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.






Mochipet - Robot Girl (feat. Ellen Allien)






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.













James Holden - Idiot






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.













Laurie Sanderson - O Superman (for Massenet)







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.


[ingenting] - Punkdrömmar


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.


PopJohan - 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!







The Chap - I Am Oozing Emotion

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 Knife - New Year's Eve



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.







Modeselektor - Hasir



Booka Shade + Hot Chip = AWESOME









Booka Shade - Darko (Hot Chip's The Sleepy Karaoke Mix)


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.









Oh No Ono - Am I Right?



Oh No Ono - Keeping Warm In Cold Country




Detektivbyrån







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.







Black Turtleneck - Discontutinued Parts




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







Shout Out Out Out Out - Forever Indebted




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







Dntel - Everythings Tricks (7" edit)






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:

Dead Disco - Automatic (Raufast's Indie Disco Mix)



Dead Disco - Automatic (Raufast's Dark Disco Mix)



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:

Dr. Dog - Goner

Dr. Dog - Ain't It Strange



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:

Nathan Fake - Stops

Nathan Fake - Grandfathered

Nathan Fake - Superpositions






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:

Beautiful New Born Children - Do The Do

Right On Dynamite - Pull The Wool






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:

The Knife - Is It Medicine



The Knife - N.Y. Hotel



Honey Is Cool - The Lion




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.







Download: Vitalic - You Are My Sun






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.

David Sugar - Totally On

BitShifter - Hexadecimal Genome

The Depreciation Guild - By Sundown

The Depreciation Guild - Nautilus

Binarpilot - Goof

Binarpilot - Sandjorda






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.
Numbers - I'm Shy

Numbers - Insomnia

Dynasty - Amy's Song

Dynasty - You've Got Problems

Death Sentence:PANDA! - A+ Cannibal

Deerhoof - Dummy Discards A Heart

Deerhoof - Milk Man

Erase Errata - Beacon

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!

Das Kometen - Face Controle



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.



Familjen - Ivanhoe Och Rebecca




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.



Komatrohn - Fever



Komatrohn - Was It What It Was



Komatrohn - Such A Mistake



Komatrohn - Bice E Scoon (Snable Drakes Remix)





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.






1 October 2006







I just love The Octopus Project, and i'd just love to see them play live. So I asked them if there were any European dates in the pipeline. This is what they said:
"We're working on a tour of Europe at the moment, and are planning on being over there sometime around next May/June. We are incredibly excited!!"
So let's hope all goes to plan! I'm incredibly excited about their collaboration with another favourite act of mine Black Moth Super Rainbow, entitled "The House Of Apples And Eyeballs" due out October 28th on Graveface, heres some tasters from The Octopus Project website:

The Octopus Project + Black Moth Super Rainbow - Lollipopsichord

The Octopus Project + Black Moth Super Rainbow - Spiracle

Sean Padilla is The Cocker Spaniels, The Cocker Spaniels in turn is one man band indie-pop of the highest order. You just can't help but love this song, and even LOL at the lyrics!

The Cocker Spaniels - Only Black Guy At The Indie Rock Show

Only Black Guy At The Indie Rock Show - Live Video

You can download the whole Cocker Spaniels - "Withstand The Whatnot" album from his webpage here.

And here's the video of a song I can never get enough of, Final Fantasy's - "This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine" Owen Pallett has recently followed in the footsteps of Add N To X, Zongamin, and Joanna Newsom by having one of his songs used for an Orange TV ad. Now the video.