Oct 15 2012

Shiny Toy Guns’ ‘Somewhere To Hide’

Somewhere To Hide is the next single to be taken from LA Indie-Electro outfit Shiny Toy Guns’ forthcoming album III. At this point we’ve talked, at length, about Shiny Toy Guns ‘dark times’ and how the new material is a welcome return to creativity and form. Their last single, Fading Listening, was positively Tropical. Somewhere To Hide keeps that energy going with a big slab of hard SynthPop.

Peppered with gentle guitars, Somewhere To Hide is an epic SynthPop track, driven along by a gritty synth bassline and pounding drums. It’s once the chorus kicks in that Somewhere To Hide really lifts itself, after a nice chord shift in the bridge, the chorus explodes with Carah’s impassioned vocal and the track becomes the kind of epic stadium SynthPop that Depeche Mode had such a handle on. I get the feeling that, more than the other singles, this is a good idea of where III is going to go.

http://official.fm/tracks/BGtd?control=1&width=500&height=40&skin_bg=E5E5E5&skin_fg=3399CC

♫ Shiny Toy Guns – Somewhere To Hide

Shiny Toy Gun’s III is released 22nd October.

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Oct 15 2012

Lest Diet’s ‘Live Or Diet’ EP

Lest Diet are a brand new Estonian Nu-Disco outfit who have just released their début EP with the awesome Champagne Records. Their Live Or Diet EP brings some much needed new blood into the Nu-Disco scene and with it brings an injection of musicality and a fresh take on an increasingly stagnant sound.

The Live Or Diet EP is four originals and a reMix from fellow Estonian Mark Slavin. It varies in quality, tracks like Teh Merge being slightly more commonplace sounding than the others, but when it hits, it takes Nu-Disco to another level. The EP’s opener Noodel (You’re All I Want) perfectly exemplifies this, combining a familiar Disco groove with stuttering beats and vintage Funk. Noodel manages to sound immediately comfortable, yet original at the same time. Laked Nadies too, the EPs other highlight, bring a little House and Dreamwave to the mix and end up being a really accessible Disco tune with massive crossover appeal. The EP shows off Lest Diet’s very tight production too. It’s, sonically, a really accomplished EP. The whole EP is available for free, and is well worth your checking out.

♫ Lest Diet – Noodel (You’re All I Want)

♫ Lest Diet – Laked Nadies

You can download the whole Live Or Diet EP, for free, from here.

Check out more from Lest Diet on SoundCloud.

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Oct 15 2012

Russ Chimes’ ‘Expressway Mixtape Part 5’

Russ Chimes – Expressway Mixtape Part 5 = Mr Chimes is finally back with the next instalment of his Expressway mixtapes. No longer just the domain of retro ElectroPop, Dreamwave and Disco, Chimes works a little House into the journey. The whole thing is the best hour long party you’ve been to in a long time!

♫ Russ Chimes – Expressway Mixtape Part 5

The tracklist:

01. Russ Chimes – Expressway 5 Intro.
02. Acos Coolkas – Free Flight (Sare Havlicek Mix (Russ’ Expressway Edit))
03. Bastille – Flaws (Russ Chimes reMix)
04. Kolombo – My Own Business
05. Hot Chip – Flutes (Sasha reMix)
06. Breach – You Won’t Find Love Again
07. Cassian – I Love It
08. Anna Lunoe & Touch Sensitive – Real Talk
09. Plezier – Plezier Anthem
10. Starsmith – Zeros
11. Montero – Indoshine
12. Russ Chimes – Back 2 You (Acid Jacks & Generik reMix)
13. Russ Chimes – Back 2 You
14. Real Nice & Cubiq – Had Enough
15. J. Wiltshire – Warning
16. Nneka – Shining Star (Joe Goddard reMix)
17. Andre Crom & Martin Dawson – Back To The Future (Flashmob reMix)
18. Ellie Goulding – Anything Can Happen (Alex Metric reMix)
19. Justin Martin – Don’t Go (Dusky reMix)
20. The Realbirds – Left, Left
21. Flume – Sleepless

Russ Chimes’ Back 2 You is released 30th July as a Beatport exclusive.

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Oct 15 2012

Only You

When music is just thrust upon us with no introduction, it can be hard to muster up the enthusiasm to even listen to it, in the flood of promo material we receive every single day making yourself stand out is pretty important. But sometimes we have a little more time on our hands, or are just feeling intrepid, and dive on in to random track. This time around we are extremely glad we took the plunge with American retro Pop outfit Only You, who sole track, Secrets, is a pretty stunning début.

Secrets is an amazingly slick, and well produced, slab of 80s Pop. Changeling the best in mid-80s American SynthPop, it’s got that big production sheen that at the time you could only get from multi-million dollar 48 track studios, and even on todays technology still requires a hint of talent to recreate. the track is layered with rich vintage synth sounds, with multiple pads and lead lines weaving in and out of one another. It’s the vocal on Secrets that makes the track really shine, though. Not only is it lyrically a lot of fun, but the vocal performance is pitch perfect 80s Pop, right down to call-and-response backing vocals in the chorus. And the way the vocals play off against the sparking leads and bouncy post-Italo bassline make the song a fantastic slice of nostalgia. This is 80s Pop done properly.

♫ Only You – Secrets

Check out more from Only You on SoundCloud.

Buy Only You’s music from:

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Oct 15 2012

Mr. Pteez’s ‘Radio Vice’

Russian purveyor of sweet Electro Boogie and SynthWave Mr. Pteez is back. After impressing us a number of times with his combination of rich retro synths and B-Boy beats, and now after a few months of silence Pteez has conjured up a brand new swatch of dreamy synth sounds.

Radio Vice is more traditional SynthWave (if that is even a ‘thing’) than Pteez’s past offerings, but here he shows that when he turns his hand to straight-up Outrun, he’s still got the chops. Pteez’s signature is his deep, warm synths. Everything sounds so hazy and comfortable, there’s no abrasive riffs here, it’s all synth lushness. With a smooth, pounding Italo bassline and filtered claps driving the track, it;s still got the energy level of Pteez’s other work, but here that’s surrounded by intertwining, smoky, lead lines. All too short though.

♫ Mr. Pteez – Radio Vice

Check out more from Mr. Pteez on SoundCloud.

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Oct 12 2012

Synthesizer Zen

This week’s capsule of Synthesizer Zen, to carry you into the weekend, comes from LektroiD’s Hearts Of Space jam.

Video courtesy of YouTube user Brainstormer2302.

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Oct 12 2012

Queen Of Hearts’ ‘Warrior’

Queen Of Hearts is back with a brand new single, and that usually means we’ll be having a good weekend, and if we don’t at least we’ll have something to play on repeat. One again teaming up with Australian über producer Diamond Cut, the new track, Warrior, is quite a departure for both of them, DC especially, but it’s an experimentation that really works and makes for a nice hit of majesty in Queen Of hearts catalogue.

So, on Warrior, Diamond Cut brings the tribal and Queen Of hearts brings the drama. the result is a powerful, climactic five minutes. Introduced by a sparse piano line that rings, hunting, in the distance as the first signs of hammering percussion and a passionate vocal delivery from The Queen, who’s voice glides across the track like a siren’s call amidst the relentless arpeggios and militaristic pounding drums. The addition of edgy stings just heightens the cinematic feel of the track. We weren’t expecting something in this vein from The Queen’s next single, but it’s a pleasant surprise and merely extends her sonic pallet. We’ll be keeping en eye on that chunky guitar though (yes, we heard it DC!). Queen Of Hearts is off to the states for a handful of shows this week; you guys aren’t going to know what hit you!

♫ Queen Of Hearts – Warrior (Produced By Diamond Cut)

Queen Of Hearts’ Warrior is released on 2nd December.

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Oct 12 2012

Hot Hot Hawk’s ‘Rise and Down’ reMixes

Wearerussians are bringing us the best of Russian synth and Disco once again with the new EP from Hot Hot Hawk. the track itself, Rise And Down featuring the vocals of Ksenia Popova, has been out a while now. We covered it back in August, but now Wearerussians have dropped a full reMix package, for free no less.

Rise And Down, is a piercing vocal Disco track that nicely merges hot Hot Hawks lush, vintage sound with Ksenia’s accented vocals. Adding a little Tropical vibe to Hot Hot Hawks usual output, Rise And Fall has got more than a couple of summer anthem qualities. Phalanxes Of Fingers beef up the ‘80’s Disco side of Rise And Fall’s equation with big synth stabs and a playful lead line whist ElectroPopper Voyager instil the track with a warehouse vibe and some nice early ‘90’s House tones. Moskva-Kassiopeya deliver a pumping Electro track for their version. Starting off gently, Moskva-Kassiopeya gradually build their reMix into a galactic dancefloor monster. The reMix package also comes with work from electronic producer Acid Harbour, and the whole thing is well worth picking up. Russia shows us how it;s done once again!

♫ Hot Hot Hawk (Feat. Ksenia Popova) – Rise And Down

♫ Hot Hot Hawk (Feat. Ksenia Popova) – Rise And Down (Phalanxes Of Fingers reMix)

♫ Hot Hot Hawk (Feat. Ksenia Popova) – Rise And Down (Voyager reMix)

♫ Hot Hot Hawk (Feat. Ksenia Popova) – Rise And Down (Moskva-Kassiopeya reMix)

Hot Hot Hawk’s Rise And Down is out now. You can download the whole package from here.

Buy Hot Hot Hawk’s music from:

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Oct 12 2012

Shiny Toy Guns & Treasure Fingers

Our rekindled love affair with LA Electro-Rockers Shiny Toy Guns continues as everything we’ve heard off their new album, III, so far has been an excellent return-to-form, even embracing a bit of Tropical on their recent single Fading Listening. Shiny Toy Guns have always had a weird relationship with reMixes, they tend to attract middle-tier Electro producers who have seemed to deliver mediocre reMixes for the band, which we’ve always considered a shame. Shiny Toy Gun’s tracks are amazingly reMix-able, and they have had some talent work on them in the past, but nothing has ever really gelled. Treasure Fingers has a good ol’ attempt here though, and turns in one of the best Shiny Toy Guns reMixes we’ve heard.

His version of Fading Listening nicely plays on the LA Dreamwave vibe of the original and injects it with a little bouncy Electro and some touch Acid burbling. Bringing a little of his hard Disco vibe to the track, Treasure Fingers largely keeps the vocals intact and uses then to their fullest , brining the track down for Carah Faye’s verses and slickly rolling a syncopated synth bass along with the hazy choruses. Treasure Fingers provided a smooth summery Disco tune that heads toward a dirty synth finale. All we need now is for Shiny Toy Guns’ album to come out.

♫ Shiny Toy Guns – Fading Listening (Treasure Fingers Epicfadewave Mix)

Shiny Toy Gun’s III is released 22nd October.

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Oct 12 2012

Mad Professor Dubs up Van She

So, Van She made a nice, poppy, Tropical song called Jamaica, which was a sweet summer anthem, but who do they turn to when they really want some authentic island vibes? None other than legendary Dub master Mad Professor, who delivers a pitch perfect rendition of the track, taking just the right hits from it and drawing our the Dub.

A Mad Professor reMix of Van She’s Jamaica does exactly what it says on the tin, but of those of us who appreciate the Dub, this is everything we could have wanted for this meeting of minds. The little Tropical melody is present and correct and makes a nice lead for the subby bass to follow. Space echoed snatches of vocal and guitar and cosmic effects run wild on the track. This is the proper summer vibes right here.