18 December 2006





California kids The Softlightes are making such sweet electronic pop, my ears are getting fat off the sweetness. Destined for places larger even than CA, The Softlightes have already made it onto the front cover of a recent NME, with their song Girlkillsbear (remixed by the equally as sweet Swede's Lo-Fi-FNK) featuring on a Modular Mix CD. Here is the original of the said song. I've said sweet too much already, so now i'll use beautiful. Twinkling electronic melodies, chirps and tweets in the vein of Team LG or Architecture In Helsinki.





MP3:
The Softlightes - Girlkillsbear







It's also great to see Modular looking outside of this whole norman-rave-electro-dooda scene for their roster.......not that i'm grumbling too much.








I caught Revl9n in show earlier in the year with the incorrect thought that they were infact Revolution 9 (check their site and listen to Computer Girl, it's mint) I wasn't disappointed with Revl9n though, they were amazing, hot, and Swedish, and delivered a great electro show. I've keenly followed their exploits since. Freeform Five have just remixed one of their songs, enjoy!






MP3:
Revl9n - Someone Like You (Freeform Five Remix)





A Chow Chow is a fluffy make of dog which normally keeps it tongue sticking out. Chow Chow are also a cool indie band who come up with great songs like this:




MP3:
Chow Chow - Bright Lights







15 December 2006





Ok so every father, son, wizard and goblin knows what Jesse Keeler's been doing with himself since DFA1979 called it time. But what about his former drum buddy Sebastien Grainger? Well he's on the comeback trail, currently writing material for a new record of his own, there is 2 tracks you can hear on his MySpace. The one called When You Go Out smacks of Ratatat plus lyrics, I really like it, but i'm not going to call it "funky" because that would be doing it down. Funk, a horrible word. When You Go Out will be released on a 7" split with Toronto's Jewish Legend who sounds like THIS, superrr.






Sebastien Grainger - When You Go Out




Rediscovered the joy of Cursor Miner in the past week, back in the day I just loved Cursor Miner Plays God, flipping great album! Then 2006 saw the release of Danceflaw which is basically a soggy electro-techno extravaganza. Example:




Cursor Miner - Skunk Works




Energy




9 December 2006





Packing a suitcase is rubbish. Living out of a suitcase is even worse. That's what i'm doing for the next week. I shall leave you with these tidbits of joy.






Moby - Go (Vitalic Remix)






Die Mannequin - Near The End






Deerhoof - Byun






The Presets - Down Down Down (Bumblebeez Remix)






Gomm - No Disappointment






Mother And The Addicts - Oh God Stop Hurting Me




And also here is a complete episode of one of the funniest TV programs ever! Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Pure genius.







Keep it gangster.




6 December 2006






"HMV, top dog for Christmas" However, some punks disagree with that statement and are intent on creating uproar in HMV. Punks is exactly what they are..... Casio Punks. They call themselves The $hit (Dollar Hit??). Armed with cheap electronic instruments, an iPod backing track and a bad attitude, they have dragged their shambolic live show kicking and screaming across the UK - from triumphantly storming Oxford's Truck Festival to causing chaos at a London fashion week catwalk show and generally kicking the brains off kids all over the country, sharing stages with the likes of MC Lars, To My Boy, Trash Fashion and Simon Bookish. Their debut album is entitled LOCK UP YOUR GHETTOBLASTERS!!! Their sound is like Freezepop meets Towers Of London meets Cursor Miner, and at the moment i'm not quite sure if i'm ready for it! Are you?




The $hit - H-M-V-R-I-O-T




Then on the nice end of the electronic music scale there is Boyfriendgirlfriend. Their bio reads as follows:

"in a small room, curtains drawn, in the ghetto side of brooklyn, eric monse wakes up. he sits down in front of a computer screen and turns on mixing boards, synthesizers and drum machines. his black headphones clamp to his head as he listens to a file he downloads through the internet.

1800 miles away, in denver, colorado, shane etter is turning off his synthesizers for the evening. he has just finished composing the file eric is listening to. the file contains a song: music, vocals, recordings, and midi information. eric and shane have already sent multiple variations of this file back and forth to each other in their collaboration, changing and crafting the song.

the file, you could say, is boyfriendgirlfriend.

located simultaneously in new york and denver, boyfriendgirlfriend are set to release their debut album, 'name names'. not a single note of the album was recorded with eric and shane in the same room as each other. but as they begin their east coast tour, each stage will burn with sonic fury and visual intensity."


Very interesting and impressive. Here's a track from Boyfriendgirlfriend.




Boyfriendgirlfriend - Infatuation Dot Com




Benoît Pioulard is also a captivating musician....he does photos too.




Benoît Pioulard - The Depths & The Seashore










5 December 2006






Skullening are a loud and trashy four piece. Sinister organ and fuzzed out bass damage. Vocalist to vocalize while drums smash and pound. To me they sound like a mix of Clinic, Quintron and Les Georges Leningrad all transported back to the 1960's. I love it!


Skullening - Bugs That 'R' Dead


Recently described as "an album you must have in your life" Kitsune Maison 3 Compilation just continues to blow me away!! It's just so so so good, you hear one song and think "AMAZING" then the next song comes on and you're like "WHERE IS THE FILLER ON THIS THING?!?" There is none! It's just pure enjoyment start to finish. Todays favourite is the Freeform Five track.


Freeform Five - Home Wit U


I also enjoyed the new James Bond.




4 December 2006






Errors are an inescapable facet of human imperfection. Errors also happen to be a Glaswegian post-rock-tronica trio who throughout December will be showcasing their great skills in live shows in Scotland and London (dates here) Also great to see that they will be playing SXSW in March. I'd so check them out if I lived remotely near any of those places! They have an EP out entitled How Clean Is You Acid House? and it's chuffin' brill, and only a Lady Godiva, bargain!




Errors - Terror Tricks




Ming & Ping are the greatest synth-pop duo I ever did hear this year, same old story, identical twins born in Hong Kong, transported to San Francisco where in 2002 they decide to make New Wave / Electro Pop. The following song is just great.




Ming & Ping - Delete




But wait! The cheese on toast synth pop doesn't end there......put on your headphones and listen to this :-)




J+J+J - Jobs That Require Headphones




And to top it all off you simply MUST check out Pixel Pixel Pixel and his coin-op core sound. Described as sounding like completing Golden Axe on only one credit and then playing Space Harrier straight afterwards and feeling like you just jumped through the warp pipe to World 8 so you don't have to listen to anymore of that 'Our Princess is in another castle' crap and then when Guile combs his hair after jack-knifing to win a perfect round and you're just like, "Y-y-y-yeah..." and you just busted the bad guy on Chase HQ and knacked the heck out of his car and shiz but then there's some quiet bits kinda like when Link is just drifting on the open sea watching the stars shine like little Tri-Forces but mostly it's like Double Dragon when those bitches kick your ass with whips.




3 December 2006






Northern lads That Effing Tank are geniouses spoilt only by their name. Earlier this year I was privileged enough to see them sweat their backsides off under a gazebo in a tiny outdoor patio, the place was rammed and I could only gain a view by dangling precariously from a upright gas heater thing. Their style is semi-improv dance rock, persistently stomping from one tune to another with the aid of an odd-strung-and-tuned baritone guitar through a guitar and bass amp using a morley switch pedal + regular drums and sticks. Giving all those other loud as heck two-piece bands a lesson on how to do it, and do it well!




TFT - Making A Meal For Beethoven




Three years since the initial Idol Tryouts:Ghostly International compilation was released, Volume 2 is now upon us, offering doses of exclusive avant-pop (disc 1) and SMM (disc 2) Some great artists feature, including Solvent, Mobius Band, Benoit Pioulard, Tim Hecker. Fantastic! Here's a sample off of it by Chicago's electro outfit Kill Memory Crash.




Kill Memory Crash - Press + Burn







2 December 2006







I first heard Safety Scissors when he did a sweet remix of Dntel's now legendary This Is The Dream Of Evan And Chan back in the day, then he did his own Tainted Lunch album which I also enjoyed a lot, he brews up some really lovely electronic-pop, and his latest offering is a remix for Architecture In Helsinki's They Died, We Remixed LP is no exception. Putting his own vocals and electronic arrangements to the effervescent Do The Whirlwind (it seems he only remixes amazing songs) Safety Scissors (Matthew Patterson Curry) comes up with something not totally dissimilar to the original, but different enough to make you prick your ears up and realise that this is a sterling cover of a superior song!




Architecture In Helsinki - Do The Whirlwind (Safety Scissors)





Are oui phony?? That's the title of DAT Politics latest offering of eleckyskronk on Tigerbeat6, there's some cracking tunes to be heard on it especially Step Back which is probably the most straightforward i've heard DAT Pol ever be. But 1 minute 40 seconds will always be the ideal length for a DAT Politics song to be ;-)




DAT Politics - Pekin Synth Star




It's worth checking out Whomp! FM too, there is amongst other things a 22 minute megamix of Adventure Kid tunes available for stream. It's also great to see I'm From Barcelona encorporating Adventure Kid's We're From Barcelona remix into their live show, it looks so much fun!!









1 December 2006





Just a quick one before I abscond to Liverpool for evening of pop music. Kalle J makes premium quality electro-funk from his 3 bedroom semi (presumption) in Gothenburg. We've just booked to go Gothenburg in March, and I can't wait! We just need things to do there besides spend the whole week at the local Volvo museum.

Anyway here, get some Kalle J down your Ruud Gullit. ;-)

Kalle J - Everything Is You




30 November 2006






Been loving French electrohopster TEPR just lately, belching out cut up 80's synths, fake sax, and sometimes guest rap from Omnikrom what more could a man want on his 15 minute commute to work in the morning! Great stuff




TEPR - En Direct De La Cote






I would also love to move my body to a Boys Noize remix of Tiga's Move Your Body, but unfortunately i've got sciatica. Oh well, I can at least bob my head profusely. I'm still undecided as to whether Boys Noize are better remixers or producers of their own material. They're undeniably fantastic at both if you ask me.




Tiga - Move Your Body (Boys Noize Remix)






Das Kometen also has put up some new tracks on his MySpace <3







29 November 2006






Hadouken!blah. blah.blah. soundslikeKlaxons.blah.blah. blah.StreetFighter2 .blah.blah.blah. alsosoundslikeDropTheLime.blah.blah.blahyped.

Hadouken! - Klaxons vs Hadouken

Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl

And whilst on the subject of the Leeds music scene, someone whos been at it for years, Claire Broadley aka Printed Circuit never fails to make me smile. The Sound Of The Wonderful Technique is just pure electro-pop brilliance, sweet 8-bit hooks from start to finish, guaranteed to revive anyones dank and dreary day!


Printed Circuit - Mobira

Boys Noize crank up the distortion again, this time with Erole Attakk, nice one boys <3<3


Boys Noize - Erole Attakk







19 November 2006






Now i'm not really much of a rap enthusiast , with perhaps the exception of Gold Chains or Ghostface. Well to that short list I can now add TTC, a Paris based rap collective made up of DJ's and emcee's including Teki Latex and Para One. I first heard TTC on track number 1 of Modeselektor's 'Hello Mom' and remember thinking "Wow this sounds much better than rap in my native tongue!" A new TTC full-length is due out in January and from the press release I read, it's going to be quite special!

Some guy about TTC - 3615 (due 8th January 2007) - "The most innovative, risk-taking and outrageous hip hop act to come out of France in the last decade, TTC are back. With Cuiziner established as a heartthrob in the US, Teki Latex set to release a pop-rave album and Tido Berman concentrating on advanced, heavy-lidded sativation, the trio are taking things higher with their third album, “3615TTC”. With production from the group’s flying helmet-wearing DJ, Orgasmic, the mighty Para One, Tacteel, Modeselektor and Tido himself, this is the band’s most consistent, distinctive effort.

The record kicks off with a nod to Monsieur Gainsbourg as TTC get finger-snapping on “Quand Je Claque Des Doigts”, Para One rigging up a beat that is as weird as it is catchy. “Paris Paris” drops love for the mostest city in the world over a martial rhythm, “Turbo” shows Para’s taste for emolectro. “Travailler” (“Work”) is all about making it look easy. “Ce Pou Vous” finds the group twisting r&b into new shapes for your benefit. “Antenne 2” is classic French pop chopped into small pieces and put back together. Tido contributes the wigged out instrumental “J’ai le son” before Tacteel throws in a terrifyingly satanic re-work of the hokey kokey and then the group get dirty on “Strip Pour Moi”. Only in France would an artichoke play such an important metaphorical role… “Ambition” is more uplifting kitsch, a reminder of the sweet, beating heart of the group. Finally, allies Modeselektor finish things off with some cut up club music.

Breathtakingly clever, silly, profound, shallow and beautiful, “3615TTC” is that rare thing, an album which sounds like no other."

Until then though, you might well want to check out this heavy hip-hop klub kut from Mr. Flash featuring TTC, entitled "Champions" I like, like it a lottt. Mr. Flash's Champion / Disco Dynamite is out on Ed Banger.

Mr. Flash featuring TTC - Champions




18 November 2006






Kitsune is fast becoming my new favourite label. Their 3rd Maison Compilation is due out on 27th 11th. Fourteen tracks of pure aural satisfaction! Here is a sample off of it, by Gordon's younger, more musically adept brother, Alex Gopher, oooooh-yeah!



Alex Gopher - Motorcycle Wet Clutch Short Edit



It turns out that ATP Weekend Two 2007 is to be curated by.......the fans. ATP EXPLAINS ALL HERE. So get thinking of your Top 10 Artists you'd like to see live. Sadly I don't think enough kids will vote for Max Tundra, but you never know. My Top 10 + songs will follow.




16 November 2006





YUKSEK has come up trumps again! The French disco-house wizard has a new tune called "Amerik" which is nothing short of stonking! It's kind of like Daft Punk doing Vitalic.

Check it! Man I just can't get enough of YUKSEK.

YUKSEK - Amerik

Went to see CSS last night at Korova (most swish gig-venue ever, but what do you expect when it's owned by Ladytron) CSS played a blinder. If you are going to see them at any point, I INSIST you buy a t-shirt, they are so so RAD, even RADDER than those Presets t-shirts. Credit also due to The Roger's Sisters for playing an excellent set even if I was upset they did not play Emotion Control, I did not know they were fronted by a young Jackie Chan.




10 November 2006






Ursula 1000's new 12" entitled Urgent/Anxious featuring disco diva Cristina (Aguilera, Milian.... it's upto you) is an electro-mutant gem, but I must admit that what drew me to it was the fact that there was a remix of the said song by none other than Ladytron, a lot darker than the original it reminds me of early-ish Goldfrapp or something that Magas would churn out, which really impresses a man of my ears!



Ursula 1000 ft. Cristina - Urgent/Anxious (Ladytron Remix)






1 November 2006





Somewhere between MSTRKRFT, Daft Punk and Das Kometen lies two blokes armed with decrepit synths and old computers. They call themselves a question, the question is: Does It Offend You, Yeah? To be honest it doesn't offend me in the slightest, on the contrary, their music makes me giddy happy tastic. Seeeeeee for yo'selfs'! Brrrrap!
















And if you like those tracks, check this out, a Does It Offend You, Yeah? megamp3mixofdoom (tracklisting on their MySpace)



Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Mega Mix



Also, thank you to Man Man and The Chap for making me tap my feet, and then later in the evening Erol Alkan for making me jump around and act robotic. You all made me forget how mediocre Young Knives were.




20 October 2006







Ellen Allien has teamed up with Mochipet for a song called Robot Girl, a track off Mochipet's - Disko Donkey 12", out on Daly City. Mochipet can also boast having music released by Bpitchcontrol and Tigerbeat6 (two of my favourite labels) which is a pretty firm indicator how good his music really is! Ellen meanwhile is going round a few places in Europe with Apparat doing stuff, good stuff. They will be in Fabric London, Novemeber number eleven, be there.












19 October 2006





I've said previously how much I love Nathan Fake's - Drowning In A Sea Of Love, and now Border Community looks like it may come up trumps again, this time with the head honcho of BC James Holden releasing his very own LP - The Idiots Are Winning, and if this track is anything to go by it's going to be a blinder! I just love its relative simplicity, and the way it builds, it's like a fantasy voyage to a final battle with an Evil Count the last level of a NES classic.



















And whilst on simple, yet beautiful songs, I found this one on Fischerspooner's - The Other Side:New York CD. It's vocodered female harmony at its finest.

















18 October 2006






"Ingenting" is a Swedish word, I don't quite know what it means yet, but i'm going to find out!* Anyway Ingenting or [ingenting] as they are labelled are Swede's singing in Swede, on Swede label Labrador. They're the only artist on Labrador who actually sing in Swedish. As usual on Labrador, its glorious indie-pop (with slightly more rawk)...... but this time in Swedish.




PopJohan makes electropop with Swedish lyrics and German emotions. The music is inspired by contemporary electronic music and old indie pop. I really do love his music, and in keeping with the "ingenting" theme. Here is PopJohan's - Ingenting Men Du.




The Chap is about to embark on a whistlestop tour of UK and France, starting on 20th October. I for one will hopefully make it to one of the shows, and I will be an extremely happy man if the following song gets played!








Details of the dates and locations for The Chap tour can be found HERE.


*please let me know if you understand this word UNLESS it is disgustingly vulgar, my ears could not take it




16 October 2006






So The Knife played The Forum in London on Saturday, and I was lucky enough to be there, to witness what could only be described as a theatrical spectacle! Now I will leave an in depth review to those more articulate, but in summary it was absolutely the best show EVER, past, present or future! An utterly breathtaking audio/visual extravaganza. From the moment Karin and Olof walked on stage completely blacked out apart from masks with red illuminated eyes and mouths everyone knew this was something different, something truly special. And for the following hour and a half all in attendance were completely captivated and enthralled by this unique thing presented before us. Some credit must also go to planningtorock who I thought set the scene perfectly by starting the evenings precedings with some brilliant kaleidoscopic videos. Heres an example featuring a doppleganger of Noel Fielding.





Here's an absolutely terrific (as per usual) track off The Knife's soundtrack to Swedish arthouse flick Hannah Med H.









The only slight grievance about the whole show, and it is very, very minor, is that they didn't play Is It Medicine. Surely kidZ would have been falling off the balconies and stuff if they had played it though. Oh and £12 for four cans of Strongbow upset me a little bit, £2.19p in Tesco, scandalous! A night I will never forget, no never!

So thats my post-seeing The Knife live ramblings done and dusted!


Eurocrunksters Modeselektor were in heavy rotation on my way down to London, with track 11 off their excellent 2005 Hello Mom! LP particularly impressing me at that point in time.









Booka Shade + Hot Chip = AWESOME









Reminds me of something Minotaur Shock might rustle up.







11 October 2006






Oh No Ono are a band who I just cannot figure out. Their songs are as catchy as Spanish Flu was in 1918! But I just don't know their game is, are these guyZ for realZ you might think when you hear the incredible falsetto of Malthe Fischer on vocals. I just don't know if I can take their gimmicky sound seriously, but frankly I don't give 47 hoots!!! These guys are unique and fun and make you want to dance mad crazy Breakfast Club stylin' . They are a Denmarkese quintet, and on their MySpace they give reason for their unique sound: "Instead of looking backwards to copy the sound of a certain decade, Oh No Ono are constantly in search of something new. Some love to have their ears challenged some prefer things the way they were. This band guarantees a unique experience whether you like them or not." Oh No Ono's album is entitled Yes, and is out on Morningside Records.
















According to my last.fm stats, THIS was my most played artist and song of last week by a considerable distance! BEAUTIFUL! I really do not think I can say enough good things about Detektivbyrån so I shalln't even start!











Jason Amm is Solvent, and now along with Thomas Sinclair, he has become Black Turtleneck who have released their debut album Musical Chairs, which is 11 modern synth-pop cutlets, not quite as upbeat as Solvents - Apples And Synthesizers, rather these are perhaps dance rhythms for the more inept. Complex compositions abound. Here is track 1 off the album.








Musical Chairs is available on Normals Welcome, the label also responsible for the MSTRKRFT challenging, vocoder and cowbell loving, Shout Out Out Out Out.








The other side of Dntel's 7" - Rock My Boat is pretty dang good too, I love people humming in songs!











10 October 2006






As if Dead Disco's - Automatic wasn't a good enough song already, Raufast has rustled up 2 spectacular remixes of the Leeds' lasses dancefloor slaying hit. One for the Cut Copy loving indie kid, and one for the 80's electro revivalist kid.....oh wait, that is the same kid! Ok so the latter mix may require a tad more eye-liner in order to dance to! Enjoy.










DOWNLOAD:


The original version of Automatic is available here. Also check Dead Disco MySpace for upcoming gig dates!




9 October 2006






Dr. Dog's new EP called Takers And Leavers is really quite good, quite good as in not as good as Easy Beat, but still good enough to get me pretty excited about a new album thats's in the pipeline. Here's a taster (close your eyes and its the 1970's)







DOWNLOAD:

Nathan Fake also managed to get priority placement in my CD player on the way to work today. Drowning In A Sea Of Love released on Border Community is without doubt in my top 4 albums of the year. Some people have slated it, saying Nathan Fake is only good when the word "remix" is in the same sentence. Well thats just untrue! See for yourself, Nathan Fake - Drowning In A Sea Of Love - electronic music release of the year!







DOWNLOAD:





8 October 2006







Its garage-rock Sunday, now I was getting sick of this post-Libertine style of music, endless imitations with very little variations, but theres a couple of bands that have given me reason to believe that garage rock can still cut it. They are Beautiful New Born Children, who have an album called Hey People out on Domino. Vocalist for BNBC, Michael, is also part of awesome electro-pop outfit Schneider TM, and he is also kptmichigan (yes this is the guy responsible for that genius cover of The Light 3000) and now he is producing some raw rock and roll action! Then there is Right On Dynamite, a Brooklyn based band who again though not coming up with something totally different, do manage to create songs that are just so catchy and downright enjoyable!







DOWNLOAD:





7 October 2006






One week tonight, one week tonight, yes seven days from now I will be at The Forum in London hopefully watching in great wonderment at The Knife's live performance. When I first heard of The Knife I soon found out that they didn't do live shows, this upset me. My only chance I thought would be to see a DJ set by DJ Coolof, the moniker for boy Knife person Olof, this chance came on 10th November last year, Olof was to do a DJ set in my hometown! Unfortunately illness befell me and I could not make it to what I heard was a "piggin' awesome set!" Gash, my chance came and went. Then The Knife had a change of stance on the whole we don't play live dooda. Which brings us to a week from now in London and what I anticipate to be a great evenings entertainment, even if the support in my opinion could be better (sorry PTR) Here are 2 thongs from The Knife for you to enjoy, plus a super special bonus of a Honey Is Cool song (Karin's previous band)











DOWNLOAD:



addedbonusroundyoutubevideoofnyhotel






6 October 2006






Never before had I danced like I danced to Vitalic's "La Rock 01" at ATP this year, a mind numbingly immense song that up until that point had always reminded me of for some strange reason one of THESE machines, with its gradually building onslaught of synths. However "La Rock 01" will now always remind me of Pontin's as well! AnywayZ, Vitalic has got a new track called "You Are My Sun" which although never quite reaches the raucous heights of La Rock, it does make for a great listen, and from what I can gather it's all about lampshades. You Are My Sun is available on PIAS and also has a shortened version of Vitalic and Linda Lamb's "Bells" attached.




5 October 2006







Bit-pop, chip tunes, whatever you call them, electronic music made on an old Gameboy, NES or MegaDrive can be a loved or loathed genre. Given the old age and limited capabilities of the devices used to make bit-pop, you'd think the results would be unastounding to say the least. WRONG. True some tracks can sound like the Mario Bros 3 soundtrack tripping out on acid. But others are intricately crafted chiptunes capable of imprinting their insanely catchy melodies into your brain muscle! 8bitpeoples first came together in 1999 as a collective of artists sharing a common love for classic videogames and an approach to music which reflected this obsession. Their primary interests were to provide quality music for free and most importantly to have fun. Heres just a taster of some of the music thats available from their website.





4 October 2006






I can just never get enough of that left coast no wave indie disco punk sound circa 2003. I've rounded up a brief selection of some rad San Franciscan made songs for your enjoyyyy.

Erase Errata are doing a few dates in the UK this month, for dates and location check their MySpace




3 October 2006







Piney Gir was brought up in the You Ess of Ay (Kansas City) but now lives in London, and along with a bunch of guys has got an album called "Peakahokahoo" out on Truck records in the UK. The album is very hard to pin down to any particular syle or sound - pop-synth-pseudo-country mayhem. Starting off, the album is addled with Casio keyboard loops, samples, handclaps, and indie pop structures akin to Mates Of State. As the album gets going the Casios's are ditched in favour of the geetar, the regular manual drumset, and a somewhat more country (Kansas) feel to it. But that doesn't last long either, as next up its the turn of the violin and the cello for the ever so sweet track "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" based on that classic kidZ wind-up taunt, though word on the street (my 10 year old nephew) indicates that K-I-S-S-I-N-G has been ditched in favour of another form of contact altogether. But then as the album draws to a close it's Mr. Casio again, who wants the last say with some slow bossa-nova tones. Piney Gir's vocals throughout the album however do stay at a constant, and are very soothing indeed, reminding me of Broadcast's Trish Keenan. A lovely album. Piney Gir will be playing in support of The Hidden Camera's UK tour plus other shows throughout October and beyond. Here are some tracks from the album:



Piney Gir - K-I-S-S-I-N-G



Piney Gir - Boston


Central Scotland comes up trumps again... Frightened Rabbit are an ace indie-pop outfit from Glasgee and their album "Sings The Greys" is getting lots of repeat action on ma musique systeme just now. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes (a decidedly great length for an album to be, given my A.D.D. type ears_) "Sings The Greys" is a joy to listen to, and is highly recommended! Four songs are available for stream on their site HERE. And the picture of the wrestlers, can't help but conjure up thoughts of a certain Soccer A.M. sketch. Which leads me to a video, also from Soccer A.M. and is perhaps the funniest thing you will see today.






2 October 2006






Monday is, to many/most people, rubbish. To combat the rubbishness of a Monday it is recommended that you listen to healthy dose of Swedish electro-pop, because let's face it when were you unhappy the last time you were listening to some Swedish electro-pop huh huh? It just doesn't happen.


Chris of Hemstad has posted a new Das Kometen track posted on his MySpace called "Face Controle" and it kicks all kinds of posterior, particularly on the 38 second mark where there is a piece of keyboard "wizardry" Smiles all around!




Familjen is Johan T Karlsson from Stockholm and he makes sugary sweet electro-pop which is most pleasing. He has a self-titled EP out on Adrian Recordings. Here's a sample from Familjen's MySpace.




But i'd still prefer Komatrohn anyday oooh yeaaah! Apparently he really really gets into his live shows! And i'd really really like to see that, but he seems to be on a sabbatical right now.








And if it's fantastic design you're after...... Adventure Kid's website is just jam packed full of stylish design, evoking memories of a childhood playing Rainbow Island's on a Commodore Amiga. The site topped off with three bitpoptastic tracks for download including a cover of the following song and video - I'm From Barcelona - "We're From Barcelona" oh how attractive.