Telepathe and Abe Vigoda Join Diplo on Smokin' Hot Tour

I guess Diplo and I have been listening to the same discs (or, y'know, compressed audio-files) this year. The Philadelphian party-king —best known for his long-term relationship with M.I.A., his exuberant shilling of Brazilian funk-carioca, and his increasingly-lengthy dancefloor-slaying mash-up sets— recently announced a 24-date North American tour in which his main supports will be two of my favorite outfits of 2008: New York's Telepathe and Los Angeles' Abe Vigoda.

Abe Vigoda's second LP, Skeleton, is starting to firm as one of the best albums of the year. Released in July on Post Present Medium, the label run by Dean Spunt of LA's fawned-over white-noise duo No Age, the raucous, rollicking record has proved both enduring and endearing: its snaky guitar lines, caterwauling vocals, and rarely-restrained sense of joy making for a set worthy of repeat plays.

Telepathe (pictured) are a duo from Brooklyn, born of the same scene that raised Animal Collective, Gang Gang Dance, TV on the Radio, and countless others. TVOTR honcho Dave Sitek is a huge fan of Telepathe, having invited them to remix and play support slots for his barnstorming band. Not to mention having produced their forthcoming debut LP (tentatively-titled, um, Dance Mother F**ker, release-date TBC). Early tastes, like the killer single "Chrome's On It," are utterly thrilling; showing the pair using the shiny synths and sinuous electronics of commercial rap to fashion tribalist incantations.

“We listen to a lot of hip-hop on the radio,” Melissa Livaudais, one half of Telepathe, told me in a June interview. “I got really into syncopated rhythms, and dance-hall stuff, and heavy-bass disco. I just started listening to all this music, cataloguing it in my mind. We weren’t trying to be hip-hop producers, but being influenced by contemporary music, stuff that’s out in the world right now, feels exciting to me.”

And exciting, indeed, is what this mad Mad Decent jamboree shall be.

Photo © [Eliza Douglas]