Aug 23 2012

Housquare’s ‘Rubis’

Here’s the latest in French outfit Housquare’s continuing quest to bring the ‘90’s back right in-your-face. Now on Cheap Thrills Housquare have an even larger platform for their unapologetically Chicago House sound that they like to mix up with contemporary production.

Their new track, Rubis, serves as a bridge between their Old Gem EP and their forthcoming new release, Subshine, but as a stand alone it sums up everything we love about Housquare perfectly. There’s classic breakbeats, rave stabs, House piano, and that kind of dark ominous undertone to the track that all the best early ‘90’s House tunes had. Housquare has the early ‘80’s House sound down pat, there’s actually few who do it better.

♫ Housquare – Rubis (Original Mix)

Housquare’s Subshine EP is released 30th September.

Buy Housquare’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 23 2012

Southern Shores’ new EP

One again Cascine sends us the most beautiful music. Toronto’s Southern Shores are gearing up for the release of their new EP, New World. The first track from the EP to surface is New Love, a track that perfectly encompasses the breezy summer vibe of the EP.

From the EP opener Marazul, you are treated to some of the most blissful, engaging sounds this year. At times bordering on Ambient, but always enslaved to the undulating Balearic rhythms that run throughout. When it’s not being all chill-out atmospheric the EP shows off Southern Shores injection of early ‘90’s R&B into their music, tracks like Sankasa and Purple Sky let you easily slip into a Soul state of mind. New Love is actually one of the standouts of this sun-kissed collection, drawing in the influences of the rest of the EP into one neat package. Hazy tropical sounds and rolling Chill-Pop abound as reverb soaked samples and comfortable beats wash in and out of the track like waves.

♫ Southern Shores – New Love

Southern Shores’ New World EP is released 2nd October on Cascine.

Buy Southern Shores’ music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 23 2012

Grimes’ ‘Genesis’ video

Here’s the new video for Grimes’ Genesis, one of the best tracks off her Visions album.

The internet seems to hate it, but I can’t figure out why. It’s actually pretty standard video fare these days. I wonder if the internet would like it better if we said Romain Gavras directed it rather than Claire Boucher herself?

Visions is out now.

Buy Grimes’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 23 2012

Pilotpriest reMixed by Tommy

Canada’s soundtrack wizard Pilotpriest and the French SynthWave master Tommy. Could you ask for a better combination. Here we have two of our favourite producers of the last year, one reMixing the other as Tommy takes on Streets Of Fire, from Pilotpriest’s Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album.

Tommy takes the best of the original, the brooding intensity, the sense of foreboding and apprehension, and adds to that a nice ‘80’s pop cultural element. Heavy pounding drums, washed with reverb, hammer out a new level of drama in the track while haunting guitar and evocative synths play out the narrative of the track. Tommy has crated a flip side tot he original Streets Of Fire, a different part of the same soundtrack. Streets Of Fire sets the scene, Tommy’s reMix raises the stakes.

♫ Pilotpriest – Streets Of Fire (Tommy reMix)

Buy Pilotpriest’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 22 2012

Arcade High’s ‘Beauty Queen’ EP

Hot on the heels of his The Art Of Youth album, Pittsburgh SynthWave producer Arcade High has this week released a new EP, Beauty Queen. We really liked his album, but with this EP he seems to have stepped things up a notch including his first exploration of vocal tracks (apart from the Maddie Ardillo featuring Crush).

The EP kicks off with it’s title track. A gentle, nostalgic, easing into the proceedings. A beautiful swirl of retro sounds, a cascade of the sounds of growing up in the ‘80’s. A theme which reoccurs throughout the EP, but is most evident in the dancing melodies of Beauty Queen. Which leads us to Blacktop Rendezvous. This is the EP for us, this is the easily standout track. This is the track where Arcade High, A.K.A. Ryan Boosel, beaks out his vocal chops, and he nails it. The simple addition of an emotionally resonant, very personal, vocal elevates the track beyond what we would have expected from the EP. When we featured the video for Blacktop Rendezvous earlier in the week, we likened the track to “an ‘80’s SynthWave version of The Postal Service”. Both in songwriting and vocal style the are a lot of similarities between Boosel and the Post Service’s Ben Gibbard. The introspection, the vocal quirks that made Gibbard’s vocals so listenable are all present in Blacktop Rendezvous. Couple that with some sweet vintage ElectroPop and you have a track that worth the asking price of the whole EP alone. Dream Of Me follows and gets us back into the post-Italo SynthWave groove with an infectious groove and sparking synths. As with most of the EP, Dream Of Me is a fairly upbeat tune that conceals a layer of haunting melancholy, like the best ‘80’s tunes, which, we suppose, could be a metaphor for coming-of-age tale the EP represents. Up next is the deep romanticism of Prom Night, Everything you’d expect from this moment in an ‘80’s teen movie is present, gently swelling chimes, slow bass, and a sax solo, all adding to the ambiance that flow into the EP’s closer, You Said Forever. This final track feels like the prefect closer to the EP’s narrative. Slightly bittersweet in it’s use of deep warm synth sounds conveying a sense of sadness while a shot of optimist is introduced with the lead line. Arcade High’s début album was well received ‘round these parts, but with this new EP, he’s well and truly blown us away. Definitely something you should look into.

♫ Arcade High – Blacktop Rendezvous

♫ Arcade High – Beauty Queen

♫ Arcade High – Dream Of Me

Arcade High’s Beauty Queen EP is out now.

Buy Arcade High’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 22 2012

Chrome Canyon’s ‘Memories Of A Scientist’ video

The awesome Chrome Canyon, now on Stone’s Throw, has a new single and album incoming. Memories Of A Scientist is the second track to be taken form the forthcoming Elemental Themes album.

The video, self-directed by Chrome Canyon/Morgan Z and casts himself as an electronic music mad scientist set amidst the heavy synthesizer Disco of the track.

Elemental Themes is released 9th October.

Buy Chrome Canyon’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 22 2012

Just some of those Barry Manilow reMixes

Right then, by now I think you all know our opinion of reMix contests. They aren’t good for anyone. But we’re not going to go on about it again, but like we said we’re only going to do round-ups of reMix competition entries from now on, because, don;t get us wrong, reMix competitions do churn out some absolutely wicked tracks. This week’s tiresome competition comes in the surprising form of legendary smoothster Barry Manilow in a transparently lame attempt to seem relevant, or something. The upside of this is it’s given some very talented producers access to that unmistakable croon.

So here’s the first batch of reMixes of Manilow’s new single, Everything’s Gonna’ Be Alright. These guys are way ahead of the pack right now. American Disco producer Blue Satellite comes out of hiding to drop an absolutely massive Nu-Disco mix of the track. Seriously, this one is huge. Loading the track with bright synths and a solid Disco groove was exactly the way to go with this track, and Blue Satellite nailed it. Waling a different path if Ireland’s Figure Of 8, who gets a little Techy, a little Electro and a little Experimental with his all-too-short, atmospheric, reMix. His pulsating synth sounds and robotic beats shine a light on a whole new dimension for the song. Greetings Program plays around with Disco and SynthWave for his reMix, injecting the track with a little Electro Boogie. This probably isn’t the last Manilow round-up we’ll do, we are hearing whispers of some huge entries incoming. But this will do for now.

♫ Barry Manilow – Everything’s Gonna’ Be Alright (Blue Satellite reMix)

♫ Barry Manilow – Everything’s Gonna’ Be Alright (Figure Of 8 reMix)

♫ Barry Manilow – Everything’s Gonna’ Be Alright (Greetings Program reMix)

Buy Barry Manilow’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 22 2012

The Penelopes’ August Chart Mix

The Penelopes– The Penelopes’ Charts August 2012 = London based French ElectroPop duo The Penelopes drop their picks for August 2012. One or two of our favourite from the last four weeks are in this storming half hour.

♫ The Penelopes – The Penelopes’ Charts August 2012

The tracklist:

01. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Windshield Smasher
02. Misun – My Time
03. Blood Diamonds – Ritual (Original Mix)
04. The Human League – Don’t You Want Me (Aeropop Edit)
05. Miike Snow – The Wave (Filght Facilities reMix)
06. Larry Tee (Feat. Charlie Le Mindu) – Charlie! (Gooseflesh reMix)
07. Elite Gymnastics – Minneapolis Belongs To You (Cover by Recycle Culture)
08. Maserati – The Eliminator
09. Suga Free And Pomona Pimpin’ Young (Feat. Latoiya Williams) – We Go
10. The Mountains Goats – Cry For Judas

Buy The Penelopes’ music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 22 2012

Icarus!’s ‘Woot’

Every blog I know was bombarded with this track yesterday, it was like social media carpet bombing. But y’know what?, the track is really good. It comes from Colombian producer Icarus! and it’s called Woot (for some reason)

It’s a really well crafted slice of Disco-House, and although track like this are ten-a-penny these days, there is something really compelling about this one. The chord progression hits just the right note for the track, elevating above it’s bog-standard Disco-House contemporaries. The bassline too, and the way it feeds the rest of the track make this a standout production. Occasionally, we are quite pleased we got bothered on all our social media accounts. This is one of those times. Nice one Icarus!

♫ Icarus! – Woot

Check out more from Icarus! on SoundCloud.

Follow @electronicrumor

Aug 21 2012

Cassette Club’s ‘Flash’

Ahead of the full reMix package to be released on Modal at the end of the month, Cassette Club have dropped their new single, Flash, as a Bandcamp exclusive. We heard Cassette Club’s own Ben Macklin’s reMix of the track last month and we’ve been eager to hear the original. You can pick up the track on it’s own from today.

Flash is a breezy slice of ElectroPop. If you heard the reMix you know somewhat what to expect, although this original version has the dancefloor qualities dialled down a little and the floaty retro-ness pumped up. Cassette Club do an amazing job of creating something that feels both nostalgically pleasing and contemporary and fresh. Anchored on a bouncy Disco influenced bassline the track layers on sweeping, emotional synths and a anthemic, rich vocal. Top quality London ElectroPop, a must listen.