29 July 2008






pic: Jonathan Puckey

Norwegian electro-pop from Cato Canari, he has been working with some top names like Bjorn Torske and Rune Lindbaek in producing his album Out Of Tune. He currently lives DJ's and produces in Tokyo. The track Never Leave Me is a real summery Scandinavian style electro-pop treat. The track with Balthazar is aimed towards the electro/disco dancefloor with its non-stop beat, dreamy synths and quirky bleeps.



Cato Canari And Balthazar - Are You Sure? (alt link)

Cato Canari - Never Leave Me (alt link)



Staying in Norway. Mental Overdrive returns with an album entitled You Are Being Manipulated which is out now on Smalltown Supersound. Given how productive the Norwegian disco scene has become in recent times with many new and exuberant artists popping up, the time-served Mental Overdrive has delivered the goods that can perhaps compete with his newfound contemporaries whilst never taking it too seriously (see the vocodered rendition of Iron Maiden's Run To The Hills). Get the CD here.



Mental Overdrive - Original Material (alt link)



More needs to be said about Max Essa too, a talented producer from the Londons. His 12" EP Back To The Beach on the great Bear Funk label is a sterling listen and highly recommended for you fans of Aeroplane, John Daly, Peter Visti etc etc.



Max Essa - Back To The Beach (alt link)








25 July 2008







For the weekend.




Kevin Saunderson - World of Deep (Jesse Rose Respect to Detroit Remix) (alt link)



Tech house mastery from Jesse Rose. Luciano also remixes Detroit legend Saunderson on this 12". Hot stuff.




Armand Van Helden - Witch Doktor (BSOD Remix) (alt link)



BSOD totally nails this remix of Armand Van Heldens old skool anthem, lethal hypnotic beats and alarms all around.




Patrice Baumel - Comfortably Uncomfortable (alt link)



With his first release for Get Physical Patrice Baumel proves he can cut it. Title track Roar is an expertly executed experimental techno piece with nothing more than oscillating synths and handclaps, whereas the above is much more dance oriented.




Joakim - Teenage Kiss (alt link)



One of Joakim's earlier tracks that was released on Kitsune. Pop pop pop.




Strafe - Set It Off



Now, go! Set it off and have a good weekend.






24 July 2008






pic: Jorn Kaspuhl



Hi-NRG Dutch disco from Alden Tyrell and David Vunk. Huge beats and spacey bleeps. Limited 12" on Moustache here.


Alden Tyrell and David Vunk - Lord Of The Cockrings (alt link)




Alden Tyrell also makes up one half of The Hasbeens, a mysterious electro disco project who do not shy away from vintage synths and vocoders. Their limited 12" releases are available here.


The Hasbeens - Ain't The Same As Before (alt link)




My first taste of Rude 66 was his work with Sally Shapiro, his latest release entitled 'As' is a much darker affair.


Rude 66 - As (alt link)




If you've heard Air France and like them then maybe check this out. Pino Donaggio composed film scores. He did this track for the film Body Double in 1984 and it really reminds me of Air France, perfect summer listening.


Pino Donaggio - Body Double (alt link)








21 July 2008






pic: Andy Gilmore


Minilogue - Space (Roland M. Dill Remix) (alt link)


Animals by Minilogue has been lauded by many as one of the best electronic releases of the year so far. Space was an EP released last year which has now been remixed by powerhouses like Radio Slave and Pierce. However, the remix by Cologne's Roland M. Dill to me stands head and shoulders above. Incredible.




Phil Kieran - Wasps Under A Toy Boat (alt link)


Phil Kieran is probably my favourite producer at the moment and has been for a while, his latest 12" on Cocoon entitled Wasps Under A Toy Boat is absolutely superb.




Note to fashionistas on a budget, check out the sale over at Surface to Air because it's pretty good, nice jeans etc (I don't know what happened to the wicked shoes they used to do though). If I was a girl I would dress like they do on there.




20 July 2008







pic: M.C. Esher



Dwayne Sodahberk - Bird Bones -o.version (alt link)


This is a great track off of FjÀrilsfalu. Cold vocals, full of glitches and lo-fi Nordic goodness.



Map Of Africa - Plastic Surgery (alt link)


Beards at the ready. Love this track.


Map Of Africa may have taken their cue from the likes of Dogs Of War, a mid 1970's prog-disco act that slay now more than ever before. A re-release of their 1977 self-titled LP is available at Flexx.


Dogs Of War - Future Jungle (alt link)


Dogs Of War - Spaciula (alt link)




I'm going to try and post more frequently in the coming week. But for now I will leave you with the most fantastic thing I saw this week.








16 July 2008






img: Eno Henze



A couple of remixes. First up this Dubfire remix of Radio Slave's Grindhouse is nothing short of a minimal masterpiece, completely consuming. Dantom Eeprom's mix of the same song also on the Grindhouse Remix promo is also a killer.


Radioslave - Grindhouse (Dubfire Terror Planet Remix) (alt link)




Modeselektor and Thom Yorke given the Trentemoller treatment. Yes please. Taken from The White Flash.


Modeselektor - The White Flash (Trentemoller Remix) (alt link)





Think Twice - Last Call (Sex Schon Gun's Before Butter Remix Edit) (alt link)


Parisian electro-pop act Think Twice are given the work over by Sex Schon, who after impressing me with the In Flagranti remix continue to do so with this.



Supabeatz - Sexo Perfecto (En Masse Remix) (alt link)


Supabeatz and En Masse are one and the same. En Masse is the distortion driven bass addicted alter ego that you may have seen me eulogise over previously.




A Minimal Mix
1hr 5


Efdemin - Acid Bells
Ripperton - Leonid Dub (Anders Ilar Mix)
Fairmont - Centre Of Gravity
Rekorder - 10.3
Staffan Linzatti - Quibble
Extrawelt - DistTheme
Super Flu - Sunset Hand
Radio Slave - Grindhouse (Dubfire Terror Planet Mix)
Hugg & Pepp - Hosta
Jamie Jones - Panic Tools
Tomas Andersson - Dubbel Problematik
Swen Weber - The Pusher (Martom Mix)
Luetzenkirchen - Afterhour Is The Pusher (Baby Chris Mix)
Williams - El Baile
Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life (Alex Dias Mix)
Compuphonic & Kolombo - Emotion
MST - Ooops Up
Pablo Akaros - Konnekt Koln
Daniel Steinberg - Pay For Me
Kiko - 888
Italoboyz - Viktor Casanova
Jori Hulkkonen - Enter The Fear: Who Will Be Slaughtered Next
IMPS - Almost Live But Definitely Plugged


DOWNLOAD






11 July 2008







img: SBM



Smash TV - Breath Me (alt link)


Smash TV returns to Bpitch. Increds.



Heinrichs & Hirtenfellner - And Drive (alt link)


Lars Heinrichs & Sascha Hirtenfellner deliver some deep, warped minimal with the track And Drive.



Datassette - Damage Report (alt link)


Datassette's new self-titled LP completely wowed me this week. Moments chiptune, moments electro, moments minimal. All great.



Quality Briefs:


Chaim - Moon (alt link)


Jamie Jones - Panic (alt link)


Din Stalker - Dear Weekend


Ink & Needle - Six


Arne Michel - Goodbye//Danke (Basic Remix By Chat Noir) (alt link)









8 July 2008







pic: ilbm


Time continues to fail to avail itself to me.


B.W.H. - Stop


B.W.H. - Stop (Bangkok Impact Remix) (alt link)


The original by B.W.H. is a bonafide disco masterpiece. Bangkok Impact however destroys the bouncy synth lines of joy and rebuilds it into a cold electro cut with one heavy beat. Great.




Flemming Dalum is a name i've recently began becoming acquainted with. A man with an unrivalled passion and knowledge of the obscure, he has one of the worlds most complete collections of Italo and Disco. He would travel all the way from Denmark to Italy to buy records direct from the Italo distributors, trips which were well worth it if you get chance to hear his Dance Of The Obscure Robot Compilation. Coupled with that he has also earned the name "King of the cut" for his natural talent for mixing and blending synths with records, creating his own unique world of sound. Having released much on Panama Racing, the following is taken from his most recent efforts on Italo Edits released on Moustache Records of Rotterdam.


Transport - Computer World (1985 Computer Edit) (alt link)


Paul Ray - My Machine (Full Vocal Edit) (alt link)




More soon.







2 July 2008







Kitsune coming good again with Wargame by Raw Man. Pounding beats, vocoders, distortion and smatterings of chiptune. Not groundbreaking but still good stuff, with a top edit from Gildas & Masaya on the b-side.


Raw Man - Wargame (alt link)



Displaced following the demise of Output, Luke Abbott has been signed to Border Community, and this is the superbly crafted video for Melody120 taken from his Tuesday EP. BC is really churning out the goodness!








New additions to the Pukkelpop lineup include Le Le, the flat country electro poppers that i've previously raved about. If the sun is beating down and the cherry beer is flowing there is not a more suited sound around. Catchy electro pop with tongue in cheek lyrics, this years Pukkelpop answer to Lo-Fi-FNK (let's just hope they'll be a bit better live).


Le Le - Kickstart Le Brommer (alt link)


Le Le - Hard (alt link)



Sigur Ros were also added. An obvious choice, but this is my favourite piece of theirs.



Sigur Ros - Staralfur