28 February 2007






Black Moth Super Rainbow are one of the best out there in terms of creating an unforgettable adventure in sound. Their sounds always provoke thought even with only sparse use of lyric. Haunting synth melodies produced with an array of monolithic instruments probably quadruple my age. I love them, and what I love even more is that they're bringing out a new album in May entitled Dandelion Gum. It's been 3 years in the making and is a loosely based concept record about witches who make candy in the forest. Each of its 16 songs represent a different candy-induced freakout in the gooiest and sweetest ways possible. Songs that are built to stick in your head for hours meet textures that are impossible to scrape off your teeth. ! I've heard a few tracks off of it and needless to say it's pretty good stuff.

Also on their website they've put up some really sweet remixes of their songs, and one that really blew me away was one done by
Cock & Swan an experimental indie pop seven-piece.... so yeah.... enjoy! and look forward to the new BMSR out in May.





MP3:
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Boxphones (Cock & Swan Remix)




25 February 2007






Les Petits Pilous are yet another product of the burgeoning French electro movement that's sweeping it's way ever so gracefully across the cities. These guys have got the backing of Boys Noize who have just put out their first E.P. on their Boys Noize Records label. Expect heavy beats, mass distortion, crescendos by the bucket and tunes that would kill any decent dancefloor.






MP3:

Les Petits Pilous - E Lec Tronic









I can't put how fun Eats Tapes new album Dos Mutantes is:


"Eats Tapes triumphantly returns with ten relentless brain smashers! Dos Mutantes is the second full-length CD from San Francisco's Eats Tapes. Using a battery of hardware sequencers, synths, modified drum machines, cassette players and a midi Nintendo, Eats Tapes specializes in noisey, spazzy techno bangers with irresistable hooks. Fusing a variety of influences, they comfortably straddle the Bay Area's myriad club, psychedelic noise, and art rock scenes. Album opener "No Part Name" lays down the genetically modified blueprint for what's to come. Techno tropes devolve into a mutant acid strain, as tasty bass chunks recombine with scalp-scalding nintendo noise and searing feedback. Letting up midway for "Lemon Drop," a midtempo house groover, and a down-home studio hoedown called "Band Practice," the assault resumes "Full Blast" into smokin' guest licks by psychedelic shredder Nate Boyce (matmos) on "I've Become Cretin." This Multimedia onslaught also features radioactive wrap-around 6 panel digipak cover artwork drawn by mutant mastermind Mat Brinkman. and a mac or pc viewable Tenderizer video by Nate Boyce." - Tigerbeat6



So yeah, it's pretty good, what else do you expect from Tigerbeat6?







MP3:

Eats Tapes - NOS





++ADDED BONUS++





The Blow - Eats Tapes Remix




24 February 2007






London DJ and remix heroes Filthy Dukes nail home a scuzzy indielect mix of right-coast skronksters Foreign Islands 'We Know You Know It'. Though perhaps not as edgy as the original, it definitely does have a certain allure, and it's no wonder kids up and down the land are crying out for more Filthy Dukes!





MP3:
Foreign Islands - We Know You Know It (Filthy Dukes Society Remix)






Then the morning after the night of electro before there is no place i'd rather be than in bed listening to some beautifully orchestrated IDM, especially when it sounds as nice as that produced by Ochre. The album Lemodie is a truly consistent piece of electronic bliss. Listening to it just makes you want to drift off into another land.




MP3:
Ochre - 111








22 February 2007






It's pretty much ritual to come home from work just in time to catch Neighbours (best and only show I watch on TV) So today was no exception, I got home just in time to watch it, today
Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) tells Lynn Scully he wants to get married ASAP, yet just a few scenes later he is flirting outrageously with Rosie. When my mum saw this she said: "Paul is such a sleaze!" I agreed wholeheartedly, but then my dad pipes up: "Ah Stefan Dennis, he had a song out once." This was news to me, so as soon as Neighbours finished and i'd had chance to see the bit in the credits where it says that Mischka is played by a Deborah Kennedy (we all thought she was really Russian) I went and Wikipedia'd for Paul Robinson's musical career... low and behold it turns out he actually made it to number 16 in the UK charts in 1995 with 'Don't It Make You Feel Good' Next step was to find it, which I did so with relative ease. What does it sound like? Well the first 2 seconds sound like Justin Timberlake's 'My Love' then it turns into a kind of remix of the Krypton Factor theme tune (which was actually done by Art Of Noise - the very kids who turned me onto electronic music), with Stefan's vocals sounding a smidgen like Bowie. Whatever, it needs remixing.







MP3:


Stefan Dennis - Don't It Make You Feel Good









I used really get off on hearing songs that make use of a Speak'n'Spell machine, then I totally forgot about Speak'n'Spells until good old iTunes random song selecter delivered the goods again. Monster & Maskiner are a really great electropop duo from Sweden who have had the honor of having a record released on the The Knife's Rabid label. This song 'Are You A Friend' is off their 2005 self-titled LP which is lot fun for dancing in your bedroom.










MP3:

Monster & Maskiner - Are You A Friend?











They also have a really quite good video for the really quite good 'I Won't Stay' off the same album. Here it is.














20 February 2007






Crash Course In Science - imaginers of lo-fi electronic music purely out of necessity way back in 1979 - Now Planete Rouge Records have got Vitalic and David Caretta on the job of remixing what in hindsight, I think were an act way ahead of their time.






MP3:
Crash Course In Science - Cardboard Lamb (Original)



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Killer remix award goes to Lillica Libertine!'s rendition of Dead Kids 'Fear and Fluoride'. This kind of filthy electro-house really is a joy to behold, for one its flippin' MEGA, and for two, as has been denoted elsewhere it really is this kind of electro that re-instills my love for a genre which is fast becoming what *inverted-comma* indie *inverted-comma* has become..... overground. BZZ BZZ






MP3:
Dead Kids - Fear And Fluoride (Lillica Libertine's Tried And Tested Remix)







pic: benfrostisdead




19 February 2007






Hey you, you with the neon and glowsticks hanging out of every conceivable orifice! Yes, it was Klaxons, CSS, NYPC and Sunshine Underground all together on Fridayyy, it was good, bar a few insolent fifteen year olds shouting for Klaxons from moment one cos they read about them in NME and heard a song on Radio 1, still, they don't know no better . But apart from that it was rocking, and for extra LOL factor my friends drove 40miles to the venue only to realise they'd forgotten their tickets, klutz's! Pretty soon the LOL's turned into OMG's when we went to Korova to go see Crystal Castles play only to be turned away because it was all sold out.... this has taught me to always buy tickets in advance, or to keep working out until i'm 7 times bigger than the biggest bouncer in the land(who can often be found eating burgers outside Rescue Rooms) Creatine where are you.



So I got a MySpace the other day. I didn't realise how good it is for finding great songs by the likes of Motik Lok and badboy remixes by ZZZ and stuff. These songs are in heavy rotation with me at the moment, ZZZ offers an even more cut up and distorted version of Surkin's Ghetto Obsession. And Motik Lok creates a minimal-electro-house beauty with some great vintage rap anthem samples for good measure.




MP3:
ZZZ vs Surkin - Ghetto Obsession Remix


Motik Lok - Ebbr





Add me on MySpace if you want some witty and informative anecdotes from time to time, actually that's not true.




15 February 2007






I obviously was not the only person who thought Signatune was too short....... Thank you Thomas Bangalter for extending this tantalisingly short song by an extra 5 minutes! A mighty fine edit he has produced!







MP3:

DJ Mehdi - Signatune (Thomas Bangalter Edit)








Look out for DJ Mehdi's Lucky Boy EP which features remixes by Surkin! Guaranteed to sort the wheat from the chaff.



___________________________________________





And, here is Gold Chains best song....



I am so pleased to see him resurface for an excellent remix on My Brightest Diamond's Tear It Down Remix album, which has basically got it all. The Gold Chains remix is available in this post at Stereogum.




13 February 2007






Many moons ago, a friend did a Best Of Electronica Mix CD for me. 5 years on from their release 2 of those songs on that CD have struggled to be surpassed (in my own opinion, according to what i've personally heard) by anything in the category of downtempo electronica. Maybe it's just because I think they both remind me of awesome childhood memories, like playing Final Fantasy VII until stupid o'clock, or watching The Neverending Story on a Saturday morning most Saturdays.


To Wauvenfold and FortDax, thanks.




MP3:
FortDax - Oxenfolly


Wauvenfold - Podunk




It'd be in your interest to try and listen to Folly by FortDax and 3fold by Wauvenfold.




12 February 2007






These guys go close to Freeform Five without being Scissor Sisters-esque, the go close to FischerSpooner without being full-on revivalist, yes it's Franz And Shape, most noted for their appearance on a 2mandj's mixtape, Franz And Shape prove they are so much more than that. Their new album Acceleration is in a word, EXCELLENT. Guests on the album include Mount Sims and the GR8 GD Luxxe of Tigerbeat6 fame. An album well, well worth investigating, and an act to watch out for.



MP3:
Franz And Shape - Maximum Joy


Franz And Shape - 444 Days



Then from Italians acting German, to Germans acting German. Jochen Trappe and his brand of nauseating tech-house, ooo yeah! It's a slurry of electronic noise that just works. Described as sounding like a drunken computer trying to get dry!



MP3:
Jochen Trappe - Bypass




You just gotta love Swedish indie-pop, just when you think there can't be anymore good indie bands from there..... WHAMMY, straight in the kisser. Most Valuable Players lay it down in an irresistible fashion. Love you guys.




MP3:
Most Valuable Players - Guess My Name




And if you like drawing. This will be of interest to you. :-D




9 February 2007








pic: ilikedrawing




And and and..... this is just for you kids who keep clicking upont expired Hadouken! links from times past..... for you....




MP3:
Hadouken! - Dance Lesson




Now fight amongst yourselves as to who will have more success* this year, Hadouken! or Does It Offend You, Yeah?




Choose MOTOR for insane prog-techno needs.







*Success can be measured in many different ways. How do you measure success?






8 February 2007






I just can't seem to shake electro from 2004.


MP3:

Cursor Miner - War Machine


Cursor Miner - Gizmo Kid


Cosmo Vitelli - Dance With Me



And it's also great to see a post-rock outfit with a sensible sized name, i'm on about Laura (not an acronym). They're a six-strong Australian tour de force of beautifully structured post-rock, and their album Radio Swan Is Down was in many pundits Top 7's of 2006. Highly recommended.


MP3:
Laura - I Hope






Now this is the video to a song that I just CANNOT get enough of at the moment, it's by Thieves Like Us and it goes something like this!






6 February 2007






Congratulations BPITCH CONTROL on releasing the best music ever. I have loved all BPC releases that i've heard, from Boogy Bytes to Camping Compilations, they have always been Chevy Chase. And 2007 is looking just as good as ever in terms of BPC releases. Damero - 'Happy In Grey' promises to be THE album to loiter to this spring! Then the BPC Camping Compilation number 3 is out in March and has an amazing artist line-up.

Listen to previews of Damero - Happy In Grey HERE.

Listen to previews of Camping Compilation 3 HERE

A new 12" on BPC worth checking too is Swede Tomas Andersson's - Mot Matsalen! It has more ups and downs than any UK suburb that has ridiculous traffic calming measures!



MP3:
Tomas Andersson - Mot Matsalen!



And a band I totally forgot about until I found their CD while I was cleaning my car, Melpo Mene, they really do make the most beautiful indie-pop, i've fallen in love with their album Holes all over again!


MP3:
Melpo Mene - Hello Benjamin

Melpo Mene - I Should Get Away

Melpo Mene - Lady


Right, now back to playing Football Manager 2007 - i'm having serious withdrawal symptomzz.




1 February 2007






Bit upset that lots of good stuff is going on in Gothenburg in February, Goto80, Au Revoir Simone, Ratatat, but we don't go there until March, when surprise surprise not much seems to be going down musically, not that I have any intention of letting music get in the way of visiting the Volvo museum and stuff. I'd also appreciate any information on things we NEED to see whilst in Gothenburg, cheers.



Sweden is music

MP3:
Komatrohn - Scared Of Girls


The Knife - Wanting To Kill




Finland is becoming music

MP3:
The Micragirls - My My Micraboy





No, The Micragirls don't each own a 1989 Nissan Micra, they do own matching outfits, they do own a 60's garagepunk and trashy rock'n'roll sound. They are a really fun band from my 3rd favourite Scandinavian country, Finland, and they just got an album out called Feelin' Dizzy, Honey which consists of lot's of concise 60's pop influenced nuggets. Choice!


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And I just can't refrain from posting the best synth-pop song i've heard in quite a while, Audio Therapy by Celluloide off of their splendid Bodypop EP, slurping synth basslines, bleeps in all the right places, a woman singing like she wants to be a man, Celluloide show true mastery of the synth-pop genre with this song:


MP3:
Celluloide - Audio Therapy




The new video for Errors forthcoming single 'Salut! France' made me smile at work today (rarity), let it do the same for you. And I just hope Errors release like 54 more song over the next few years 'cuz they are the bestest!