Mar 4 2013

[Audio] New tracks from Pilotpriest

Canada’s reigning soundtrack Electro master Pilotpriest dropped a couple of new tunes on his SoundCloud this past week. He’s a busy guy these days, as Hollywood beckons, so were glad he’s still got time to sit down and produce some of the most emotional, evocative and enthralling electronic music around today.

Quest For Fire is on of Pilotpriest’s dancier tunes. Although quite mid-paced, it boasts a solid Italo beat and bassline set amidst swirling arpeggios and rousing strings. The synthetic orchestration isn’t lost in the groove though, as ever building waves of Pilotpriest’s rich tapestry of sound plays a gradually escalating narrative, full of character. Hallways, an ode to High School, again employs a pounding Electro beat to underpin a shifting soundscape of nostalgic, hypnotic, audio memories. And although my upbringing was more Grange Hill than Shermer High, I still feel I can relate, it’s just got that tone of youthful optimist melded with doubt and daily grind, to it. More excellence as Pilotpriest effortlessly conjures synthesizer moods.

♫ Pilotpriest – Quest For Fire (Instrumental)

♫ Pilotpriest – Hallways

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Mar 1 2013

[Audio] Ronika’s ‘Rough ‘N’ Soothe’

Fancy some smooth vibes and your first taste of what to expect from Ronika’s forthcoming début alum? That’s kinda’ good news, as you’ve come to the right place. If that’s not what you’re here for, sorry Dude, but you really shouldn’t hate fun. Ronika’s album is pretty much one of our most anticipated released of this year, not wanting to sound sycophantic but she’s hasn’t put a foot wrong in her career yet. We’ve really enjoyed everything she’s released so far, we’ve really enjoyed every time we’ve seen her live and you can;t ask much more from a Pop star than that.

Rough ‘N’ Soothe is her new tune, a track that carries us away from urban cool Ronika and takes us into to laid back beach vibe Ronika territory. It feels like the soundtrack to Ron enjoying a day off, washed with an 90’s R&B cool that rubs shoulders with a bouncing Disco bass and rich vintage chords. Almost verging on Tropical at times, in mood if not in sound, Rough ‘N’ Soothe is a blissful slice of Ronika, pool party style. Seriously, the album can’t come quick enough. Also, “Bossa-Nova Casanova, Play it slow on, my Casio will ya…” is the greatest lyric of the year so far.

♫ Ronika – Rough ‘N’ Soothe

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Mar 1 2013

[Audio] Figure Of 8 reMixes Sophie Sparken

Here’s a new one from our Belfastian friend Figure Of 8 (if Belfastian isn’t a word it should be. That’s out gift to the people of Belfast, they can have that for free). this morning he dropped by the electronic rumors Inbox to deliver this deceptively complex remix of his friend, Northampton based Folk singer Sophie Sparken, and her tune Trouble.

Folk song may begin to grate with their acoustic guitar endlessness, but they make perfect fodder for intricate, spacey, electronic reMixes. And Sophie’s Trouble has a particularly nice, lilting vocal that seems almost dreamlike over Figure Of 8’s Acid tinged synths and and shuffling percussion. The beauty of this reMix is that is sounds really simple, really sparse, until you peel back the layers and find it’s meticulously crafted core. Making complexity sound effortless? That’s production! Figure Of 8’s continues his quest to deliver classy, and classic sounding, Dance tracks. Timeless and easy on the ears.

♫ Sophie Sparken – Trouble (Figure Of 8 reMix)

Check out more from Sophie Sparken on SoundCloud.

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Feb 28 2013

[Audio] Rush Midnight’s new single

In a haunting combination of icy dystopian synths and warm human vocals, Brooklyn Indie-ElectroPop artist Rush Midnight (Twin Shadow bassist Russ Manning) unleashes his new single from Cascine this week. It’s first track to be taken from his forthcoming album, due out later this year, which follows on from his critically acclaimed +1 EP of last year.

The new single, Don’t Give Me Your Love, is a melting pot of elements that make up a surprising whole. Lo-Fi beats and a rolling Indie-Electro bassline would seem to make strange bedfellows with SynthWave’s 80s soundtrack synths and vintage Pop leads, but it works amazingly well. Add to this Russ’ husky, delay washed vocals, that lend the track a personal quality and you’ve got a blissful ElectroPop tune that words dramatic BladeRunner synthscapes and introspective bedroom Pop at the same time. Wonderful.

♫ Rush Midnight – Don’t Give Me Your Love

Rush Midnight’s Don’t Give Me Your Love is out now.

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Feb 28 2013

[Audio] Yuksek reMixes C2C

Who’s up for another Yuksek reMix. Like the ambassadors tray loaded with Ferrero Rocher, Yuksek is spoiling us with practically a new reMix every week these days. Today’s subject is French turntablists C2C’s track Genius, which frankly is less scratch orchestra and more smooth Disco Funk featruing the vocals of Gush.

So smooth vocal Disco Funk is, of course, the prefect jumping off point for someone like Yuksek as he morphs the track into something typically French Pop Electro. The track rises and falls throughout it’s entirety as Yuksek brings you in and out of each section. A Morse code piano hook hammers away it’s message in the background while chunky synths and twisted vocal snatches flow through the tune. just when you think Yuksek has peaked it, he takes it higher. Classic Yuksek.

♫ C2C (Feat. Gush) – Genius (Yuksek reMix)

The reMix is out now, in Japan. Who knows when the rest of the world get’s it?

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Feb 27 2013

[Audio] AlunaGeorge’s Attracting Flies’

London Electro R&B duo AlunaGeorge have gone from humble beginnings to being a music blogosphere destroying juggernaut 9amusingly, the first sentence we wrote about them, two years ago now, was “You really could be looking at the ‘next big thing’ here.”, which I‘m sure earns us internet points, at the very least a ‘Tastemaker, First Class’ badge? Their forthcoming new single was premièred on Radio 1 last night and hit SoundCloud minutes later. We noticed blog posts about two minutes after it went up…it’s 3 minutes long! That’s clout (or magic)!

Anyhoo, the new track, Attracting Flies, is actually one of their best. It’s got the quirky R&B swing these guys do so well, this time with a heavier beat. A live favourite, Attracting Flies sees Aluna at her funniest. Not usually renown for her comedy skills, she spits (albeit in a velvety way) a razor sharp wit on this tune. Bringing a London Soul smoothness to the Electro loving masses, AlunaGeorge continue to have a storming 2013, if they keep knocking out tunes as danceable, catchy and filled with passion as Attracting Flies who knows how big they could become?

♫ AlunaGeorge – Attracting Flies

Attracting Flies is released 10th March and is taken from AlunaGeorge’s forthcoming début album, titled Body Music. Released on 1st July.

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Feb 27 2013

[Audio] Crayon & Pyramid’s So Far Gone’

This week saw the long awaited release, on Kitsuné Music, of a collaboration between two of our favourite producers. French Sci-Fi SynthWaver Pyramid has teamed up with fellow Parisian Disco don Crayon (who appears to have dropped the ‘Le’ from ‘Le Crayon’) to release a massive EP that is everything you’d expect when these two synthesizer worlds collide.

The lead track, So Far Gone, is such a beautiful meeting of minds that it transcends both Disco and SynthWave. A laid back, but solid, Disco groove with some fancy bass playing rolls through the track alongside Pyramid’s dystopian synths. You get Acidic growls rubbing shoulder with blissful beach Disco and a really smooth vocal. One of the best tunes of the year so far. The rest of the EP holds Pyramid’s Wolf and Crayon’s Cosma, two individual tracks, and another collaboration, Utopia. Utopia is a bright Cosmic Disco workout full of big bass, buzzing synths and a retro future feel. Pyramid and Crayon then take turns reMixing each others tracks. Pyramid turning Crayon’s Cosma into a bass heave Galactic synth oddessy featuring broken up vocoding and BladeRunner keys. Crayon takes on Pyramid’s Wolf and injects a healthy does of Disco into the dark synth epic and delivers soaring solos in what could be the EP’s standout. It’s EP comes highly recommended, it’s pretty much a must buy release.

♫ Crayon & Pyramid – So Far Gone

♫ Crayon & Pyramid – Utopia

♫ Crayon – Cosma (Pyramid reMix)

♫ Pyramid – Wolf (Crayon reMix)

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Feb 26 2013

[Audio] Black Strobe’s ‘The Girl From The Bayou’ reMixes

This week Aranud Rebotini’s awesome Black Strobe release their Swamp Rock Disco monster, The Girl From The Bayou. The dirty Southern groove comes in a loaded remix package that hold a host of different, deep, takes on the song. Brioski, Crackboy, Pharao Black Magic, Heim, Rambla Boys and Holmes Price all deliver the goods in a varied release.

The Pharao Black Magic mix is the standout for us. The Swiss duo brighten up the track a bit with their breezy, relaxed Disco version. Laid back, but with a solid funk, PBM pump out a catchy hook and work sparsely used vocals and guitar into a hypnotic mantra. Rambala Boys’ early 90s House effort mixes up a deep, deep, rhythm section with a bright arpeggio line that feels instantly nostalgic. Keeping that ominous guitar line lends the mix an enigmatic quality whilst keeping things classy. Our final favourite comes from west country Boogiemeister Holmes Price. Price turns-in the most Disco dancefloor friendly of the reMixes, building his groove around a swinging snippet of the guitars and sweeping Cosmic synths and vintage drums. It;s a pretty pleasing reMix package that seems to have something from everyone.

♫ Black Strobe – The Girl From The Bayou (Pharao Black Magic Rmx)

♫ Black Strobe – The Girl From The Bayou (Rambla Boys Rmx)

♫ Black Strobe – The Girl From The Bayou (Holmes Price Rmx)

Black Strobe’s The Girl From The Bayou is out now.

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Feb 25 2013

[Audio] Nova Nova & Peter Hook

French electronica act Nova Nova are gearing up for the release of their new single, Low Ends. Released in April, the track is a collaboration with legendary bassist Peter Hook from New Order. That’s right, I said “from New Order”, because no matter what beef Sumner has, or Hook has, New Order without Hooky really isn’t New Order. Believe me, I saw them last summer, they were good, but not New Order. Also, Sumner’s a hypocrite…but whatever. Anyway, this new track from Nova Nova & Peter Hook has a long and strangely fortuitous history, which we are not even going to try to paraphrase, here’s the twisting tale copy and pasted straight from the press release: “In 2002, Malcolm McLaren – the Sex Pistols’ former manager and a great admirer of French culture – had been living in Paris for several years. He was looking for a producer for his new solo album called Diorama, which was to be released by Tommy Boy Records as a follow-up to his 1994 album Paris. Swiss DJ Stephan Grieder – manager of Svek Records in Sweden – brought McLaren to the Relax Beat offices, an indie label managed by French electronic music artist Thierry Criscione. The latter was then working on a “chip” music album, made with vintage 8-bit Nintendo Game Boys. Enthralled by the new lo-tech underground scene and their DIY approach based on détournement, McLaren hired Criscione as the producer of his next record and soon everybody was working at the Relax Beat studios in Ivry-sur-Seine (a southern extension of Paris’ Chinese district). McLaren wrote an article called ‘8-Bit Punk’ in American magazine Wired, in which he enthused about the blooming chip music genre that Relax Beat was actively developing with such releases as the Boy Playground compilation, Koro Osanago’s Mini-Click EP and Slabb’s Instead EP. As the album’s recording took place in Ivry, Malcolm McLaren decided to get in touch with his old friend Tony Wilson, the well-known founder of Factory Records, as he wished to use the lead vocals from Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ in a new track called ‘Love Will’. Once the tapes had been received from Britannia Row Studios in England, Thierry Criscione asked his friend Marc Durif from the French electronica bandNova Nova to finalize the track’s production. The mix went to Stephen Hague, a long-time McLaren’s collaborator and the producer of a few New Order’s classics from the 80’s. Happy with the resulting song, Tony Wilson gave a copy to Peter Hook – the famously inimitable bass player of Joy Division and New Order. When Marc Durif heard that Peter Hook had included the track in his own DJ sets, he sent him an acoustic piano arrangement of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ he had done using the full Ian Curtis acappella, and a relationship developed between Marc and Peter. Marc having composed a new song asked Peter Hook if he would play bass and Peter agreed to play bass on that still un-named track which was to become Low Ends.” Phew!

On to the track itself. If you’re like us you find Hooky’s bass playing pretty intoxicating. The man combines melody and bass groove in one instantly recognisable, and pretty nostalgic if you grew up with it, sound. Imagine that rolling over a shuffling Disco beat and sweet, icy strings. The tracks got a real 70s Disco flavour that seems like it would be a head on collision with the dancey, but pretty post-punk bass, but it doesn’t. Both elements work together to create this blissful sunrise vibe, and when the diamond sharp lead synths and dramatic piano kick in, the track hits just the right emotional notes. Pretty amazing, we’re gonna’ be saving this one for the summer.

♫ Nova Nova & Peter Hook – Low Ends (Edit)

Nova Nova & Peter Hook’s Low Ends is released 9th April with reMixes from Thierry Criscione and Slabb (Relax Beat).

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Feb 25 2013

[Audio] Hey, Rube!

After last weeks post covering Billie Ray Martin’s Cabaret Voltaire cover album, where we one again professed our love of the Cabs, we received an enigmatic email in our inbox that we soon worked out was from Hey, Rube! Who, as it turns out, are a electronic project formed by Fila Brazillia’s Steve Cobby and Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder. a couple of months ago they released an album called Can You Hear Me Mutha?, and intricately crafted fusion of Dub, Electro, Techno, Indie-Electro and B-Boy Electro that never fails to surprise or intrigue.

The whole album leans toward Dub and Experimental sounds, but never crosses the line into ambient or self-indulgent. Tracks on the records, whilst ecclectic, bordering on avant-guarde at times, retain a strong sense of groove, drawing from Electro Funk, Kraftwerkian Techno, even occasionally Italo to keep things, for the most part, dancefloor friendly. Opening with the deliciously chaotic Rob A Bank Rob, which lobs frantic tribal drumming, ethereal chimes, Acidic bleeps and Mallinder’s Cabs rasp into a ring and let’s them sort things out amongst themselves, the album drops Mengi Dem Disco Leggi. A broken Balearic Boogie, like a Mediterranean robotic assault. Scissormouth is where the album’s Dub credentials start to rear their head before launching into the full on twisted synth skank of Pimpdaddy. This is built upon, with the addition of more of Mallinder’s whisper, in the space Dub of Kamikazee Peloton. Shaz—–Tate reminds of these guys experimentalist backgrounds as it layers sounds into an organized Industrial cacophony . the album’s longest track, and one of it’s standouts, Rapture, is a nine minute Dup epic, a popping synth echo chamber that is as interesting as it is hypnotic. Which leaves the relaxed, breezy Bali Hai to easy you out of the album. Considering a few days ago we didn’t know this record existed, we are very glad to have been introduced to it. A glorious example of what happens when two talents are left to create freely.