Well, the big news of the last 24 hours is Van She are back. Did you hear that?, muthafuckin’ Van She are back!
Modular Recordings have dropped the first, title and lead track from their forthcoming new album, ‘Idea Of Happiness’. So what’s it like? It’s an unexpected beast. The track is classic Van She. Anthemic, rousing Indie-Electro, where the unexpected comes into play is with the big Mason-esque Electro-House synths which, I’ll be hones, take a little getting used to. But the more you listen to it the more they start to work perfectly with the tune. This track is going to kill at festivals this summer.
Usually when so many tracks or reMixes arrive in the inbox over the a few weeks the artist has got something new to sell.
Not so with Strange Talk. You’ve already heard the EP, you’ve seen thevideos, heard the reMixes, you already bounced around all summer to ‘Climbing Walls’, no here is some new reMixes just to let you know that the guys are still here, touring Australia right now, and will be back soonish with a new single. That’s it, just like “Hello, we’re still here, have a some reMixes from Van She and Tim Fuchs. Laters”. So enjoy a welcome return from Van She Tech and their bassy Disco mix, Strange Talk’s own analog ‘80’s ElectroPop workout and Mr. Fuchs’ Deep House take on ‘Eskimo Boy’ and remember, Strange Talk aren’t dead.
It’s been a while since we wrote about them here, now there’s finally some movement on the Vandroid front.
More tracks from the soundtrack to the mythical 1984 Sci-Fi action movie Vandroid have surfaced. As you might recall the first of the Vandroid tracks we heard was the Van She Tech reMix, now reMixes from Yuksek, Fred Falke, Boy 8-Bit and Siriusmo have been unearthed and put together in the form of the ‘Master And Slave’ reMixes EP..
First up, this Yuksek reMix is one of the best things I have heard all year, no question, pure Nu-Disco, ElectroPop brilliance with that slightly rough sound from his album. Using the vocals sparsely, but to rad effect Yuksek really knocks it out the park. Fred Falke’s is wicked too. Stripping the track down to an, almost Industrial, Electro Rock track. These are backed up by Boy 8-Bits’ deep Electro groove as be brings a hypnotic track with some standout distorted synth percussion and Siriusmo’s cut-up Disco take on the track.
The Vandroid project is totally exiting, not just ‘cos some of the biggest names in Electro are contributing some of their best work, but because they have made the whole thing fun, interesting and addictive. It’s a pity we’ll never actually get to see the movie!”
This track’s been knocking around for a few days now but I couldn’t help but share it with you.
You’ve probably heard the Vandroid buzz by now. Lost 80’s grindhouse movie? Missing soundtrack? Check some of the press release:
“In a windowless warehouse building on the dreary outskirts of town, an unknown purveyor of grind-house cinema was beginning principal photography on what would be it’s last film ever. That summer, in that same warehouse, a young audio engineer named Fujiyama was contracted to record a visionary album as a companion piece to the film using a preproduction test unit of the latest synthesising equipment from Sansui in Osaka.
But sadly, the film and the soundtrack created for it, would not be completed according to plan.
A few weeks later, a freak fire raged out of control, destroying the studio. The barrister found the owners innocent. Insurance checks were cut. And the masters for the film and soundtrack were presumed gone forever.
In the Summer of 2009, Police were called by county court to open a rental-storage locker in the San Fernando Valley, CA with payments long overdue registered to a man by the name of Fujiyama Matsumoto, deceased, as confirmed by LA County Coroner’s Office, 2007.
Presumed lost forever, the visionary unfinished concept album was found in a sealed box in the back of the storage locker and now this epic soundtrack from this unreleased film is about to be released over 25 years after it’s creation.”
What is know is that there will probably be an album put together by some of the best new disco names around. Van She Tech and Fred Falke are definatly on the cards. Speaking of which, it’s been a while since Van She got their reMixing groove on so here’s the first of the Vandriod tracks, ‘Master & Slave’, and it’s Van She Tech mix. It’s a pretty great start to whatever Vandroid is.
‘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.
Indie-electro darlings Dragonette have roped in the talents of Michael Di Francesco of Van She fame under the alias of Arithmatix! for a pumping Nu-Disco killer remix.
Loaded with Italo influences and a Disco groove this reMix is gonna’ ram the dancefloors!
I’m insanely jealous of those living in the US right now as Dragonette are touring the states alongside Little Boots and Fan Death. Now that’s gonna’ be a hell of a night out!
Ever since we got our hands on that radio rip of Van She covering Blue Öyster Cult’s ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’, we have been waiting impatiently for it to drop. The Bacardi B-LIVE folks have been telling us they were releasing it soon soon, but it never seemed to come soon enough!
Well, it’s finally here and, to be honest, it was worth the wait. Those huge Van She bass and lead synths are back! This is easily the best version of this song I’ve heard, Van She’s Indie-Space-Disco is prefect for it!
Matt Van Schie, of Van She fame, has dropped this solo effort onto an unexpecting interwebz and it’s a really nice little ElectroPop jam, it’s kinda’ late 70’s/early 80’s post-punk sounding track. Like a (more) retro Van She.
Also, this cover version of Blue Öyster Cult’s ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ by Van She proper has surfaced. It’s from Australian radio station Triple J and it’s huge sounding with massive synth stabs.
Over on the ModBlog, those nice people at Modular Recordings have been in a generous mood and given away the reMix of ‘Changes’ by Aussie Indie-Electro stars Van She that they had G.L.O.V.E.S. (one half of Damn Arms) do.
The reMix has been knocking around since late last year but it’s worth posting anyway, it’s a Disco funker with some great synth noodling, as is this old gem, one of my favourite Van She tracks mixed by one of my favourite reMixers, Lifelike:
electronic rumors 