Chicago duo Supreme Cuts, comprised of Mike Perry and Austin Keultjes, are having a busy month. They just officially and absurdly remixed Maroon 5, becoming probably the only ones of their dark electronic peers with a song sold in Target stores. On July 10th they'll release their debut LP, Whispers in the Dark, via Dovecote, and they're throwing a record release party at Glasslands in Brooklyn on the 20th. Check out Supreme Cuts' FADER mix (tracklist at the bottom of the page), and read an interview with pair about Chicago rap, doing mushrooms in the woods and why Katie Got Bandz blocked them on Twitter.
Download: Supreme Cuts' FADER Mix
One of the tracks on your album is called “Val Venus.” Is it connected to the King Louie song? KJEULTES: Yeah, we obviously love King Louie. We wanted to have a low-key King Louie reference, because he’s one of our favorite rappers. All the songs titles on the album are low-key Chicago references. PERRY: Then King Louie blew up and named a song “Val Venis,” spelling it with an “is” instead of a “us,” which sucks but maybe is kind of awesome. It was too late for us to change it. It was already on iTunes.
Have you ever met him before? Would you ever try to work together? PERRY: I would love it. I would stop whatever I was doing and make a hundred beats with him just because his flow is just—agh!—the sickest right now in the city. But he has no idea who we are. KJEULTES: I like his beats already, so I just like listening to it.
So King Louie doesn’t know who you are, but apparently Maroon 5 does? What’s the deal with that? KJEULTES: We played in Manhattan with Araabmuzik last fall, and apparently one the dudes saw us, so when it came down to do remixed, they just pitched us for it. PERRY: In all honesty, I would be a lot more star struck if I heard Sasha Gohard or Katie Got Bandz was like, “Oh I’ve heard of you.” I’d probably freak out.
Are you knocking down Katie Got Bandz’ door trying to give her beats? PERRY: You hit the nail on the head. That’s who we want to work with more than anyone in the world. And there was a period where I was trying to, but she blocked me on Twitter, so… It was my fault. I was high and she said something like “Katie Need Dick” and I retweeted it because I thought it was funny, and then next thing I know [she was] just gone. It’s cool, though. I’m not tripping. KJEULTES: I still follow her pretty closely. PERRY: She still follows Austin on @evilsupcuts, but @supcuts is totally blocked. I swear to god I didn’t do anything weird. It was just from that. It sucks cause I hear about all these really great things she’s saying, like Austin told me the other day that she said on Twitter that her new adlib is going to be “Turn up.” I’m missing great shit like that.
Your show in July also has The-Drum and Sich Mang, both groups from Chicago. Is that a real-life crew? PERRY: We’ve known the dudes in The-Drum for a really long time even before these projects were around town. KJEULTES: I remember hanging out with Jeremiah from The-Drum right after they started. We had known each other but we just realized we’d been making similar music but, you know, way different. Then he came back from the woods and he was like, “Oh, you missed it. I was in the forest in Michigan all weekend and Sich Mang played in a forest while we all tripped shrooms. It was the best thing ever.” They were doing their first split at the time and I was just like, holy shit, and then Sich Mang emailed us and we became Soundcloud friends, all that. We realized that we’d met each other before and we started kicking it a bunch and all that. The secret about the trio is that us and The-Drum both look up to Sich Mang the most. Their live show is so, so, so off the chain, and there’s no boundaries to their music. PERRY: They’re going to be playing after us at the show. I know it’s cliché but Glasslands is going to be fucking destroyed.
Tracklist:
1. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh- Supreme Cuts
2. Belly (The-Drum Remix)- Supreme Cuts
3. Go In- Shady ft King Louie
4. Fem Pressure- Dubble Dutch
5. Play- Goapele
6. FREE ROBIN THICKE- Sich Mang
7. Luv U Found- DJ Rashad
8. Beyond Bass- Desired State
9. Watch Out- DJ Fokus
10. Drinkin- Dj Rashad, Manny, Boylan
11. Motion Picture- King Louie
12. Boy U Got Me- Brenmar
13. Angel (X-Men Remix)- Brandy
14. Sherm- Supreme Cuts
15. Radikal- DJ Gant Man
16. Do U- Do or Die
17. Lessons of Darkness (The Range Remix)- Supreme Cuts
18. ISSUE Interlude
19. Save That Shit- Chief Keef