Nov 1 2013

[Audio] Starcadian’s ‘Sunset Blood’ album

Starcadian’s Sunset Blood is the best Disco album of the year. There, that’s the short version of this review. It’s a pretty bold statement to make in a year that Daft Punk released their long awaited comeback, but we stand by it. Not that Starcadian’s freshly released début full length record, Sunset Blood, is strictly a Disco album, but it has a strain of authentic Disco running through it’s DNA that puts many contemporary Disco producers to shame. Mixed up with helpings of SynthWave, ElectroPop and TurboFunk it’s the perfect recipie.

Ever since we discovered Brooklyn based producer Starcadian he’s been a particular favourite around these parts, his track Girls Of Midnight clocking in at number three in our top 20 songs of 2012. Nothing about this thirteen track collection of tunes has let us down, and our expectation were high!

A new version of single Ronnie opens the album, it’s funkin’ bass, smooth electric Piano and slightly melancholy vocoding setting the tone for the album, exciting, emotional, electronic music and a badass, soaring, solo. The brooding Robo-Funk of Chinatown is up next. It’s passionate, cinematic, vocals meets rousing vintage electronics approach sending shivers down your spine. Previous favourite Sgt. Tagowski’s high-octane, slap bass fuelled, retro SynthWave meets ChipTune madness is followed by the album version of the single Heˆrt. Heˆrt is a simply beautiful piece of music, A piano led Disco ballad, a Sci-Fi lament that highlights Starcadian’s musicianship, songwriting and production skills perfectly. Spectrum Line, another new tune, is up next delivering it’s big DiscoPop vibes with an R&B twist, all smoothed over with Starcadian’s slightly gritty Electro sounds. The laid back vocoder grooves return on Lovetop, a vintage Disco laden love song, smooth and soulful to the extreme and contrasted with the big ElectroPop of Supersymmetry, probably the album’s Pop highlight. Big beats, slick vocals and catchy choruses all add up to pure synthesizer infectiousness. A New York Indie-Electro feel permeates the dreamy Waters before the album charges into the Cornish assault that is Pompey Pirate, bringing a French Electro epicness to Sunset Blood. Chainsaw riffs and soaring leads scream over a relentless machine beat and cut up, distorted electronics. What follows are three orchestrated, soundtrack pieces. Binary Stars, The Floppy Disk and It Ends Now being classical takes on the themes of Heˆrt, Chinatown and Pompey Pirate. With a John Williams flavour, this trilogy really show off Starcadian’s talent for arrangement as he presents a bombastic cavalcade of rising strings and horns that really get the blood racing. The album plays out on it’s title track, Sunset Blood is enigmatic SynthWave at it’s finest. A mysterious musical exposition, a synthesizer epic that leaves you waiting for the sequel.

It cannot be understated how impressive and confident a début Sunset Blood is for Starcadian. Easily one of the albums of the year. A musical narrative that deftly carries you along with it whist delivering some of the most addictive Disco we’ve heard in a long time. Highly recommended.

♫ Starcadian – Sgt. Tagowski

♫ Starcadian – Supersymmetry

♫ Starcadian – Ronnie (Album Mix)

♫ Starcadian – Pompey Pirate

Starcadian’s Sunset Blood is out now. Pick it up from Bandcamp.

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Nov 1 2013

[Download] Strangers’ ‘London Lights’

“This ain’t New York, This ain’t Vegas, But we’ll go wherever this night takes us” begins UK SynthPop heroes Strangers’ ode to London town. It’s November, which means there’s just this tune, and then December’s tune, until then end of Strangers free-track-a-month project. Now, we haven;t got a crystal ball or anything, but we’ve got our fingers and toes crossed for December’s contribution to be a cover of Wham!’s Last Christmas. Just sayin’.

Shimmering 90s beat meld with rich 80s synths in one of Strangers finest tracks to date. A love song both to a person and to a city, David’s urgent, dramatic, vocals lend the track a cinematic quality as the track rushes along, taking you with it. That’s not to say it’s a fast tune, it’s isn’t (gliding over a mid-tempo, slightly R&B, rhythm) but it’s theme of running-into-the-night drives the song’s emotional core and gives the layers of warm synth work a frantic quality. A big, inspiring, track. This one is Power-SynthPop at it’s finest.

♫ Strangers – London Lights

Strangers’ London Lights is available for download now.

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Nov 1 2013

[Download] Ayer’s ‘Circle Down’

Well, here’s a fresh slice of bliss to drop in out Inbox. Ayer is the collaboration between Brooklyn based singer Danny Schmittler and Noosa album producer Mickey Valen. They’ve only got one song to their name so far, but that one song makes a hell of an impression and gives us a taste of what to expect on their début EP, due for release this winter. Which is fitting, as their songs seems to have a winter vibe to them, check out Circle Down.

Taking it’s cues from vintage synth sounds but implementing them in a most definitely contemporary way, Ayer deliver a particularly New York brand of ElectroPop. Both the vocals and music come across as heartfelt and honest. Waves of crisp synths and a beat with a Disco swing compliment a dramatic piano line with a light Funk. Ayer’s vocals have a unique tone and the ability to deliver both passion and groove. An impressive début from these guys, we’ll be on the lookout for more.

♫ Ayer – Circle Down

Ayer’s début EP is due out later this year.

Check out more from Ayer on SoundCloud.

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Nov 1 2013

[Mixtape] The Penelopes’ November chart

The Penelopes – The Penelopes’ Charts November 2013 = Here comes another hour of the best Nu-Disco, ElectroPop and big room tunes around this month from London based French duo The Penelopes. this months line up is loaded with huge feel-good tracks, the perfect set-up to your weekend.

♫ The Penelopes – The Penelopes’ Charts November 2013

The tracklist:
01. Convaire – Talk In Technicolour
02. Lenno – Rebirth
03. Panama – Always (Classixx reMix)
04. Portland – Deezy Daisy (Oxford reMix)
05. Concorde – Floating There (Jupiter reMix)
06. Rhye – The Fall (Bronx Night Dub)
07. Donny Hathaway – The Ghetto (The Supermen Lovers reMix)
08. Chvurches – Tether
09. Bon Iver – Coming Down (Monkey Safari Hi-Life Radio Edit)
10. Baio – Welterweight
11. Gentlemen Hall – Sail Into The Sun (Lenno reMix)
12. Robotaki (Feat. Hey Champ) – It’s Still About You
13. I Break Horses – Faith
14. Holy Ghost! – Hold On, We’re Going Home (Drake Cover)
15. Monitor 66 – Triscuits (Roberto Rodriguez reMix)
16. Dive In -Let Go (Lovelife reMix)

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Nov 1 2013

[Audio] Empress Of’s ‘Realize You’

Burbling ElectroPop and witty lyrics are the order of the day on Brooklyn singer/songwriter Empress Of’s new tune. Tighter, and der we say it, more Poppy than her previous outings, Realize You is full of breezy catchiness, irresistible charm and a wicked tongue.

The liquid flow of multiple rolling apreggios and rising airy pads for the core of this beautiful Pop tune, a Pop tune which really shows off what Empress Of could achieve. The combination is clean and crisp electronics, tight with just enough experimentalism to be interesting, and Lorely Rodriguez painfully clever lyrics, delivered as a sweet lament, is such a winning combination it cannot be understated. As ends to the week go, this one is pretty special.

♫ Empress Of – Realize You

Empress Of’s Systems EP is out now.

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Oct 31 2013

[Audio] The Aston Shuffle Shuffle reMixes Owl Eyes’ ‘Golden Lies’

We’ve been talking about Australian singer Owl Eyes’ Nightmixes EP for a while now. Having already featured some sterling reMix work from Goldroom and Cassian in the past few months. The EP is out now and is packed with a whopping eight reMixes of tracks from her album, Nightswim. Check out the gloriously hedonistic version of Golden Lies from fellow Australian duo The Aston Shuffle.

It’s a big, euphoric, track that effortlessly flips between Disco tinged Indie-Electro and deep pounding House. Punctuated by breaks of Owl Eye’s sweet vocal, the track either deliver’s a sunkissed, LA vibe. Full of stabbing retro synths and shimmering keys. Or a thick bassed warehouse stomper, complete with pitched down vocals. The two alter-egos of the track seem to converge on the finale where the best of both worlds plays out the song.

♫ Owl Eyes – Golden Lies (The Aston Shuffle reMix)

Owl Eyes’ Nightmixes EP is out now.

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Oct 31 2013

[Audio] Mild Peril’s ‘Wizards’ Pupil’/’Arp Of Pan’

What better day than Halloween to continue your journey down the rabbit hole that is the world of Mild Peril. The latest release from London’s Italo Experimentalist comes in the form of a brand new four track EP. It’s a double A-side affair, first up is two versions of Wizard’s Pupil, followed by two versions of Arp Of Pan on the flip. Pretty Proggy titles, huh? Well, it is Halloween. And don’t worry about the names, hit play any you’ll be treated to some serious cosmic synth narrative. You won’t regret it.

Both track come in two flavours, First Sequence and Second Sequence. Wizard’s Pupil stars life as a burbling slice of moody Italo, the creeping dread of mid 80s Horror movie soundtracks evident as Mild Peril’s musical story starts to unfold. Clocking in at 8 minutes Wizard’s Pupil (First Sequence) has plenty of time to evolve, morphing from the melancholy synth of it’s beginnings into an optimistic, even uplifting, slice of electronic wonder, which is carried into it’s Second Sequence where the shiny, hopeful, synths are complimented with a retro dancefloor beat. Arp Of Pan continues to play both the atmospheric Italo and cinematic SynthWave cards, undulating waves of arpeggios crashing against a steady groove to create something quite hypnotic broken by twisting and rousing solos. The Arps’ Second Sequence bring takes the mood to a more pensive place for the EP’s closer, with a deep and mysterious fifteen minutes of synthetic bliss. Another storming release from Mild Peril and a must for synthesizer fans.

♫ Mild Preil – Wizard’s Pupil (First Sequence)

♫ Mild Peril – Arp Of Pan (First Sequence)

Mild Peril’s Wizards’ Pupil/Arp Of Pan is out now on Bandcamp.

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Oct 31 2013

[Video] CSS’ ‘Into The Sun’

Check out the stripped back SynthPop of CSS’s new single Into The Sun. Seems to be a pleasant return to something a bit electronic and a bit Poppy after all that Indie nonsense.

There’s all kinds of subterfuge going on in the video,. Seeds too”

Into The Sun is taken from CSS’ new album Planta, out now.

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Oct 31 2013

[Download] Wolf Saga reMixes Overwerk’s ‘Night Shift’

The latest tune from Canadian Chilly-DiscoPopmeister Wolf Saga comes in the form of a seasonal sounding moody retro Electro reMix of his friend Overwerk’s Night Shift. It’s not that creepy really, what it is, is a big, storming Electro-House tune that’s a bit of a departure for Wolf Saga, but we do love to see musicians stretching their musical muscles.

This one’s all about the big, ominous keys, buzzsaw synths and driving beats. Poking it’s head into SynthWave territory while it bashes out it’s big room beats, the reMix borrows a few relentless arpeggios and a cinematic feel from the genre before throwing that in a musical blender and turning it up to eleven. Rock your Halloween parry with this one.

♫ Overwerk – Night Shift (Wolf Saga reMix)

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Oct 31 2013

[Audio] Absolute Valentine’s ‘American Nightmares’ EP

Just in time for Halloween, French SynthWaver Absolute Valentine has dropped a new EP of suitably eerie soundtracks and juggernaut horror grooves. Titled, American Nightmares the EP boasts more than a couple of nods to American Horror films of the 80s in it’s relentless synth basses and spine tingling leads. Be prepared for eight tracks to fill your nightmares, or liven up your Halloween parties, it’d work for either one.

The EP is packed with everything from short mood pieces to full-on dark electro masterworks. Terrordome is evocative of the whole EPs mood. Driving Italo beats and multi layered melodies, with everything just on the right side of terrifying.. The bass shakes your gut while the piercing leads set you on edge just enough. The whole thing is tempered with waves of lush chords holding an optimism within them. The EP’s title track once again mixes up creepshow synths with slamming dancefloor beats. On-the-edge-of-your-seat Electro, American Nightmares has an unnerving sense of urgency about it, like it doesn’t want to hang around, and neither should you. Growling synths are intercut with chilling harpsichord which even the irresistible beats can’t escape. Chainsaw Revenge is proper French Electro gone Halloween. Grinding leads and the hugest beat on the records meet for what is borderline a big-room epic, albeit one that will kill you once the dancing is done. Another awesome eight tunes from Absolute Valentine. John Carpenter would be proud.