shattered satellite

the beginning of the end.

2010-10-15T16:15:00.000+01:00

And that's all folks.

Shattered satellite.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Obviously, I'm still going to be out and about,

so stay tuned to this particular post. I'll keep you in the loop.
Time for a beer.

Read my writing at
Dazed Digital, DUMMY MAG, Yours Tru.ly, Aufgemischt

one day we will be free

2010-10-15T11:33:00.000+01:00

Bona fide house classic.

Crisp, sleek, golden reimagining by Findlay Brown.

Tempted me out of retirement. Oh, the irony.

Out on Record Makers.

who add the classic remix chops of Villa, Acid Washed, Hypnolove and Mellow

to accompany Pilooski's storming edit.

via bandcamp.

Findlay Brown - Promised Land

Findlay Brown - Promised Land (Villa remix)

acid washed september mix

2010-09-03T15:56:00.001+01:00

I picked up the phone.

"Come out of retirement, please Jehan."

No, I absolutely refuse. Who is this?

"Pllllleeeeeeeaaaassssse."

Andrew?

Oh alright then, what you got?

Our September mix.

Acid Washed September 2010 Mix by Acid Washed

Tracklisting /// download link

1. Visti & Meyland “Stars” – Rodion Mammarela Remix (Bear Funk)
2. The KDMS “High Wire” (GOMMA)
3. Invisible Strobe “Outlaw” (SEEK)
4. Oh Land “Son of a Gun” – Yuksek Remix (Plant Music)
5. Discodeine “Singular” – It´s a Fine Line Remix (DIRTY)
6. Rodion “The Logical Song” (GOMMA)
7. Acid Washed “Acid Washed” – Digikid 84 Remix (Record Makers)
8. Eli Escobar “Love Thing” (Plant Music)
9. Hankat “Be The First” – Acid Washed Remix (Sound of Copenhagen)
10. Logo “La Vie Moderne” (Feat. Piu Piu) – French Fries & Tony Senghore Remix (Kitsune)
11. Djs Pareja “Brutal” (I´m Single)
12. Blackstrobe “Sometimes funky people are dressed in black” (Supersoul)

DANGER has done a remix?!

"Franck has outdone himself."

Sure got that right.

This sounds like landing on the moon on acid.
Get your shuttle ticket / download here.

"Acid Washed" Danger's Remix by Acid Washed

Oh now I'm in the mood.

I simply must post the original. exclusive. naturally.

Acid Washed by Acid Washed

Acid Washed (Stuff Remix) by Acid Washed

And the Stuff remix for good measure. Download here.

I can't get enough of this space-disco.

I CAN'T GET ENOUGH.

I'm going back to retirement now. I need to lie down.

"Don't forget to tell them about our EP. It's got Mickey Moonlight and The Hacker and Digikid and." I hung up the phone already. buy it if you like. they are playing CAMP in London too.

each and every day

2010-08-31T23:55:00.000+01:00

Pretty much every day during

my summer in Nottingham.

At a quarter to one, I would jump in my car

and drive to the pool.

It would usually take the length of this song.

That was my warmup.

Mayburg - Each and Every Day

Taken from Total 10.

A Kompakt album.

antalya's

2010-08-31T23:40:00.002+01:00

Seven Staropramens had seared an untimely hole in my wallet on a balmy October evening.

Earlier that night, I'd felt for the first time the heart-pumping euphoria where live music and alcohol criss-cross and interlock on the shores of intoxication island. I was meant to be back within the hour to help out with the party. It was for charity.

Charity had been hurled out the window though, I needed more.

I needed something. I needed.

A kebab.

Onwards to Forman St.

To that most beautiful of purveyors of greasy rat-stick meat.

I waited in the queue replaying the concert in my mind.

My stomach burbled with Prague's finest.

Electric Soft Parade - Thing's I've Done Before

Why is it that 97.9% of all kebabs in the United Kingdom

tend to consist of a

single pitta bread

packed with more cardboard lamb

than can possibly fit inside the pitta?

Let alone the poxy polystyrene case.

These thoughts were resounding round my pissed-up little brain

as I stumbled towards Queens St about to clamber onto

my safe ride home. The 45 bus.

I was distracted momentarily by the chilli sauce

and greasy cardboard lamb trails that had left a stain

upon my blue, blue jeans. Nothing to worry.

Electric Soft Parade - The American Adventure

The 45 bus deviated from its course.
It did not go up Woodborough Road.
It was going in the opposite direction.

We had taken the 44A bus!
Being the wasted fools we were,

cutting our losses was the only sensible option to take.

Electric Soft Parade - Chaos

We disembarked onto a ringroad,

where there we waited, thumbs extended.

Motorists continued to whizz by for what seemed like an age

until one kind soul let us hitchhike all the way back to Bridgford.

------------------------

On a serious note, the White brothers are immensely talented.

Their voices + piano >>>>>> all the kebabs in the entire world.

The American Adventure is a lost classic. Buy it.

a little lost

2010-08-31T23:04:00.003+01:00

Over the last three years

Arthur Russell's music has made a deep impression

so it only felt right to include him in this blog marathon.

Arthur Russell - A Little Lost

Nobody captures the feeling of being lost

in a dreamy loveland with two suns.

One called joy.

The other called melancholy.

Subtle pop music at its finest.

hopelessly poor // die regenschwarme

2010-08-31T23:00:00.000+01:00

Kings of Convenience - Mrs. Cold from françois nemeta on Vimeo.

I sought respite from the constant connection to my laptop.

A change from the endless personal admin I don't especially care for.

A change of scenery. Catching up with my brother.

Our destination was Hamburg. Only going for a weekend was deemed excessive by some.

People are less prone to acting on the spur of the moment; the advent of google everything means everything can be planned, tweaked, documented, counter-argued, ratified to the point where boundaries between actually doing things and talking about doing them online get blurred.

I just wanted to escape London and see my favourite artist of the last few years. Barbican tickets had sold out and I wanted adventure.

Moments after arriving in Hamburg, we realised our grasp of German was hopeful at best. The skies scowled at us. So we purchased regenschwarme and just wandered around Hamburg.

Kings of Convenience - Stay Out Of Trouble

Enjoying a sumptous Chinese a bit too much made for the laughable situation of actually missing the first ten minutes of the performance we had travelled nearly 600 miles for and endured the agony of RyanAir without headphones at stupid o'clock on a Saturday morning.

Kings of Convenience - Boat Behind from françois nemeta on Vimeo.

The performance was incredible. Stay Out Of Trouble revealed exquisite depths I didn't know existed. I bunked off work a few days later to go see them on the South Coast. Back in Hamburg, Erlend was DJ'ing at the afterparty next door to whoever cared to stay around. Utter perfection would have been achieved if my favourite Norwegian had happened to have possessed the Fred Falke remix of Golden Cage by The Whitest Boy Alive. What's worse, my brother broke the habit of a lifetime and neglected to bring his iPod.

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke remix)

interview: savoir adore

2010-08-31T21:36:00.005+01:00

I don't have time in this blog marathon to write up the interview.

So I'm just going to post the audio file. I caught up with Savoir Adore just after their

barnstorming show at The Social. Paul shattered a glass, I mocked Deidre's name pronunciation. There is some random interlopers as well. I don't know who he is. Drummer Timmy had some choice words.

They were also very kind to give me some CDs which I proceeded to lose then find again to great comic effect. Eighteen minutes long. Batman can't even really fly.

Savoir Adore Interview

They were the nicest people I have ever interviewed. Fitting last interview.
Scope out their wares below. Moments of their show made me think of stars, which is probably the loftiest of compliments I can give to any boy / girl music band. I'm lying. I obviously can't remember. I'm going to do a proper interview someday. Totally music to catch you unawares and fall for. Their album is out now.

Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines by Anorak London

In part, I was still reeling from the performance of Bad Bad Bird, the support band. The backing singer / recorder player, Ross, happened to go to my school, so that was a pleasant surprise. The last time I saw him sing was for a Battle of the Bands, where as part of a foursome, he completely rinsed Back For Good by Take That. It remains one of the finest vocal performances I've ever seen. Seriously high. They need to get to a studio fast, but they are the East Midlands' answer to Talking Heads. If you want more, they have a myspace, but at this stage I'd advise you to check out their youtube channel. Apparently, the performance below was the first time that song was played live.

They also need to do a video in the rain. It was seriously mindblowing, he made the falsetto that sounds positively weak on Barlow's part around the 2:43 mark sing like a choir of angels dancing in magnolia skies or some soppy crap like that.

mermaid surfwave

2010-08-31T17:19:00.004+01:00

This song deserves to be a TV-series theme tune.

Probably from the 80's. I'm going to call it Mermaid Surfdance.
About a bunch of mermaids that come from under the sea
to become world champion surfers in Florida,

but really the whole thing is a big ruse somehow related to narcotics.

Think Miami Vice meets Cool Runnings meets The Little Mermaid.

Junior Bacon - High Endurance (demo)

Anyway, Junior Bacon is still on the rise.

This joint ain't even cooked all the way through yet.

Still gives me shivers though, the effects progression reminds me of Guy-Man in his pomp.

Sexual Sportswear, Veridis Quo, you get me?

way yes

2010-08-31T16:18:00.004+01:00

Way Yes are a sprightly three-piece from Ohio.

Theirs is a pop that shimmers and slinks

like feathers rushing along coconuts.

Everything is clear, distinct and lush.
Skulking bass, lazy vocals, crunchy guitars.
Yes please. Get their EP on bandcamp for more.

Way Yes - Cinnamon

Glenn of the group, being the baller chap that he is

was only too kind to do a remix of the first Stella Mortos record

which you'll find below. Taut, funky and stripped to the bones.

Entrepreneurs - Hunting Roger Rabbit (Way Yes remix)

turn to dust

2010-08-31T15:35:00.004+01:00

FOE gets in front of the camera for a lipstick smeared joy-ride into her
macabre world. Girl works in a pharmacy, surrounded by death, jaded smack-heads and surburban bores. All day. Every day. I've got her album demos on the stereo now and boy oh boy has the world got treats in store.

Throwing the likes of Radiohead, The Kills, Nirvana into a giant melting pot. Manning the cauldron in this case adding plenty of special ingredients is Entrepreneurs, dap hand that he is also produced this clip. All in a day's work.

Working titles currently include the delightful Show Me The Sars, also the title of her tumblr. Runaway favourite so far is Merry Go Down, a lush lullaby to burn holes in your hearts and your bibles.

Until then, make do with this remix of rollocking demo, Charity Cases.

by Dalston good-time scoundrels, Is Tropical. Spectral outro is a forest-fire waiting to happen.

FOE - Charity Cases (Is Tropical remix)

lointain

2010-08-31T15:24:00.000+01:00

Music gets everywhere these days, the next step after synchronisation into adverts, films is probably subliminal. Beauty of this is that it his the power to hit you where you least fucking expect it. The emotional heft of these moments is paydirt I'm sure. Moment in question links to the recent video game experience, Red Dead Redemption. One of the cutscenes unfurls like the heavens into a previously unreleased song by Jose Gonzales.

Okay, I didn't actually play it, I can't play videogames anymore due to addiction problems, would get more addicted than Hersheys.

My man FC did though and the sense of awe instilled in him didn't lay dormant for long. The wistful nature of the original gets bolted on to the back of a train heading forwards-backwards into the distance. A glistening, throbbing mirage.

GESTE - Jose Gonzales Far Away Lagrotte remix

Him and his crew in Gentilly have been practicing like nobody's business.

The live show is now intense, and I just can't wait for them to get in their studio and match it.

Geste - Ohm Sick

perfecto baby

2010-08-31T14:50:00.004+01:00

Letherette are the latest apple in my eye. Smooth and crisp, I can't help but read into names but this duo sound like masters of the good-cop bad-cop routine. One hand backslaps whilst the other invites you into a warm embrace. I can't decide which way to turn, or where to go with this. I'm running out of time, deadline day is gonna be over soon. What I'm trying to say is that this is sexy as hell and packs a punch. Their mix for BTS radio is a total, utter joy.

Letherette - Blad

sloshing

2010-08-31T14:46:00.000+01:00

[Du Juste Milieu] by Entrepreneurs

He was walking in loose circles.

The pink sun scorched him through the trees.

So many fucking trees.

His face was covered in a combination of peanut butter and gateaux.
The patissier really went for him, assailing him with all manner of carefully crafted
sweet delights. Stumbling he continued to stumble through, lost in the middle of the forest, may as well have been the middle of the world. It would not come off, at the beginning he liked it, hell it even fired up something he thought was long lost. At the beginning A. said it was a good look, but after a while, it started to feel like claustrophia, custard-style. And the flies refused to desist in their onslaught. His kingdom for a lake.

///uv been robbed (joking, but not) ///
for download on bandcamp now.

or buy the vinyl.

revenge platter video coming soon.

cold fingers

2010-08-31T14:35:00.002+01:00

The above is not as good as the below.
I wasn't there though. Eight years is a fucking age.

pattern+grid world

2010-08-31T14:20:00.000+01:00

Flying Lotus - Camera Day (taken from Pattern+Grid World) by Warp Records

My memory of Sonar is hazy unsurprisingly.

I know I made the right decision tough as it was, ignoring the party epic LCD for the sedately, intense Flying Lotus. Got told later that it wasn't him at his vintage, but who gives a flying fuck. Most vintage stuff tastes great no matter when you drink it.

pettre

2010-08-31T13:52:00.003+01:00

I met Pedro in Watergate the other Thursday. Both pretty far gone as it were, as the riverside sunshine heralded Friday. What followed can loosely be described as goldengate, berghain, bar25, dancing, dancing, dancing, gin, beer, nausea and elation.

He usually resides in Barcelona, making the most beautiful deep house. The above is currently on repeat. Released on John Talabot's label, hivern discs, on their latest compilation which I am about to purchase here. My spanish isn't really much cop, but I think it translates as the fleeting truth. Fits.

Speaking of Senor Talabot. Try the below workout by my favourite tranceout kale lovers, Blondes.

Sunshine (Blondes remix) by John Talabot

lunar milewide

2010-08-31T13:44:00.003+01:00

Egyptian Hip Hop have come out of their hideout with Hud-Mo to serenade the world.

Moon Crooner is their new calling card, a worthy replacement for Rad Pitt. Lost in layers of synths like hotplates are fragile vocals that can't help but bend and stutter all over the shop, leaving a trail of party dust that urges you to be there, but in the same insouciant motion is totally lost at sea. ///photo

Egyptian Hip Hop - Moon Crooner

tell the barmaid she's got pretty eyes

2010-08-31T13:38:00.000+01:00

I first caught sight of Evryone in the Old Queens Head in their upstairs room. Speaking to Tom before on the way to and from Sainsburys beforehand gave away not the slightest indication of the behemoth of a voice that lay in store. It added a slightly surreal slant on the evening, as their performance was pure raw power, like a ferris-wheel spinning so fast the g-force starts to fuck with your jaw.

do you understand by EVRYONE

On record, it's reigned in a little more and emits something altogether more mellow, dareisay vaudeville. Doors cast open to another world, nostalgia coated skating around and around and around.

Chris also moonlights as slightly, and his deft touch with a sampler never ceases to reel me in. Prolific as hell, he's got irons in the fire and you can follow his meanderings on his tumblr. as they dance between jazz piano, the world out there whilst doffing his cap to all the greatest sampler wielding badman. Don't need to name names, his weapon of choice is the 303, and the joint below wrests a sunset riff away from Joni leaving it helplessly floundering in paradise.

slightly - MANY MANSIONS

descented

2010-08-11T23:11:00.000+01:00

Bringing a record into the world resembles closely a game often played on friends that fall prematurely asleep on an evening. For those of you unaware, it involves hitting them gently in the face whilst shouting"Lemoncake, Lemoncake, Lemoncake" until they wake up. Upon awakening, the recipient is then to be soothed back into sleep with "sssssshes" and gentle caresses. The process is repeated until it stops becoming funny / the sun comes up.

I use this analogy because everything that comes with manufacturing a record - the hurdles of artwork, distribution, public relations eventually start to feel like being hit gently and repeatedly in the face whilst someone shouts Lemoncake in your ear incessantly. The reason people actually do it is because the moment when the needle drops and the record starts playing equates to total dreamland.

With this in mind,
submit yourself to a side of DoubleDenim's debut 7".

and click here for their bigcartel.
Total dreamland.

weightless

2010-08-10T13:02:00.001+01:00

Yesterday saw the official release of double A-side 'Hunting Roger Rabbit' / 'Six Severed Hates' by Entrepreneurs. Remixes coming soon from MASKS, Way Yes and Laurel Halo, but before that I figured I'd give you a bit of a behind-the-scenes peek at the final manufacturing stage.

The artwork was designed by Dan Jamieson and Katrin Rhys, based currently in Hackney Wick. Dan and I went to school, and even used to go to art workshops at the local library where I remember making treasure maps look old with tea bags. Nostalgia aside, Dan studied Painting at Camberwell College of Arts whilst Katrin studied graphic design at Kingston University. Blatantly both going to be rich and famous one day.

Their remit was to design artwork for the EP, their surreal face-melted beauty looking decidedly imposing, unsettling yet pretty which fits the music. It was too strong to omit from the 7", nostrils taking pride of place on side A. You'll see it crop up in the upcoming Revenge Platter video also.

Bathroom / printing plant.

This is a silk screen. Incredible to see close-up how this process actually works.

Everyone is different, due to the nature of screen printing in this way, which I like. Some have blemishes that aren't really blemishes, they provide character. The Stella Mortos logo comes in a multitude of different colours, ocean blue being my favourite. If any people familiar with Entrepreneurs' past would like to take a stab at why I named the label thus, post correctly in the comments and you'll win a vinyl. For the rest of you, get ordering. I have secreted a discount code somewhere in this post.

Hunting Roger Rabbit by Entrepreneurs

Six Severed Hates by Entrepreneurs

a spree

2010-08-09T17:24:00.001+01:00

Write this off at your peril.

The chorus will stay with you like the stains on your clothes after four-day benders. You have no idea where they are from. I have no idea what they are singing. If choruses were best friends, this would be the kind that instantly endears itself to everyone one and never fades from popularity plinth. Totally irrepressible.

Leisure - A Spree (demo)

Sure, Leisure make obvious nods to Albarn & co with their fresh-faced pop, but with tunes as white-hot as these, any aspersions or pastiche claims get tossed aside like rotten apples.
Rumours abound of grade-A producers getting involved.

Their gig at 93 Feet East on August 20th is guaranteed to be a stormer.

D/R/U/G/S/talk

2010-07-31T09:34:00.001+01:00

So working backwards. About forty-five minutes before this interview with Blondes at Spanky Van Dykes, I had a chat with George and Cal about D/R/U/G/S. The reason this interview is shorter is because after three minutes, we decided it was time to chase the dragon. Obviously. In fact, I took the above picture after we all got really high. D/R/U/G/S can do that to people.

What’s been your worst drug moment?
C: Nothing spectacular, just standard horrible comedowns. We’re not like massive crackheads. Some girl did give me crack to smoke last year, by accident though, I thought it was just a bong of weed. That was horrible. Never again.

G: First time on MD, didn’t know how much to take.
Ended up bombing a whole gram of really strong stuff. I lost my mind.

C: That was bad.
G: Felt like I was in……what d’ya call it?...that film
C: What film?
G: With Johnny Depp?

J: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
C: Oh right!
G: Some of the things I saw that night!

Cliché, but drugs. all about euphoria and paranoia no?

C: It’s an unnatural high, the whole Buddhist way of thinking is pretty accurate. It is harming the body, ‘cause you’re achieving an unnatural high and the whole point of the band...why we picked the band name ‘cause you wanna achieve that natural high without using drugs. You can actually do that through music. I’ve had moments like that, specific moments.

J:Transcendental.

G: We’ve not named it because we love drugs.
C: That’s the reaction we tend to get, which is understandable.
G: It does seem like an obvious band name!

I’m more intrigued as to why you use the slashes?

C: Oh yeah?
G: So it can be googled.
C: Solely just to google it
G: If you google drugs, what you gonna get?
G: Ten million responses, you won’t find us.
G: It’s just a visual aesthetic to make it stand out. Probably change it to dots soon.

Love / Lust flickers in a way I find agreeable.

D/R/U/G/S/ - Love /Lust

interview: blondes

2010-07-30T10:32:00.001+01:00

Blondes are Zach Steinman and Sam Haar. I caught up with them just before they recently wowed a crowd of three or four ~~hundred~~ dozen at Spanky Van Dykes in Nottingham the other day. Moondance is typically glorious, sprawling shifty Gottsching-esque visco trance. I say visco-trance because it makes me feel like I’m in lots of different places and in most of these places I’m dancing and punching the air like in a discotheque. Viscous means sticky and thick.

Blondes - Moondance

I didn’t really ask them about music, I figured I’d leave that to the professionals. This is probably the point where I should tell you the interview is after the jump or something, it's not. Sorry.

What’s your favourite blonde?
Zach: I’m gonna try and do a range.
Faye Dunaway. Wasn’t she blonde? No, she just recently died.
Sam: She died right after dead boy.

J: Dead boy?
S: Heath Ledger
Z: No, she was upstaged by Michael Jackson.
S: Meg Ryan. All of them.
Z: Lauren Conrad, Meg Ryan.

Who would you rather kill? Superman or Batman:
Z: Superman. I was just never a superman fan.
S: I would say Batman though, cos you’d have a chance.

Last record you loved / killed?
S: Telepathe – Devil’s Trident 7”.

What’s the best thing about Merok?
S: Busy.
Z: Busy the Dog. He’s Milo’s dog. He’s an English bull-terrier.
S: Besides that.
Z: Everyone else.
S: They’re a bunch of good people. All the music on there’s wonderfully eclectic.

What’s your favourite meal?
Z: Big burrito fan.
S: I really like kale.
Z: Come on.
S: I really like kale.
Z: Just for the record, I call bullshit.
S: What? What?
Z: You do like kale, but it’s not your meal.
S: I like it so much.
Z: It’s not a meal.
Z: You do like it a lot.
S: It is my favourite meal.
Z: Alright, it’s in the favourite meal.

So there you have it.
D/R/U/G/S on the way.

love is spent.

2010-07-29T13:33:00.001+01:00

The sky screamed foreboding. The weather girl told otherwise, uncomfortably holding this vacuous grin. It comes from trying to pass off information you received only a split-second ago as expertise. I can't believe you actually liked it, I mean anybody can wave their hands around and read autocue.

Sudden thunderstorms were never your thing though. You preferred to run like clockwork. I thought I'd surprise you for lunch that day, only to surprise myself recognizing that same grin plastered clumsily all over the face of your colleague. You fucking bastard.

Blue Hawaii - Blue Gowns
///download Blooming Summer from Arbutus

native speaker

2010-07-28T10:02:00.000+01:00

Lemonade is sugar, water and lemons

Sweet, reassuring and bitter.

The tallest glass can vanish in a flash, if you're thirsty.
Some days, there's nothing better.

Braids - Lemonade

breaking up on entry

2010-07-22T17:20:00.002+01:00

This song by the ganja-vadge loving Gayngs makes me sad.

It's as if George Michael never did dance again and stumbled guiltily

onto a space-craft where he now orbits Planet Love, hoping one day

he will re-enter its atmosphere. Instead, he just gets lean and crashes his hovercraft into asteroid belts in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Gayngs - The Gaudy Side of Town

the world ended already

2010-07-16T10:00:00.005+01:00

I wanna get to bed.

Want.

To.

Get.

To.

Bed.

She made that face.

Well what do you expect?

said the sky

This is what happens.

The world ended already. and you want go to sleep?

Computer Magic - Immediate Cause of Sleep (Tempur Pedic Remix)

I thought this was just a tranquil voice

floating on the air
This post-apocalyptic mess-tale

just got a whole lot more sinister.

Danzie's dawn daffodil lullaby fell into the hands of

Tempur Pedic and now I'm starting to feel uneasy.
More on him later.

eat your heart out

2010-07-14T20:19:00.001+01:00

Bubblegunk is one of those pure, unashamed supreme pop moments.

The all out pop 'afterthought' for you to dance in the street in

after consuming Uv Been Robbed (Joking, But Not).

Entrepreneurs - Bubblegunk

If this throwback synth spectacular doesn't soundtrack your summer,

there is something wrong with you.

There is nothing else to say really.

Massive grins all-round.

Eddie Van Halen would eat his grandma for that guitar solo.

///download the whole EP from bandcamp
/// grab an limited as hell 7" from my bigcartel

embassy.

2010-07-13T09:34:00.001+01:00

Weird and beautiful.
Old school meeting new school.

Somewhere in between all that is Laurel Halo's new clip.
Auto-piloting her own dreams, whilst singing into the camera.
These subconscious flights of fancy
as realised by Josef Kraska

glimmer with zealous intent. It weirds me out a little.
Like Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters. Get the King Felix EP in your life now.

How To Dress Well - Ready for the World (Laurel Halo remix)

This is a remix for How To Dress Well.

As you would expect, she takes the Brooklyn bedroom producer to a far off place.

Calling someone a bedroom producer

can make them sound like they produce bedrooms.

Fancy that.

avant:

Laurel Halo - The Cult of Optimism

As well as turning me onto all kinds of amazingly weird visual videos
she also makes a killer mix.
Head to Warmer Climes.

if i even felt it at all

2010-07-12T09:35:00.001+01:00

'I think I felt it back there,
only for a minute
if I even felt it all

There was a thickness that hung

in the air

but now it's thinning

Everything is opening up'

Long Long Long - Cuba Gooding Jr.

Long Long Long are from Nova Scotia.

Their music fizzes with youthful abandon, grinning at you from ear to ear.

Rousing moments to shake you, precious pockets to hide in, everything loosened up and running on whiskey autopilot or some shit like that.
Their latest and greatest, Shorts, is on bandcamp, follow their name to
Let the good times roll. They already did. Did they?

safe as mansions

2010-07-11T22:10:00.000+01:00

Twenty two seconds of stacatto electronic perfection to put you in a trance.

Cover your eyes

swimming in a pool of darkness.

Beautiful echoes
a rush of intimacy.

Safe - Twenty Years On

Rich and wounded, playful yet doused in melancholy

Chris Edley's voice on this track is elegant to the max.

It feels like wearing your favourite jacket when you're home alone

and nobody will ever see you in it.

stella mortos

2010-07-09T15:35:00.005+01:00

I was always going to put out a record at some point. This is the first.

Entrepreneurs is the artist. Hunting Roger Rabbit and Six Severed Hates are the tracks.

You can hear a preview above, kindly created by Forrest Tramp.

More on the tracks themselves at another time.

For now I'm going to talk about the object itself.

Each of the 300 vinyls is to be screenprinted by hand
by Dan & Katrin.

Every one will come with a lyric sheet, some will be hand-written.
Some of them will have pages from Entrepreneurs' notebook.

The first few will get a hip-hop beats CD entitled The Super-Ego: Dustbugs.
Head over to the Stella Mortos bigcartel now. Don't delay, buy today.

Entrepreneurs - Brooklands - taken from The Super-Ego: Dustbugs

faking jazz together

2010-07-06T09:31:00.004+01:00

I first saw Connan Mockasin nearly four years ago.

He cuts a strange figure always.

The opening moments of this glisten with beauty

like a soundtrack to sad, forgotten home movies that have been on loop for eons

Tumbling down rabbitholes into guitars that coo

'I know, don't worry, I'm here, still'

Vast expanses shimmering through the eyes of needles.

Connan Mockasin - Faking Jazz Together

desperation tentacles

2010-06-29T12:50:00.000+01:00

I love the pace of it. Imposed by the crispest of beats.

Winding up and around, before joyfully exploding into a guitar solo of simple, angry elegance.

The kind you'd probably take home to your ma, if it didn't have a paper bag over it's head.
Broken Social Scene take the Rescue Rooms tonight.

flaschmeister

2010-06-29T00:37:00.002+01:00

Mr. Flash is pure macaroon hip hop 'lectro.

I'm talking gooey, green pistachio shit.

One bite and you're hooked like a fly

caught in treacle.

Any escape is beautifully hindered, turbo charged glucose getaways destined to crash and burn.

Sinking back in feels so great, like lolling inside a bean-bag filled with serotonin, sunglasses and marshmallows.

Mr Flash - Powerlight

Whilst Breakbot is the poster-boy for Ed Bonger's deux mille dix renaissance, Mr. Flash's Blood, Sweat and Tears is the royale with cheese. No releases from him since the maiden sortie. Lucky Number ain't no fools, they know a star on the rise when they see one, and they got him to put everybody's favourite jew-fro hipster through the macaroon magique mill.

Darwin Deez - Up In The Clouds (Mr Flash Macaroon Magique remix)

(via IM // UR)

Take a look at the clip for this single.

If the remix were to have a clip, the love interest would be Heather D'Angelo fo' sho.

It's a brilliant remix because it catapults Darwin Deez out of his melancholy, his croon taking on an altogether sexier tone, riding waves and waves of taut-tight macrooon 'lectro funk.

magique ordinateur

2010-06-21T18:17:00.002+01:00

In a pastlife I pictured a world of bilious daffodils and childlike glee.

Danzie continues to swim around, the pace has quickened a little.

Still retaining and exuding a gentle quality, this makes for the perfect

soundtrack to a covert safari slowdance.

Scope out the rest of her oeuvre on Soundcloud.

Electronic Fences by Computer Magic

avant:

Computer Magic - Immediate Cause of Sleep

anml life

2010-06-21T12:03:00.002+01:00

I always get sand in my shoes.

More cerveza-water-beer men keep appearing.

They carry little red cans of the tastiest beer in the whole of the world.

I don't want to leave. I know I'll have to.

teams fill me with a giddy all-over sensation.

Recalling every beach party I've ever been to.

teams - anml life

(via delicious scopitone)

kiwi

2010-06-09T18:49:00.002+01:00

- Can you stop playing this?

- It's too damn good, Louisa.

- You have this nasty habit of playing things to death.

8 hours later

-Can you play that tune again?
-Which one, Louisa?

- You know the one? It's like pineapple or passionfruit or something?

- Kiwi.

There goes the finest thing to come out of Institubes since everybody's favourite twelve-year old sped out the blocks with White Knight Two.

summer sundance

2010-06-04T11:02:00.003+01:00

Saturday night makes summer official.
My favourite cosmic-disco party headcases are coming to town.

As you can see from the clip above,

the combo of Burrill's visuals and live,

live synths caused people to lose their shit au Point FMR.

This time the venue is Cable. Modular Summer Sundance.

To mark the arrival of summer, Icelandic electro trio, Jungle Fiction,

have stamped their mark on Acid Washed's signature tune.

The remix party is only just getting started. The Hacker, Danger, Dan Haaksman, Lazy Flow and Digikid will be making appearances soon on the Acid Washed EP.

Acid Washed - Acid Washed (Jungle Fiction remix)

Jungle Fiction got moves. My favourite starts to come into play around the 75 second mark.
Cheese deluxe. Pure judderman vibes. Insert obligatory amazing things can leave Iceland except volcanoes joke. Eidur Gudjohnsen would be proud of how deft this.

Watch the hell out for their Heat of the Nite EP. It's crawling with moments like that.

well done europe.

2010-06-03T14:34:00.004+01:00

Foiled by circumstances once more.

Will I ever get to see The Chap live?

Don't make the same mistake as me.

Go to CARGO tonight for their album launch.

The Chap - We Work In Bars.

Gloriously oddball.

'Really good'.

Medium to fast-pace.

The beauty is in the detail.

two humans

2010-06-02T18:15:00.002+01:00

The sunshine was a shimmering lullaby.

Still mid-morning, not quite left of centre.

Thoughts swim from left to right.

If only every day was a bank holiday.
Catching all the eyes.

The Ruby Suns - Two Humans
,/div>

burgeon fizzle

2010-05-26T12:51:00.003+01:00

Reaching the top of a never-ending skyscraper.

How are you going to get down from here?

Parachutes are most certainly out.

Take a deep breath.

and

jump.

Clouds rush by like hasty commuters

I can't see the wood from the trees

It feels like I've been falling for about three weeks now

Which way is up?

And before you know it.
You hit the ground.

out cold.

Magnets - Out Cold

,/div>

////via Truants.

one second of your time

2010-05-24T15:19:00.004+01:00

Summer is officially here.

I spent the weekend by the coast.

Showgirls are summer bottled-up, disco-distilled into three minute pop confections.

Saccharine, flecked with danger and guilt, Estelle Chardac's vocal is infectiously catchy.

Gloriously tongue-in-cheek production comes from the other members of the trio, David Blot and Lionel Catalan FC. Taken from debut mini-album, Mini, out now on Tricatel.

Showgirls - Foolin' around by Tricatel

Hypnolove are on hand to up the anté, sending the sultry vibes of the original sprawling onto the dancefloor. Pulses quicken, the icing on the original cake gets exchanged for slow-burning disco euphoria. Chords to die for. Watch out for Hypnolove's next move, a skulking new single is in the works. Production from Mickey Moonlight. Download this remix.

Showgirls - Foolin' Around (Hypnolove remix)

///buy the mini-album from 7digital

///watch the suitably camp video.

all this could be yours

2010-05-19T16:00:00.004+01:00

Back when shattered satellite was in its infancy,

I gushed at length about wondrous three-piece Menomena.

Truly the sum of beautiful individual parts.

Their new full-length, Mines, has been brewing for a while now, out in July.

Bridegrooms, prostitutes, McDonalds provide a lyrical backdrop for

a track laden with hope, yet gliding along in wearily epic fashion. Positive melancholia.

Menomena - Five Little Rooms

hi, honey super post: MASKS, FOE & the Caulfield Beats interviewed

2010-05-13T12:22:00.001+01:00

Calling all people heading down to Brighton. There is only one afterparty tonight worth attending. it's called hi, honey. Read more about it here. Today I thought I'd spoil you with a post of grandiose proportions. Mini-interviews with all the acts on display.

MASKS headline.

Read more about them in the piece I did for DUMMY Magazine.

Their brand of spectral, melodic noise blew me away in an empty Victoria a month ago. Aggressive yet delicate, I'm stoked to see how the deft interplay between the duo goes down in front of their hometown crowd. Their debut EP just dropped on Fear and Records. It's well worth your hard-earned. Personally, can't wait for the first vinyl release. Down to the nitty-gritty

1) What is your earliest childhood memory?

James: Being made to sit on the naughty step at play school, I'm not sure why.Luke: Umm, I forgot.

2) Favourite animal?

James: Squirrel

Luke: Narwhal. They have a narwhal skull at the Booth Museum in Brighton, it's incredible.

3) What is the closest you've ever felt to death?

James: Car crash in Greece outside a military base. They weren't happy.

Luke: Last weekend I climbed around the side of a cliff to prove to my friends that we could get to a secluded piece of sandy beach. Shame I won't be doing that again.

4) Who would you rather kill, Superman or Batman?

James: Batman.

Luke: Superman.

5) In your opinion, what is the most exhilarating thing about Brighton?

James: Pablo's Pizza.

Luke: Pom Poko's Japanese food.

MASKS - Forever Dancing

MASKS - Forever Dancing (Entrepreneurs Saahf Bronx remix)

///buy the EP.

Next in the hotseat is FOE, aka Hannah Shark. In the months since I first wrote about here, she's been picking all kinds of serious A&R heat. Hardly surprising, her pop-outfit being a delightful contradiction, a glorious blend of butter-wouldn't-melt posturing with sinister undertones. Playing the evil Mark Ronson to her Lily Allen from the wrong side of the tracks is Entrepreneurs. His subtle production touches transform FOE into serious heavyweight contenders. Really proud to be putting on her first proper gig, makes a change from all the label showcases they've been playing of late.

1) What is your earliest childhood memory?

My earliest childhood memory. It was during a family holiday in Australia. I fell down some steps and needed stitches in my chin. So I got taken to A&E, where they gave me the most ginormous pink panther cuddly toy to make me feel better. It seemed pretty huge at the time, but I was probably only about 3. Still got the scar.

That or stealing penny sweets from Sainsburys!

2) What is your favourite animal?

I've always liked pandas. I like their black eyes.

3) In your opinion, which is the most exhilarating of all fairground rides? (be specific, name the place)

What's that one at Thorpe Park? I think it's called "Detonator", where you go up really high and then they slam you back down to the ground. Everything in your body feels like it's gone up inside your skull. It's not exhilarating in a good way, fucking horrible actually!

4) What is the closest you've ever felt to death?

Burying my pet cat "Merlin" in the garden, but mainly inside shopping malls.

5) Who would you rather kill, Superman or Spiderman? (and you have to kill one of them.)

As a superhero I much prefer Spiderman. He is far more mysterious! But I dont think I could kill Superman, as I'd have to look him in the eye while I did it! Spiderman's mask would hide the humanity, and so I'd find him far easier to shank, plus his costume would soak up the blood. It wouldn't be as messy.

FOE - A Handsome Stranger Called Death

FOE - Tiny Ambulance

head over to hi,honey tumblr for the Caulfield Beats part.

My battery is about to die and I need to get myself to Brighton.

///head to the Facebook event

///head to our tumblr

oui love.

2010-05-11T07:31:00.006+01:00

Oui Love is taking over my favourite pocket of Farringdon this week,

for une semaine of all things French and musical.

Mercredi, c'est le tour de Record Makers. Celebrating our 10th birthday.

Turzi jouera live en solo. Which is really something to write home about.

Acid Washed are DJ'ing also, always spectacular.

We'll be playing some videos as well.

I'll be playing some classics from the catalogue

and some remixes that never made the light of day.

We'll also be selling some quality vinyl at a cheaper price than our webshop.

Did I mention that also there's going to be vin rouge? Jack Shankly will be behind the bar as well. Is that a deal-maker? No??? What do you mean no? Okay, here have an MP3.

Acid Washed - General Motors, Detroit America (Chill Out In My Big GMC) [A Romain Turzi remix)

///facebook event

///more oui love stuff on Friday at The Macbeth. win a ride on the Eurostar.

nightcall remix contest

2010-05-07T18:02:00.004+01:00

photo by victoria

Kavinsky's full-length should be out this fall. In the meantime, we decided it would be worth opening up the doors to Vinco's zombie-noir universe and telling people to get involved. There's a billion million remix competitions out there sure, but how many of them let you get to play with Lovefoxxx's vocals and samples and tracks that have been touched up in Guy-Man's studio. The answer is a big, fat zero kids. So there you have it. Deadline is June 30th. Kavinsky picks the winner, myself and my crew pick the silver medal, and you the fans decide the bronze.

////////////////enter here////////////////////////////

Nightcall (Dustin NGuyen Remix) by Kavinsky
Nightcall (Breakbot remix) by Kavinsky

and just for good measure, we put the other Nightcall remixes on Soundcloud.

and for extra, awesome good measure, Kavinsky did a mix for Dazed Digital.

This is what he said.

"This mix is automatically generated by my car when I start the engine. This is the music that flows in my veins. My car knows this. For the first time ever, you are able to listen to this program outside of my car. Enjoy."

hi, honey

2010-05-06T11:13:00.005+01:00

flyer by lucas liccini.

So aside from producing a music video, putting out a record, running Record Makers UK HQ from my bedroom and growing a moustache, I got together with some friends who like music and parties, and we came to the conclusion that we should put on some music parties: hi, honey.

The first one will take place in Brighton next Thursday, a seaside jaunt coinciding with the big industry free booze-lake side party fest that is The Great Escape. Ours is more off the beaten track, it's part of the alt. escape. At a place called the Pavilion Tavern, affectionally known as the Pav Tav to locals in the know.

The last time I went to the Pav Tav is not something I can actually recall. I can't actually recall the time before that either. This time, however, is going to be different.

Aside from the eye and ear candy provided by myself, Jamila, Ruth, Kirsten and James, we've assembled a lineup of astronomic awesomeness. The Caulfield Beats will get the show off the road, swiftly followed by the delectable FOE before MASKS blow the doors off. In between, before and after will be the aforementioned Hi, honey DJ massive behind the decks as well as Is Tropical. Previews / interviews et cetera coming next week, so as a parting shot, check shat sat fave of all faves, Entrepreneurs, Rick Ruben-esque take on the splendid Forever Dancing by MASKS.

MASKS - Forever Dancing (Entrepreneurs Saahf Bronx remix)

///head to the Facebook event

///head to our tumblr

///head to Illegal Tender, cos Carl is the man.

get yours later

2010-05-06T01:00:00.001+01:00

Today I was filming a music video. For Entrepreneurs. It involved a lot of home-made gunk, car washes, ice cream and a lot of other lewd shit that is going to send you haywire when it eventually gets through post-production. It's for the debut offering from his new batch of material, an EP entitled Uv Been Robbed (Joking, But Not). Just so you know, it's pronounced Ah-ve been robbed, not you've. You know like you were walking down the street only to find you've been relieved of all your belongings, a daze descends. There is so much going on, so take a deep breath kids and hit the orange button.

Revenge Platter by Entrepreneurs

The fourteen seconds before the beats comes in are the perfect introduction to Entrepreneurs signature synth, a dirty hallmark oozing with atmosphere, warm colours. It underpins the whole of this track, in pink and yellow undertones. Battenburg, screwballs, ZAP ice-creams you know. By this time, the beat will have dropped and so will your jaws. Pick yourself up off the floor to find the vocal, a louche croon that skids and slides all over the shop before being put through the mincer, whilst his harmonies fight it out with Hannah Shark's subtle backing.

houses woods houses woods houses houses woods

houses woods houses woods houses houses houses.

This kid knows how to treat vocals. With no respect. Despite the upturned lips, there's still moments of vulnerability laced with funky bass, funky everything, swinging synth solos that dance and teeter, evoking overcooked circuits fried and wide-eyed, drip-drop-dropping with something, not like anything to pass your ears previously. Lyrics are way further off the beaten track than what you'd expect, throwing up statements and tearing them down with equal disdain. I could go on, but I'm gonna save that for another time. Sign up to the list and download if you want a discount on the first vinyl that I'll be putting out independently.

///visit his blog yeah.

////keep your eyes peeled for other stuff. a remix by radiant dragon will pop up to mailing list subscribers sooooon.

happy birthday

2010-04-30T10:50:00.005+01:00

Tonight. Dummy MAG turns one.

Both these acts possess a certain heady charm, as if everything is half-plugged in.
Slightly undressed, or wrapped up. The whole night is sure to be bathed in luminescent sunset glow from a television set left on since Italia '90, or something like that. Super-intrigued to see how it all goes down.

Egyptian Hip Hop - Heavenly

Hudson Mohawke - Rising 5

disco bonnet breaker

2010-04-30T09:34:00.000+01:00

Cosmic-disco Acid Washed take Kelis on a thrilling escapade.

Shooting her into the stratosphere, this remix glitters against the night sky.

Arpeggiated sparkle wrapped tightly around an endlessly soaring vocal. Each time it floats down it floats back up again. Think Moroder and Summer, but in 2010, getting down on a space-shuttle launch somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic.

Kelis - Acapella (Acid Washed remix)

candy-hump

2010-04-27T12:00:00.001+01:00

Peering through the dusty flap, A. could see the VCR had not been used for a very long time. A viscous liquid was oozing as out as he tried to retrieve the cassette. Reams of murky chocolate tape shot out without warning, looping round his neck and dragging him inside. Blinded by lights, he reached into his bomber to find his shades. The cassette had grown, expanded to surfboard proportions, and there he was hanging ten in some fierce marshmallow meteor storm circa 1993. Everything was clear and distinct, the meteors started to ressemble Chris Glover and A. did all he could to outmanoeuvre them. Misfortune struck, in the shape of one against his temple. The pain jarred. The whole world shivered. He awoke in bed, with headphones on, covered in a mixture of gunk and vomit.

Penguin Prison - Something I'm Not (Entrepreneurs Candy-Humper Remix)

In case you hadn't heard, Entrepreneurs is running his own personal remix of 2010 contest. The first track from his EP is also available for download on Myspace. It's called Revenge Platter. More on that later kids.

cotton

2010-04-26T07:39:00.003+01:00

Mosey on down to Smithsfields tonight for the launch of the new Kitsuné compilation, apparently soft as cotton. In-case you missed it last time, the track below by Feldberg, who'll make their UK debut tonight is one of the stand-out pop tunes of 2010. Guaranteed replay value for this track, as well as the beautiful clothes war between Nils et Alazne.

Feldberg - Dreamin'

little life in you yet

2010-04-25T14:08:00.002+01:00

Let's just say, for argument's sake, that in 1989, Kate Bush decided she needed a change of scenery. Versailles seemed as good a place as any. Perhaps she'd be a substitute teacher at the Lycée Carnot. Imagine then a sensual world where her obliterated grandiose re-vision of Molly's monologue gets set to something altogether a little more french touch.

Charmed - This Woman's Work

Charmed don't come bearing many gifts, in fact they are currently on a bit of a hiatus. This track, the product of one glorious afternoon, hints at a future bathed in sunshine and good times.

don't know you at all

2010-04-23T12:04:00.000+01:00

Picture a beaten backdrop that spits and shudders like a swarm of mechanical insects. The sun shines a dirty yellow, bilious daffodils sprouting everywhere. Danzie, aka Computer Magic wanders alone through the misty dawn. In the same bleary-eyed snapshot, her voice dips into a pool of childlike glee and siren-like zen before towering above the post-apocalyptic mess where the other towers used to be.

Computer Magic - Immediate Cause of Sleep

dalton dealt

2010-04-16T10:00:00.001+01:00

For a while, I though Max was lacking the swagger to really pull off his lush, swooning pop. I take it all back. At White Heat, he looked the part. A glorious white scarf was the piece de resistance to a performance that brought to mind a coke-addled Timothy Dalton.

The little touches continue to abound in this gorgeously cosy acoustic performance. The aesthetic is wonderfully distant from your classic teenage YouTube cover. Intimacy conveyed through monochrome, shades and bare feet. It could be the morning after Jojos, the scarf draped in disarray over the microphone stand, the bow-tie neatly hanging above the keys.

Wolf Gang - Back to Back

A different kind of swagger courses out of the Caulfield Beats. His set at The Victoria a few Fridays back caught me cold, then lit the fires behind my eyes and had me sweltering with awe at his sprawling, party pieces. The boy Lawrence takes a few slivers out of Back to Back and sends them soaring on arpeggio firefly cuts that sashay through the air, exploding against the sky like sherbet fireworks. Gloriously askew, wonky and wired electronica that can turn any room, field, open space into party. Be sure to catch him supporting Vitalic in June in London and at the sure-fire party storm that's going to tear The Great Escape a new one, a.k.a Hi, Honey.

The Caulfield Beats - back to back remash ii

empty bed

2010-04-15T12:00:00.001+01:00

Just try to not fall in love with Best Coast. I dare you.
Give up. Nothing was ever more futile.

You might as well just stick this on repeat forever and fly to the west coast right away.
Failing that, I hear there's some problems with the aeroports,
a dashing purple repress should fulfil your needs.

Best Coast - When I'm With You

saw deed

2010-04-14T10:50:00.006+01:00

Caribou is running away with the contest for 2010’s dirtiest beat. Odessa, aside from leading that pack of filth, possesses a fine Arthur Russell-esque vocal that segues into a carefree hook that screams incongruous. This baby defies categorization.

Caribou - Odessa

The remix by Nite Jewel is pure midnight love nostalgia. The blinds in the motel room are dusty, the minibar was drained long ago. Warm moonlight suggests the discotheque of a few hours prior, a swift seduction. Lust fulfilled on the back seat of a run-down Scirocco, crackle and hiss oozing out the tapedeck.

Caribou - Odessa (Nite Jewel remix)

paced out

2010-04-12T15:54:00.004+01:00

A song that births clouds in my head.
Clouds that cast a shadow over the metropolis.
Swooping down, dancing on the pockets, the butterfly closes in
On a lone motorcylist, rushing through the urban landscape.
Weaving in and out of the traffic, an early morning teetering.
One wrong move and it will mean trauma, skilled drivers needn’t worry though.
Everything is under control, despite the uneasy rhythm.

Radiant Dragon - In The Dawn

Radiant Dragon is gradually picking up the pace, developing his own sonic ecosystem. He drags Egyptian Hip Hop into his world below, bathing them in space and understated grace.

Egyptian Hip Hop - Wild Human Child (Radiant Dragon remix)

His album will be out later this year, I’m told.
A remix exchange is on the cards with my favourite screwball, Entrepreneurs. Derelicte

i really need to slow down

2010-04-01T14:39:00.004+01:00

~~'I really need to stay in~~

But I just wanna go out'

Luxury Living - Kimberley

meteoric rainbow

2010-03-31T11:47:00.004+01:00

Richard D'Alpert and Andrew Claristidge aka Acid Washed are proving adept at building tension on the dancefloor. Coiled-up compacts that open up like lilies, floating downstream directly into your cerebral cortex. Once there, the fireworks start, instigating grins and high-fives all round as the groove embraces you like a long-lost friend. Smiles secreted and numbers get scrawled hastily. Their eponymous debut LP came into this week via birthday boys and girls, Record Makers. It's one long party. And it's just getting started.

Somewhere on the rainbow-scattered horizon,

you can make out their reference points,
the joint below brings to mind a moustachioed Italian 69.

Acid Washed - Change

///buy the album in the Record Makers store

//buy the album on iTunes

take me where i long to be

2010-03-29T09:30:00.005+01:00

The victory lap for Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix swings by London tonight.
I'm going to wave the Versaillais off as they head off stateside
for much deserved fêting and Coachella.
As far as pop bands go, they have reached a pinnacle
Through self-assurance.

The above video is one of my favourites,
Merci to FC for showing it me.

Turzi take Wolfgang's throbbing heart. Fragile and delicate, drifting down the avenue. The snowball was gaining momentum anyway, but Turzi blend in their own brand of avalanche-making kraut. If the Phoenix album is a sugar high, this is a camembert food-coma.

Phoenix - Love Like A Sunset (Turzi remix)

colour your life

2010-03-28T14:16:00.008+01:00

Waiting in the studio car park, I stuck Twin Sister's latest on.

It was dark and nobody else was around. Everybody else was late.

'Car stereos are perfect for stereo effects'.

I thought to myself.

I could have waited for hours. I drifted off into somewhere between the desert and the disco, dancing on telephone wires made of out of dry ice. Atmosphere and tension seep out of every second, menacingly tender and naked. The star turns tend to come from the aptly named Andrea Estrella (star en espagnol kids), her vocal pirouettes gliding, sliding around on a dirty, feedback-fur rug. It will drag you down in the most delightful way.

Twin Sister - All Around and Away We Go

Drawing you into a world, sculpted from moments held onto a fraction too long, emerging unsteady into the daylight. Found lying on the floor, scattered, fractured and dreamy. Sent on journeys blindfolded back through time then returning through old, musty airwaves adjusted on wireless dials. Jittering forth, sometimes sepia-tinged, other times covered in glitter, gold, sweltering in the heat of the sun and the dancefloor where feline glances quick-fire like a dizzying shoot-out at dawn.

The six-track EP, out on Infinite Best, is mostly muddied gloriously.

Only the final track, Phenomenons sounds clean and fresh from the shower.

///visit their website

///photo

///previously

boogity boogity boogity

2010-03-25T09:56:00.001Z

Los Massieras have emerged into the light with a debut 12" that fulfils every hope that pops into your mind when you read the sign marked 'Boogity Boogity Boogity'. Jumping headlong into deranged disco, the whole thing drags you down to the floor where you'll be throwing shapes you always knew you had, but struggled to find. The constant focal point of the track is a lick that's like the party that's been going on for days and days, meme years, that you have no hope of ever leaving. Relent and you'll find the most composed element comes from the guitar, masterfully making its way through the bleeps that litter the corridor, the drunks blocking the stairs, before reaching the apex, checking it's hair in the mirror, lighting up and flying off into the sunset. Not bad work from Hugo Capablancas and David Ducarage (of the now defunct Sex in Dallas).

Los Massieras - Boogity Boogity Boogity

Of their mix for THE FADER, I cannot highly recommend the supernoodling that commences around the 32 minute mark. Buy the damn thing from Discoteca Oceana now.

pyramid picasso

2010-03-22T10:00:00.001Z

Django Django continue to plough their own unique furrow with new single, Wor . Their brand of happy-go-lucky off-ball pop gets sent to the desert and back. The result: air-raid sirens and skulking Western vibes that transmit the sound of a group firmly lodged in their own space, somewhere between El Paso, ancient Egypt and Dalston. Join them if you like, the ominous mixture of trepidation and reassurance is agreeable. Mosey on over to their big cartel to pick up the full camel-ride on vinyl.

Django Django - Wor

zombie telecom

2010-03-17T11:10:00.001Z

Kavinsky returns. With a star-studded cast. Guy-Manuel is back producing for Record Makers again but the dream team doesn't stop there. The zombie called in Lovefoxxx to duet on Nightcall. On mixing duties is none other than SebastiAN. Remixes come from the true electro pioneer of the last decade, Jackson, and the mysterious newcomer. Dustin NGuyen.

The aforementioned collab-fest is a departure in terms of sound for Vinco. Sultry undertones emanate from Nightcall from the moment the quarter drops in the payphone. You're whisked into a lush world, not too dissimilar to the universe inhabited by Sébastien Tellier on Sexuality. The difference is a subtle one, but nonetheless telling, zombie foreboding oozing out at every corner. Lovefoxxx brings out a warmth in Kavinsky that you never knew was there.

Nightcall by Kavinsky

Pacific Coast Highway is a classic Kavinsky vignette, a zombie-ghostcar chase. The voiceover segues in and out as his trademark, rich arpeggiated sound develops the mood. A stylish menace that you can't take your eyes off. You keep looking, only to find what you thought you were looking at has vanished. Into thin air. Hoodwink.

Pacific Coast Highway by Kavinsky

//get your limited edition picturedisc from the Record Makers shop.
///get your iTunes pre-order on.
//don't download the Breakbot remix on the blogs. that shit ain't mastered.
More on the remixes another time. Jackson is leading my remix of the year poll.

win a trip to Paris.

2010-03-11T14:56:00.002Z

A thousand apologies for the relative infrequence of my posting lately. I've been busy in the UK branch of Record Makers (autrement dit ma chambre) plotting like a motherfucker. It's the 10th anniversary of the label and boy have we got a lot in store. I'd extol the virtues of the label but I'd rather leave that to Thomas at Aufgemischt who does it rather well.

First up, there's a free iPhone game available for download from the Record Makers homepage. See the video above. Designed by Sam Vermette (iDaft), conceived by Mrzyk & Moriceau.

The idea behind the application is to provide the user with a surrealistic visual game, an exquisite corpse in the vein of French surrealism. The introduction theme comes courtesy of label figurehead, Sébastien Tellier, with Mr. Oizo on hand to provide the noises for this eccentric game of mix and match. Unreal graphics appear on your screen, that you can send to your friends at the touch of a button.

Spectacular prizes are on offer to those who find the winning combinations and send in photographic proof to Record Makers HQ. The entire discography is up for grabs, whilst every entry will be entered into a prize draw to win a trip for two to Paris in October including a week’s stay at Hotel L’Amour and an invite to Record Makers’ anniversary celebrations on 10/10/10.*

- The first 100 to send in one combination will receive 2 CDs / vinyls from the Record Makers discography.

- The first 50 to send in two combinations will receive 10 CDs / vinyls from the Record Makers discography.

- The first 10 to send in three combinations will receive the entire Record Makers discography.

Players only permitted one entry.

So yeah, get on your iPhone or iPod Touch now and win a trip to Paris.
Those without iPhones or iPods, console yourself with this fine derriere, a beautiful video for Sebastien Tellier's Look. The whole thing is available for download from the Record Makers homepage.

Look by sebastien-tellier

forever on the shelf

2010-03-05T09:02:00.002Z

The wakeup call you didn't pick up. Bleary-eyed, sun dancing on the grass in the park. I'm dragging my weary limbs through the motions, like a moth crawling towards torchlight. I don't take my headphones because I'm going to swim. I'd only get them wet or covered in changing room dirt water. I don't need them when I can think of this.

Refreshing and shivery, it's nice sometimes to spend the first few hours of a day without saying a single word to anyone. Apart from the necessary at-the-counter chat that really doesn't matter. Worries aren't really worries until you have to put them into words.

King Post Kitsch - Fante's Last Stand

This track by King Post Kitsch is an elixir of sorts for uncaring mornings where the space in between your ears is all you need. Head on over to bandcamp where you can download an EP in whatever format you possibly desire. All the tracks cover you in this warm, steady embrace before embellishments hint at a certain groove, not fully developed yet. Needless to say I can't wait for this kid to let his hair down.

insert title here

2010-03-01T21:17:00.003Z

Mount Kimbie have been on my radar for quite, some, time. Glistening CDRs shoved in my car stereo by the drummer boy, ears pricked up and covered in all manner of fairydust. Now managed by the same team behind Crystal Fighters and Anna Calvi, I'm positive it'll be their decade. Hoisted into the sky by David Renshaw, this remix marks the return of 2008's furious pretenders, Foals. Swan over to foals.co.uk for the video and the classic email-for-download handover.

Foals - Spanish Sahara (Mount Kimbie Remix) by BoringByTheSea

join the queue

2010-02-23T10:00:00.006Z

I saw in the new year at Sosho at a basement party thrown by Pearl Flash.
Italo godfather Casco oversaw proceedings.
The venue is perfect for me.
You always have the space to dance, which makes for a great atmosphere.
The music I remember being as inspiring as the space itself,
even if the only track I can remember is a Billie Jean disco instrumental.

Casey and Fred Gazebo, the two wise heads behind the soirée, are thankfully just as adept at making tunes as they are at playing them. Along with Gumbo Stoop, they make up Luxury Living. Gloriously, decadent disco-pop is their calling card. Watch out for their upcoming remix of Something I'm Not by Penguin Prison. The group play live at the Queen of Hoxton on March 6th before curating a new club night, Fancy.

Luxury Living - Everything is going to be amazing

a handsome stranger called death

2010-02-19T17:37:00.001Z

There's so much to like from this track from FOE. I like how the vocal dances on tenterhooks, skating half the way to cloying but way too knowing to ever plumb such depths. I like the keys, evocative of fairgrounds, wurlitzer wobbles and dirty, candy floss. The guitar circa 1989. Typical production from partner-in-crime, Entrepreneurs. I like the menacing veneer to it all. I like the oral acrobatics that in most cases would be showboating - on this trip they sugar-rush uncontrollably, giving off the giddy feeling of riding a waltzer that doubles as a jacuzzi.

A Handsome Stranger Called Death by THISISFOE

shadow sifter

2010-02-17T22:37:00.004Z

Head up to Dalston and somewhere you'll find a dungeon. Except it isn't really a dungeon, it's a bedroom belonging to Marmaduke's. His day job is soon to be a-touring the country with soon to be massive Babe Shadow, who are supporting the gargantuan pop machine and Florence. The aforementioned guitar-slingers are purveyors of timeless, rousing good-time melodies, irresistibly constant little reminders to seize every moment and lose yourself at the same time.

Babe Shadow - Heart (via Abeano)

Marmaduke's nascent output is altogether more fractured, blessed with far too much light for it ever really feel like a dungeon. Sure, in brobdingnagian adventure there are moments that flicker with harrowing possibilities, but on the whole it feels like a glorious sojourn in the shade.

Marmaduke's - brodingnagian adventure

the golden power

2010-02-16T10:11:00.000Z

Languid and epic; they come together to form the unlikeliest of bedfellows. A fusion of the sleek and sultry and chillingly crisp, a chromatose panther dancing on ice before mutating into a car like one of those flickeringly, improbable adverts. The coup de grace is the way Sarah Assbring sits astride it all, pronounced, playing the part of the executioner and the sentenced, the puppet and the strings (ably assisted by Rasmuss Hägg). Great pop in that sense, because from the second it comes washing in, the bassline insistent whilst unhooking a latch inside, I realize Change of Heart has been on the stereo somewhere else forever. And even when you've stopped and breathed it in its golden power, it will still be there.

El Perro Del Mar - Change of Heart

bamako

2010-02-11T09:58:00.001Z

I've never been to Africa but if a sudden and total life swap occurred, my surroundings transplanted, I'd go to T-Bar Bamako this Sunday. Back from his holidays in Congo, Myd would be the house DJ. Well in with Fool House's finest, QoSo, the remix package from Train to Bamako also features Femme en Fourrure, Milk Run and Monsieur Monsieur. Fellow Club Cheval cohort Canblaster comes up trumps on the remix front, the original train goes into overdrive, fuelled by classic stabs and a bass-solo that veers into the dirt-track.

Myd - Train to Bamako (Canblaster remix)

///Saga Africa Tour baby

catalan cabbies

2010-02-05T10:11:00.006Z

Civil Civic will get you by the balls. I haven't come across anything this year that brings the party like this.

Less Unless, the standout track, is a thrilling lesson in how to cram a fuckload of ideas into a four-minute romp that has FUN tattooed in large, glowing letters all over its chameleonic skin. So incredibly evocative, I envisage a schizophrenic conception consisting of some choice elements. Their blog, as highlighted by NME, imagines a video with a charismatic airplane pilot losing control of his mojito.

If I were the director I would place my camera in the cabin of this joyously doomed flight from London to Barcelona. The hostess, called Jane, sets the pulse by clapping, instigating a pulse that never ever wavers. Dave, from Sydney, is transfixed. He was expecting her to go through the safety procedures.

The only option for him is to remove his guitar from the overhead locker and stand in the aisle, unleashing intricate lines that climb and dart all over. His nameless co-passenger, expecting a lifejacket, then discovers a drum-machine under his chair. He inadvertently switches it on. He was expecting a life-jacket.

In business class they have synthesizers, Evan Mast is there and he whirls out some typically charismatic shimmers whilst waiting for the hostess to come serve him more whiskey. After a quick freshen up in the toilet, a lank American guitarist circa ninety-ninety something emerges from the toilet with a riff that inspires every passenger to get up and start trying to dance. A Swede called Henrik is doing the Macarena for some reason.

By this point, the CEO of nameless corporation number sixty five has totally lost it with the hostess who failed to serve his wine correctly and is now doing the can-can. The splash of red on his Dior suit that he just had laundered that very morning is clearly never ever going to come out and he lashes out, sending her flying through the window. Cabin pressure lost, he turns into a zombie and starts screaming blue murder. Aforementioned mojito spilling pilot realizes shit has hit the fan and presses the eject button.

Newly airborne, watching the party detritus below him, he wonders why he isn't dead and wonders also why his parachute has built-in speakers and drinkholder. He then realizes he's in a music video. Unsurprisingly all the passengers have found a new dancefloor, on top of the biggest cloud you've ever seen. People are cloudsurfing on the nearby cumulus mediocris. The hostess never stops clapping.

Civil Civic - Less Unless

///buy their tape

concrete gold

2010-02-04T12:07:00.003Z

A gremlin stuck, holding on tight to the axel rod on the trailer, heading upstate. In my mind’s eye, this depiction is the mutant undercarriage of that earnest escapist bandwagon eagerly piloted by Springsteen and recent incumbents of his 'crown'; hero of the downtrodden.

Holding on for dear life would be an exaggeration, when life isn’t something held dear. Overwhelming, overwhelmed and all crumpled, WU LYF sail so close to the brink with such fervour, it gets hard to make out where the brink even is. After three minutes of all night warding away demons, a sleepy keyboard coda emerges and envelops you, still bristling.

WU LYF - Concrete Gold

and just to paint another kind of picture

Ed Harcourt - Atlantic City

///cheers to sam for the tip
///check out their blog

distraction

2010-02-02T08:45:00.001Z

You can't get out of bed

'cause the second you open your eyes

the weather is shite,

It's enough of an excuse

to bury your head and and sleep through.

Moullinex - Lover In Me

Some music just sounds like pure, unadulterated summer.

This is helping me tell S.A.D. to fuck right off.

A fortnight ago, I was on that beach.

This is definitely one for the apéro at RESPECT.

I've enjoyed Luis Clara Gomes' output ever since his excellent remixes for Cut Copy and Tellier.

This is a taster for his debut EP, which will be out on Gomma.

A live band is in the works as well. He's going to play bass. Naturellement.

///photo

flux incapacitated

2010-01-26T15:09:00.004Z

A gorgeously drawn-out shimmer signals the arrival of this bad-boy, I'm thinking spectral pink Delorean exhausts down the main street. 2015 gets ever nearer and we're still no closer to cars fuelled by bananas. George Jr aka Twin Shadow is in the front seat on his way to his own eight birthday party I imagine, the secret handshake hook this track holds never ceases to make me wanna go back in time to sunny afternoons; frolics, falling over and breathless games of frisbee on the lawn by the willow trees. On mixing duties is his Doc figure, Mickey Moonlight no less.

Twin Shadow - Yellow Balloon

///photo

oh lord.

2010-01-23T13:35:00.003Z

2010 can officially roar into life now. Entrepreneurs is here to save the day. The above video is a glimpse of things to come. Uv Been Robbed (Joking But Not)is the name of his debut EP, which will see the light in the fall. His signature sound is developing, a murky paranoia filled anti-paradise, aspiring for same-sentence mentions of Dilla, Beefheart, Zappa, Robocop.

More info to follow.But for now.Enjoy his show-stopping remix of the year's pop queen in waitingMarina & The Diamonds. Squarks and all.

Marina and the Diamonds - Mowgli's Road (Entrepreneurs Space-Hopper remix)

anyway you want

2010-01-22T15:08:00.004Z

Moods are such fickle fuckers. I can't help but be non-committal at times.
Something, someone catches your eye and you blink a few times. I don't believe in love. Who does? It doesn't pay to fall for such pithy expressions, sure those feelings exist and falling under their spell is fine, in many senses of the word. Twin Sister know what I'm talking about, their hands pulling from pockets little sonic packages that maraude with heartbreaking intent. Prolonging the agony is the only way they know. Dry Hump delves deep into these extended pauses that give you enough rope to tie your stomach into all kinds of lovelorn figure of eights.

Twin Sister - Dry Hump

It could easily be storytime down at the ranch with strums hushing in a new dawn; the sky darkened by warm, celestial slides that glide all over me with uneasy grace. Holding off, biding time before pouncing with the perfect counter. A vocal pierces the solitude with a cry that reassures me that solitude is actually alright. You'd gladly pick up the tab, whatever she asks. I don't know what she's asking for and my voice has disappeared though. Hers hasn't, it soars and cracks over furtive bass and dances all over my heart with playful abandon. The fadeout is pure distilled bedtime story, twinkle eyes and Jack.

///download the rest of the Vampires with Dreaming Kids EP

///photo

re-entry

2010-01-22T13:57:00.004Z

Twin week begins in earnest here on shattered satellite. First in the firing line is this gorgeous little get-together from Mr Little Jeans and Twin Shadow. George Lewis Jr. totally deconstructs the sultry sass of the original Stones in the Attic, bolting it to a regular beat before dressing it in all manner of trademark flourishes that accelerate proceedings with panache. Everything's shot into hyperspace before returning, breaking up on re-entry, a blind-eyed dance amongst the wreckage led by a jittery solo that flickers bright then dies, cowbell death knell.

Mr Little Jeans vs Twin Shadow - Twins in the Attic

///photo

get all excited now

2010-01-15T21:10:00.007Z

Twennyten's first irresistible slice of pop arrives from Iceland, courtesy of Feldberg. Einar and Rosa joined their surnames for this project and then got down to business. It has that great dreamy pop quality: hooks all over that interlock and play off each other like it's been that way since the beginning of time.

The lead guitars belong on the beach with Chris Izaak, the acoustic is probably in the hotel room, the backing woo-oohs might as well be waves crashing in against a rhythm section so perfectly crisp I can barely contain myself by the time they saunter hand in hand up to the microphone. Enter stage Einar, exuding that febrishly louche Scandavian vocal style that makes me want to renounce my own country, a feverish less all-knowing Erlend. The counterplay with Rosa is to die for, her vocals vary from cattish to downright foxy, coming across as innocent but not. In pure pop cases such as these, the lyrics barely merit any consideration mainly because there are very few. If you take a look all you'll find is a giddy, excitable mess of tender first steps into love's overloaded expectations, showy superstar brags of sports cars and I can't stay tonight cos my kitty will starve whilst in reality I'm deciding to give you everything.

The chorus line gets repeated not once, not twice, but fourteen times.

Feldberg - Dreamin'

photo

choripan

2010-01-13T16:03:00.005Z

Apologies for the quietness of late, I decided to cheat winter's cold embrace and escape to the safe haven of amigos in Buenos Aires. If I had carte blanche to do more than eat the best steak in the world and get a tan, I'd slip this deft beauty on by slightly before pouring myself a Quilmes and watching the world fly by.

Pepper Haights, who drums for Broadcast 2000, lifts a sample from a jazz great. Amongst the vinyl hiss and crackle a lush suspension forms. Pure manna from heaven. It drops and drops and drops, lurching into gorgeous hiphop shimmers with shots of bass-funk filling in the gaps. Throwing a glance at the past in all its faded, yellowing glory and reemerging with something fresh and ephemeral.

slightly - the key

the centre cannot hold

2010-01-11T12:00:00.001Z

by samuel breen.

The brilliant Alan Rusbridger speaking in 2006 about the effect of the internet on print media offered a simple analogy. Without the limitations of print i.e. page space, word count, the job of the editor would be to cherry pick work from a bouquet of writers and articles, reduce the word count, then allow sub-editors and proof-readers to massacre what remains*. He compared their role to that of a funnel (at the time I imagined a coffee filter) where topical articles are forced through a condenser and the most significant news, reviews, features etc. got printed.

Now with the internet there are no such editing decisions. Everything is plastered up live against the website wall for the world to see, the media now resembles a city being turned over 27/7 by an armies of fly-poster’ers. Each competing for attention but as a result of their number nothing gets across. Articles still get edited, but instead of having 10 reviews of an album, there are 100. Instead of one critic, there are 1,000,000. Instead of having the choice of say a Berliner’s contents we have the world’s press at our disposal.

Furthermore (I am aware I am mixing metaphors) without any coffee filters there’s no coffee hit. To explain, there is no moment, no event, no realisation just a continually lengthening novel with no ending. There is no moment when our eyes are peeled awake by Kenco’s finest reminding us that we are alive. We consume media eternally, you’re doing it now, it’s our window to society.

With no coffee hit we struggle to pinpoint media events. A simple example of this can be seen in Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe end of year review in which a ‘moment’ in Noel’s HQ is deconstructed to devastating effect. The problem is that this ‘moment’ took place on Sky One to a diminutive audience. As people are drawn to this ‘moment’ as friends link to it on Youtube, or read about it in a TV column, see it on a TV critic’s show or other. When we talk about that ‘moment’ we are actually talking about the media’s treatment of the event after it has happened. The same can be argued about the complaints received following the Sachsgate affair where it became obvious that people were complaining having not heard the show but rather having read pull quotes in a red-top headline. We no longer argue, “did you listen/see to ‘x’ last week?” but rather, “did you hear about ‘x’?”

The Mainstream - Pop music…more like pop media!

With no defining moments and unedited drivel flooding the internet, (hypocrite? Me? Never) it has become increasingly hard to identify any music mainstream. Critics (in and out of the industry) spent much of the Decade bleating on about the demise of the single format. However contrary to their belief single sales went up over the course of the decade thanks to legal downloads. Their real complaint was that the singles market rarely reflected any cultural movement - put simply, commentators and the industry just weren’t down with the kids enough, nothing new there, and they weren’t going to admit it either, ditto – in order to identify let alone understand the market. The livelihoods of culture vultures just got hard. Simple questions like, “What’s the best gig to go to? What’s the best album out this week? What’s the hip new single?” are rendered impossible to answer. Everyone was out of touch becoming entrenched by their own, self-edited media domain.

With so many possible responses and infinite tribes defending their territory it is increasingly hard to identify an event. The idea, and please correct me if I’m wrong, was that with Web 2.0 all popstars would be forged from ‘word of mouth’. However, terms such as buzz, hype and ‘going viral’ are not used by the oi polloi, they are used by the PR agent, the ever trying radio presenter, the achingly hip blogger. This revolutionary yet brief blueprint for how to cast a star was inevitably exploited by the record industry. Few stars have survived the hype and the ‘viral’ attention, Lily Allen was the last to go as both critics and fans sidelined her follow-up album, she later announced her departure from the job.

"Shit, you only do two days no how, is the day you go in and the day you come out"- Avon Barksdale, The Wire

We don’t see an artist get big, we watch them turn into a celebrity overnight. Amy Winehouse became more famous for her constant media attention than her music – despite the fact that Back To Black is arguably the album of the Decade. Before the brawls and the crack, when it was just wine and pills she had Radio 2 listeners under her thumb. A flurry of headlines later and she went stratospheric; everyone got interested, along with my Nan.

The X-Factor winner’s song is not the work of genius in the studio, not the zenith of artistic creation but the product of an extensive campaign for media attention. On to BGT, Susan Boyle’s ‘moment’ wasn’t defined by her singing but rather the media treatment and attention. Her initial performance was her Big Brother audition, her concession of victory was her inglorious exit and her No#1 record was her underwhelming return. At best, she will only be a popstar as Big Brother winner Craig is a TV handyman; a has-been riding the comet tail of their media limelight.

What I’m trying to say - in a very roundabout way – is that mainstream music is not about the sound, it’s not about whether we like it or not, it’s about the media covering it to the extent that we are required to opine over how the media behaves around it. Because it is the media that is everywhere, not the music, not the event. The centre cannot hold because the music, the glue to it all, is wholly irrelevant.

So how does this affect us? How does this affect our taste?

We frequently invest in art in order for it to say something about us, I am the product of my interests. I showcase my interests on my online profiles. In truncated lists we attempt, usually in vein, to define ourselves. For fans of Amy Winehouse and Susan Boyle to list them on myspace or wherever is to show that they have no taste. To proudly announce that they like the white noise of the media, the hysteria and the pandemonium. Because to like them is to admit that they like all the media attention/treatment/call it what you will. Their only alternative is to argue that it is just the music that they like, which is utter shit because no matter how loud and frequently you play their records you won’t be able to avoid le bruit of the media. How can you hear Rehab and think of yourself and your own defiance against people’s advise? You can only picture the time she went to rehab and left. To hear “I dreamed a dream…” part from Susan Boyle’s mouth, you can only picture her standing out side her West Lothian bungalow talking to BBC Breakfast knowing that her dream had been realised, the lucky bitch. There is nothing mourning or sadness to the lyric, no melancholia, Boyle is no longer lamenting an unfulfilled moment but rather announcing the arrival of notoriety and success, presumably that which she so dreamt of. If you like the music you are a philistine, because the media behaving as it does, is as disgusting as it is vile, like a criminal puking on your breakfast. Your only response, “This is lovely this!” being formed out of intimidation and fear of social seclusion.

The ubiquity of the media has removed music from Popmusic. All that is left is popular topics and Twitter trends.

This isn’t a new concept however. Public hysteria and blanket media attention have often shrouded the music. Imagine the screaming at a David Essex concert being so loud that the music was inaudible. The ‘Jackie’ era of pop fans coincidentally are one of the key markets for reality entertainment shows. Like brain dead zombies traipsing the globe, feeding off HRT and pop nostalgia. Swooning over pre-pubescent twinks or fallen divas in the dailies, TV guides and gossip rags. The 70’s child now confined to Saturday night telly lusting after some nubile teen. Each year they pick their new-model Jimmy Osmond and vote like the lines were never rigged.

misplaced stockings

2009-12-29T10:00:00.000Z

The Right Thing To Do from QE on Vimeo

If you forgot Christmas, you know it's not too late.

Maybe you just forgot to get something for someone.

Or you bought the wrong size. Or forgot that polka dots just really aren't in at all right now.

These special stocking fillers are for those people who need new christmas presents, receipts burning holes in their pockets. Have this on your iPod whilst you're waiting to talk to customer services in M&S.

Stocking number 1 comes from Iceland.

No it's not Kerry Katona, she got fired.

Eberg, whose eccentric video adorns the top of this post, has skills.

His compositions are far more than typically desolate Scandinavian beauties.

Antidote swirls around a warm melodic core that finds itself

offset by an alien vocal that manages to be endearing and spooky.

His album, of the same name, is out now on iTunes. You know what to do.

Eberg - Antidote

Stocking number 2 comes from Entrepreneurs.

A joyous sweater destroying timewarpng mashup breathing in Mariah Carey, East 17, Dilla

and some of his own magic beats. His showstopping Marina remix will see the light soon.

Entrepreneurs - Xmas Mixtape

Stocking number 3 comes from Organ Morgan.

An avalanche surfing Home Alone sample-filled revelry.

I'm running out of expresso power.
Sorry Mathew.

Organ Morgan - Christmas Stocking Filler

excuses that have lost their way

2009-12-27T17:06:00.002Z

Diamonds On A Boat from Nicholas Audsley on Vimeo.

Forty nine chalk farm road. The scene of many a legend. Falling down stairs, forgotten conquests, drunken despair, unlikely meetings with radio legends and faded pop stars and stage invasions. A few thursdays back I overground my way along the lock, past Morrisons, shivering my way past the bouncer and indie kid queue into wide-eyed hellos with the girl in the red-dress. Aquila Rose. She was there to to throw questions at the feet of Samuel and the Dragon. You should understand this is all a few steps removed.

We rush up the stairs after a guestlist disaster, swiftly rectified. I always forget the name of the guy who often works the doors, the occasional freebies due to sharing first-year uni happy days with his sister a distant memory. His name is the same as mine.

The Barfly sits on a pedestal in my mind, sadly the programming is not what it was. Or somehow my tastes have evolved. Carling has been usurped by Tuborg though, some things have changed for the better. The backdrop for the night was x-posure, the XFM show powered by the unrelenting enthusiasm of John Kennedy. Samuel and the Dragon were first on the bill and swiftly set about transforming the upstairs room. The vibe was dubstep quasar led by a beautifully deranged prince. The projections throughout made me feel like I was in an air vent on the set of a BBC sci-fi com turned screensaver. I can't express the feeling I have about his hair, it defies description. Diamonds on a Boat was the first track to shower the room with anticipatory ripples and melancholy foreboding.

It tastes like candy floss encased in shimmering platinum bombshells. Thrown up in the air, you mistakenly expect it to plummet like a tonne-weight. A smattering of moments retain that impact and just as your head is locking and lurching into that dirty dancefloor nod, the waves part and feathers fall like raindrops. Freeze-frame.

I shudder like a boxer dodging a sharp left, choking back the sweat, celebrating a tiny, fragile victory. The bass lingers though, a dirty telltale fading out near the two minute mark before the beat comes back with a vengeance, a swift right rising up to send me crashing to the floor of the ring. Call for the trainer.

My head's spinning now, I'm seeing stars and hearts, tense little phosphenes telling of love burrow under my skin, lost to that heady helpless tumbling. The whole mirage gets shattered by a lairy Belfast native moaning about sound problems. I actually thought dear Sam was miming his way through the opening salvo. Given the the theatrical nature of his performance, I do not think I would have minded especially, had that been the truth. Trying to wow an audience when the mountains of headliner equipment beside him clearly restricted his movement wasn't easy. I still felt something though.

The flipside to the latest gem on the Moshi Moshi production line is called Rising Up. At this point, the vocal brings Chris Martin to mind. A Chris Martin who found the/his balls to lend his dulcet tones to murky electronic soundscapes.

Samuel and the Dragon - Rising Up

Hold on a second. That actually happened. Pity such dabblings never became regular.

Faultline - Where is My Boy?

Back to Aquila. More than meets the eye with this one. Journalistic tendencies with inspired flight and VICE aside, she turns out dark little pockets of poetry and song. They sparkle like rough diamonds on the black market. Unrefined still, that's no bad thing. The outside world seeps in through the window whilst she's sneaking out the back door.

Whilst Samuel only needs to sigh and glower to hint at some ineffable sadness, Aquila's plate-smashingly soulful blend of vulnerability and bitter jealousy has the power to get hungover hips shaking as well as providing a perfect soundtrack to midsummer afternoon adultery. Dolo brings the fireworks to amp this one up, before spiking my drink with lies, closing off all escape routes and bolting the door behind him.

Aquila Rose - My Love is Not True (Dolo remix)

So let's conclude. This pair. Both fuelled by the desire to fuse emotion and feeling to crisp electronics that blow hot and cold whilst locking you in dynamic circular embraces. This synthesis tends to happens at the lower, fuzzier end of the sonic spectrum, a sensory shapeshift with enough hooks to save you from falling into the abyss. Samuel currently has the edge and a solid grasp of listener's heartstrings, testament to the laptop craft of his dragon. I get the feeling Aquila is worth keeping tabs on though, her way with words outshines Samuel with ease.

Somebody's gonna dub this genre soon. I can't be fucked to give it a name.

man undercover

2009-12-25T23:34:00.002Z

Christmas is all about repeats.

Last year I intoned.

"This is the best Christmas song of all time, in my not so humble opinion. It retains this honour, because in essence, it's a very simple song witht a very timeless subject, fusing sugary pop and melancholy at the same time. The Erlend Oye version below brings out the sadness in wondrous acoustic fashion. The log cabin to George Michael's chairlift."

Findlay Brown gatecrashed that liaison.

Findlay Brown - Last Christmas

pillow talk

2009-12-20T10:00:00.001Z

Glistening warmth envelops every listener of this fuzzy lo-fi ditty in a goose-down duvet mist. My heart's been captured, kidnapped and stuck in a sleepy trance by Bethany Cosentino, a dreamy conveyor belt running from lazy afternoons lost to gazes and giddy smiles all the way to the moment when the sugar rush expires, leaving you grasping for the aspirin. The childlike zip gets exchanged swiftly for a sense of injustice. Lithe pickpockets rear their ugly, little heads and dance on the empty, adjacent pillows. The chink of light at the end of the tunnel is how easy it is to bury your head and sink into another world.

Best Coast - When I'm With You

Best Coast has a variety of seven inches available from all the usual suspects.
Some are sold-out. 2010 is sure to see plaudits continue to rain in from all angles.

le responsable revisite

2009-12-17T15:00:00.001Z

Welcome to some skewed French touch superhero saga.
Old classics excavated and put to sultry grooves evoking:

NYE boat parties by the Seine or the Cote d'Azur.
Velvet ropes unhooked and rehooked.
you swan around in the borrowed Dior suit you pretend is yours.
The morning after and the night before run hand in hand along the beach,
two sugars double dropping in your morning coffee please,
that bitch of a "DJ" stole the champagne you pilfered for your own means.
Swimming in the dawn blows the cobwebs away
but you still can't remember the name of the belle of hier soir.
She didn't reveal that much but she didn't need to. Executed with total panache.
Don't take off your sunglasses.
The stains on the seat just won't come out and
somebody's going to have to foot the bill.
Put it on the AMEX and make sure you give the garcon a tip.

Plaisir de France - Le Responsable Revisite

Plaisir de France - Juliette Revisite

blast from the past: UK garage - the album pt. 3

2009-12-14T20:00:00.003Z

The third installment of my shameless nostalgia for the turn of the decade garage tubes picks up the pace today. By now, you know the score. The cream of the vocal crop getting down with the killer producers of the day. The last two episodes were a showcase for the talents of Kristine Blond and Shola Ama, more than ably assisted by the maestros of Club Asylum. Amongst the buddies exposed to the legendary Ministry of Sound compilation though, the general consensus was that this was the monster tune.

The plaudits swap hands this time, going to Sunship crew.
They did the rounds at the Craig David remix party to good effect.
Hardly surprising that their 7 Days opens this classic album.
Flowers was / is their calling card though.

Leanne Brown and Catherine Cassidy (aka Sweet Female Attitude) provide the vocal heat and the Sunship crew do the rest. The sweet stuff comes thick and fast, the 'eh-eh-eee' segment only outdone by the the synth whoosh that sounds like a crashing spaceship being filmed then rewound with pleasing regularity. This oozes class at every fucking corner, this is absolutely crying out for a 2010 cover. If somebody wants to bring the beats, I'll bring the voice. Not sure if I can muster up a cream fur-hood parka though.

Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers (Sunship Mix)

///buy UK Garage - The Album from Amazon Marketplace. I think there's a warehouse full of the CD's that needs liberating!

///check back next Monday for the final installment of blast from the past: UK Garage.

clicks like that

2009-12-14T07:25:00.000Z

Joe Flory has sure been biding his time.
Mess Detective is a christmas stocking full of off-cuts and skewed demos that didn't
quite make the cut for the full length that's sure to be topping lists come end of 2k10.
Released today on free download. Exciting? Yes. All over the shop in a self-assured way that makes me think Primary 1 dances to his beat and his alone. Which means he will wriggle away from any pigeonholes that "journalists" seek to push him into.

Primary 1 - Clicks Like That

Clicks Like That is a direction I'd love to see explored more in the future; a four minute Monday morning rapture. Trop délicat, a flurry of guitar harmonics enfold you from the off. One line repeats, another comes in and I'm dragged out from under the duvet. It stretches out, thermal soft bass synths and pitter-patter percussion ramp it up, more layers sneak in all the time. Momentum is sustained, built up and never allowed to run away. Reined in, at the Hallogalloesque heart of this lies a perfect dynamic and a warm, fuzzy centre you just wanna climb inside.

///visit his blog.

///photo

friday feeling

2009-12-11T16:00:00.003Z

This song surely ranks as the perfect soundtrack to that moment
every Friday when you leave the office at about a half past five.
Walk to the corner, saunter into the local store and demand four cold ones.
Drain every last drop.

Sexual Harassment - If I Gave You A Party

///photo

far too smart

2009-12-10T09:30:00.001Z

Former shatsat fave Jay Jay Pistolet has laid down his guitar.
No doubt set to reemerge next year as a mysterious synth-pop maestro
with a mullet like all the other reinventions that crop up these days.
Seriously though, I'm excited and totally unaware of what the future holds for Justin.

In the meantime, Justin has decided to release a CD to tie up loose ends.
In exchange for a fiver, you get 25 songs.
Many unreleased gems including a Kissy Sell Out remix and a Daniel Johnston cover as well as the Happy Birthday You EP.
You know what to do.

Looking back at his oeuvre, his words stand out. They wouldn't stand out if he wasn't in possession of the requisite tools. Self-styled as a folk storyteller, Justin toed the line of timelessness with pithy reverb-laden tales of a boy and his dreams that overflow with detail.

The constant trick up his sleeve was the swiftest of gearchanges from doe-eyed damaged sweetheart to contemptous meanie. So sharp, it's almost violent. It meant he could pull off heartwrenching carcrash narratives like Holly without ever coming across as sentimental. You never see the kick in the teeth coming but when it comes it's really no surprise. The version below works even better for the croaky cracked quality of the vocal.

Jay Jay Pistolet - Holly (demo)

///buy cd

this friday: the twelves @ laser club

2009-12-09T21:40:00.000Z

If shimmering filter house a la francaise is your bag, then don your dancing shoes and get on down to Old Street this Friday for Laser Club. Sadly I am actually in Paris sampling the real deal and plotting with the RM crew, so unfortunately my RSVP went back negative. It's a crying shame as The Twelves don't just press play. It all goes down live and improvised, remixing on the fly. The first hundred through the door also get a signed copy of the Twelfth Hour Mix CD. I couldn't ask for more, except a free Eurostar ticket for Friday night so I could rock up just as this belter shoots out the traps.

The Virgins - Rich Girls (The Twelves remix)

Did I mention it's their only London date? Buying tickets in advance is advised or you might have to go to Last Days of Decadence. It might actually be worth me coughing up, coming back and flogging said Mix CD on ebay to cover my shortfall. Para One is playing Social Club though.

all reiterated

2009-12-08T09:00:00.001Z

The sign that greeted my weary limbs said 'I Am The Dot'. I was only looking for a place to recuperate before returning to the coalface you know. Handed headphones and effortlessly directed to an armchair to await the aural assault.

The variety surprises me as a one man orchestra sets up shop in the canals of my ears. Zachary demonstrates vocal acuity; little pockets of feathered beauty floating on a patchwork of guitars and occasional pillowsoft electric sound. I can't decide whether to tune into the voice or everything around it. The realization that he needs nobody permeates it all. He doesn't need me, you or anybody else to be there.

In brief snatches, his music brings to my mind a collaboration between a smattering of recent alt-pop luminaries. I won't name names because it's vulgar. I'd rather hang your wet and rusting bodies out to dry, contra ry to the popular trend. It's going to get exciting as he wanders further and further away from the beaten track, as practice will undoubtedly make everlasting perfection. Below you find Middle of April and Detroit, MI. A welcoming visa into Zachary's town that won't expire any time soon. 2010 should see in increase in population.

I Am The Dot - Middle of April

I Am The Dot - Detroit, MI

They are taken from the I Am The Dot EP, a worthy checkout alongside the Rare Creatures EP, a pay-what-you-like affair, with some crazy inspirational material. Run along to myspace.

///head over to those typically on top of it tastemakers at Transparent for a Boneless collaboration of tempered treetop beauty.
///photo

blast from the past: UK garage - the album pt. 2

2009-12-07T11:45:00.004Z

Not sure why the huge delay in garage flashback posts occured. They are easily the most enjoyable pieces to write. Apologies. Full speed ahead to Napa kids.

Receiving a CD Discman at the age of ten was a big thing. A landmark moment because I no longer relied on other people to listen to whatever the hell I desired. I began cultivating a collection of CD singles as well as a series of crushes. One was Shola Ama. No joke. Others included Louise Nurding and All Saints.

Ama's career arguably peaked with her version of Randy Crawford's You Might Need Somebody. In my view, the follow-up single, You're The One I Love actually bettered it. Unfortunately for Ama, the second album bombed despite the successful collab with Glamma Kid in between. What WEA should have done was got Club Asylum to remix the whole album. Their stellar work in sprucing up the otherwise snorefest Imagine into the best summer smash that never was testifies to that. The crucial addition? Speed.

Freed from schmaltzy production, the Ama vocal is forced to compete with itself whilst that classic beat and simple 2step flourishes weave a masterpiece that would definitely have been on the stereo whilst chugging a fishbowl or ten. The money shot occurs around the two minute thirty part, the track seemingly meandering out before the vocal counterplay comes waltzing back in to love you endlessly.

Shola Ama - Imagine (The Asylum remix) (removed)
///buy UK Garage - The Album from Amazon Marketplace. I think there's a warehouse full of the CD's that needs liberating!
///head back to the previous post of Kristine Blonde eyecandy.

It's a pity the next track on the album is by Gabrielle. Despite the best efforts of Artful Dodger it's most definitely a skip. Two more tracks from this record to go. Sadie Ama for 2010 by the way??

digging at the air

2009-12-06T21:36:00.001Z

Jack leafed through his wallet, touching the photo as he pulled out his time-card and punched in. The Bundy clock had no answer as to why she hadn't replied. Still. The past week had been pure water torture. The relish he applied to the railroad grind evaporated into a viscous haze of insecure self-loathing, leaving the monotony bare. He didn't give anything away to his fellow workers, the banter continued as per usual. The only recourse at his disposal was to write again, as the last letter had obviously reached an untimely end in transit. It wouldn't be the last to undergo such a fate. His name wasn't really Jack.

The Zutons - Railroad

///taken from Who Killed The Zutons (2004)?
///photo

if you're looking for

2009-12-04T15:57:00.003Z

another end of year list, you have come to the wrong part of blogville. If you're looking for the best Friday night about, then head the hell to Dalston and Barden's Boudoir. Our good friends at Dollop and Dummy have got their heads together to bring the party. Be there or be a big, fucking loser. Free sambuca for those there at the getgo.

///visit dollop for exclusive mix from Arne Blackman.