The Wedge A.M. News Round Up: DJ Mehdi passes away

September 13th, 2011

One of French dance music’s best known producers, DJ Mehdi, has passed away at the age of 34. Part of the Paris-based Ed Banger collective that also includes Justice, Busy P, SebastiAn and Mr. Oizo, Mehdi Favéris-Essadi was best known for his electro/hip-hop sound and work on remixes and soundtracks. Collaborators Chromeo tweeted a message that read “We lost our brother. No words.” According to the producer’s publicist, Mehdi died of after an undisclosed “accident,” which some sites claim saw him fall from the roof of his home. Ed Banger is expected to release a statement about his death some time today. (Via Mixmag)

Primal Scream have revealed that they have a new album on the horizon. Currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their timeless album, Screamadelica, frontman Bobby Gillespie says it should be out in 2012. “We’ve recorded some new music, quite a lot of new music actually and written a lot of new music,” he says. “But we’ve been touring this Screamadelica show for such a long time. We’ll continue working on [the new material] until the end of October and the winter. Hopefully we’ll have a new Primal Scream album out next year. Nothing’s finished, it’s still a work in progress.” (Via NME)

Dub-pop husband-wife duo Peaking Lights have signed a three-way record deal with Domino, Weird World and Mexican Summer. Their debut album, 936, which saw a North American release earlier this year via Not Not Fun, will be re-released on November 21st, and preceded by a remix 12″. (Via Domino)

Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke went solo last year and released a debut album called The Boxer. And though his band is set to get back together and work on new material, Kele has announced he’ll release a follow-up solo EP. The Hunter will feature seven tracks produced by XXXChange, as well as collaborations with Sub Focus, Fred Falke, RAC and QNESS. (Via NME)

Tags: bloc party, Bobby Gillespie, DJ Mehdi, Kele Okereke, Peaking Lights, Primal Scream