The Sound Of Arrows made this video, for their forthcoming single ‘Nova’, themselves, which just goes to show they’ve got as good an eye for visuals as they do an ear for a catchy ElectroPop tune.
Anthemic, and surprisingly late 90’s sounding, ‘Nova’ works seamlessly with the cosmic imagery of the clip.
‘Nova’ is out 25th April on Geffen, The Sound Of Arrows have just finished recording their début album.
The Sound Of Arrows @ Beatport
The Sound Of Arrows @ 7Digital
And so, it is with a heavy heart that we bring our Binary Week to a close.
Over the last seven days you’ve been able to get to know the seven members of the Binary family a little better and hopefully you’ve heard some rad music you’d not previously been exposed to. If you were already a Binary fan I hope you’ve been entertained and interested over the week. If you weren’t a Binary fan before I hope you are now!
I also hope we have been able to inspire you to go and track down some more music from the leaders of California’s ElectroPop scene. Seriously, go and buy the ‘Binary Presents: LA Lights’ compilation, or LexiconDon’s ‘Pink + Blue’ album, or NightWaves’ ‘Sweet Carrie’ single, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
And if you’re lost, here’s a recap of the week:
Binary Week: Futurecop! & Keenhouse’s Dreams
Binary Week: electronic rumours mixtape: Pop-Fu 09 ‘Binary Entertainment Special’
Binary Week: The Kids Are Radioactive
I’d also like to say a massive thanks to Binary’s Josh who helped us get this week organised, he’s been a busy man promoting these last few months but has still taken the time to round up the Binary clan (which must be like hoarding cats!) for interviews.
Right, on to the good stuff! Binary Entertainment have been kinds enough to let us give away an awesome Binary T-shirt to three, yes three!, lucky winners of our Binary giveaway!
You can see the shirt below, I’ve got two of these bad boys personally. Comfy as hell!
All you need to do to win one of these badass shirts is follow these steps:
1) Follow @BinaryEnt and @electronicrumor on Twitter
2) Tweet the following (without inverted commas):
“Hey @electronicrumor, I loved your week of @BinaryEnt Dreamwave artists, I wanna’ win myself a T-shirt now! http://bit.ly/e5uVjA #binaryweek”
3) Don’t forget the #binaryweek hashtag!
All the winners names will be written on bits of paper, screwed up and put in my pork-pie hat and we’ll pick three winners at random.
Simple as that! We’ll give you two weeks to enter, ending the competition 5th March and we’ll announce the winners (and contact them by Twitter DM) on Monday 7th March.
So get entering, and get listening to so of the awesome output from the Binary camp!
Binary Entertainment @ Beatport
Binary Entertainment @ 7Digital
I doubt NightWaves need much introduction to readers of electronic rumors, they are the heart and soul of the Binary family.
As NightWaves Josh Legg and Kyle Petersen, besides founding Binary Entertainment and inventing the term ‘Dreamwave’, make the kind of music that epitomises everything that Dreamwave should be. Optimistic and aspirational, their songs conjure up memories of loves and losses, heartbreaks and sunsets, the best times in your life revisited, the times when nothing else mattered.
From their first single ‘She’s Electric’, through compilation appearances, to last years ‘Sweet Carrie’, NightWaves are evolving at a rapid rate, yet keeping this evolution organic sounding. The duo’s début offerings were pretty straight ElectroPop. Their 80’s inspired melodies and vocals stood-out amongst the emerging retro synth scene as being particularly true to the classic SynthPop sound. Their most recent single ‘Sweet Carrie’, though, was a dreamy Indie-Electro summer soundtrack that came a both a shock and a gift. I will admit that I’m always a bit weary of synth bands who start using guitar (in an ‘another one bites the dust’ kinda’ way, but that’s my problem, I’ll deal with it!) but within seconds of ‘Sweet Carrie’ opening you could tell that this was such a natural progression for NightWaves, it sounded so right. The track blew up online, and rightly so. Synth and guitar blended in to a whole that was so much bigger than the sum of it’s parts. ‘Sweet Carrie’ encapsulates, I think, the Dreamwave philosophy, good times and a summer that never ends.
While working on their début album NightWaves has kept their fans happy with remix after blog destroying remix that have gained them DJ support and radio play all over the world.
NightWaves, ambassadors of Dreamwave, here’s what they had to say:
ER: So how did you guys get together, where you in other bands previously?
J: Yeah Kyle and I have both been musical our whole lives. I played cello for a number of years and Kyle can play the trumpet quite well. We both dove into being in rock bands in our teens. I was a bit of an acoustic singer songwriter in the early 2000’s, as was Kyle (and a hell of a lot of other young males). Its a bit corny to listen back on, but I do believe it broke our songwriting chops to be stripped down to just a guitar and voice. I think it gives NightWaves a big leg up to have written so many songs that way while a lot of other electronic producers are just starting to learn how to construct a song well.
ER: And what came first, NightWaves or Binary?
K: Binary came first, but not by much. Josh and I started Binary in early 2008, and then by mid-2008 we were moved into our office with Binary being our main priority. Since we had some space in our office, we thought it would be a cool place to bring our music gear and have a little space dedicated to being creative and making music. So within the first few weeks of the full launch of Binary, NightWaves was born in some early moments of free time. It was a pretty spontaneous beginning that started with some pretty amateur sounding early demos, haha.
ER: Who are your heroes and influences, both musically and otherwise?
K: Hmm, well that can probably be split into a few groups. There are a ton of musical influences that shape the music I try to make, ranging from pop punk groups like Saves the Day, to Phoenix, Daft Punk of course for their amazing ability to create a spectacle, Miike Snow is influencing how I want to make music now…there are a ton of random past influences. My heroes in music relative to my life are people like Busy P and James Murphy that have built very unique entities and had the resilience to stay at the top of their game and make a lot of the right moves to build their own brand of sound and scene in their towns. And I’d have to say my parents…both are very musical and always supported me in music and inspired a lot of my taste in music and I wouldn’t be able to do this now without them.
ER: ‘Sweet Carrie’ introduced us to a slightly more guitar oriented sound, more of a chilled summery indie vibe. Was this a natural progression for you?
J: Absolutely. I think we would’ve incorporated more live instrumentation into our earlier songs if we could have. Its pretty difficult from a technical standpoint to incorporate live instruments into a mainly electronic mix and it took some time for us to get ‘good’ enough to make it work. We grew up on guitar music and I think it was very natural for us to start to include more guitar in the songs. You’ll definitely hear more guitar on our record, although in a lot of cases the style won’t be quite as out there in the mix as the guitars were on “Sweet Carrie”.
ER: The video for ‘Sweet Carrie’ seems to perfectly visually capture the atmosphere of NightWaves, who directed it? How did that vision come about?
K: We discovered this really talented filmmaker named Cody Bralts. At the time I don’t think he’d even graduated high school, but he was shooting these gorgeous little videos of his life. They really captured the innocence that makes Sweet Carrie the song that it is. We approached Cody about shooting some footage for us and he was eager to let us go through his material. Our guitarist, David Urbina is actually a film editor during the daytime, so he took the footage and really turned the video into the perfect story to accompany the song. We’re really proud of the way it turned out!
ER: ‘Sweet Carrie’ kinda’ blew up on the blogs, have you seem that blog hype translate into much in the way of new fans or sales?
K: ‘Sweet Carrie’ definitely did well for us…the sales haven’t been very inspiring but I guess that’s a good picture of the music industry these days. But I think a lot of people took notice of NightWaves because of that song and the beautiful video that Dave and Cody put together. Some labels perked up their ears, and a lot of our musician friends were really into the song. Josh heard some dudes singing the hook at the Empire of the Sun concert that just happened here in LA, haha, so it looks like people took notice a bit. The trick is following that up.
ER: What lies in NightWaves’ studio. Do you have and ‘go to’ bits of kit?
K: Lots of delay, all day.
ER: And how does the NightWaves live set up work?
J: We perform as a four piece actually. Kyle and I play keyboards and electric bass. David plays guitar on pretty much all of the tracks. We’ve had a few different drummers over the last couple of years too. We rotate around a bit on stage depending on the song, since everyone can play a few different instruments. The only thing that stays consistent is that Kyle and I sing the songs.
ER: If money was no object, what synth would you like to get your hands on?
K: A Jupiter 8…Josh and I probably both agree on that one.
ER: What does Dreamwave mean to you?
K: Dreamwave, to me, and this has some personal bias of course, represents a lifestyle more than anything else. The good life…appreciating being comfortable where you are in life, and beautiful weather, and memorable days hanging out having some drinks with your friends at the beach, and a general optimism about life and about the future. It has a very sunny feeling to me, and I know that it sounds very southern Californian, but I think the same principles can apply to anyone in their hometown. It certainly has the influences from 80’s music, but sonically that’s not really the point and it has more to do with youth and nostalgia, as we always mention. The ability to always feel young and carefree and looking forward to the next day. I think America needs (and is already starting to gain) a sense of things being alright and the future looking bright. Whether or not that will be the case is kind of irrelevant, because a positive mind can have a pretty profound effect on how we make our future.
♫ Walter Sobcek – Je Me Souviens (NightWaves reMix)
ER: You’ve recently started writing your début full length record, how’s that going, what can we expect from the album?
K: Going out to Boston to record was a great chance for Josh and I to take some time away and really focus on the future of NightWaves and making some new music. I think you can expect hopefully a good mix of some darker atmospheric songs alongside some driving SynthPop anthems with big hooks. I want to get weird with this record, but not like, too weird. A nice eclectic mix of beautiful sounds. That’s my goal.
J: Yeah… I think we’re up to 18 or 19 pretty completed demos. We’re not quite satisfied yet, so I think we’re looking to write another batch of songs (5-10) before we’ll start the process of finalizing things. The response from friends and family has been great so far though. I think we’ve done a good job of maintaining our ‘sound’, but hopefully pushing our songwriting and production skills to another level.
ER: Are NightWaves more of a cereal or pile of pancakes for breakfast kinda’ band? Would that change the night after a show?
K: I never really eat breakfast, unless it’s a weekend brunch after a night out, at which point I’ll have some eggs benedict. That or I’ll have a bacon and egg breakfast burrito from Pete’s Burgers on Hoover and 24th St…best breakfast burrito in the city, nay, on Earth. And they have the best coke in the city too, with crushed ice, which is crucial. Were you looking for a deeper answer?
♫ Empire Of The Sun – We Are The People (NightWaves reMix)
NightWaves’ ‘Sweet Carrie’ single is out now, as you heard Josh and Kyle are busy recording their début album. We can’t wait.
Kid Kasio has done it again! The guy is a one-man SynthPop machine!
It amazes me that Nathan Cooper (Kids’ alter ego) can churn out sweetly written and slickly produced tunes with clever videos with no label backing (yet)!
His latest track is ‘The Reason’, pure 80’s Pop with a riff so infectious I had been humming for weeks before the song was released based on a 30 second studio clip! Kid Kasio’s knack is writing 80’s inspired songs without falling into any (not one single one) of the clichés so often , and easily, slipped into by other ElectroPop artists. Kids’ music doesn’t try to sound 80’s, it just naturally is. Amazing.
Also amazing is the video for ‘The Reason’ which works on a similar level to the music. a Bruno Brooks introduced Top Of The Pops video (complete with TOTP title graphics!) which shows not just a vague fashionable 80’s nostalgia but a deep understanding of the music and visuals of the time. Noting more can be said about this video but ‘genius’.
I suggest you all go ‘like’ Kid Kasio on Facebook right now!
The Kids Are Radioactive, A.K.A. Jordan Elliot, is they guy who brings a touch of rave to the house of Binary.
There’s no mucking about with TKAR, he wants to see you dance ‘til you drop.
I first notice TKAR on the forth volume of the free Masters Of The Universe compilation, back when the Dreamwave scene was a nameless thing that seemed to spend most of it’s life on MySpace. Since then he has always impressed with they way he brings bangin’ Electro-House tunes into the more melodic, musical realms that his Binary peers inhabit.
With a seemingly flawless knack for knowing what works on the dancefloor, as proved by his string of blog teasing reMixes, and as the youngest member of the Binary family, his productions show surprising musical maturity.
Also, Jordan is an internationally renowned Saxophonist, and if you’re going to play an instrument that doesn’t require electricity, the Sax is defiantly the coolest!
Let’s hear what the man has to say:
ER: First off, many thanks Jordan for chatting with us.
J: The pleasure is all mine.
ER: How did you start getting involved with making music?
J: Hmm let’s see.. The first instrument I learned how to play was the saxophone in elementary school. I studied both jazz and classical growing up¼ From there I learned to play several other instruments and I eventually got into recording my own music.
ER: who are your heroes and influences, both musical and otherwise?
J: My heroes list looks something like this: John Coltrane, Quentin Tarantino, Bob Dylan, Michael Crichton, John Lennon, Alex Ridha, John Bonham, George Orwell.
♫ The Kids Are Radioactive – Cult Classic
ER: When did the Binary crew enter the picture?
J: I remember when Binary wasn’t anything more than an idea! haha. When they hit me up about starting some kind of music collective in 2007 I was just a junior in high school. Josh and Kyle did an amazing job putting the whole thing into motion, eventually it grew into the sick label and company it is now. Looking back on it I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time!
ER: Your music leans more toward Electro-House than the rest of Binary’s roster, are you flying the French-House flag in the Binary camp?
J: Maybe I was at one point, when I first started out that’s exactly what I was going for. It seems my taste changes every other week now. I just try to make tracks that will make people shake it on the dance floor.
♫ The Kids Are Radioactive (Feat. LexiconDon) – Higher
ER: What’s in The Kids Are Radioactive’s studio?
J: A bunch of stuff.. I’ve got a Moog Little Phatty, Studio Electronics SE-1, some guitars and amps, an acoustic jazz bass, a saxophone, a trumpet, some midi controllers, a couple tape recorders, a talk-box that i built out of an old shoe box, some CDJ’s, an electronic drum kit, another real drum kit, and a couch (which is also my bed).
ER: And how much of your studio come out with you when you play live?
J: Usually just the laptop and some controllers.. although I’ve been thinking about starting to play live with more of my analog gear. Actually I’m working on a new live project with a friend of mine who designs lights and visuals.. so maybe more will be coming out soon haha. We’ll have to wait and see how that goes.
ER: If money was no object, what would your dream synth be?
J: It would definitely be a pure analog version of Native Instrument’s plugin “Massive”. That thing is a beast. I use it in pretty much everything.
ER: If money was no object, what synth would you like to get your hands on?
J: It would definitely be a completely custom modular system.. and it definitely would need it’s own room haha.
♫ Lady GaGa – Bad Romance (The Kids Are Radioactive reMix)
ER: What does being part of the Binary family mean to you as a musician?
J: To me being part of the Binary family is always being able to go back to LA and call it home, from chilling on the streets in the Cali sunshine to the best parties and people all night. Croosh tunes and chill vibes all day.
ER: What can we expect from The Kids Are Radioactive in the future?
J: You can definitely expect more new music! Actually, I’m working on a new ep right now for a tune I finished a while back called “Sahara”.. it’s gonna’ have
some desert inspired tent music, haha. And hopefully more gigs out on the east coast while I’m finishing up school too.
ER: Is The Kids Are Radioactive more of a cereal or pile of pancakes for breakfast kinda’ act? Would that change the night after a show?
J: Definitely cereal! I’m a creature of habit.. and I have a certain ritual of eating Jack In The Box after every show no matter what. It’s cheap and it gets the job done. I guess I got into the habit from partying in high school.. it was the best restaurant open at 3 am every day!
♫ Mark Knight & Wolfgang Gartner – Conscindo (The Kids Are Radioactive reMix)
Jordan is working hard on the new The Kids Are Radioactive EP, keep an eye on Binary for news.
The Kids Are Radioactive @ Beatport
The Kids Are Radioactive @ Juno
The Kids Are Radioactive @ Amazon
German retro synth dance producer Alpha Boy is giving away an EP of unreleased tracks and reMixes.
I love Alpha Boy’s tunes, the 80’s-esq melodies he plays around with are amazing. Right here we have two tracks off the free EP, ‘Tron’ is an awesome, sweeping epic of a tune which features pretty much everything I want from instrumental synthesizer music. Driving beats and bass and soaring leads. ‘Left And Right’ is a harder affair, a stomping dancefloor monster stacked thick with video game sounds.
You can get Alpha Boy’s whole free EP here.
Clancy, who is amongst the best up and coming producers around, stopped by the electronic rumors inbox to drop off his latest reMix.
‘Midnight Lover’ is the new single from LA Indie-DiscoPop duo Kisses and Clancy’s does a sterling job on his reMix. The bouncy bass keeps the track driving along but it’s genius lies in the layers of chords and intertwining riffs that allow the vocals to sit at just the right level. Absorbing as hell, this reMix wraps you up in it’s beats and carries you away.
♫ Kisses – Midnight Lover (Clancy reMix)
Kisses’ ‘Midnight Lover’ is out this week.
If you thought that Russian Nu-Disco & ElectroPop began and ended with Tesla Boy you’d be sorely mistaken!
Enter The Tapeaters, who have just released their début album ‘Visions’, the duo of Vadim Pukhov and Dimitri Kozlow who are producing some of the slickest DiscoPop, not just in Russia, in the world! The album is track after track of dancefloor driving ElectroPop with groove. Matching up the funky basslines of Nu-Disco with 80’s SynthPop melodies and soft spoken, soulful, vocals, The Tapeaters produce a sound that is pretty hard to beat.
The are, of course, comparisons to be made with their countrymen Tesla Boy, but that’s a good thing both play top quality ElectroPop with a hint of 80’s electronic R&B influence but each band manages to carve out it’s own unique sound within the genre, and if this is a trend of bands from Russia with a similar sound then bring it on!
‘Visions’ is defiantly one of the best début albums to be released in recent times!
♫ The Tapeaters – Satellite
♫ The Tapeaters – Moon Shines
♫ The Tapeaters – They Are Coming
the Tapeaters’’Visions’ is out now and the guys will be supporting Cut Copy on their upcoming shows in Russia!
Cut Copy have premiered the video for their new single ‘Need You Now’.
The track is one of the better tunes on their recent album. A very 80’s, almost OMD, sound is prevalent throughout. If they had lead their PR come-back campaign with this song I would have been more excited.
The video was directed by Keith Schofield.
‘Need You Now’ is taken from Cut Copy’s third album ‘Zonoscope’, out on Modular Recordings.
Moby has just announced the title of his forthcoming new album, to be called ‘Destroyed’, and to get things going is giving away a three track EP totally free.
Moby can be a bit hit and miss for me, but I’m actually pretty taken with the title track. ‘Be The One’ is vocoder heavy drone Indie-ElectroPop. Whether I find any particular era Moby to my taste or not I can’t deny his genius, in this track synths and guitars work together in perfectly produced harmony. There’s a hint of Ladytron about it too.
You can get the whole ‘Be The One’ EP, in exchange for an email address, here.
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