Wow, a bit late with this one, about a month it be exact!
Nile Delta is the new project from Joel Dickson, formerly of the amazing Riot In Belgium and one half of Voltage. he released his début EP last month, a double A side ‘Channel’ and ‘All This’ (featuring Ben Browning from Cut Copy). Both tracks are spaced out DiscoPop, ‘Channel’ having more of a Filter-House vibe and this track, ‘All This’ being a Cosmic Disco/ElectroPop odyssey.
What more needs to be said? Mr. Grechko appears to be one of the few producer who can tackle Daft Punk and not turn it into a complete nightmare. So, with that massive task at hand he does a pretty sweet job adding some ElectoPop flavour to the originals deep Disco vibe.
Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Daft Punk’s radial and influential ‘Discovery’ album, It really doesn’t seem like that long ago. What a masterpiece!
This just in from camp Fenech-Soler, I won’t bother paraphrasing, I’ll just copy and past what the guys wrote:
“We are really sorry to have to let you all know that Ben has very recently been diagnosed with early stage cancer. We are absolutely gutted for him, but know that he is in capable hands and he is in really good spirits considering the news. He has a short course of chemo treatment to get through and will be back fighting fit in a couple of months- the recovery rate for testicular cancer is extremely high.
This does mean that, with great regret, we will need to postpone our upcoming UK tour until after our busy festival period. This is also why we’ve had to reschedule our European tour.
We were massively looking forward to coming out and playing to you all later this month and we’re very happy that our Manchester and London dates have sold out in advance. For all those that were coming, your tickets will still be valid for the rescheduled shows. Details of those to be announced shortly. Please bear with us whilst those arrangements are made.
In the meantime, we are going to be very busy promoting our next single ‘Stop And Stare’. The doctors have reassured us that Ben will be fighting fit and ready to play a full set of summer festivals with the list already including Lovebox, Bestival, Camp Bestival, Parklife, Ibiza Rocks, Pukkelpop and Oxegen. Many more being announced over the next few weeks.
Again, we’re really sorry to have to postpone the UK and European shows but we’re sure you all join us in wishing Ben a speedy recovery.
Ross, Andrew and Daniel”
That’s some harsh news right there, but we all wish Ben good health and a fast recovery.
He’d better beat that damed cancer in time for Bestival or there’ll be trouble!
This afternoon Ellie Goulding was featured in the Live Lounge on Jo Wiley’s BBC Radio 1 show, on top of performing her new single ‘Lights’ she also covered The Knife’s ‘Heartbeats’.
It was a pretty sweet acoustic cover too, the song lends itself well to Ellie’s voice. I’m probably going to get a bit hypocritical here though ‘cos I absolutely hate Jose Gonzalez’s dull-as-shit version of a song I love, but when Ellie does it acoustically I quite like it. Maybe I just hate Mr. Gonzalez’s dreary voice, or maybe I just love Ellie’s. Either way, I enjoyed this cover.
It was only a couple of days ago that we posted the first round of reMixes of Parisian duo You!’s ‘Heart’, well looks like they are saving the best ‘til last. There’s an eagerly awaited Edwin Van Cleef mix on the way and this track by awesome French, yet International, duo Walter Sobcek!
This mix is SO good, it’s interesting what that usually chilled Walter Sobcek do with the faster pace of the You! track. The end result is a beat that is as smooth as the smoothest Dreamwave but also full of driving energy. Like a massive 80’s rock track covered by a Dreamwave act, complete with solo in the finale, the track is a Jekyll & Hyde of laid back Miami nights and peak time in a sweaty rave.
Mason and Róisín Murphy’s ‘Boadicea’ is finally out! It seems like ages it’s been slated for release.
The reMix package for the single boasts an awesome line up, including the amazing Evil nine and this killer mix by some of our favourite LA ElectroPoppers Human Life, who appear to have gone for the full on Chicago House workout, complete with massive stabs and acid burbling. If anything can be said about this reMix it’s that it’s fun as hell and commands you to move your feet!
♫ Mason (Feat. Róisín Murphy) – Boadicea (Human Life Dub)
While Oliver $’s reMix is a deep, deep, deep techy House track that is aimed squarely at late night dancefloor action.
Here we have the brand new video for Australian SynthPop torch bearers Parralox’s current single ‘I sing The Body Electric’.
There more than a couple of suggestions of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’ in the track and the video is similarly cloaked royalty and landscape based. However, Parralox blanket their influences with their own mark making both the track and video their own.
In fact, the way they have taken queues from ‘Enjoy The Silence’ and make it contemporary and distinctively Parralox sounding is actually a lot more impressive than the Myriad Depeche Mode sound-alikes that have dominated the Modern SynthPop scene for the last three decades.
Despite the fact that we’ve featured Adam Kesher a few times on electronic rumors over the years, and I know it’s a band, I can’t help seeing the name and thinking it’s a dude!
If you’re new to Adam Kesher then, no, it’s not a dude, its’ five French guys making energetic ElectroPop & Electro-Indie who’s second album ‘Challenging Nature’ finally sees a release, after long delays, this April.
The album hits the ground running immediately, having been produced by Chromeo’s Dave 1 and mixed by Dave’s Brother A-Track, Zdar from Cassius and Pierrick Devin (Alex Gopher, Cassius, Cut Copy). With that production tem behind you, you can’t go wrong.
So, what does the album sound like? Involving for a start, it’s the kind of album that envelops you while listening. With a sound akin to Fenech-Soler, in that they have that Indie tinged, post Nu-Rave, ElectroPop sound. Infused with a hint of funk, I presume Dave 1’s doing, Adam Kesher compliment their synthesisers with a variety of instruments, sometimes used in unexpected ways and being French, of course, there is a suggestion of Phoenix in the songs too.
Adam Kesher have made a French Indie Rock record with synthesizers that get increasingly Disco as it progresses, what they have also made is the prefect record for the time, this is a real 2010/2011 record, distilling what’s happening right now in Disco and Indie into ten tracks designed to get you jumping around.
A couple of days got I got this phone, a Nokia N8, in the post.
I was gonna’ tell you all about it and my speculation tomorrow (I’ve already done lot of posting today) but Chromeo have just confirmed my suspicions on Twitter, so, well, the cat’s out of the bag.
The phone, besides featuring a lovely Chromeo wallpaper, was pre loaded with Chromeo’s new voicepack for Nokia’s Own Voice SatNav app. That’s right, the 55 tiny songs on ‘Drive Time’ are actually SatNav directions. Chromeo can drive you home!
With Nokia’s Own Voice system for their Ovi Maps SatNav you can record you own directional commands, or just let Chromeo funk you to your destination.
But it’s not as simple as that, the songs/directions themselves are crafted in such a way that whatever your route they make up a complete piece of music, if you see what I mean. Tracks like “Turn Left” and “Destination” flow together on your journey into directions and music. I know, it sounds ridiculous, and feels pretty ridiculous to type, but I still stand by my original comment that these songs/directions are actually really good! If they were to release an album I would buy it!
Which they’re not…and that makes me feel all the more privileged to own one of these:
Check out the whole version of the ‘documentary’, including the SatNav directions in action. I can’t wait to try out the phone on the road!
Regardless of whether the album will, or does, exist, even if this is just a piece of marketing for a SatNav system that lets you record your own directions, it’s genius. For a start, musically, Chromeo have done an amazing (and, I can imagine tough) job on these ‘songs’ and the concept and they way Nokia have presented it has been clever too. Most people I know have been guessing all week. Am I disappointed that Chromeo aren’t making the worlds smallest record? A little, but not much, this week we’ve been kinda’ fun, tiny records an all.
Own Voice sounds like a cool little system too, one you could get really creative with, movie samples, vocoding, you could really make trips up north a bit more fun. And if you did it in your own voice when it led you astray (as Sat Navs are wont to do) then you’d have no-one to blame but yourself!
Of Course, if you REALLY want those tunes, and you are the owner of a Nokia N8, you can download Chromeo’s Own Voice directions, or ‘Drive Time’ in our little world, for free at nokiaownvoice/chromeo.
Disclaimer (‘cos I know Americans get pissy about it): Yes, I was given a Nokia N8, preloaded with Chromeo’s Own Voice sound pack, before writing this post. It’s OK, but it’s not like it’s going to replace my HTC Desire HD, I’m an Android kinda’ guy. Badass camera on the N8 though and a nice collectors item too.
Sarah McIntosh A.K.A. The Good Natured had dropped a new free track as a taster of her forthcoming EP.
The track is ‘Wolves’ and was produced by herself and Patrik Berger, fresh from his work with Robyn. If this is any indication of TGN’s new material then we’re pretty excited about it. ‘Wolves’ is a perfect crossover between ElectroPop and British girl Indie. With a touch of the likes of late period Lush or Sleeper and washes of layered synths there’s not a lot more you could ask for. The Good Natured seems to be the point that British music has been heading toward for the last three decades!
