Normally we’d be weary of reMixes of Russ Chimes tunes. For us, it’s hard to improve upon the Chimes, or even compete with. So when this email dropped into out mailbox we approached with trepidation. It’s turns out it’s pretty awesome. This mix if Russ’ recent single Turn Me Out comes from Torontonian producer Maxum who’s seven minute big room epic is both engrossing and slickly produced. Oh, and did we mention, this guys fifteen fucking years old! It’s like Madeon all over again only twelve months more ridiculous.
A brief glance over Maxum’s SoundCloud page reveals his usual style is amazingly well produced, but not really our thing, American dance music, don’t-make-me-say-it, you know what we mean. He’s amazing good at it though, but this Russ Chimes mix is something deferent altogether. Pulsating Progressive House, with hints of SynthWave. A main room sound that draws you into seven minutes, delivering ever increasing levels of energy. Layers of shimmering synths build and build alongside a pure Tropical hook. We’d definitely like to hear more like this from this kid.
Eschewing the Post-Punk Shoegazeyness of the original for something a little more ambient and atmospheric, Keep Shelly In Athens take a tiny snatch of the vocals and repeats it through the length of the reMix until it becomes an unsettling mantra. Set against a backdrop of growling tones and ice chords, the vocal chant rides the machine beats and created a totally involving experience.
We tend not to make much of a secret round these parts that Russia Dreamwave ElectroPoppers Tesla Boy are amongst our favourite acts around today. From first discovering them deep in the Outrun community on MySpace they always struck a chord with us, combining out then newfound excitement in this (then) new breed of retro cool SynthWave and out love of vocal SynthPop.
After showing us all what they could do with a killer EP, their début album, Modern Thrills, cemented their reputation for being on of the most talented bands around, whether on the Disco, ElectroPop or SynthWave scene, combining all three styles into one form as catchy and Poppy as it was dancefloor friendly. Inspiring an army of Russian SynthWave acts and kicking off the Russian retro scene, Tesla Boy also brought their brand of vintage DiscoPop to the world on their own terms.
Massively successful in their homeland, with the release of the sophomore album, The Universe Made Of Darkness, Tesla Boy are widening their international appeal with a string of high profile US shows and collaborations with the coolest of House music cats. Tesla Boy head honcho Anton Sevidov to a little time out of their promotional schedule to chat with us about where Tesla Boy came from, where it is and where it’s going.
ER: Let’s take it right back to the beginning. We first became aware of Tesla Boy back in the 2009 MySpace days and your first EP, just prior to being picked up by Mullet Records, what had led you to that point? Had you been in bands before? What attracted you to your retro synth sound?
TB: I have been engaged in music all my life, starting as a jazz pianist. When I was 15, I brought together my first band, and it was so-called acid-jazz, the kind of music we played at that time. Further electronic music carried me away and I arrived at understanding that I really like the 80s sound very much. I began to style my songs in this manner. And next thing what happened – the public was ready to love it.
ER: Speaking of MySpace, the whole Dreamwave and Nu-Disco thing really took off there, do you feel like the social network was a big help to kick starting your career.
TB: Exactly, I really think that social networks made us well-known.
♫ Tesla Boy – Fantasy
ER: And now, you’ve just released your second album, The Universe Made Of Darkness, which had widened your international appeal. How are you feeling now that the album is out in the wild? Were you nervous about “the difficult second album” syndrome?
TB: I thought of the second album syndrome when we started our first tour. I was under the impression that everything is cool – everybody loved our music. At the same time I started to write new songs. And when everything was almost ready I said to myself – Stop it! What about the second album syndrome? You cannot just record it! And I was forced to rewrite it.
ER: We can hear a bit of an evolution of your sound in the second album. How has the way you write changed in the 3 years since Modern Thrills?
TB: I really wanted to add this sensation of a live concert. I did my best to work from my feelings, doing what I really love to do, without paying attention to the style.
ER: Were your influences for this record different from Modern Thrills? (A little more 90s perhaps?)
TB: That was the time of great change worldwide. In 1991 our state split, and freedom was the choice of the time. It was euphoric and painful at the same time. Change is always painful, although necessary. Those were my thoughts when I was writing 1991.
ER: There’s a couple of collaborations on The Universe Made Of Darkness. With Tyson and Fritz Helder From Azari & III. How did these come about and was there anyone you wanted to work with but it didn’t happen?
TB: I met Fritz when Azari & III came to Moscow. At this time it occurred to us to make a track together.
It was Martin who introduced me to Tyson. Marin also worked on his album.
I really would like to work with Erol Alkan. And write a track with Michael McDonald.
♫ Tesla Boy (Feat.Tyson) – Broken Doll
ER: How hook up with Martin Dubkka, your co-producer for the new album?
TB: Martin is a very good musician and our tastes are similar. I really love his style – he is not imposing al all, I like his ideas, and I am happy with our collaboration.
ER: You’ve been playing live a lot in the US recently, how does playing in America compare to playing in Russia? Are the crowds very different?
TB: To tell the truth, there is almost no difference. Probably, it is because the young people is our audience, who look very much alike and similar in different countries. Serbians and Mexicans stand out most of all – they are very hot.
ER: If you were to take us on a night out in Moscow, where would we go? What are the highlights of the Moscow scene?
Strelka-bar, La Boule, Simachev, La Lubanka, The Museum Of KGB, Butirka.
ER: We feature tons of Russian artists on Electronic Rumors (Hot Hot Hawk, 7he Myriads, Serj V, Cosmonaut Grechko, 5 Reasons, Lovinski, Quasars, Sohight & Cheevy, DZA etc…) what is it, do you think, that attracts so many Russian producers to the retro synth sound, and what is it that makes them so good at it (because they really are!)
TB: The Russians are a nation with a very good ear for music. Our heritage is huge – Tchaikovsky, Rakhmaninov, Borodin, Prokofiev. Their music possesses melodic beauty. This probably relates it to the sound of 80s. This background might produce this kind of effect.
♫ Tesla Boy – Another Light
ER: So what’s in Tesla Boys studio? Especially in terms of Synths and outboard gear.
digitalfoxglove tunes. Like busses, if you’ll excuse the cliché. You wait for ages for one then two come along at once. Pulling up to the rear of yesterday’s Daytona comes DFG’s ReDub of The Knocks and St. Lucia’s awesome recent single Modern Hearts. Take your Disco hat off though, this one is going to get deep.
Italo Dub, if you will (and we do!), this reMix get under your skin with a relentless hypnotic groove. Quite Techno in places, the synthetic arpeggios and machine drums pounding out a mid-paced rhythm create an unwavering core for the track. Heavily modulated snatches of the original’s vocal float in and out of the track alongside Dub-like effects bringing a slightly unsettling vibe to the track. It’s no-less compellingly funky though.
♫ The Knocks (Feat. St. Lucia) – Modern Hearts (digitalfoxglove ReDub)
LA IndiePoppers Capital Cities’ Safe And Sound is getting quite long in the tooth now, we first wrote about it back in June 2011. The track has been give a new lease of life by French prodigy Monsieur Adi who delivers a little bit of his old style Electro Disco on this one. We’re not sure if this is a recent reMix, or something that’s been sat in the vaults for a while, either way we’re glad it’s seeing the light of day.
Adi works his magic, as we would expect him to, with grinding Electro riffs and slick Disco grooves mixed up with an addictive horn section. Morphing the song from summery Indie jam into Majestic epic, Adi’s reMix injects the track with a certain amount of drama amidst the Filtered Disco vibes, the vocals taking on a new energy set against the repeating fanfare. This is classic Monsieur Adi, a track to get excited about.
♫ Capital Cities – Safe And Sound (Monsieur Adi reMix)
Capital Cities album, In A Tidal Wave of Mystery, is out now.
Traps is the second single from London based ElectroPoppers Years & Years. Following on from their critically acclaimed début, I Wish I Knew, these guys have been snapped up by the almighty Kitsuné Music for the release of this new single, Traps. Their introverted, and slightly quirky, ElectroPop is a perfect fit for Kitsuné’s less dancefloor oriented moments.
Traps is a constantly evolving tune, Layers of buzzing synths gradually building on top of one another through creating a kind of tension within the song that is tempered with Olly Alexander’s gentle vocal style. Traps is solid Indie tinged slice of electronica, the kind of thing you can expect to be hearing carried on the wind across festival fields a lot this summer.
♫ Years & Years – Traps
Years & Years’ Traps is released 22nd September on Kitsuné Music.
That Canadian purveyor of all things dreamy and ElectroPoppy Box Of Wolves has just served up a new single, free to download, alongside Australian producer Hawaii94. Box Of Wolves really does have the sound of summery day locked down, his hazy synths and infectious beats get us in a sunshine mood every time.
Control is the title of the single, a thick synthed slice of nostalgia that weaves a thread of early 90s Pop into Box Of Wolves usual, slightly Chillwave, DreamPop. Strongly heartfelt vocals, that at first glace you would consider too forceful for the music but soon blend into the swirling hazy of synths perfectly, give the track it;s resonant core whilst Control’s reverb soaked chords and skippy hi-hats conjure images of lazy summer evenings. The single also comes equipped with an instrumental version of the tune.
It’s been quite the year for Australian songstress Chela so far, both for her collaborations and her own work. First coming to our attention as the voice of Goldroom’s blissful Fifteen, Chela went on to score hits on Clubfeet’s Heartbreak and one of the songs of the year, Viceroy’s Amazing Dreams Of Bombay before impressing us with her solo material. Her first two singles, Full Moon and Plastic Gun definitely got our excitement going, excitement that was borne out by her début EP, Zero Mixtape. Excitement that Kitsuné Music have picked up on too, as they’ve snatched her up for her next release, Romanticise, which comes with this lovely reMix from Australian Indie-Electro outfit Gold Fields.
We’ve been listening to the whole release for a couple of weeks now and other than the original version of the song, alongside a reMix from Boys Get Hurt, the Gold Fields mix is one of the single’s highlights. Romanticise is a breezy slice of catchy DiscoPop and, of all the reMixes, Gold Field pick up on that and run with it. With stabbing synths , bubbling arpeggios and a severely summery Disco groove, Gold Fields turn a quirky slick of LA Indie-Dreamwave into a slick, mirrorball, Disco-House tune for exclusive dancefloors.
Well this is pretty exciting. The queen of UK ElectroPop Little Boots and Norwegian Cosmic Disco master Lindstrøm! That’s a meeting of minds! Lindstrøm is serving up just one of the many reMixes to be featured on Boot’s new single Satellite, which is taken from her amazing second album Nocturnes. To coincide with the single’s release, Boots is also launching a reMix competition for the track, the prize for the most played entry being a Traktor Z1 controller, and one reMix will be picked by Victoria personally to appear on the single release. Get the low down here.
So, to Lindstrøm’s mix. It’s a glorious six minutes of driving tundra Disco, as ecclectic as ever, Hans-Peter rolls in a symphony of synth stabs, organic beats, and bubbling bass notes, and hit just that right note that only he and his Scandinavian peers can. Cosmic, but very down to earth too. Lindstrøm revels in Little Boot’s anthemic vocals and really makes the best of them, never overpowering the vocal melody with his own groove. It’s a good, complimentary, relationship. We can;t wait to see what’s on the rest of the single.
If you’ve ever read any of our myriad articles about Dutch Disco producer Shook stretching back the past three years you’ll have noticed a constant running through our commentary on his career. We haven’t shut up about what an amazing musician he is. Shook isn’t hunched over a laptop hammering Ableton’s ‘key lock’ and hoping for the best, this guy is a extremely talented multi-instrumentalist and that has always shone though in his music. From his glorious key playing to the complex arrangements, Shook really is a ‘musician’s’ Disco producer, and this week he dropped his long, long, awaited début full length record delivering just under an hour of smooth Moog Funk and vintage robotic Disco sounds.
The self-titled album kicks holds a few tracks we’re already familiar with, kicking off with the excellent Tonight, a vocoder fuelled slice of Boogie that will instantly lift your mood with it’s emotional chorus, setting you up for the rest of the album. Keys Of Light, the first of our brand new treats, mixes rich, twisted, synth Funk bass with a solid Disco groove before giving way to Changing Wind, a hypnotic retro tune that mixes in a slight House vibe amongst the slap bassing and rousing strings to become your new default soundtrack for long journeys. Walking To The Sun brings back vocals into Shook’s world, resulting in a lazy and playful sunset tune that retains it’s funk in the fact of pulled back tempos and a blissful combination of flute and electric piano. Possibly a tribute to the synth of the same name, Wasp is all squelchy, borderline Acidic riffs the collide with a 70s groove that blends seamlessly into Cloud Symphony, the albums mid-point and a multi layered concert of synths that lets Shook’s hands dance across the keys as only he can. The B-Side to Shook’s Ronika featuring Distorted Love, Love For You is up next with it’s Yacht vibe and hazy vocals, followed by the smooth and romantic low tones of Her Eyes and it’s barroom piano refrain. It’s Alright, another bass slapping, Moog funking, head nodder signifies the albums home stretch, as the tempos increases, the grooves become more irresistible and we keep dancing. Garota ’92 sees Shook playing with a little Tropical sound, showing when he turns his hand to Beach Disco, Shook is up there with the best when it comes to laid back summery vibes. Summer Heat, Shook’s most recent tune is saves for almost last, as with most ‘best’ things, as it’s one of the highlights of an album full of highlights before the album play out with Shook doing what Shook does beast, deeply emotional, spacy, electronic Disco with musical ability at the fore. This is a pretty amazing record, and one that should keep you going for the rest of the summer. Reverential of the history of Disco while also knowing what is wanted on Summer dancefloors, this is the album Random Access Memories should have been,
electronic rumors 