Apr 7 2011

Flashlights, Binary’s latest member…and then there were eight

Binary Entertainment, the West Coast’s ElectroPop mafia, has for so long been a collection of seven acts (which made our Binary Week pretty convenient!), well now that seven has become eight with the introduction of Flashlights.

This Denver based duo of Ethan Converse and Sam Martin’s reverb washed ElectroPop owes as much to Chillwave as it does to Binary’s Dreamwave stable, but carves out a sound for itself apart from the two genres. Emotive and introspective, Flashlights’ songs feel impassioned, both in vocal delivery and the haunting melodies of the music, creating an atmosphere that feels at once strange yet really close to home. That’s not to say the music is purely ethereal, the band have a ear for groove in the rhythm section too. Check out their first single for Binary, ‘Glowing Eyes’, it’s a synthesizer dream!

♫ Flashlights – Glowing Eyes

These synthetic dreamers seem like a welcome addition to the Binary camp, you can check out more of their stuff on their Bandcamp page, and look out for an album on Binary in June!

Flashlights @ Bandcamp

Apr 5 2011

Alpha Boy’s new EP

Awesome German retro synth wizard Alpha Boy returns this month with a brand new EP, titled ‘Douce Folie’!

Alpha Boy has put the last year of writing and releasing 80’s inspired Synth tunes to good use as all his influences are poured into new EP. Inspired by everything 80’s, from Modern Talking and Phil Collins to episodes of Knight Rider, Alpha Boy would probably be and easiest fit in the Dreamwave scene, but his music stems from a more musically nostalgic place than that. Not necessarily trying to invent 80’s music for contemporary times, AB wraps up his love of 80’s synthesiser music into a style that he sees fit, and it’s a style that, although would work well on the dancefloor, isn’t exactly dance music. It would be better to say that it’s a danceable synthesiser odyssey that has as much in common with Jean Michel-Jarre as it does with Kavinsky.

Here we have the track ‘Glam’ with its intertwining melodies and slightly oriental feel (again there is JMJ as a point of reference). Alpha Boy’s goal in life is to share with his listeners “a touch of the great feeling of the 80’s”…well, mission accomplished!

♫ Alpha Boy – Glam

The ‘Douce Folie’ EP is out now, go check it out!

Alpha Boy @ Juno

Alpha Boy @ 7Digital

Alpha Boy @ Amazon

Apr 5 2011

Anoraak’s ‘Crazy Eyes’ video

It seems like the build up to the release of Anoraak’s ‘Crazy Eyes’ single was been ages!

Well, its’ here, the single was released the middle of last month, but if you still need to check it out here’s the video, shot in Miami.

it’s got bowling in it!

Directed by Jonathan Millet

The single will feature reMixes from Russ Chimes, Julien Meyer (who won the reMix competition) and Pacific! and is released on 14th March.

Mar 31 2011

Queen Of Hearts & StardonE

Sooooo, we haven’t written about Queen Of Hearts yet. Was there a reason for that? Well, yes and no. We’ve love both her songs to date, played them a lot round these parts, especially her work with on of our favourite producers, Diamond Cut, but always felts a little suspicious of all the hype. It’s not that we didn’t love them music, it’s just that we felt there was a joke we weren’t in on. When every single music publication we admire gushes about something on the basis of a thirty second sample and the artist has been in the studio with Diamond Cut, Fear Of Tigers and Dreamtrak, three producers we love, I dunno’, the whole thing seems a little ‘manufactured to be blog friendly’ for me.

However…we could be wrong, and on a purely musical front Queen Of Hearts is, we will admit, worth a lot of the hype.

Her recent track, the Diamond Cut produced ‘Where Are You Now?’ is prefect Pop for a Dreamwave generation (maybe our suspicion cones from it being too good?). DC knocks it out the park with his dancefloor 80’s production, the slick Disco guitar riffs and massive sweeping synths would make an awesome instrumental track in their own right but work amazingly well as a backing for QoH’s sultry, if a little distant, vocals. Sounding a little like ‘Little Boots a couple of years older’ Queen Of Hearts has the potential to be something really special. On top of that our favourite Korean, StardonE, has reMixed the track bringing his cosmic Nu-Disco to the tune with some rad little funky riffs.

♫ Queen Of Hearts – Where Are You Now? (Produced By Diamond Cut)

♫ Queen Of Hearts – Where Are You Now? (StardonE reMix)

I’m probably wrong about Queen Of Hearts, and even if I’m right, the music will remain pretty awesome, and that’s really what counts in the end.

Queen Of Hearts @ Beatport

Mar 14 2011

Ride The Universe reMix Young Digerati

Young Digerati may well be the next big thing in ElectroPop, this newcomer Californian four piece make some of the sweetest Dreamwave tinged Indie-ElectroPop you’ll hear all year.

They’ve just released their début EP, ‘The Amanda EP’, for free on SoundCloud and it’s lead track, ‘The Dauphin’, is everything you’d want from a West Coast ElectroPop track. A summery, dreamy vibe with synths that shimmer over a Disco beat topped with introspective, emotive vocals. ‘The Dauphin’ is a track that sweeps right into your heart.

So, they have roped in some top quality reMix talent for the EP too. Muffin makes an appearance alongside this reMix from the almighty Ride The Universe. digitalfoxgloxe and the Fiero crew get their Filter-Disco on with a reMix that’s just gonna’ melt the dancefloor. With hints of ‘Discovery’ era Daft Punk (quite fitting this week) in the driving chords and a wicked Disco guitar lick. The groove sets the scene perfectly for snatches of the original’s vocals and a solo line that takes you that bit higher.

Just when you though the world couldn’t get any smoother Ride The Universe come back with another smooth supernova!

♫ Young Digerati – The Dauphin (Ride the Universe reMix)

Check the amazing original track along with it’s 80’s reference heavy video.

You can pick up the whole ‘The Amanda EP’ at Young Digerati’s SoundCloud page:

Young Digerati @ SoundCloud

Mar 14 2011

College & Stephen Falken

I wanted to quickly share this College track that went up on the Valerie site recently.

It’s Stephen Falken’s reMix of College’s first single ‘Answers’, which has pretty much been the soundtrack to my chilled weekend. It’s an organically evolving synthesizer Dreamwave treat. Not a party tune by any means, but chuck this on your headphones, sitback, and enjoy!