Painful Like is the second single from Toronto based Avant-ElectroPopper Austra’s excellent new album Olympia., Raw beats, razor sharp synth bass and passionate vocals, what more could you want?
A video? OK then. this clip was directed by Exploding Motor Car (really!) and brings to mind all kinda of 80s straight-to-video epics.
Austra’s Olympia is out now.
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Here we have the second track to emerge from Norwegian ElectroPop queen Annie’s forthcoming collaborative EP with London Electro head Richard X, A&R. Following the reveal of Back Together earlier this month, this track, Hold On, sees Annie and Richard in blissful Pop mode.
Sounding like a breezier, slightly groovier, Saint Etienne, Hold On is like a Pop breath of fresh air. Unashamed and unworried Hold On wears it’s uplifting beats and optimistic synths on it’s sleeve. Even embracing a slight Tropical influence and some gloriously crunchy snares, the track is, at the same time, both timeless and really early 90s. None of this is unexpected though, with the team of Annie, Richard X and pop writer extraordinaire Hannah Robinson at the helm, slick, intelligent Pop is to be expected.
♫ Annie – Hold On
Annie’s The A&R EP is out soon.
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Here’s the new single from Norwegian Brooklyn resident Oh Land. My Boxer is a pounding Electro workout taken from her forthcoming third album, Wish Bone that sees Oh Land take on a more in-your-face style.
The video is pretty simple, Oh Land on a bike, with a dog, not much more to add.
Oh Land’s Wish Bone is due out in September.
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Here’s the new single from Brooklyn ElectroPopper St. Lucia. It’s been dropped to celebrate the announcement of Jean-Philip Grobler’s début album, to be titled When The Night, and it’s release date in October. If Elevate is anything to go be, this album could be something really special, just we didn’t have to wait until summer is over for such a summery record.
That’s what Elevate is, pure breezy summer anthem. a Tropically tinged slice of Indie-ElectroPop that can;t fail to put you in a good mood. With a solid Indie-Disco bass hook to revolve around, St. Lucia generously heaps on thick buzzing synths and swirling tones complimented with splashes of jangly guitar. Grobler’s vocals have never sounded so epic, so anthemic, as he belt out an optimistic opus that’ll stick in your head all day. Stick around for the horn section, everything goes crazy nostalgic then.
♫ St. Lucia – Elevate
Elevate is out now, St. Lucia’s début album When The Night is out 8th October via Neon Gold.
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Classixx’s amazing début album, Hanging Gardens, is pretty much the soundtrack to anyone’s summer, and one of the records highlights, the Nancy Whang featuring All Your Waiting For has not got itself a fancy video as it launches itself into single mode.
Director Tim K senses a Yacht Rock influence to Classixx’s tunes and plays up to it with Nancy living the high life on the high seas.
Classixx’s Hanging Gardens is out now.
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So, we presume that Glaswegian producer Auntie Flo has added the final ‘ie’ after taking his name from Bod’s Aunt Flo to stop the BBC suing him or something. Either that or he has his own beloved Auntie Flo, seems a bit coincidental though. We are also completely discounting him taking his name from an American euphemism for the fairer sex’s ‘time of the month’, because, well, he’s from the UK and no-one says that here, it’s far to polite, when we slang it up, we slang it up right nice. Wherever he took his moniker from, he’s turned his attention to fellow Glaswegian ElectroPoppers Chvrches current single Gun and totally transforms the track into an emotional Deep House mesmerizer.
A completely involving reMix, Auntie Flo serves up an intoxicating swirl of warm tones and compelling beats. This is summery festival House as you want it to be. Deep and sub loaded, this is one to get lost in, and the added dusting of Lauren Mayberry’s strangely powerful vocals is just the icing on the cake. As the track glides into it’s organ fuelled finale you just want to be in a field with 20,000 other revellers.
♫ Chvrches – Gun (Auntie Flo reMix)
Chvrches Gun is out now. Their début full length record, titled, The Bones Of What You Believe, is released 23rd September.
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Jupiter – SPF30 Mix = While we’re in the middle of this heatwave, we would suggest SFP50 if you’re venturing outside, but SPF30 is good for your ears as French DiscoPoppers Jupiter have put together this lush summery mix to compliment the climate.
The tracklist:
01. Fingerman – Lenny’s Disco
02. Mirror People – Nothing To Give
03. DJ Nibc – All’s Well That Ends Well
04. Majestique – Must Get There (Dubka reMix)
05. Severino Horse Meat Disco – Bounce
06. Boris Duglosch (Feat. Roisin Murphy) – Never Enough (Drop Out Orchestra reMix)
07. The Popopopops – Cross The Line (Mickey reMix)
08. Blackbelt Andersen – Klapp Og Trans
09. Shallow Taxi Club – Flashback
10. Hot Natured – Reverse Skydiving (Benoit And Sergio reMix)
11. Lady Drewniak – Let’s Work
12. Telonius – Control
13. Midnight Jugernauts – Memorium
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July had been a busy week for London based Italo synthesist Chris Flatline A.K.A. Mild Peril. With two releases, on different formats, in the space of a week, Mild Peril in on the approach vector to deliver the culmination of this particular phase of his Cosmic Italo journey. One limited edition, on Vivod Records, and one digital release should whet people appetites for of this lush, evocative, electronic soundtrack.
Firstly, there is the limited edition 12” release of Alpha Zone and Gamma Zone. Both to be found in their original form on the Unknown Zones, First Survey EP, here slightly reworked but no less fantastical. These two tracks are amongst Mild Peril’s best, robotic yet emotional, mysterious yet comforting, utilising machine beats, razor sharp lead lines and heady swirls of synthesizer sounds to create moods for your head and your feet. Owning these two tunes on vinyl is a pretty interesting prospect for the discerning Italo DJ. The second release, Unknown Zones Vol. 2, contains two new tunes, Outer Zone/Sigma Zone and Crisis In Gamma Zone, both built upon existing themes but honed through the last couple of years of releases and live shows into two epic electronic narratives. At around quarter of an hour each, there is much scope here for ushering the listener through a variety of moods that weave together to tell the tale of the whole. Haunting chimes and cascades of electronic warmth will give way to pulsating arpeggios and pulsating FM bass, and back again, as the voyage though Italo, Cosmic Disco and late 70s soundtrack vibes progresses. A definite recommendation for any lover of synthesizer music that should be seeing a physical release later in the year.
♫ Mild Peril – Alpha Zone
♫ Mild Peril – Crisis In Gamma Zone
Mild Peril’s Unknown Zones Vol. 1 and Unknown Zones Vol. 2 are both out now.
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Late last year we featured the video for Story Of The Running Wolf’s Stratospheric. Well the glammy LA SynthPop duo obviously thought that one video was not good enough, as here is video number two.
Directed by Todd Edwards, this time around the clip is a love letter to the 80s movies of Jim Henson and Wolfgang Petersen.
Story Of The Running Wolf’s self-titled EP is out now.
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It’s been while since we’ve heard from London based Indie-ElectroPopper frYars (yup, we’re still writing it like that, believe), and with his new track, Cool Like Me which dropped this week, he’s taken on a decidedly Disco groove for the summer. A surprising poolside vibe for these hot weather days from a surprising source.
Loaded with wicked little Disco licks and sumptuous space-age vocoder action, Cool Like Me, has all the elements of a Tropical Disco floorfiller, but with added frYars Indie-Pop cool. With a tongue-in-cheek vocal set amidst Disco bass and swirling strings, this tune gets both Disco and Pip just right. Whether this is an indication of a shift in sound, or just a one off, we don’t know, but we would certainly welcome more summery, feel-good, tunes like this one in future.
♫ frYars – Cool Like Me
frYars’ Cool Like Me is out now.
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