‘Your Love’ – a record DJMag just voted the most influential house track of all time – to pioneering work as part of Def Mix, Knuckles’ place in house music history is not so much assured as it is permanently carved in stone. Now, the man they call ‘The Godfather’ is experiencing a renaissance of quite staggering proportions both in the studio and behind the decks, where he began his well-documented journey nearly four decades ago.


Inner City was formed in 1987 by one of the founding fathers of modern techno, Kevin Saunderson. The group – comprising Saunderson, Paris Grey and Ann Saunderson – are considered one of the most influential dance acts of all time responsible for some of the best-loved house records of the last 20 years; ‘Big Fun’, ‘Good Life’ and ‘Pennies from Heaven’ represent the very pinnacle of all that is good about the scene for clubbers around the globe. Kevin Saunderson will be playing a house set and is joined by Inner City for an exclusive live performance comprising the very best songs from their acclaimed catalogue. Defected is set to make an announcement at ADE for forthcoming collaborations with Kevin Saunderson and Inner City.

The influence of Marc Kinchen – more commonly known by his MK moniker – on the modern-day world of dance music is impossible to quantify and still felt nearly two decades after he began his career in the early nineties. Responsible for creating some of the defining sounds and biggest tracks of the early house era he has achieved latter day success with some of the biggest international artists from Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z to Rihanna and  Beyonce, but has also retained near unprecedented levels of credibility within the underground dance music scene, with records such as ‘Burning’, ‘4 You’ or ‘Push The Feeling On’ remaining staples in the wallets and boxes of house DJs the world over. Through his timeless productions, MK has influenced a new generation of producer, with the result that his sound is more relevant today than it ever has been.

ADE will be Defected’s platform to announce three exciting forthcoming collaborations with Frankie Knuckles, Kevin Saunderson and Inner City and MK.

Joining these pioneers on the night will be The Shapeshifters, on whose Nocturnal Groove imprint the re-release of Frankie Kuckles and Jamie Principle’ ‘Your Love’ recently dropped. Long-terms friends, The Shapeshifters and Frankie have collaborated on a number of recent projects and always play at the very top of their exceptional game when billed together.

As ever with our ADE line-ups, the Dutch contingent is in full effect with Chocolate Puma and Franky Rizardo flying the flag for the host nation, while US jock Treasure Fingers will be performing at Defected’s ADE event for the second year running.

Chocolate Puma and Franky Rizardo represent the old guard and new-school of Dutch producers, with the former being instrumental in Rizardo’s recent rise to fame, helped in no small part by the latter’s intimidating talents both in the studio and behind the decks. Both are superb DJs and like nothing better than showcasing their wares on their own doorstep.

Behind the decks they will be joined by Defected founder Simon Dunmore alongside the two ladies of Defected, Sam Divine and Rae, who will also be performing a live PA on the night.

The party will take place at Amsterdam’s newest club, the stunning Air which in the last year has won awards for Best Sound System, Hottest Club and Best Use of Technology. Conceptualized by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, Air is one of the most visually impressive clubs in the world, and we look forward to what will be a truly exceptional night, a highlight of this year’s ADE and the perfect way to begin our partnership with AIR.”

Tickets for this unmissable event are available now from the AIR website

www.air.nl
www.amsterdam-dance-event

For more of our gigs check http://chocolatepuma.com/gigs/

Chopping the living hell out of the uniquely catchy hook that paved the way for the original to become one of the biggest underground tracks of the winter, Chocolate Puma have created a pounding, glitchy remix that simply demands to be danced to.
Defected newcomer Gianni Morino then steps up with two remixes of broken beats, hooks and horns that turn the original on its head to awesomely danceable effect.

“To me this remix package is the legendary meets the new!” says one half of Nouveau Yorican Ladback Luke of the new mixes. “And I’m in the middle of the circle. Chocolate Puma are my mentors, and the funny thing is Gianni is a student of mine. Both have delivered amazing remixes and I’m proud and happy we could make this work. Much respect to my grandmasters Zki & Dobre and keep an eye on Gianni Marino as I tip him as
an Afrojack 2.0”

Hailing from Amsterdam, 21 year old Gianni Marino is one of the up and coming yun ones churning out baltimore house inspired bangers. As a true fan of martial art movies the idea of mashing styles and techniques into one to enter into battle comes natural to him, and so mixmashing musical styles has become his signature sound. He joins fellow Dutch producers Chocolate Puma – who will require no introduction to house music fans – to complete the remix package in fine style.

“The Chiuso package is absolutely stellar!” enthuses Luke’s studio partner Gina Turner. ” To me, the Chocolate Puma remix is big room stadium tech house at its finest…and the Gianni Marino is the new school take on the dutch house underground sound! Loving both as I feel they are chamealeon remixes and could work in many different types of sets.”

Defected and Chocolate Puma fans alike will remember that the duo’s last record ‘Tonco Tone’ was one of the biggest underground tracks of 2010, hanging around the Beatport Top 10 for several weeks. Sleep on this remix at your peril…

Chuiso (Part 2) is out 9th March - click to listen & pre-order

Nouveau Yorican – Chiuso (Chocolate Puma Remix) by Defected Records

Release date: March 9th 2011 on Defected

Now, if you fancy buying Tonco Tone EP, you can get it at:

Beatport (woohoo, frontpage banner FTW!)

Traxsource

Defected

Or you might just listen to it on soundcloud:

Tonco Tone EP by Chocolate Puma

Never shy to stick the ends of their tongues firmly into the sides of their cheeks, the video to Chocolate Puma’s new single ‘Tonco Tone’ is typically off-the-wall and displays the kind of humorous outlook the Dutch production duo are well known for. We caught up with them via email to have a quick chat about the single, the inspiration behind the video and their forthcoming appearance at Defected In The House at ADE.

So guys…’Tonco Tone’…what’s the track about?

It’s basically about having fun and not taking things too seriously. And trumpets.

And the video? What’s the idea behind it?

We heard the nephew of our favorite bartender playing our tracks and we were blown away. So we asked him to feature in our video. Luckily he said yes!

The star of the video bears a striking resemblance to Curt Smith from Tears for Fears…do you have an particular affinity for 80’s soft-rock groups?

Urgh, soft-rock. Although one of us really is feeling the Curt Smith hairdo.

You’re playing for Defected in a couple of weeks for ADE…are you looking forward to it?

It’s the holy trinity, Miami, Ibiza, Amsterdam, so yes very much! And playing in our home town is always fun.

Is there any upcoming material you’ll be testing out that we should keep our ears open for?

Yes, we’re working on a remix for The Beathiefs which is shaping up nicely. It still needs some dance floor testing though.

You’re in the enviable position of being able to play only your own material at gigs…when and why did you make that decision?

About five years ago. Actually we had a little break from DJ’ing, but at some point we felt the time was right to get behind the decks again. Instead of ‘just’ playing other people’s records we wanted to do something that would set us apart from other DJ’s, and by playing our own productions we think we found it. Also for us as producers it makes so much more sense, as the connection between the dance floor and the studio gets stronger and stronger.

How do you feel when ADE rolls into the usually fairly relaxed city of Amsterdam? Do you think it has changed the rest of the world’s perception of the city?

Although ADE has put Amsterdam on the map as one of the dance capitals of the world, we think the world still has this perception of Amsterdam of coffee shops and scantily-clad ladies behind windows.

Which parties – other than the Defected one of course – would you recommend as worth checking out?

Definitely Bart B More‘s ‘super secret hush hush nobody knows where it is’ party featuring his French friends from Sound Pellegrino.

What does the future hold for Chocolate Puma? Will you continue to do what you do indefinitely?

Till we drop.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about…?

Everyone visiting Amsterdam should try a broodje kroket.

Tonco Tone (including MFS) is out 20th October on Defected – click to listen & pre-order

You know a Chocolate Puma track from the first moment it knocks you around the head with its absurdly punchy beats. A ridiculously catchy vocal will follow soon after and that’s it; it’ll be in your head from when you first hear it, throughout the rest of the day or night and probably for a few days afterwards. You’ll either love it or hate it (although we’ve found most people sit firmly in the former camp) but regardless of which it is, it’ll bounce round inside your head for a considerable time.

Now, the Dutch duo have dropped a new track that’s set to follow in the addictive footsteps of its predecessors and attach itself to your brain like a house-loving limpet. We caught up with them to find out more…

Guys..this track is banging! What’s it all about?

For us this track was about taking our classic Chocolate Puma sound to the next level; making it tough and powerful but still trying to have as much soul and funk in it. And a bit of nanana, naturally.

Tell us about the vocalist Colonel Red…

We got introduced to Red by the guy who featured on our Dub Of Boom track. He is an amazing soul/jazz singer, originally from the UK, currently living in Rotterdam, Holland. You might know him from his Sweet Liberation album and his own Ruff Language label. The cool thing is that he is a genuine soul/jazz guy but at the same time knows everything about acid house, clubbing and Robert Owens.

You have a very distinctive, punchy sound…any production tips you’d like to share with us?

Choose the fattest sounds you can find. Use sounds with different characters and layer them. For example, using an analog synth sound, combined with samples from an old scratchy record, and live recordings from your kitchen ware gives you much more depth than just staying ‘in the box’. Also don’t think you need much equipment. ‘Cause you don’t. We just use Logic and use the standard plug-ins. That’s all. Oh, and good ideas don’t hurt either. Also, we just started giving production tips on our website chocolatepuma.com. We already got some features about eqing and compressing, so you definately should check that out.

The artwork for the single is also fantastic…who did the design?

The artwork is done by Dutch multitalented artist Marc Sokpolie aka Zwazi. We had a cool brainstorm session with him about all kinds of things we’re digging. After a few weeks he came up with this great illustration of us floating in space, with in the background the debris of the ring of Saturn replaced by wrecks of all the cars we like. The artwork for this single is actually a fragment of this bigger illustration. We even have made t-shirts!

When is the happiest you’ve ever been to be ‘Back Home’?

We love playing all over the world, and being at all these exotic is great. But at the same, being away from your loved ones is not always the easiest thing. Especially when we were stranded at Sao Paulo airport for a million hours due to a strike. Coming ‘Back Home’ from that trip made us quite happy indeed.

What can we expect from you for the rest of the year?

We made lots of bootlegs over the last year and we will share some of them with the rest of the world in the next few months. Also, we’re re-launching our label Pssst Music, which will be our little playground for tracks that won’t fit in the Chocolate Puma/Defected picture. Demolishing clubs and causing mayhem at the summer festivals is also on our to do list.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about..?

One of us is going on a holiday to Iceland. No kidding.

Back Home is out now on Defected Records.

Beatport
Traxsource
Defected Store
etc.

Preview:
Chocolate Puma – Back Home Lo Fi Preview by Chocolate Puma

It features the vocals of Colonel Red, an amazing soul singer, who you might know from his Sweet Liberation album and his own Ruff Language label.
We think it’s awesome that Red is also working with us now, as he has a unique voice and is a nice chap, and we really have a great connection in the studio. So expect a lot more from us three in the future.

The artwork for the sleeve is also something we’re very proud of. Drawn by multi-talented Marc Sokpolie, it’s a result of many brainstorm session at the choco labs, which resulted in a series of illustrations that will feature on our records sleeves and other Chocolate Puma outings.

Out on Defected: 3/05/2010

1. Chocolate Puma feat. Colonel Red – Back Home (Defected)
Our forthcoming single on Defected, featuring the mighty Colonel Red.

2. Robert Owens – Deep Down (Underground Collective)
We got the chance to remix one of our heroes, Robert Owens.

3. Martin Accorsi feat. Sarah Kühne – Soul Jack (Stealth Records)
We did this remix voor Roger Sanchez‘ Stealth Records.

4. Zki & Dobre – Disco Sucks (Pssst Music)
Yes, that’s us. Coming up on our own imprint, Pssst Music.

Meanwhile, In The Chocolate Puma Studio… (lofi preview) by Chocolate Puma

Our mix begins after one hour, you can listen it here.

So go to this page and pick your favourite tune. And if that happens to be a Chocolate Puma track we don’t mind of course ;-)

And the video for the Chocolate Puma Dub: