electronic rumors

Lancelot’s début EP

Lancelot

Lancelot is the latest in an increasing number of artists to be taken under the wing of Binary Records. In the recent expansion beyond the core Binary crew Josh and Kyle have shown some A&R genius in sniffing out interesting and different electronic artists and once again have struck gold with Lancelot.

We’ve heard the odd reMix from Lancelot over the last few months but late February Binary delivers his début EP, ‘We Can Dance’. It;s a few weeks away but right now we can have a listen to the lead track ‘Spoken Word’. The first think you’ll notice about ‘Spoken Word’ is that it a peice of music, it is neither Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter not anything by Dan Brown. With that cleared up we can tell you what it is. ‘Spoken Word’ is a smooth as hell slice of summery Nu-Disco. Although that doesn’t sound like anything special these days, Lancelot’s tune here is pretty unique. What he has brought is a nice combination of a pretty synth heavy House backing, with some nice Cosmic touches, which builds a framework for a brilliant ‘70’s Disco tune. The EP comes with three originals and reMixes from Goldroom, Fabian, Frames and Moonchild (we heard the Goldroom mix on The Magician’s last Magic Tape). You’ll probably be wanting to buy that when it comes out then.

♫ Lancelot – Spoken Word

Lancelot’s ‘We Can Dance’ EP is out 20th February on Beatport and 5th March everywhere else via Binary Records.

Check out more from Lancelot on SoundCloud.

The Opiates’ ‘Silent Comes The Nighttime (Again)’ video

Here we have the recently premièred video for Billie Ray Martin and Robert Solheim’s The Opiates alter ego’s ‘Silent Comes The Nighttime (Again)’ .

The track is taken from the duo’s excellent ‘Hollywood Under The Knife’ album of last year. A collection of deep and soulful electronic laments that combined the beauty and passion of Billie’s voice with Solheim’s Deep House grooves. The track in question here is an ode to insomnia and both sonically, and in the video, visually manages to convey the nervous, sometimes otherworldly, tension of late night sleep deprivation. Jörn Hartmann directs the video, a dreamlike, monochrome clip with a slight uncomfortable edge.

The Opiates’ ‘Hollywood Cuts (The reMixes)’ is released 26th February on Disco Activisto.

Buy The Opiates’s music from:

♫ Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me (Dub (Venice Beach reMix))

Venice Beach take on Rockwell

In the continuing saga of Edit/reMix confusion Venice Beach’s latest ‘reMix’ shows us exactly how an Edit should be done with their take on the Dub version of Rockwell’s classic ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’.

At their core, edits should just be pretty much the original track but with the parts that work best on the dancefloor accentuated. They used to be things DJs made from themselves or their friends, taking a track they loved and, cutting and pasting it, bringing the bits that worked better in the Disco to the front. They were closely guarded as the DJ’s secret weapons. These days of people selling Edits and uploading theme everywhere the questions of “what is an Edit really?” and “should you credit an edit as your own work?” are hot topics right now. So, if an Edit is taking a track and making it all about the best bits of groove then Venice Beach have made a perfect Edit here. It’s all about the bassline and the wicked synth solo here. This is Nu-Disco Synth Funk gold. Something so simple as dropping some bits and looping others turn it into a completely different track, and one that completely rocks!

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Goin’ Old School: Front 242, The System & Malcolm McLaren

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

OK, so I’m not sure why ‘Headhunter’ hasn’t made Goin’ Old School yet, but it’s time to rectify that. Anton Corbijn directed Front 242 , in their game changing track from 1988. Be crushed by that bassline, it’s literally all reverb (the original sound was removed).

Pure ‘80’s Synth Funk here from The System and their 1982 track ‘You Are In My System’. This looked well futuristic at the time. I have a feeling that Sci-Fi complex he’s in is actually an office building at 55 John Street in New Youk in the ‘80’s.

In 1983 Punk Impresario Malcolm McLaren brought Hip Hop to the UK, kicking off UK Hip Hop with ‘Buffalo Gals’. It was most people first experience of sampling, turntablism, graffiti and popping.

You can buy most of this music from:

SID Chip Sounds: The Music Of The Commodore 64

Arkanoid

Well this is something pretty special! Late in February Robot Elephant Records will be releasing ‘SID Chip Sounds – The Music Of The Commodore 64’. This isn’t just a collection of C64 track covered, like so many ChipTune compilation, these are the original tracks, remastered! Retro heaven!

And there is some real gems on the record. The two major themes from Last Ninja and Last Ninja 2 for a start! Giana Sisters, Glider Rider, Cybernoid 2, Parallax, Commando and Gauntlet, amongst others, are all represented here. As is Martin Galway proto-industrial theme for Breakout-in-space challenger ‘Arkanoid’. Listening to it it’s so easy to see how much of an influence these tracks are on modern electronic music, especially retro stuff like SynthWave. The shuffling machine beats, the soaring synths, there’s all there, there’s even a drop. All played out with that gorgeous SID chip 8-bit synthetic grime. This album should be a definite purchase for anyone into the history of electronic music, or anyone who remembers hunching over a C64 plugged into a flickering portable TV ‘til the early hours of the morning. It still sounds as futuristic as it did back then. Robot Elephant Records are releasing this collection on gatefold double vinyl, Cd and download.

♫ Martin Galway – Arkanoid

‘SID Chip Sounds – The Music Of The Commodore 64’ is released 20th February.

Buy Robot Elephant Records’ music from:

Chrome Canyon’s new EP

chrome canyon

France’s On The Fruit Records are killin’ it right now. They are pumping out quality release after release and the next up is no exception. Released today is the new EP from Brooklyn based futurist Chrome Canyon.

The ‘Body Music’ EP is space-age retro synth Funk paradise. The EP is summed up in the lead track ‘Computers Of Love’. What’s not to like in this track? It’s got everything you’d want from cosmic analog Disco. Funky slap bass, huge Sci-Fi synths, vocoded vocals and as the various melodies spin out into the galaxy you get the feeling that there is a not only pretty impressive musicality behind the tracks, but also a quirky sense of humour. When the rockin’ Funk solo kicks in you know you’re in the right place. the track is reMixed by Melee Beats, and a man of consistent quality, Douze. Douze brings this nostalgia jam into the 21st century and adds a little French Touch to the mix, in a big way. The EP’s other original ‘Body Music’ is more of a brooding, ‘80’s soundtracky, peice. Like a meeting of Vangelis and Kraftwerk it’s the musical narrative of a robotic call to arms and could have featured on the best of early ‘80’s Sci-Fi flicks. Heroismo and Stavarsky both take a crack at reMixing ‘Body Music’, with the latter delivering a dark post-Italo dark future mix. If the original is the Sci-Fi movies theme, then Starvasky provides the backing for when adversity strikes. Great moody SynthWave. If you like vintage synth music and old school Italo and Disco beats, then this release’ll be something special for you.

♫ Chrome Canyon – Computers Of Love (Original Mix)

♫ Chrome Canyon – Computers Of Love (Douze reMix)

♫ Chrome Canyon – Body Music (Original Mix)

♫ Chrome Canyon – Body Music (Stavarsky reMix)

Chrome Canyon’s ‘Body Music’ EP is out now.

Buy Chrome Canyon’s music from:

Sneaky Sound System’s ‘Really Want To See You Again’ reMixes

SneakySoundSystem

Australian ElectroPop duo Sneaky Sound System must be feeling pretty pleased with themselves, they had an awesome 2011. they released their third album, ‘From Here To Anywhere’ to critical acclaim, which spawned a bunch of singles, most notably the massive ‘Big’ featuring that Oliver reMix.

They start the new year with a new single. Taken from the aforementioned album, ‘Really Want To See You Again’ get the single treatment which kicks off with an epic extended mix. This version really highlights the late ‘80’s/early ‘90’s DancePop influences on this track. Connie’s soulful and slightly gritty vocals switching from Pop Soul to House Diva effortlessly. The reMix package is pretty loaded too. Azari & III do their deep, mysterious, ‘90’s thing with the track. Cutting and pasting vocal snatches over their bass heavy Roland grooves and Sci-Fi synths. Pure deep Chicago House. Funkagenda bring us back into DiscoHouse territory adding wicked little guitar licks and a new male vocal as counterpoint to the original vocal and new heavy synth bassline. KiNK’s reMix is making some waves right now, I wouldn’t say it was my favourite of the mixes, but it’s definitely worthy of the attention, taking the track in an almost Techno direction with it’s droning synths and, er, cuckoo clock. This is the one that’ll blow up dancefloors in Europe.

♫ Sneaky Sound System – Really Want To See You Again (Extended)

♫ Sneaky Sound System – Really Want To See You Again (Azari & III reMix)

♫ Sneaky Sound System – Really Want To See You Again (Funkagenda reMix)

♫ Sneaky Sound System – Really Want To See You Again (KiNK reMix)

‘Really Want To See You Again ‘ is out soon on Modular Recordings.

Buy Sneaky Sound System’s music from:

RxGibbs

rxgibbs

Michigan based RxGibbs is the latest producer to join the awesome Cascine family, releasing his first EP for them toward the end of February. Ron Gibbs is keeping it chill but not forgetting tracks need a hook.

Taking Chillwave to it’s logical extreme is something that has been on the cards for a while now. It was only a matter of time before someone bled reverb soaked ElectroPop into true ambient and RxGibbs kinda’ hit’s that mark between the two. The six tracks on his forthcoming ‘Futures’ EP are supremely chilled electronica, atmospheric soundscapes layered with evolving tones and roomy beats. Droning synths echo around ethereal, half heard, vocals. The whole effect is quite haunting. But here’s where RxGibbs doesn’t forget the hook, most of the tracks on the EP have got a pretty solid rhythm section. Almost Disco beats and head -nodding basslines keeps the tracks in check, keep them grounded and keep them something that’s still fun to listen to. Check out the EP’s title track, ‘Futures’, one of the more left-field grooves on the records, and experiment in the filter as an instrument with hypnotic synth bass groove.

♫ RxGibbs – Futures

RxGibbs’ ‘Futures’ EP is out 21st February on Cascine.

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