Aug 23 2010

Frankmusik’s tribute to Charlie Haddon

In the wake of Friday’s tragedy, the news that Charlie Haddon lead singer of Oú Est Le Swimming Pool, one of the UK’s most promising SynthPop acts, had taken his own life after the bands show at Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival, Vincent Frank A.K.A. Frankmusik has recorded a soulful piano tribute in the form of a cover of Oú Est Le Swimming Pool’s biggest hit ‘Dance The Way I Feel’.

♫ Frankmusik – Dance the Way I Feel (Oú Est Le Swimming Pool Cover)

Thank you Vincent.

Frankmusik @ Juno

Frankmusik @ 7Digital

Frankmusik @ Amazon

Oú Est Le Swimming Pool @ Beatport

Oú Est Le Swimming Pool @ Juno

Oú Est Le Swimming Pool @ 7Digital

Oú Est Le Swimming Pool @ Amazon

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Aug 23 2010

LexiconDon – Pink + Blue

LexiconDon have come on in leaps and bounds, production wise, but haven’t seem to have lost any of their raw energy.

This week finally sees the release of their début long player, ‘Pink + Blue’. An album I have been listening to for around a week now and I’m still impressed how they have managed to distil numerous slants of ElectroPop into one rad package. Firstly there is the vibe of early LexiconDon tracks. I always thought they had quite a British, almost post-punky element to their tracks, a raucous, live feel. The first tracks we heard from them, both included on this album, ‘SWMY (Staying With My Girl)’ and ‘Heart Attack’ are almost ElectroPunk tunes with chant along choruses, and yet the recent songs to come from the LexiconDon camp ‘December Sunset’ and ‘Student Body’ revealed a slicker, more mature sound. From the dreamily introspection of ‘December Sunset’ to the smoother Disco sound ‘Student Body’.

So where does the rest of the album sit? Are LexiconDon a gang of rowdy Electro troublemakers or sharp dancefloor lovers?

The answer, thankfully, is both! And that’s the most impressive thing about this record. It flows, so effortlessly, from high energy, buzzsaw synth laden, anthems to smooth late night SynthPop jams without seeming in any way jarring. Thanks, in part, to Alex Koons vocals and lyrics. The man is a story teller, weaving tales of everyday lives and loves that, at the same time, feel relatable yet exiting (kinda’ like, and I’m sure this is no accident, watching an 80’s teen movie). This is done in such a distinctive stylistic voice that, whether the songs are related or not, it feels like a complete narrative.

Musically, there is something for every Electro fan, from the noisy synths of ‘Hollywood Sound’ to the synthesizer Funk of ‘Student Body’ to the retro SynthPop of ‘Boy Vs. Girl Pt. 1’. And, of course, there is a healthy dose of Dreamwave in the mix, ‘Hot Love’ in particular has some awesome huge Dreamwave-esq 80’s chords.

Honestly (and this is in no way meant as a dis to the early LexiconDon tracks) I really liked ‘Heart Attack’ and ‘SWMY’ when they first came out, but I would have never expected an album this good, this varied, this slick, to come from the same band. LexiconDon’s ‘Pink + Blue’ is defiantly one of the albums of the year.

♫ LexiconDon – December Sunset

♫ LexiconDon – Student Body

LexiconDon’s ‘Pink + Blue’ drops tomorrow on dubFrequency/Binary, and keep it locked to electronic rumors for our forthcoming Binary event!

LexiconDon @ Beatport

LexiconDon @ Juno

LexiconDon @ 7Digital

LexiconDon @ Amazon

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Aug 21 2010

Title track from HURTS début album

Over at Amazon.co.uk they’re giving away the title track from HURTS, insanely eagerly anticipated, début album, ‘Happiness’. But if you can’t be bothered to go grab it you can have a listen to it right hear.

Having heard the whole album I would have to say it’s nothing short of stunning, practically encompassing every influence I’d want to hear on a record. It’s very 80’s. but never once does it feel like some kind of cheap retro sideshow, just genuinely harkening back to a time with a different style of songwriting.

The title track is a bombastic Pop epic, listen and watch the hairs on your arms stand up!

♫ HURTS – Happiness

‘Happiness’ is released 6th September. Not Long now!

Aug 20 2010

Glass Candy reMixes Appaloosa

It’s Italo heroes Glass Candy’s second official reMix in 11 years! The subject is Appaloosa’s new single ‘Intimate’.

At just under 6 minutes, the mix certainly manages to sound epic despite being quite lo-fi in it’s instrumentation. What comes out the other side of the Glass Candy studio machine is a hypnotic and engaging ElectroPop tune with Italo Disco leanings. Perfect for summer late nights.

♫ Appaloosa – Intimate (Glass Candy reMixxx)

Appaloosa’s ‘Intimate’ single is out 30th August.

Aug 18 2010

Fenech-Soler & Hervé

So, by now you know that the awesome Fenech-Soler are re-releasing ‘Lies’, their single of last year, the reMix package will include this little Balearic rave jam from Hervé.

Hervé brings the deep basslines and sunrise synths to his version. His hypnotic percussion and buzzsaw lead lines seem at odds with the rock swagger of the vocals but somehow Hervé makes it all gel together.

♫ Fenech-Soler – Lies (Hervé’s Solar Flare reMix)

‘Lies’ will be out 20th September on Moda

Fenech-Soler @ Beatport

Fenech-Soler @ Juno

Fenech-Soler @ Amazon

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Aug 18 2010

SONOIO

SONOIO is Alessandro Cortini, Italian analog synth guru who has played live for, and worked with, the likes of Ladytron, HEALTH, Modwheelmood and Nine Inch Nails.

In a novel, but pretty interesting, move his latest album, released this month, is available in a variety of packages. The most basic being a digital album and exclusive EP bundle, the high end offer being a digital album, exclusive EP and a hand build SuONOIO portable synthesizer! The SuONOIO is a ‘postcard’ synth in the vein of the Bugbrand, but if you’re handy you could always build an enclosure for it. The package including the synth will set you back $160.

The music itself is pretty rad. Deep analog vocoded ElectroPop. Check out this track, ‘Just Me’ and download another three tracks from the album for free here.

♫ SONOIO – Just Me

SONOIO’s eponymous LP is out now.

SONOIO @ Official Website

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Aug 18 2010

Muffin reMixes Them:Youth

Check this track out, it’s Australian producer Muffin’s reMix of London based newcomers Them:Youth new single ‘Forever Rising’.

It’s a perfect slice of modern ElectroPop, the bassline and melodies harkens back to the 80’s but the production is bang up to date, that’s how ElectroPop should be done these days! It’s not the first time Muffin has graced these pages, and I doubt it’ll be the last.

♫ Them:Youth – Fever Rising (Muffin reMix)

‘Fever Rising’ was released this week on Big Hand Recordings.

Them:Youth @ Beatport

Them:Youth @ Juno

Them:Youth @ 7Digital

Them:Youth @ Amazon

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Aug 14 2010

Ellie Goulding; Friends Electric video & Alan Braxe reMix!

Friends Electric’s awesome, and brave, reMix of Ellie Goulding’s ‘The Writer’ has only gone and got itself it’s very own official video! Nice one lads!

OK, on to Alan Braxe’s gobsmackingly rad reMix, it’s got this fluttering little melody that you listen to and never want to end. It’s pure summery chilled goodness, like an ace dream, or the end credits tune in a move where it turned out everything was alright in the end and everyone fucked off into the sunset.

Not even the rain we’re having in the UK at the moment can kill the mood this reMix induces!

♫ Ellie Goulding – The Writer (Alan Braxe reMix)

‘The Writer’ single is out now.

Ellie Goulding @ Neon Gold

Ellie Goulding @ 7Digital

Ellie Goulding @ Amazon

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Aug 14 2010

Ninthwave Records celebrates 10th anniversary; releases Synthetic Dance Music Vol. 02

The mid-90’s were dark, dark, times for SynthPop fans. All that existed was this thing (amusingly) called ‘Modern SynthPop’, a stale, stagnant regurgitation machine that sounded like vocal trance by people who with little clue about vocals or trance. General MIDI 4/4 beats and badly produced, unimaginative (read: four layered arpeggios) music met Dave Gahan karaoke vocals. It was all so contrived, so formulaic, so boring and so not relevant. For these reasons it remained the smallest of music scenes, but for a time, it was all we had.

There was, however, one beacon in the darkness. A record label that, whilst still really being a Modern SynthPop label, tended to actually respect the history of SynthPop as well as looking beyond the dross to the future. With a roster of artists that seemed a little more exclusive, a little more hand picked than certain other labels, Ninthwave Records kept us in interesting, well crafted, releases. Picking up European bands (rather than just licensing existing releases) including Heaven 17 and (as they were then) The Modern and cherry picking the ‘good stuff’ in the Modern SynthPop scene they were always a mark of quality over quantity.

Ninthwave stopped us all going mad.

So, with that in mind, I’m pretty chuffed to see they are still going. This year is their 10th anniversary and in celebration of this they are releasing the second volume in their ‘Synthetic Dance Music’ series. The 25 track album reads like a who’s who of Ninthwave. The line up, that includes Heaven 17, Katsen and The Garland Cult, is too long to go through here so get your ears round four choice cuts.

Matinee Club (they of the being ex-The Modern) are probably known to most New Wave fans here in the UK as one of the best live acts around, check ‘Fool In The Name Of Love’, there one of the best on record too. Scotland’s Electroluvs push things into a more ElectroPunky arena with the Hyperbubble reMix they have featured while Filterhouse Boys’ reMix of SynthPop jokers Spray is pure dancefloor material. Empire State Human (the first band we interviewed here at electronic rumors!) also appear with Digitize deep Electro reMix of their ‘Melancholic Afro’.

♫ Matinee Club – Fool In The Name Of Love

♫ Electroluvs – Teenage Timebomb (Hyperbubble reMix)

♫ Spray – Love’s Been Particularly Cruel To Me (Filterhouse Boys reMix)

♫ Empire State Human – Melancholic Afro (Digitize reMix)

That’s just a taster of what the album offers.

Alright…I’ll admit it…there is still room for improvement in the Modern SynthPop scene, frankly there is some awesome talent there that needs grabbing by the scruff of the neck and dragging into the 21st century but if anyone’s going to do it’s gonna’ be Ninthwave.

Happy Birthday!

‘Synthetic Dance Music Volume Two’ is out right now, and at the crazy low price some of these retailers are selling it you’d be crazy not to check it out!

Synthetic Dance Music Volume Two @ Juno

Synthetic Dance Music Volume Two @ 7Digital

Synthetic Dance Music Volume Two @ Amazon

Aug 13 2010

Logo’s new single on Kitsuné

The end of August sees Kitsuné Music latest release, Logo’s latest single, the double A-side ‘La Vie Moderne’/’Juniocide’.

‘Junocide’ is a mindblowingly awesome inner-city soundtrack. If rain fizzing off of flickering neon lights made music, it would sound like this. Sophisticated percussion programming and relentless arpeggios drive the track but the song is surprisingly melancholic. This is music to get lost to.