The Magician – Magic Tape Twenty-Two = ‘Magic Tape’ time of the month comes around so fast! What have we got in here then. Some nice Tropical Disco, some nice ‘90’s vibe. Is that the new Yuksek reMix I hear? Chris Malinchak? Some TEED? Let the guessing games begin.
♫ The Magician – Magic Tape Twenty-Two
Buy The Magician’s music from:
This is kind of a weird one. The Polymuse is an Arab-American soprano and internationally renowned Opera singer (I’ll have to take their word for that) Anymuse who has taken on this moniker to drop an EP of five ElectroPop tracks that celebrate her love of dance music.
It sounds like an awesome proposition, and Anymuse is definitely and passionate and talented singer, there’s just one time thing that irks us about the ‘Rebelution’ EP. The Production, courtesy of Dave Wrangler, is terribly dated. To highlight what is great on this EP (and there is a lot to love) Anymuse’s vocals are pretty flawless. She sings with emotion and strength. Her songs are really good too, catchy, meaningful and resonant in a way only highlighted by her soulful performance. The music isn’t bad per-se, not bad enough for us to not really like the EP, but it’s just a little flat and uninspired. Last year’s (last decade’s?) hands-in-the-air riffs, under-produced drums that dominate the mix in a way that makes your toes curl a little and sounds reminiscant of 1998’s Access Virus presets (the ones everyone used back then). Like we said, it’s not really so bad that it stops our enjoyment of the EP, which is really enjoyable, we just can’t help but wonder how much more awesome the EP would have been in the hands of a more talented, or more relevant, producer. Maybe next time. The Polymuse is an extremely talented singer and songwriter, and thankfully that dominates the EP, we’d definitely be interested in hearing more from her.
♫ The Polymuse – Rebelution
♫ The Polymuse – Road 2 Nowhere
The Polymuse’s ‘Rebelution’ EP is out now.
Buy The Polymuse’s music from:
We haven’t written about Pégase since way back in 2009! Pégase is, of course, the side project of Raphaël, the lead singer of the utterly amazing Minitel Rose. Both of which we have heard far to little from in recent years. Better later than never though, as Pégase releases his début (really?) EP.
Here’s the video for ‘The Bad Side Of Love’ the lead track on the ‘Without Reasons’ EP, directed by Nicolas Davenel. The EP contains reMixes from Giraffage, Les Et Les Garcons, Ruckazoid & Equateur and is a welcome return from one of the founding fathers of Dreamwave.
The ‘Without Reasons’ EP is out now.
Buy Pégase’s music from:
I don’t use the word ‘Numnaoid’ much, but be warned, somewhere in this post the word ‘Numandoid’ will come into play. That’s because we’re going to be talking about Claude Violante (one half of analog avant-garde DiscoPop duo Haussmann) and her début solo EP. The record retains the vintage Disco of her other output but adds a raw, and sometimes ethereal, quality to her music.
The lead track on her self-titled EP, ‘For You’, sets the tone perfectly. With an Numandoid backbeat reminiscant of Tubeway Army coupled with a late ‘80’s pre-Shoegaze-y vocal style. Icy synths are lent an air of humanity through the live feel of the track, back up with real drumming and Claude’s 4AD voice. Of course, throughout all of this, and through the whole EP, there is that subtle Frenchness you associate with Parisian Indie-Electro bands. A slight eclecticness is present even when presenting a more dance oriented from, both ‘You Way and ‘Generation’ borrow a lot from classic Italo, Claude’s experimental side shines though. Funky grooves, melodic vintage synths, beautiful songs and a musical playfulness. You don’t need any more than that really. Definitely an EP worth checking out.
The ‘Claude Violante’ EP is out this week on French indie label Tsunami-Addiction.
Buy Claude Violante’s music from:
This week sees the release of Dutch Nu-Disco & SynthWave producer L’Equipe Du Son’s début album. ‘Supersonic’ is, in part, a compilation of all the awesome stuff he’s been releasing over the past couple of years, but with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. Prepare for ten track of some of the slickest retro Disco around.
The album kicks off with the smooth Disco primer and possible L’Equipe Du Son’s best known track, ‘Lesson 1’. It had to really, and it makes a rad into peice as well as being cool laid back Disco in it;s own right. It sets up the album nicely for a collection that swings between early 80’s Funk numbers like ‘What You Do To Me’, the sweet electronic Soul of ‘Do You Want Me’ and ‘Love Will Find a Way’ and flat out SynthWave gems in the form of ‘Gina’ and of course, one of our favourite tracks of the month, the breakin’ ‘Playground Rebels’. Taken as a whole, and a document of L’Equipe Du Son’s recent output it’s hard not to wonder why he isn’t a bigger name, there’s a lot of bigger producers who couldn’t fill an album so consistently, to such a high quality. And whilst the album is quite varied in it’s approach to Nu-Disco, from smooth Funk to full on abrasive Electro, there’s an across the board sound too. L’Equipe Du Son likes to drop some 8-bit sounds into the mix and favours big retro chord stabs in combination with Italo basslines. All amazing elements that in, L’Equipe Du Son’s hands become SynthWave gold. If you’re into Nu-Disco or SynthWave you might well already have many of these tracks, but they are definitely worth revisiting as a complete body of work.
♫ L’Equipe Du Son – Flashdance
♫ L’Equipe Du Son – Playground Rebels
♫ L’Equipe Du Son – Gina
♫ L’Equipe Du Son – Do You Want Me?
L’Equipe Du Son’s ‘Supersonic’ is out now on Silhouette Music.
Buy L’Equipe Du Son’s music from:
Punks Jump Up’s ‘Mr. Overtime’ has already provided us with one of the best tracks of the year so far, and some of the best reMixes of the year too. Now, completing the hat-trick, it provides us with one of the best videos of the year.
Maxime Bruneel directs this neon soaked, retro styled, animated exploration of utter cool. We wish life looked like this!
‘Mr. Overtime’ is released 30th April on Moda.
Buy Punks Jump Up’s music from:
Panda People are a German Indie-DiscoPop trio that we featured on Pop-Fu 08, way back in 2010, they’ve been pretty quiet of late but are about to finish up their forthcoming new single ‘Two Sinners’ and release it to the world.
Apparently there are a few mixing tweaks that still need to be made ‘Two Sinners’ before the formal release, but the guys have let us share with you the song in it’s pretty-much-finished form. ‘Two Sinners’ just reminds us of everything we loved about ‘Sophisticated Girl’, it’s breezy vocals, lush synths and catchy chorus that just compels you to join in. There a hint of new York IndiePop about the track, a bit of Passion Pit, and a bit of Miike Snow but with a electronic Disco groove. Slick Indie licks rubs shoulder with shimmering synths and a carefree singing style. Sumer hit? With enough exposure it would a just the thing for a summer of fun.
♫ Panda People – Two Sinners (Demo.)
‘Two Sinners’ will be out soon.
Buy Panda People’s music from:
Goin’ Old School isn’t a trip down music memory lane, it’s a mugging in the dark alleyway of nostalgia:
First up is some seriously smooth early ‘80’s, 1982 to be exact, electronic Soul from Imagination and their classic ‘Just An illusion’.
In the starkest contrast possible we have Front 242, with arguably their Poppiest song, ‘Tragedy For You’ from 1989.
And finally some relaxing, experimental, tones from Tangerine Dream’s ‘Tiergarten’ from 1985. Actually the flip side to ‘Le Parc’, one of the greatest synth tracks ever written.
You can buy most of this music from:
Sam Sparro, the man with the croonyest voice in electronic Pop music is back with the second, and lead-in, single taken from his forthcoming ‘Return To Paradise’. It’s more classic Pop, less Disco, than the previous single ‘Happiness’. Actually more like the Sam Sparro of old, but slightly more musically mature.
The single comes complete with an eclectic reMix package, the reaction to which I have found interesting and a little bewildering. The music blog world is awash with the Azari & III reMix, which has the typically deep, stripped down Chicago House vibe you’d expect from them. It’s actually a really cool track with a sweet hypnotic pulse, but it’s not the best reMix on the single. A fewer number of blogs have picked up on the Stereogamous mix, with it’s robo Disco groove that highlights the emotion of the vocals, also an very nice track, but not the best reMix on the single either. The standout reMix comes from Devil’s Gun, and that’s a massive surprise. When I think of Devil’s Gun I usually think of something dark and gritty. Even on their collaboration with future Pop starlet Queen Of Hearts they kept things grinding and doom laden, but with their reMix of ‘I Wish I Never Met You’ they go positively Dreamwave. It got a huge Disco sound with layers and layers of chunky synths that give it a touch of that grit, alongside a solid retro Disco flavour. It’s big and funky and fun and I have no idea why it’s been largely overlooked by the music blog world. I suppose Devil’s Gun don’t drive the same kind of traffic as Azari & III though, not yet anyway…
♫ Sam Sparro – I Wish I Never Met You (Devil’s Gun reMix)
♫ Sam Sparro – I Wish I Never Met You (Azari & III reMix)
♫ Sam Sparro – I Wish I Never Met You (Stereogamous reMix)
‘I Wish I Never Met You’ is taken from Sam Sparro’s forthcoming new album, ‘Return To Paradise’, out 27th May.
Buy Sam Sparro’s music from:
From the opening notes of the heavy synth bassline of the title track of ‘Burning Feeling’, the début album from Lovelock, you know something synthetically special is happening. Lovelock is one of the many monikers of Synth legend Steve Moore. I say ‘legend’ because the man has a prolific and consistently amazing out put. Whether it’s as in Zombi or Miracle or as Gianna Rossi or just himself you know that with the Moore stamp on it, you’re in for some amazing, emotional synth work.
His latest release, Lovelock’s ‘Burning Feeling’ is in part a collection of his work under this pseudonym to date, some of the tracks, including the title, date back a couple of years and will be familiar to most fans of synth music, whist some are brand new, and the two sit side by side effortlessly. maybe du in part to Moore’s retro influences, maybe just due to the sheer quality of the songs, nothing on the album sound dated (or at least, not dated in the bad sense of the word). The album is loaded with futuristic Sci-Fi soundscapes and Cosmic Disco grooves, robotic Italo basslines and heartfelt Funk. ‘Burning Feeling’ itself is one of the most powerful SynthPop tracks you’ll hear in a while. Punchy EBM basslines and jackhammer drums mix with epic power ballad vocals to create a weird, but utterly amazing Industrial/Pop crossover. Elsewhere on the album Lovelock presents a more boogie laden Moroder-esque analog Disco vibe with track like ‘New Age Christ’ .Maybe Tonight’ and ‘The Fog’, albeit with his trademark warbling synth solos along for the ride. Mainly, though, ‘Burning Feeling’ is like the best collection of ‘80’s TV themes that never existed. ‘Deco District’ channels a more New York Disco version of Jan Hammer, as does ‘Love Reaction’ which ups the ante with some sweet female vocals. And in the middle of all this future funk and soundtrack majesty sits ‘South beach Sunrise’, a chilled out respite from the energy of the rest of the record, complete with a beautiful sax solo. ‘Burning Feeling’ truly is a masterpiece, an amazingly good album that impresses right from the moment you put it on. An electronic music fan’s record collection is just not complete without this album.
♫ Lovelock – Don’t Turn Away (From My Love)
♫ Lovelock – Love Reaction
♫ Lovelock – Maybe Tonight
♫ Lovelock – South Beach Sunrise
Lovelock’s ‘Burning Feeling’ is released 26th April on Prins Thomas’s Internasjonal imprint.
Buy Lovelock’s music from:
electronic rumors 