May 16 2010

Ali Love; Love In Darkness

AliLove03

Courtesy of the fine folks at Big Stereo, check out this leak from Ali Love’s forthcoming album, ‘Love Harder’.

It’s an arpeggio fuelled, sleazy, lament with a serious mid ‘80’s lead line that just makes us exited for this album release even more. The injection of a 303 acid build around the 3m20s mark is both jarring and genius, the whole song has a vibe of the best/worst night of your life.

♫ Ali Love – Love In Darkness (zShare) (Sharebee)

Back Yard Recordings are releasing ‘Love Harder’ soon.

[Via Big Stereo]

May 15 2010

Young Empires

YoungEmpires

Young Empires are a post-punk Electro band who hail from Toronto who made quite a stir on the discerning Indie blogs with their first track ‘Rain Of Gold’

We’re loving their second track ‘Glory Of The Night’, It’s a strange meeting of 80’s Electro Hip-Hop 808 beats and moody Indie-Electro with a hint of guitar. Dark, heavy, synths drive the track making the chant-like vocals seem like they are dragged along in the tide. Maybe it’s the 808’s, but despite the brooding sound to the song there is something hopeful about it.

Robert Ellingson, Jake Palahnuk, and Matthew Vlahovich have to potential to be something of a Canadian HURTS!

♫ Young Empires – Glory Of The Night (Demo.) (zShare) (MediaFire)

Check out more of Young Empires music over on their MySpace.

Young Empires @ MySpace

May 12 2010

Backseat Dreamer

BackseatDreamer

Backseat Dreamer is the solo project of South Carolina musician Sean Neuse who makes a kinda’ Shoegaze influenced style of Dreamwave.

Dropping his début album this July, Sean creates a swirling soundscape of intertwining analog synths, layered with just enough retro sounds to keep it from chaos and dreamlike vocals that become another instrument in the mix. The whole thing is kept in check with solid dance beats that make it as much dancefloor fodder as listening gold.

♫ Backseat Dreamer – Consider (zShare) (MediaFire)

Backseat Dreamer’s début album ‘The Colors of Dreams, They’re In You’ is released 13th July on Stickfigure Recordings.

Backseat Dreamer @ Amazon

May 12 2010

Human Life

Aeroplane and Grum are diggin’ them, Alan Braxe is working with them. everybody seems to love LA ElectroPoppers Human Life. The attention is well deserved too, their forthcoming second single, ‘In It Together’, is an almighty clash of Nu-Disco basslines, 8-bit sounds, 80’s synth chords, 90’s House keys and Disco vocals.

Check the video, a crazy costumed scavenger hunt, directed by Dan Brophy

Acid Girls and Polygon Palace are just two of the big names contributing to the reMix package (alongside the likes of Louis La Roche and Kris Menace). Both have amped up the 90’s house feel, Acid Girls Electro-ing things up with a wonky bassline and Polygon Palace taking a more Nu-Disco route under that lead line.

♫ Human Life – In It Together (Acid Girls reMix) (zShare) (MediaFire)

♫ Human Life – In It Together (Polygon Palace reMix) (zShare) (MediaFire)

‘In It Together’ drops 7th June on Life X Recordings.

Human Life @ Beatport

Human Life @ 7Digital

Human Life @ Amazon

May 10 2010

Silver Columns’ ‘Cavalier’ video!

Scottish ElectroPop act Silver Columns‘ ‘Cavalier’ is finally getting a full on single release. We’ve already previewed some of the reMixes that will be available in the past few months and it looks like it’s shaping up to be a fantastic single with a great reMix package.

The duo have just dropped the video for the single, an odyssey around the Scottish landscape that highlights the call-and-response nature of the track.

The video directed by DARYL for Pulse Films.

Astronomer are just one of the names stepping up for reMix duties. Here they deliver a deep Electro mix that has certain Beep-House qualities about it. Ahh, that takes me back….

♫ Silver Columns – Cavalier (Astronomer reMix) (zShare) (MediaFire)

‘Cavalier’ is released on 17th May via Moshi Moshi.

Silver Columns @ Beatport

Silver Columns @ Juno

Silver Columns @ Amazon

Video directed by DARYL for Pulse Films

May 7 2010

LIGHTS; new single in the UK

LIGHTS02

Every time I post about LIGHTS I feel like I should disclose certain information. ElectroPop, Keytars, Hot Girls and Canada are four of my favourite things in the world. Kinda’ makes me powerless to resist…

In her continuing battle to break the UK, LIGHTS releases her second single this side of the Atlantic, ‘Saviour’. Although the track itself is quite old (in the US at least) Owl City’s Adam Young has dropped a brand new reMix of it which is very like the original but with added Owl City sparkle and Adam’s highly AutoTuned vocals sneaking in the background.

♫ LIGHTS – Saviour (Adam Young (Owl City) reMix) (Sharebee) (MediaFire)

‘Saviour’ is released in the UK on 10th May.

LIGHTS @ Juno

LIGHTS @ 7Digital

LIGHTS @ Amazon

May 6 2010

TeenagersInTokyo

TeenagerInTokyo02

TeenagersInTokyo are gearing up for the release of their début long player, ‘Sacrifice’, at the end of the month and are preceding it with the second single from the album.

‘End It Tonight’ originally featured on the bands début EP last year but is given new lease of life by a bunch of ace reMixes. We Have Band’s jittery percussion and four bar basslines shine through, the WHB sound actually works really well with Samantha Lim’s vocals. Nightschool are the next in a long line of ‘mystery’ acts to appear in the last couple of years. I’m sure people will have all kinds of theories as to who it is, I’m sure there will be loads of Gossip (ahem). Focusing on his reMix though, it’s got a nice New Wave vibe going on with a nice balance of bass & guitar to Synths, kinda’ gives the song more of a live feel too, which is nice.

♫ TeenagersInTokyo – End It Tonight (We Have Band Mix) (zShare) (MediaFire)

♫ TeenagersInTokyo – End It Tonight (Nightschool Disco Hijack Mix) (zShare) (MediaFire)

‘Sacrifice’ is released on 24th May

TeenagersInTokyo @ Beatport

TeenagersInTokyo @ Juno

TeenagersInTokyo @ 7Digital

TeenagersInTokyo @ Amazon

May 6 2010

HURTS live

HURTS04

Apologies for the crappy phone-cam photo!

Y’know, this will be the first ever live review on electronic rumors, I always feel like I should (and I’m going to do more) but when I’m out, I just kinda’ like to live it up, drink the bar dry and have an awesome time dancing to some amazing music and not worrying what I might say about it on a website!

HURTS felt like more of an ‘event’ though, so here you go, have some words! I caught them live last night here in Bristol on one of the early dates of the NME Radar Tour (along with the abysmal Darwin Deez and the disappointingly average Everything Everything) and, for me at least, anticipation was high.

‘Presence’ is probably the best word to describe HURTS live. For two guys (and three backing band (keyboard player, drummer and opera singer!)) who don’t move around very much they do seem to fill up the stage. One thing I was concerned about was how po-faced and pretentious they were going to be, as that would kinda’ annoy me, but I was surprised at how much of a good time the guys seemed to be having onstage. Yes, the sometimes tortured, sometimes apathetic persona is there in singer Theo Hutchcraft but occasionally you’ll catch a playful smile cross his face, or even an outright grin as the crowd sing the lyrics back to him.

The set was everything I had hoped, most of the EP tracks were played, opening with ‘Silver Lining’. ‘Unspoken’ was pretty perfect, and the set climaxed in a roof raising performance of the forthcoming single ‘Better Than Love’. Interestingly, in his introduction to their breakthrough hit ‘Wonderful Life’ Theo confirmed our suspicions that the song was indeed written about our fair city (there are a few obscure references to places in Bristol in the lyrics) which endeared the crowd to them more.

All in all, awesome! One of the best gigs I have been to in a while, a band hasn’t impressed me this much live since the first time I saw CHEW LiPS!

If you get the chance, definitely see HURTS live, especially if you can catch them early on in their career in some intimate venue.

Check the Fred Falke reMix of ‘Unspoken’:

♫ HURTS – Unspoken (Fred Falke reMix) (zShare) (MediaFire)

‘Better Than Love’ drops on the 24th.

HURTS @ Beatport

HURTS @ Juno

HURTS @ Amazon

May 6 2010

Matt Van Schie, more new material

MattVanShie02

‘Journey’ is the new track from Van She bassist Matt Van Schie’s début EP ‘Balmy Nights’.

Produced, not only by fellow Van She-er Mikey Di Francesco (Arithmatix!), but also the amazing Diamond Cut the track is more chilled than the previous track we’ve heard, ‘Saturday Night’ and is a smooth, dreamy, summer SynthPop track that just floats round your speakers.

Check it:

♫ Matt Van Schie – Journey (zShare) (MediaFire)

You can pick up ‘Balmy Nights’ here.

Apr 24 2010

The Vault: Man Parrish

The Vault: The classics of Electronic Music. The influential and the groundbreaking. The pioneering and the music we grew up on… ManParrish

Yeah, yeah, I know. electronic rumors in ‘actually writing one of their supposedly ‘regular’ columns’ shocker!

Well, it was time to dust off The Vault and feature an artist I have been meaning to write about ever since I came up with The Vault idea.

Electro legend Man Parrish.

Not just instrumental in shaping the sound of Electro Hip-Hop, but influential in most electronic music to this day, Manuel ‘Manny’ Parrish took Hip-Hop to the Discos of New York and took Disco to the streets. Coming out of the Studio54 scene to become one of the original, if not the first, producer/artists in electronic music, Man used costume, theatrics and make–up, to put on an unforgettable live show that also had the side effect of concealing his identity (a Caucasian producer in an African American dominated Hip-Hop scene).

Man Parrish’s place in the history of Electro, ElectroPop and Club music is undeniable. Maybe even more than Arthur Baker and Afrika Bambaataa, Man brought electro Hip-Hop to the masses, even the UK charts, and along with the likes of Baker & Bambaata, Cybotron, and Mantronix shaped an electronic club sound that Hip-Hop would soon forsake but SynthPop, House and Techno would utilise as a base to build upon.

Just listen to these tracks off the self titled début album and the classic single ‘Boogie Down (Bronx)’, they still sound fresh today and the beats, lead lines and vocoders could easily be from any contemporary tune featured on electronic rumors. Most European readers will probably be most familiar with Manny’s work from his Italo/hi-RG collaboration with Man 2 Man from 1986.

Personally, I think 1984’s ‘Boogie Down (Bronx)’ was one of the first synthesizer riffs that got stuck in may head and I have always loved Man Parrish’s combination of the aggressive Funk of early Electro Hip-Hop and the riffs and lead lines of SynthPop. Oh, and the man wields a mean vocoder too!

♫ Man Parrish – Hip Hop BeBop (Don’t Stop) (zShare) (MediaFire)

♫ Man Parrish – Man Made (zShare) (MediaFire)

♫ Man Parrish – Six Simple Synthesizers (zShare) (MediaFire)

♫ Man Parrish – Heatstroke (zShare) (MediaFire)

♫ Man Parrish (Feat. Freeze Force) – Boogie Down (Bronx) (zShare) (MediaFire)

♫ Man 2 Man Meets Man Parrish – Male Stripper (zShare) (MediaFire)

Man Parrish is currently signed to Norman Cook’s Southern Fried Records.

Man Parrish @ Beatport

Man Parrish @ Juno

Man Parrish @ Amazon