Sep 4 2012

Alpha Boy’s ‘Heroes On Tape’ album

Berlin based SynthWave producer Norman Knight, better known as Alpha Boy, is fast becoming one of he most prolific artist on the scene. It was only April that he released his last compilation of work, the Blockbuster Album, and he’s already set with a brand new LP. Released today, Heroes On Tape cements Alpha Boy’s status as one of SynthWave’s unsung heroes. How does he keep the quality up?

From the second the album begins, with an intro piece titled Crus’n In 1982, it;s clear that despite his high quantity output, Alpha Boy isn’t just chucking out any old tracks. Heroes On Tape is fourteen track of some of the best ‘80’s inspired Electro around. The album is built around tributes to classic TV shows and movies of the decade. With titles like Master Of The Universe, Macgyver, Harold F., Flux Capacitor, BMX and Starman, the album is is the music equivalent of a night in with a stack of VHS tapes. Continuing the trend seen on Blockbuster, Heroes On Tape keeps the retro soundtrack feel, but moves itself away from standard SynthWave fare with musical nod to classic SynthPop and Pop of the era with rolling drum fills and catchy lead lines. Various tracks take on audio cues too, like Danielson [sic] (as in Daniel San), a homage to The Karate Kid, which gently covers the post-Italo electronics with an oriental feel and the tense sense of urgency found amongst I’m Coming To Get You. Highlights of the album have to be the warm Sci-Fi Italo melodies of Master Of The Universe, which dips and builds and never looses it’s dancefloor excitement. Harold F., a track so full of soaring synth leads that just listening to it is uplifting. Flux Capacitor, which powers along in rapid fire arpeggios, keeping things danceable amidst the hypnotic synths and evocate tones, and the nostalgic electronic pump of BMX. Alpha Boy has delivered another amazingly good body of work here, how he keeps up the pace is anyone’s guess, but he never seems to let the high output damage the music’s quality, in terms of either arrangement or production. Definitely recommended SynthWave.

♫ Alpha Boy – Master Of The Universe

♫ Alpha Boy – Harold F.

♫ Alpha Boy – Flux Capacitor

♫ Alpha Boy – BMX

Heroes On Tape is released today at Alpha Boy’s Bandcamp.

Buy Alpha Boy’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 4 2012

Crystal Bridge

Russian duo Crystal Bridge stopped by the electronic rumors inbox recently to prove one again that when it comes to retro SynthPop music, Russia is leading the pack. Taking more of a cue from the likes of Tesla Boy rather than their SynthWave peers, Crystal Waters produce some excellent New Wave tinged ElectroPop.

The two original tracks on the SoundCloud are quite different beasts, held together by a nostalgic ‘80’s sound and a nod towards teen movies of that era. The Secret Letter Or Two Overboard could quite honestly have been taken from the soundtrack to any number of John Hughes or Joel Schumacher(pre-Nipples Batman) movies. Bright, shimmering synths play out melodies that feel strangely familiar against a brooding soundtrack of dramatic tones. On No Account Don’t Choose, on the other hand, is a jump up vocal SynthPop track full of twisting retro leads and slick guitar. Deeply seeped in carefree American ‘80’s Pop, On No Account Don’t Choose is a catchy, exuberant display of what Crystal Bridge can do. More pleases.

♫ Crystal Bridge – The Secret Letter Or Two Overboard

♫ Crystal Bridge – On No Account Don’t Choose

Check out more from Crystal Bridge on SoundCloud.

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 4 2012

The Swiss’ ‘The Swiss Selects’ mix

The Swiss – The Swiss Selects… Sept ‘12 = Australian Disco duo The Swiss have been quite quiet recently, but with their début album finished they are back to turning up the heat with this hour long Disco workout.

♫ The Swiss – The Swiss Selects… Sept ‘12

The tracklist:

01. Jay Shepheard & Tad Wily – Hefty Done Me Right
02. Cecile & Refleksie – First Sparkle
03. Gavri – Non Stop (Jean Claude Gavri Mix)
04. Phil Kieran (Feat Bush Tetras) – Snakes Crawl (East Village Mix)
05. Tyson – Mr Rain (Claptone Dub)
06. Vanish – Night Rain
07. Gary’s Gang – Keep On Dancing (Todd Terje reMix)
08. Monte – True
09. Mungolian Jetset – Smells Like Gasoline
10. Wool – Purple Ohm
11. Pachanga Boys – The Untold Legend Of Mysterious Ondo
12. Walker & Royce – Little Things (Dub Mix)
13. Lindstrom – Ra-Ako-St (Todd Terje Extended Edit)

Buy The Swiss’ music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 4 2012

Private’s Everywhere’, with Flemming Dalum & Kid Machine

Danish ElectroPop outfit Private is making a massive bid for worldwide appeal with their new single, Everywhere. Having scored a couple Euro hits a few years back, they are ready to unleash their massive Pop sound on an unsuspecting world.

Everywhere is a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster, made up of part from here and there all mixed into one big Pop beast. On the whole it’s a summery, slightly Indie-electro sounding hit that’s as catchy as it is slick. It;s an excellent example of contemporary ElectroPop. There is a ‘but’ thought, unfortunately the track is marred by some of the worst rapping we have ever heard. Both lyrically and in terms of flow, the rap, by someone called Genasis is just amateurish. But if you can ignore it, you’ll be rewarded with some summer fun. There’s tons of reMixes, but obviously the most exciting comes from the team up of Italo legend Flemming Dalum and Manchester’s finest Kid Machine who deliver the single package’s clear standout track, A shimmering Italo ElectroPop tune powered by space age arpeggios and haunting melodies. Flemming and Kid Machine bring a little retro cool to the single and make the vocals sound a bit more comfortable with themselves. Also amongst the host of versions of Everywhere are a massive Trance lead lead commercial dance mix from Aylen and JKF from MSTRKRFT’s noisy jump up Electro-House pit-bull-of-a-reMix.

♫ Private (Feat. Genasis) – Everywhere (Flemming Dalum & Kid Machine reMix)

♫ Private (Feat. Genasis) – Everywhere

♫ Private (Feat. Genasis) – Everywhere (Aylen reMix)

♫ Private (Feat. Genasis) – Everywhere (JFK MSTRKRFT reMix)

Private’s Everywhere is out now.

Buy Private’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 4 2012

Goin’ Old School: John Foxx, New Order & Gary Numan

Goin’ Old School isn’t a trip down music memory lane, it’s a mugging in the dark alleyway of nostalgia:

Later this week we’ll be shutting up shop for a while, as we are off to Bestival. More on that tomorrow but today’s Goin’ Old School highlights three classic SynthPop acts who will be appearing at Bestival this weekend, starting with ex-Ultravox dark Electro pioneer John Foxx and 1980’s He’s a Liquid.

Headlining Bestival on the Saturday are New Order. Here’s the Arthur Baker produced Confusion from 1983.

And finally SynthPop pretender Gary Numan kicks of Bestival on Thursday night. This is his finest moment, 1985’s Call Out The Dogs.

You can buy most of this music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 4 2012

Todd Terje reMixes Hot Chip

Norwegian Disco-House genius Todd Terje’s reMix of Hot Chip’s new single How Do You Do is just stunning. Mr. Terje’s has released some of the best track of the last six months, but he’s really outdone himself here. It’s nine minutes long, and not a second of it is anything less than brilliant.

A reMix this length gives Terje room to breath and slowly whip any dancefloor up into a frenzy. Using the original subtly, this reMix eases you into the groove with some shuffling 909 drums and hypnotic and evolving Sci-Fi analog synths. Gently rising sparkles and synth stabs (which from not on I will be calling the stabs of anticipation) let you know something is coming, but Todd takes his time to get there, enforcing a deep electronic Funk before laying down a massive breakdown. When that kicks back in, there’s no going back, you are locked in.

♫ Hot Chip – How Do You Do (Todd Terje reMix)

Hot Chip’s How Do You Do is out now.

Buy Hot Chip’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 3 2012

Ugly Kids’ ‘Mercury Road’

The latest blistering release on Trashbag’s Tuff Em Up! label is this free single from Swiss duo Ugly Kids. Tony Tran & Zoel Aeschbacher have steadily been releasing class reMixes over the past year or so, but with this début single they are about to make some sever impact on the Nu-Disco world.

Mercury Road is a lush synthetic Disco track that layers on thick retro synth after thick retro synth. It’s a blissful, dreamy tune, loaded with French Touch, that combines a floaty euphoric feel with a seriously tough groove. Probably the best straight up French Touch/Nu-Disco tune we have heard in a long time. Ugly Kids are definitely a name to keep an eye on in the future. The single also features a reMix from Conny G, from Renegade, who add a little more robo Funk to the tune, taking the track in more of a dirty Disco direction. If you listen to one track this week, this should be it.

♫ Ugly Kids – Mercury Road

♫ Ugly Kids – Mercury Road (Conny G. reMix)

You can download the Mercury Road single here.

Check out more from Ugly Kids on SoundCloud.

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 3 2012

Awkoder reMixes Tiam Wills

Awesome French SynthWaver Awkoder has dropped his latest reMix. A reworking of fellow Frenchman Tiam Wills’ new single Hardiscount and it’s a surprising massive Nu-Disco monster. Surprising because we’re more used to atmospheric synth epics from Awkoder, and this reMix is full of funk. Good surprising though.

Kicking of with a wicked Disco lick the track soon descends into a retro synth love-fest. Drawing in the particularly Disco end of the Italo spectrum, Awkoder whips up big slice of synth Funk a throws in a little French Touch filtering and some of those crisp SynthWave lead lines for good measure. Keeping the vocals to a hypnotic mantra, Awkoder lets them become the tracks underlay. A base on which his intertwining arpeggios and crystal clear chord stabs can play out with a nice late ‘80’s feel and a solid dancefloor leaning. This one’ll keep them moving at peak time.

♫ Tiam Wills (Feat. Elsalou) – Hardiscount (Awkoder reMix)

You can download the whole Hardiscount reMix Single here, including work from Alex Carlson and Ben Flav.

Buy Tiam Wills’ music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 3 2012

The Penelopes reMix Glitches

Our favourite two Frenchmen lost in London The Penelopes recently reMixed fellow London denizens, Electro-Indie band Glitches forthcoming single, Dust & Shadow. This Bethnal Green/Whitechapel soundclash has resulted in one of the funkiest Indie tracks of the summer.

This reMixes plays to both Glitches and The Penelopes strengths. Glitches dual range vocals belt out in an epic style. Emotional and passionate, the vocal track sits perfectly on The Penelope’s bass led DiscoPop. Driven by a bassline you can help bobbing to, this track lays the shimmering synth lines on thick. Bright melodies play against otherworldly pads and energetic arpeggios to create an organic sounding synth symphony that seems to evolve naturally as it progresses. It’s got a groove that guaranteed to keep the dancefloor moving too.

♫ Glitches – Dust & Shadow (The Penelopes reMix)

Dust & Shadow is due out 8th October.

Check out more from Glitches on SoundCloud.

Follow @electronicrumor

Sep 3 2012

A couple of new (or old) Monsieur Adi demos

In the past week the most underrated artist producing today, France’s Monsieur Adi let loose a couple of new (or old in some cases) demos on his SoundCloud account. Adi talent cannot be contained by genre, and it’s amazing to hear him branching out in terms of styles and sounds.

The first track, Paradis, is a brooding dark affair. The darkest we’ve ever had from Adi. Ominous droning synths and menacing whispered vocals lean the track an Industrial quality whist keeping an analog French Electro sound. This use of an Electro pallet with an experimental flavour makes for a track that’s as unsettling as it is fascinating. Of course, Adi’s emotional arrangements just ass to the songs involvement. Joyride was apparently written for Madonna, during Adi’s reMixing Madonna phase, but he presents it here as sung by Javi. It’s an excellent Pop track, and Madge is truly missing out with this one. You can kinda’ tell it was written with her range, and style, in mind and it would have been something new for her whilst obviously referencing classic Madonna. It’s about time the music industry at large paid attention to Adi, he could be knocking out hits for any number if stars right now if they’d let him. Joyride is a sweeping, rich Pop tune with added helpings of Adi’s musical majesty. The demo is from last year, but Adi plans on devolving the track further, we can’t wait.