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