Category ElectroPop

Jul 16 2012

Calfskin

Calfskin

Calfskin is a hard ElectroPop project from Belgium. The solo work of Konstantin De Winter, we’ve actually been debating whether to feature Calfskin for the past week, it’s pretty EBM/FuturePop, which tends to make out toes curl a bit in 2012, but Calfskin managed to win us over in the simplest of ways. By having some damn good songs.

So, upfront, it does sound a little dated. FuturePop had it;s peak in the very early 2000’s, and Calfskin does sound a bit like like it’s stuck in a timebubble. But here’s the good news, if you’re going to sound dated, sound like the good dated stuff, and Calfskin does, having more in common with the intelligent talents of the scene, such as Neuroticfish and Seabound, than the tedious “I can use an arpeggiator” bands that killed FuturePop. Calfskin has just released a new EP, Standing Eight, containing five emotionally charged, driving ElectroPop tracks. The easy standout of the EP is One Step Over (also released as a free single), which is catchy as hell, the chorus will stick in your head all day. Accompanied with rich layers of evocative electronic and a pounding beat. And that really sums up Calfskin’s Standing Eight, you may feel like you’re dancing in an Industrial club in 2001, but the songs are so good, and so infections, you probably won’t care.

♫ Calfskin – One Step Over

♫ Calfskin – Soul Searching

Calfskin’s Standing Eight EP is out now, you can grab the free single of One Step Over here.

Buy Calfskin’s music from:

  

Jul 16 2012

The Knocks & Fred Falke’s ‘Geronimo’

the-knocks-fred-falke

We’re probably preaching to the converted here, I suspect most of you have already picked up a copy of The Knocks & Fred Falke amazing collaboration, Geronimo, which is already available at Beatport. Easily a contender for the tune of the year, the original, and arguably the best, mix is now available for your listening pleasure to convince you, if you haven’t already, that you need to pick this up.

What can se say about this tune? It needs to be heard, it’s massive. A grinding, funky five minutes of pure dancefloor anthem. You can hear both The Knocks and Fred Falke in there, the track has a The Knocks groove made Falk style massive. A catchy vocal hook you’ll be singing all day, reels you in while the huge Disco, with a Pop sheen, will just destroy you. Essential stuff.

♫ The Knocks & Fred Falke – Geronimo

Geronimo is out now on Beatport and available everywhere else on 23rd July.

Buy The Knocks & Fred Falke’s music from:

Jul 13 2012

Rüfüs’ ‘This Summer’/’Selena’ reMixes

Rüfüs

Australian Indie-Electro trio Rüfüs’ This Summer has been out for a while now in single form, being on e of the Anthems of this year. Enter London’s ElectroPop don Jerry Bouthier and his Continental Records imprint to bring the track, once again, to the forefront with a reMix package of This Summer and Selena.

With a track this epic, it would be hard to do any wrong, but this collection of reMixes exceeds expectations. Mr. Bouthier’s own JBAG head up the EP with an amazing DiscoPop reMix that is just everything you’d want from a fun summer tune. A bouncy bassline and thick retro chords makeup a huge, all encompassing sound that truly does the song justice and, more. Perfect drum fills and an insanely catchy hook are the icing on the cake. This track is going to get caned. Rüfüs themselves contribute a deep Techy take on This Summer, full of Techno intricacies and moody chords this is one for late night in Berlin, with the added bonus of a big Dreamwavey lead. Nu-Disco newcomer Lancelot has really impressed us this year, and to this package he contributes another quite deep mix, this time with more of a synthetic Disco feel as he takes Selena and works it into almost a Disco Dub. The single also contains work from, with a droning Techno mix, Parachute Youth with a chaotic Dreamwave mix and slick ‘90’s House take on Selena from Frames.

♫ Rüfüs – This Summer (JBAG reMix)

♫ Rüfüs – This Summer (Rüfüs reMix)

♫ Rüfüs – Selena (Lancelot reMix)

The reMix EP is released 16th July.

Buy Rüfüs’ music from:

Jul 13 2012

Collins’ ‘New York Groove’

collins

New York Groove is the new track from Brazil based producer Collins. The man is currently working on an album for an unnamed record label (but one that we could take a pretty good guess at), but while we all wait for that he’s still dropping tracks to keep the fire burning.

The Kiss sampling New York Groove is an excursive in pure dancefloor fun. The juxtaposition between the Kiss chorus and Collins bouncy vintage synth bassline and arpeggios give the track a sweet party vibe. Collins’ addition of a honky-tonk piano to the mix is a stoke of genius, adding a little theatrics to the sample, crating a tune you just want to jump out your seat and sing along to.

♫ Collins – New York Groove

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Jul 13 2012

Cosmicity’s new EP

Cosmicity

Mark Nicholas A.K.A. Cosmicity was one of the only acts to come out of the so-called ‘Modern SynthPop’ scene with any merit. Sure the scene had itself it;s fair share of good songwriters, but the productions mostly sounded very amateurish. Only Nicholas, along with a handful of others, seemed to have a grasp on production and mixing techniques and a feel for contemporary recordings. He;s been quiet for a few years now but has just released a brand new EP. So how does a Modern SynthPop artist stack up in today’s world, where ElectroPop is back to being a proper thing.

Very well as it turns out, the Parlour Sofas EP hasn’t left the Modern SynthPop scene completely behind, but is head and shoulders above anything that crowd ever released. ‘Sealed In’, the EP’s intro is a blissful, pulsating ElectroPop track with Nicholas’ gently vocals drifting across the song and despite subject matter, is a really beautiful tune. Any Love That Comes Along follows immediately and eases the refrain into a more of a pounding hard dance groove. Again, the melancholy in the track is tempered with pleasing synths and vocals. Remember recalls more traditional Modern SynthPop territory, all EBM beats and arpeggios,  and This Is So Lonely sees the EP out with a moody mid-paced BladeRunner vibe. If you pick up the whole EP you also get the instrumental of This Is So Lonely as a bonus. I’m not sure how much of my enjoyment of this EP is nostalgia, or even if that matters, but it’s definitely worth a listen.

♫ Cosmicity – Sealed In

♫ Cosmicity – Any Love That Comes Along

Cosmicity’s Parlour Sofas EP is out now.

Buy Cosmicity’s music from:

     

Jul 13 2012

Violet Tremors reMixed by hardCORPS & Medora

Violet Tremors

Are hardCORPS tracks like busses? You wait decades for one then loads come along at once. It was only this week that an unreleased track from the ‘80’s pioneers surfaced (quickly followed by a couple more), and now that are on the reMix for our favourite ladies of Minimal Synth Violet Tremors. hardCorps’ Clive Peirce teams up with his Medora partner in crime Phen to take on the girls Future Love from their rad Time is The Traitor album of last year.

Future Love was actually one of our picks of the album and Peirce and Phen take the abrasive ElectroPop and smooth it over with an almost Dubby sheen. Reverb washed synthetic percussion and a rolling Dub bassline from the rock on which Jessica’s mantra crashes. the end result is very Cabaret Voltaire, that mixture of Experimental Dub influenced electronics and early SynthPop harsh deadpan delivery alongside otherwordly synths could have come straight out the early ‘80’s underground.

♫ Violet Tremors – Future Love (Clive Pierce (hardCORPS & Medora) & Phen (Medora) reMix)

‘Time Is The Traitor’ is out now.

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Jul 12 2012

Vince Clarke & The Good Natured

The Good Natured

Amazing! That’s what we thought when we heard there was a collaboration between awesome dark ElectroPop princess The Good Natured and SynthPop legend (and if there is one man in the whole world who you can really use the words SynthPop legend in conjunction with, it’s him!) Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure & The Assembly fame. Can it really be as good as he sum of it’s parts?

Ghost Train is certainly something special. It’s a modern update on that particular early 80’s SynthPop sound, juxtaposing the deadpan and the epic within the track. Sarah slips between the robotic and the anthemic, which just the smallest nod to contemporary Pop. Under which Vince works his classic SynthPop magic. Buzzing synths cut through the mix alongside pads that really capture the mood of the track and the lyrical content. We’re not sure where this collaboration is going, but we’d definitely like to see an EP at least.

♫ Vince Clarke & The Good Natured – Ghost Train (Vox Mix)

They have also collaborated on anew mixtape, you can here is here.

Buy The Good Natured’s music from:

Jul 12 2012

Sohight’s ‘Get It Right’

Keiz Beats are once again releasing the new record from the Russia team up of Sohight  and Cheevy. Sohight has been killing it with every release me drops recently, especially when teamed up with Cheevy’s vocals and this new tune, Get It Right, is no exception.

Following on from their last couple of releases, Get it Right certainly gets synthesizer funk right. It’s a flashy mirrorball tune, packed with emotion and heartfelt passion. Occasionally veering into ElectroPop territory, Get It Right brings twisting Moog Funk, slick Disco, SynthWave chords and a catchy as hell vocal to the mix and spits out a Sohight’s best tune to date. reMixes come in the form of Xtrafunk’s laid back beach party Disco sounds, complete with fantastic synth soloing. Follow Me who turn up the SynthWave for a full on ‘80’s Italo fest and La Zebra piano driven ‘90’s House/Disco hybrid alongside work from Patchwork and Stubbs. The Get It Right single package is full of floorfillers and party starters, you should get involved.

♫ Sohight (Feat. Cheevy) – Get It Right (Original Mix)

♫ Sohight (Feat. Cheevy) – Get It Right (Xtrafunk reMix)

♫ Sohight (Feat. Cheevy) – Get It Right (Follow Me reMix)

♫ Sohight (Feat. Cheevy) – Get It Right (La Zebra reMix)

Get It Right is released 23rd July on Beatport and 08th August everywhere else.

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Jul 12 2012

Moonlight Matters’ Come For Me’ video

Here’s the video for one of the best singles of the year. Moonlight Matters and Hercules And Love Affair’s Gustaph’s Come For Me.

Directed by Kris Lathouwers, it’s just pure shining, neon, Disco goodness. Perfect for the track. Is Seba’s origami bear head just a mask and not a full head?

Moonlight Matters’ Come For Me EP is out now via Kitsuné Music.

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Jul 12 2012

Nite Jewel’s ‘Clive’ video

The spookiest track (for personal reasons) on Nite Jewel’s One Second Of Love album, and current single Clive, is here in video form.

This sombre, simple clip is directed by José Wolff. Sometimes simplicity is best.

Nite Jewel is finally coming to the UK, dates here:

12th July – Erics @ Liverpool
13th July – Captain’s Rest @ Glasgow
14th July – Brudenell Social Club @ Leeds
15th July – Soup Kitchen @ Manchester
16th July – O2 Academy 2 @ Birmingham
17th July – The Green Door Store @ Brighton
18th July – XOYO @ London

Nite Jewel’s ‘One Second Of Love’ album is out now.

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