Category ElectroPop

May 31 2012

Shook’s new single B-side

shook

Really, if there is anyone in the world who is flying the flag for smooth grooves and slow jams, it’s Dutch keyboard wizard Shook. After over a month of us waiting for it, he’s finally released his new single, and here’s the B-Side, ‘Love For You’.

The A-Side is, of course, the amazing Ronika featuring ‘Distorted Love’ and ‘Love For You’ compliments that track perfectly. It’s a laid back example of Shook’s expertly arranged squelchy Moog Funk. ‘Love For You’ has an almost Yacht vibe to it, with a slick, chilled vocal track and more of Shook’s incredible playing (do I need to go on again about how Shook is probably the best actual musician working in Nu-Disco these days?). The track just conjures lazy summer days and beach vibes, there’s nothing about this track not to like. Definitely a secret weapon for the summer.

♫ Shook – Love For You

‘Distorted Love’/’Love For You’ is out now on Bandcamp, with other outlets coming soon.

Buy Shook’s music from:

May 31 2012

Florrie’s new EP

florrie

One of Bristol’s greatest gift’s to the world, no not Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Nik Kershaw, Roni Size, Substatic OR David Prowse, ex-Xenomania Drummer and songwriter Florrie, released her third EP at midnight last night.

Fittingly called ‘Late’ the EP hold four tracks which actually display a slightly more mature sound for the young singer. Still as catchy and infectious Pop as ever, but there’s a deep Disco element to some of these new tracks, and raucous dancefloor moments to others, that slips into Florrie’s style effortlessly. The EP kick off with ‘Shot You Down’ which exemplifies this, with it’s slick slap Funk bassline and pumping Disco beat sit easily side by side with Florrie’s energetic Pop. ‘I’m Gonna; Get You Back’ even works a little Drum ‘N’ Bass into it’s power Pop. ‘Every Inch’ is the most standard Pop on the EP, shining like a beacon of Florrie’s Xenomania roots. The EP’s final track, In The End’ might be , alongside ‘Shot You Down’, one of it’s standouts. Interesting quirky Pop, with one foot on the dancefloor and one foot in quirky Indie-Pop with a piano lead lending an epic quality which makes it work is the EP’s finale.

♫ Florrie – Shot You Down

♫ Florrie – To The End

Florrie’s ‘Late’ EP is out now.

Buy Florrie’s music from:

      

May 31 2012

Jimmy Somerville’s new EP, with Fred Falke, Siriusmo & Felix Gauder

Jimmy Somerville

Well this is certainly the surprise release of the week. ‘80’s Pop icon Jimmy Somerville, second singer in the awesome Bronski Beat before going on to form The Communards and have a reasonable successful solo career, has this week released a new EP. ‘80’s icons releasing new material is always a bit hit and miss, especially if, like Jimmy, they haven’t really had the track record, or entrenchment in dance music, between then and now. What I wasn’t expecting was a sublime collection of contemporary ElectroPop tracks and a handful of reMixes be some of the coolest names around.

The ‘Solent EP’ contains four original new tracks, all of which are modern Nu-Disco tinged electronic Pop tunes awash with Somerville’s falsetto. the surprising this is how much of an understanding of dance music in 2012 they show, so often worth ‘80’s Electro artists making modern dance records you get the feeling that they are playing catch-up, but not so with tracks on the ‘Solent EP’ like ‘Some Wonder’, a full on DiscoPop track or ‘Taken Away’, a classic dance tune that could have (and may have been) put together by any of today’s top producers. And the reMix line up too, shows an insight into modern electronic music that many of Jimmy’s peers wouldn’t get. ‘Taken Away’ is reMixed by French Touch original Fred Falke, who works his soaring synth magic on the track to produce the EP’s standout track. Siriusmo, another surprising appearance, reMixes ‘Kites’ into a laidback Disco-tinged number loaded with bass and stings. Felix Gauder takes on ‘Some Wonder’ in a more traditional dance track way, loads of hands-in-the-air moments. The EP also comes with more originals and a reMix from Johnny winfield.

♫ Jimmy Somerville – Taken Away

♫ Jimmy Somerville – Taken Away (Fred Falke reMix)

♫ Jimmy Somerville – Kite (Siriusmo reMix)

♫ Jimmy Somerville – Some Wonder

♫ Jimmy Somerville – Some Wonder (Felix Gauder reMix)

The ‘Solent EP’ is out this week.

Buy Jimmy Somerville’s music from:

     

May 31 2012

Goin’ Old School: Howard Jones, Yellow Magic Orchestra & Nik Kershaw

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

Probably Mr. Howard Jones’s most well known hit, 1983’s ‘What Is Love?’

From 1979, because it was reMixed this week and it’s in my head, Yellow Magic Orchestra’s ‘Techopolis’

Nik Kershaw’s ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’, really good video for the time, still looks fantastic, if dated. From 1984.

You can buy most of this  music from:

 

May 31 2012

M83’s ‘Reunion’ video

M83’s new video for his forthcoming ‘Reunion’ single picks up where the ‘Midnight City’ video left off.

Directed by Fleur & Manu the clip features tributes to recently past great artists in the form of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch being name checked on a map on a mobile phone of DJ Mehdi’s son being featured.

‘Reunion’ is released 7th May.

Buy M83’s music from:

May 30 2012

The Tapeaters’ new album

the-tapeaters

So, if you’re a long-time reader you’ll already know that Russian Nu-Disco/ElectroPop outfit The Tapeaters are amongst our favourites. We’ve been writing about them for years and, particularly, the latest crop of single have been pretty rad. Yesterday they released their latest album, which in part collects their recent tunes, and whist we loved the tracks individually when they are packed together in a complete LP it really highlights what an impressive body of work The Tapeaters have amassed.

‘Remembering Next Summer’ is a cleverly apt title for the record, it’s pure forward thinking nostalgia. Combining elements of Disco, Electro, Pop and Indie with some absurdly catchy songwriting, The Tapeaters kinda’ make me think that this is what the excellent Dirty Vegas would have sounded like if they had embraced Disco a little more than deep house. Funky basslines and massive retro synth sounds play against dancefloor beats and softly sung vocals with the occasional Indie guitar lick for good measure. The album kicks off with a new track ‘Umbrella’, which sets the tone for the record with a laid back, beach Disco vibe and an enticing sound which is closely followed by’ ‘Echo’, a track that wears it’s ‘80’s influences on it’s sleeve. That double whammy of Disco and ‘80’s pretty much sums up the album, and that’s two things we love, but it’s The Tapeaters genius songwriting, with their sing-a-long choruses and infectious hooks, that really seal the deal for us. Don’t be surprised if this album reared it’s head in our end-on-year ‘best of’ lists.

♫ The Tapeaters – Umbrella

♫ The Tapeaters – Waiting For a Sign

♫ The Tapeaters – The Real Deal

♫ The Tapeaters – Echo

The Tapeaters’ ‘Remembering Next Summer’ is available right now from a stupidly cheap price. You can pick up the .mp3s from their official website from a tweet or a ‘like’, or pic up lossless copies from their Bandcamp from as little as $1!

Buy The Tapeaters’ music from:

May 30 2012

Little Boots reMixed by Todd Edwards

Little Boots

The first of the reMixes of Little Boots’ genius forthcoming single ‘Headphones’ is here. And American DJ/Producer Todd Edwards gives us the first taste of a disco oriented Little boots so far from this album.

So far the recent Little Boots single have been leaning in this direction of shiny Pop and deep House, two directions we’re big fans of, but sometimes you just need to bring the funk. This reMix is laden with horn stabs, Disco licks and some nice ‘70’s flute flourishes. The thing that works best about this track is the staggered beat, which seems to work with the track and give it a driving energy. Although this reMix injects some pretty sweet Disco into Boot’s current sound, I can’t help but hope to see some reMixes from some of the real talent in Nu-Disco these days, that’s not to diminish Todd Edwards Disco-House work, but there is some real Disco gurus out there who could work wonders with this track. But if this is all the Boots funk we end up getting, then it’ll do nicely.

♫ Little Boots – Headphones (Todd Edwards vocal reMix)

‘Headphones’ will, we presume, be out soon. The video should be hear shortly.

Buy Little Boots’ music from:

May 30 2012

Yellow Magic Orchestra edit from Chrome Canyon

Yellow Magic Orchestra

Here’s a bit of a treat from Brooklyn funkster Chrome Canyon, who’s  On The Fruit Records released ‘Body Music EP from earlier this year still gets some heavy rotation. It’s his edit of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s classic ‘Techopolis’ (possibly my fourth favourite YMO track!).

If you’ve ever thought to yourself ‘I love ‘Technopolis’, but I’d really like a more modern version with a pumping contemporary beat so I could work it into one of my sets’ then you are in so much luck. The essence of YMO’s track is all here, with pretty minimal chopping up, the riff and basslines are all where you remember leaving them. There are a couple of cuts here and there but the majority of additions come in the form of some lovely filtering and modulation and bringing a rhythm fit for dancefloors in 2012. It’s giving the original such a new lease of life. I’ll definitely be playing this out.

♫ Yellow Magic Orchestra – Technopolis (Chrome Canyon Rework)

Buy Yellow Magic Orchestra’s music from:

   

May 30 2012

Lissi Dancefloor Disaster’s new video

This is the new video from Swedish ElectroPop nutcases Lissi Dancefloor Disaster. It’s for their awesome, growling, new single ‘Singing My Heart Out’.

The clip was directed by Tim Erem, who takes the heart out motif literally and makes the whole thing look dreamlike and intoxicating.

‘Singing My Heart Out’ is out now, we’ll take a look at the single later in the week.

Buy Lissi Dancefloor Disaster’s music from:

    

May 30 2012

Bright Light Bright Light’s ‘A New Word To Say’ video

‘A New Word To Say’ was one of the tracks that go us into Bright Light Bright Light way back when Rod was a potential Pop star, rather than an the actual Pop star he is now. So with the release of his début album we’re quite pleased that ‘A New Word To Say’ has been given the video treatment.

Hollie Newton directs this clip, which looks simple but must have taken ages to film, and longer to edit.

Buy Bright Light Bright Light’s music from: