Plastic Cowboys

Warrior Office

2010-03-24T13:20:00.005Z

So, to coincide with the launch of their new 7" single, 'Leaving The House/Voices' (through This Playround Records), Foreign Office have unleashed a remix competition for budding producers interpret the single as they please.

One of the first back was this piece by Warrior One, and a little tasty it is too.

Foreign Office - Leaving The House (Warrior One Remix) (YSI)

J.

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Stop and Stare

2010-03-16T12:29:00.002Z

Fenech Soler unleash the video for their new single, "Stop and Stare". It is nice.

released on April 19th, the package comes with remixes from Jaymo & Andy George, Tony Senghore, Mighty Mouse and Reset. Investigate.

J.

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KiD COLA charts

2010-03-11T13:10:00.003Z

Hey guys, just a quickie to let you know you can check out KiD COLA's March Beatport chart here:

KiD COLA March Beatport chart

J.

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(These) New Jocks

2010-03-10T17:23:00.004Z

Ex-goodbooks man Jocks goes all disco and lovely for this mix of Ou Est's next single. Arranging the vocal really rather well over the warm synths he makes the whole thing incredibly catchy though without really relying on any of the hooks of the original. Thanks to Bigstereo for getting this out earlier in the week.

Ou Est - These New Knights (Jocks Remix)

J.

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Japayork

2010-03-10T16:42:00.004Z

A young gentleman previously of Japan and New York base (hence the name) now based in the UK where he has been crafting melodic electronic pop Ou Est (a little) but has a more rounded pop voice and bigger and deeper synths. Perhaps more Penguin Prison meets Ellie Goulding than Camden's Poster boys...?

Either way, discovered through our good friend James of 88days and Brilliantly Different and the track came from Discodust who finally managed to pull a download out of Japa. Thank God for that, as i'd been wanting this on my ipod for months!

Japayork - Our Now

Myspace

J.

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Nighty

2010-03-05T13:25:00.004Z

How I only discovered this the other day i'll never know, but Spanish producer Nighty Max is on top form right now with his blend of disco and electro. Desperate to get a full quality track i can play out but in the meantime check out this lovely piece.

Buffet Libre are doing some work with him at the moment, more on that in... May?

Nighty Max - Iglou (192kbs)

J.

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We're Mighty Cold

2010-02-04T17:16:00.000Z

These New Knights from Ou est le swimming pool on Vimeo.

Ou Est unveil video for new single, "These New Knights". It seems to mainly involve them walking around London being badass.

J.

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Jump

2010-01-29T16:44:00.004Z

Van Halen said it first, but this LA production duo said it twice. And put it in their name. Which, of course, i enjoyed. I was really convinced though when i found Jump Jump Dance Dance had remixed MSTRKRFT's "Heartbreaker" and made it sound not shit. In fact, they made it sound pretty ace.

Here we have their new single, due out on Feb 26th on etcetc and remixed courtesy of Leeds soon-to-be-legend Grum, who we are also very fond of.

Jump Jump Dance Dance - Show Me The Night (Grum Remix)

J.

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Lvissssss

2010-01-17T17:54:00.001Z

L-Vis 1990 has gone all swirly and deep on this Sissy Nobby remix, making it perhaps my favourite thing he has done.

J.

Eskmo

2010-01-15T14:12:00.005Z

San Fransisco based Eskmo has had been bringing earth-shaking bass to the region well known for the notorious San Andreas fault. Well, i'm guessing between the ground shaking capabilities of both the city may just be in a spot of bother.*

With releases on labels such as Planet Mu yuu might epect some glitch laden abstract electronica. In aspects you might be right as they're certainly are not many people doing this bizarre mixture of dubstep-esque half-step rhythms mixed with electronic ambiance in faintly Boards Of Canada kind of way, especially not this well.

Best to get yourself a large pair of speakers (or headphones) and let the music roll through you.

Eskmo - Hypercolor **

J.

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* Plastic Cowboys would like to make clear they in no way hoping for the imminent physical collapse of San Fransisco, whether through tectonic activity or sub bass rhythms.

** Plastic Cowboys would also like to point out that "Color" is, in fact, spelt "colour". With a "U".

Dimmer

2010-01-13T14:05:00.002Z

I found an email in my inbox this morning simply stating that I "may like this band." Often i ignore these, but it was so simple and not full of the usual crap that I figured i'd make the effort. As such, it turns out Fez, outside of the reasonably woeful name, actually make simple, breezy and uplifting indie-pop tunes.

Lowlight is probably the best example of said style. Hooky vocals lead into big pop choruses, vocal harmonies and breakdowns that are likely to be in your head for days. And all of it is written without the pretention or unnecessary complexity of some of their peers which can leave sogs feeling cold and a little soulless at times, as though the artist has thought more about making hard to listen to and, as such, "cool" that they forgot to write a good song. No worries here, simple, friendly indie tunes at your service.

Fez - Lowlight

Playing at the Water Rats in Kings Cross on 20th Feb.

J.

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Twine

2010-01-13T11:20:00.003Z

I knew i didn't trust clouds, they have brought the return of my winter nemesis. Bah. Well, to cheer myself, and you hopefully, up I am mostly going to be listening to this track that has been doing the rounds of late. Discovered through my good chums at 88days Brusque Twins have made a swirling piece of downbeat electronica that seems to have taken much influence from early minimalistic post rock alongside side the deepness of acts such as Boards Of Canada.

Do investigate.

Brusque Twins - Diptych

J.

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Tennis Stars

2010-01-12T18:28:00.003Z

They don't really make grinding, bass heavy dance tunes, though going on name alone one might be forgiven for thinking so.

Here James Blake takes on Untold's "Stop What You're Doing" is a half step monster. The bass throbs in and out over a slightly funky beat, while melodies and vocals swim around around in a sea of other wordly goodness. Yay.

Definitely got this somwhere else. Can;t think where though. Pretty sure it was The Fader

Untold - Stop What You're Doing (James Blake Remix)

J.

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Grit

2010-01-12T18:01:00.004Z

Well, as the weather warms*, we no longer need to be salting the roads. Which is nice as i was getting slightly sick of ice skating around London at general and constant risk to my health. If i want to go ice skating i'll go to a rink, don't want to do it on my doorstep.

Any how, the breakdown in this Franki Chan remix of The Very Best at around two minutes in should provide all the grit you'll need for the next cold spell.

The Very Best - Nsokoto (Franki Chan Remix)

J.

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*slightly...

Hacker

2010-01-12T17:30:00.004Z

Pete Davis and James Banbury, aka Dadahack have released this absolute warm electro genius onto the 'net via, i think, the unceasingly marvelous Discodust. Seven minutes of pulsating bass and harmonic melodies. Will fit nicely in a disco, house or electro set. See also, great vocals from Hannah Robinson.

Dadahack ft. Hannah Robinson - Hello Dust

J.

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Basslines

2010-01-11T20:10:00.003Z

Getting a bit sick of over-bearing garage influenced fidget basslines? Yeah, me too. So i suppose it's lucky then that A1 Bassline has drifted from his traditional slamming bass tunes to something a little techier, more refined and more interesting!

Check it out:

Fugative - Superfly (A1 Bassline Remix)

Fugative myspace...

J.

Double XL

2010-01-11T18:35:00.004Z

So, obviously The XX record was one of the best tings to happen in 2009, we all know that. There were also a selection of very valid remixes as well, see Renaissance Man, What Breeze Do You Blow etc. This one is new to me though. IT takes the aching meoldies of "Shelter" and blends it with some sub bass and makes into into a heavy yet slightly lad back piece of half step melancholy.

The XX - Shelter (Graphics Remix)

Love hurts

2010-01-11T18:02:00.004Z

Rediscovered this old track when i picked up some new Desire last week and ended up marveling at it for a long time.

This is an absolutely heartbreaking piece of disco-pop that absolutely display every second of pain she has been through. Sound cheerful? It's not. It is, however, a stunningly crafted song.

She has some new material you can pick up from Rough Trade.

Desire - Under Your Spell

J.

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Frozen

2010-01-11T12:27:00.003Z

Old tracks, but as Salem are one of my favourite things of 2009 i decided it would be worth sharing in case anyone missed them.

Imagine the downbeat, ambient moments of Health, then picture them warped and twisted into something entirely new and fantastical. Salem.

Salem - Frost

Salem - Sweat

J.

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Coastal Path

2010-01-06T17:29:00.002Z

So, another character from The Smell, eh? Well, Best Coast turns out to be pretty solid rather than some of the fairly faddish stuff that pops up from there. It has a Wavves meets ladyhawke meets blondie meets reverb with some lo-fi sixties production thrown in. I rather like.

Best Coast - When I'm with You

J.

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Shooting Star

2010-01-06T15:28:00.003Z

Another character that deserves to be huge in 2010 is Hidden Cat. This Bag Raiders cover is a slow, gooey piece of electronica that you'll be hard pressed not to see the beauty in. And there is already much more on the sidelines waiting to come out.

Bag Radiers - Shooting Stars (Hidden Cat Cover)

J.

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Scream

2010-01-06T15:07:00.003Z

2010 is going to be the year the world discovers Screendeath. Moving away from his early electro stylings he has matured beyond belief in the last six months as a songwriter, check this sevn minute deep remix of Andy Caldwell's last single for a spot of proof.

Andy Caldwell - Scream (Sceendeath Remix)

J.

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V.W.

2010-01-06T14:51:00.005Z

So, Contra will be out soon and, despite most of the online world seeming to be slating it before it's out, i suspect it'll be another decent piece of upbeat and summery melodic indie taking it's influences from various different angles.

KiD COLA decided to bootleg Horchata a month or so ago and came out with a solid remix, utilising the tropical theme and sound of the original and making it big and bouncy.

Vampire Weekend - Horchata (KiD COLA Remix)

J.

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Sdub

2009-11-11T17:22:00.003Z

I seem to have found myself listening to quite a deal of dubstep of late, for one reason or another. Though it feels a bit odd, as i feel i have been so out touch with the whole scene for so long now I am not quite sure where to start again!

Anyhow, having witnessed Tek-One destroy at Oxjam, i have stumbled across this little beauty, Sduk, who is whipping out dark and ambient pieces that retain all the menace and presence of his grimier predecessors.

Check out his mix of Emalkay's "When I Look At You for a perfect example of this.

Emalkay - When I Look At You (Sduk Remix)

J.

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Whomp

2009-10-20T13:59:00.004+01:00

Having been watching Alan Pownall grow with his live performances over the last year, alongside watching Jakwob rise from his very early days of production into one of the UK's most exciting melodic dubstep producers,I am happy to see the two combining on a remix with thumping results. The altered tempo of the vocal can take a couple of listens to get used to, but once your settled in it is fantastic and uplifting.

Alan Pownall - A Life Worth Living (Jakwob remix)

If it is not yet sold out, you can buy Alan Pownall's debut 7" "Clara" from Pure Groove or itunes.

J.

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Little Red

2009-10-16T00:05:00.006+01:00

Little Red, hailing from Australia and bucking the trend of good music from Oz tending to orientate itself around the electro/disco vibe (see Midnight Juggernauts, Van She, Cut Copy et al) and bringing us a little bit of doo wop and punk influenced indie.

Think along the lines of The Pipettes, but not tacky, a bit of a joke and based around matching cutesiness and dresses. More, indie-rock from another time given an update and blasted into 2009.

Little Red - It's Alright

J.

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Mystery Colums

2009-10-15T23:57:00.007+01:00

So, another day, another act whose identity we are not yet fit to know. Intriguing? Not really. Tedious, a little.

Luckily then, the music is rather ace and this mix from Joe Goddard is rather lovely too.

Silver Colums - Brow Beaten (Joe Goddard Remix)

J.

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Fool's Gold

2009-10-15T23:40:00.004+01:00

Fool's Gold taken on by Phaseone who get a bit ambient and off-beat for this mix. There's almost a hint of an Arabian influence in there as well. Perhaps like a Burial for the less morose, happy 6am bedtimes after beautiful parties.

Fool's Gold - Surprise Hotel (Phaseone Remix)

J.

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Wizards and dancefloors

2009-10-15T23:31:00.005+01:00

Disco Wizards come out with a new piece, and it is my favourite yet! They take a more stripped back approach to their usual loud, industrial selves. We like.

On another note, i had some German marzipan candy today. It smelt like playdoh and didn't taste much better.

Disco Wizards - Marzipan

J.

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Duck Sauce Vid

2009-10-14T19:38:00.000+01:00

Amazing.

J.

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Beyonce meets Alan Braxe...

2009-10-14T19:28:00.004+01:00

Good things happen.

Broken Hearted Girl is the New Single from Beyonce, taken from the album, 'I Am… Sasha Fierce' and is out on Monday Second of November, and is a sure fire for the No. 1 spot.

As a taster, french uber-producer and maker of all things warm and melodic, Alan Braxe has served up this delightful mix for you and he has pulled of his magic again.

Beyonce - Broken Hearted Girl (Alan Braxe Remix)

J.

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Surfing Vid

2009-10-02T16:16:00.001+01:00

Falling in love with The Drums hard.

J.

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Animals

2009-10-02T13:09:00.003+01:00

I have been to-ing and fro-ing on this for a few weeks now as to whether or not to post this, as i'm sure everyone has by now. Today, however, i have been listening to it a few times and decided to throw caution to the wind.

Yeah, Jakwob has come out with another storming remix, this time of Penguin Prison's "Animal", taking the harmonies, meoldies and cheerful vocals and underpinning it all with a grubby, but warm and friendly bassline that pulsates gently throughout. Yummy stuff.

Penguin Prison - Animal (Jakwob Remix)

J.

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Raaaaaaar!

2009-09-22T14:45:00.004+01:00

Converge. Are. Back.

As they are one of my favourite bands ever and wrote one of the greatest albums ever in 'Jane Doe', i shall say little more than this is them back to the top of their game. Short, sharp, brutal. Jacob Bannon still sounds like a demon possessed, Kurt Ballou reels out more unbelievable riffs (i'm still not sure how this man achieves what he does. We're talking Benjamin Weinnman with a lot more creativity) and the whole thing is over in a breathtaking single minute and forty one seconds with a breakdown in the last third that is going to cause so many injuries i can't quite believe it!

Converge - Axe To Fall

Buy from here

J.

Spells and Deception

2009-09-22T14:31:00.003+01:00

INVASION - Spells of Deception from Marek Steven on Vimeo.

Yep, Invasion are back and my, how they've been missed.

Invasion, it has been too long since I had the pleasure of writing about the Moongazer EP. While this EP may come with dance remixes, thankfully, little has changed in the Invasion camp. Marek is still churning out heavy slices of distorted, and faintly sludgy, thrash brilliance, Zel is still pounding the drums as though the Earth, not merely life, depends upon it and Chan is blasting out soul vocals as though the hems of her robe were ablaze with the fires of hell.

Lead track “Spells Of Deception” is a slightly lighter piece, even utilising cowbell. Do not be fooled though, it is still a searing slice of early nineties influenced thrash that’s likely reek havoc wherever it may roam.

Conversely, “Behind The Black Gate” is darker and harder and thoroughly reminds me of, the much missed, Iron Monkey (RIP Johnny). If I’m honest, I’m struggling to write about this song as it just makes me want to run out and throw down somewhere.
On the remix, Scottish chaps J.D. Twitch and Wilkes (here under their Optimo guise, after their long running clubnight of the same name) keep things simple with a nice extended version of “Spells…” Effective. Boy 8-Bit takes us into house territory, stripping back a lot of the riffage and dealling out hefty doses of 4/4 beats and squelchy synths. Blokgolf keeps us somewhere inbetween the original and the 8-Bit mix, with a nice melodic-yet-brash remix, utilising more of the original (listen for the great use of Zel’s cowbell) with big electro loops running through it. Leading us out is N.A.M.E.’s grinding industrial piece which is probably my least favourite of the four mixes, but mainly for its linear direction in comparison to the other three remixes rather than out of actual dislike of it, it is definitely still worth a listen!

And here we have a nice little unreleased exclusive:

Invasion - Evil Forest

Buy from here

Love,

J.

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Apache

2009-09-16T11:17:00.003+01:00

Here we have the new single, "Tropics", from the Brooklyn based Apache Beat. Produced by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Afrika Bambataa) and mixed by John Agnello (The Kills, Sonic Youth, Andrew WK) it's a short, sharp slice of NYC indie.

The band will also be on tour with The Gossip and MEN in October across the US, for anyone of that persuasion.

Apache Beat - Tropics (Sendspace)

J.

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Milestones

2009-09-16T10:54:00.005+01:00

I just noticed, a little too late one might argue, that Plastic Cowboys has finally slinked surreptitiously past its double century of posts. So, well done, er, me i guess. Ha.

Anyway, for our first foray into our third century i thought i'd write about an artist i haven't really mentioned for about a year and half, when he dropped the limp bizkit sampling, absolutely crushing "Antisocial" on us. All violent bass and aggressive drops, Raffertie made his name through the same means as 16bit, an experimental cross between house and dubstep.

Now, however, he is experimenting with his own sound further and has come up with a Wild Beasts remix which is a much more stripped back piece of house music which really took me by surprise but also works very well and is one of my favourite tracks at the moment.

The opening may easily be mistaken for something in his earlier style, but the track rapidly progresses through stripped back melodies, almost tribal drums with the haunting vocals floating over the top, transforming the original into an eerie, late night piece of house that i've become rather fond of dropping in dark rooms. More of this please Mr. Raffertie.

Wild Beasts - Dancing On Our Tongues (Raffertie Remix)

Love,

J.

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Ghosts Of Venice

2009-09-15T19:35:00.003+01:00

Descending from the lofty highs of the Youth Attack camp comes Ghosts Of Venice, a rather delicious filter house prospect that combines groovy basslines with the sound of 90's French house over bouncy beats.

Here we have remix of Feadz' single "Flashin'"which drifts and grooves throughout its five minute duration. If this is what Ghosts Of Venice is doing after such a short time in the production saddle, there is a lot (a lot!) of potential for this project to go faaaaar!

Feadz - Flashin' (Ghosts Of Venice Remix)

Love,

J.

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Unseen original Day N' Night video

2009-09-10T16:01:00.002+01:00

Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite [Crookers remix] (Directed by BBGUN) from bbgun on Vimeo.

In April of 2008, BBGUN directed the original Day 'N' Nite video for an unsigned Kid Cudi with a budget of only $250 of their own money. Since then, BBGUN has directed music videos for artists including The Roots, Fabolous, J. Cole, and Busta Rhymes.

I know the song is oooold now, but it's a cool vid and BBGUN seem to be onto a bit of a winner.

Check them out: BBGUN

J.

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Disco Balls

2009-09-04T16:02:00.006+01:00

Hey all. Tuesday night, George Pringle album launch, good fun. Tables in the social adorned with roses, candles and bowls of all your favourite childhood sweets. Oh, and George herself performing after good sets from Young Athletics League and ChaCha. I decided to buy an hand wrapped copy of her new album (with ribbons, a tag with the title and tracklisting and a badge designed as a shining disco ball. Yum) and it turns out, as I suspected, it's pretty darned good. A review will be up shortly. In the meantime, it's back to some good old fashioned plagiarism (i'm not sure if that spelling is correct, but my computer tells me it is. Should i trust the US dictionary on Macs?).

Anyhow, to the songs. A couple of tracks from people I know next to nothing about other than that they make delightfully blissed out music. Think in the Enzo Ponzio Italo vein but with more gentle, fluid melodies.

First up the delightfully swirly Gatto Fritto:

Gatto Fritto - Hex

and the slightly more groove and funk laden Sally Shapiro:

Sally Shapiro - Moonlight Dance

Have a good weekend all!

J.

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2009-08-26T14:46:00.003+01:00

KiD COLA is back, this time a remix of the Loose Cannons exciting new live project, Lego Johnson. Donning top hats and tails for their riotous live shows, Lego Johnson are gaining rapid notoriety for their brand of electronics infused rock and roll.

KiD COLA continues with his progressive ideals, as we find this remix dripping in deep melodies, gothic, electro tweaks alongside that solid and gritty KiD COLA bassline we all know so well. He has, with this mix, taken another step towards creating a sound that is truly his own

Due for release on Government Records as part of a Lego Johnson single package in the coming months, you can check the KiD COLA remix now as a taster of what is to come, and don't forget to keep an eye out for Lego Johnson's live shows as well.

Lego Johnson - Small Print (KiD COLA Remix)

Love,

James.

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Lung Trouble

2009-08-26T14:32:00.003+01:00

HEALTH. Having been supposed to have reviewed the about three times and having my list pulled at the last minute, I finally saw this group of LA debaucherous loons supporting the magnificent Deerhunter on Monday at Koko, and will see then tear The Lexington to shreds this fair eve'. They were, as predicted, amazing. Definitely my pick of the evening (Deerhunter and Crystal Antlers also playing).

So, (stolen, again) we have a great mix of the lead single from their soon to be released (7th September, i've pre-ordered mine, where's yours?) second LP.

Taking some of the synth lines and breathy vocals, Tobacco have crafted a piece that sounds something akin to what Damo Suzuki may have made of it, were he not (musically, at least) completely loopy.

Health - Die Slow (Tobacco Remix)

J.

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Passion Mix

2009-08-26T14:24:00.002+01:00

No, i believe it is time for some daylight summer thievery from the marvelous 88days again, as i haven't received much worth writing about that i am allowed to recently.

First up is a remix of Gotye from Passion Pit that i rather like. It is a much more house-y piece than i would have suspected from our electro-poppers extrodinaire with soaring synths and great arrangement. More please.

p.s. also see their Miike Snow mix of Animal for another little bit of goodness.

Gotye - Learnalilgivinanlovin' (Passion Pit Remix)

Love,

J.

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Abstinance

2009-08-26T14:05:00.003+01:00

Hi. So, yes, i've been a bit quiet for the last few weeks, what with work stuff, holidays and the like. Going to try and make up for this somewhat today with a few bits and pieces.

First of the day is a new piece from Yuksek who, oddly, I never pay a lot of attention too. What with Phoenix's Lisztomania being perhaps the best single of the year I couldn't really pass this one up.

Phoenix - Lisztomania (Yuksek Remix)

J.

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Aspirins for your bullkid?

2009-07-31T12:17:00.004+01:00

On a related tangent to our earlier hype of The Aspirins for My Children, there is news on thecocknbullkid, who is releasing her new EP, "Querelle" on 4th August on IAMSOUND records. The lead track is, of course, pop genius and produced by my friend and yours, TAFMC! Big news all round really. Check out the track below then head out and buy the EP next week.

Having been building her profile for a couple of years now, cocknbullkid looks set to make headways with her new record, having heading the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury and toured with Late of The Pier, Metronomy and CSS.

thecocknbullkid - Clean Apart (produced by TAFMC)

Best,

James

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Get Loaded Ticket competition

2009-07-30T14:35:00.003+01:00

The Fish Don't Dance Djs are giving away 2 free tickets to this years Get Loaded In The Park on Sunday 30th August. READ ON....

Fish Don't Dance Djs are playing at this years Get Loaded In The Park 2009 day festival and because they are nice guys, they are giving away a pair of tickets.

All you have to do is email gl2009comp@fishdontdance.co.uk with the subject - FDD MAILING LIST SUBSCRIPTION PLEASE - and you will automatically be entered in to the prize draw on the 31st July 2009!

Also joining the Fish Don't Dance Djs on the line up is:

*** ORBITAL ***
Roni Size Represents
Royksopp
Carl Craig
Booka Shade
Laurent Garnier
Peaches
Sneaky Soundsystem
Miss Kitten & The Hacker
Freeland (Adam Freelands Band)
Magnetic Man feat Scream + Benga
Felix Da Housecat
Pendulum (DJ Set)
Crookers
The Count & Sinden
Chase & Status
The Bloody Beetroots
MSTRKRFT
Krafty Kuts
Rob Da Bank
Steve Aoki
Eddy Temple Morris
Junior Sanchez
+ many more to be confirmed!

So email gl2009comp@fishdontdance.co.uk with the subject - FDD MAILING LIST SUBSCRIPTION PLEASE - for your chance to win!

Good luck.

Closing Day: 4th August 2009 - midnight

Download the Fish Don't Dance DJ mix:

Here

Tracklisting:

1. Does It Offend You Yeah! - We Are Rockstars (Cold Blank Remix) (cdr)
2. Dan McKie - Pala-caras (unsigned) EXCLUSIVE
3. Chris Lake - Robots (Rising)
4. Michael Jackson - Bad (Mowgli is Bad Remix) (cdr)
5. Eric Prydz - Pjanoo (Dada Life Guerilla fart 7) (cdr)
6. Paul Aspin - Shame (Lazy Rich Remix) (1980 Recordings) EXCLUSIVE
7. Avicii - One Step Forward (cdr)
8. Faarsheed - Do U (Miro Remix) (1980 Recordings)
9. Zombie Nation - Forza (Fuck Offff Remix) (cdr)
10. Crazy Cousins - It's The Funky (Dan McKie Fish Don't Dance Dub) (Warners) EXCLUSIVE

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Don't forget if you don't win you can always get cheap Get Loaded Tickets direct from the Fish Don't Dance Djs (Dan McKie & Lloyd Chapman).

Get them for £35 (no booking fee, no extra hidden costs - a nice flat fee)

That is the cheapest on the market; you are looking at the best part of £50 if you buy them online with booking fee etc.

All you have to do if email:

tickets@fishdontdance.co.uk with the subject "CHEAP GET LOADED TICKETS".

Buy stuff from their label

Buy Stuff from Dan McKie

J.

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Horrific Memory

2009-07-28T14:58:00.003+01:00

Another week, more of this and that. This time i'd like to bring to the table The Horrors cosmic dub remix of “Bicycle”by Memory Tapes (a rather lovely collaboration of Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes (both of whom are the same man...))which does what it says on the tin really. Opening to a haunting keys melody to a backdrop of run falling against a window with some subtle rumbles of a far off storm in the background which gently fades as the song builds around that melody for over two minutes before the beat drops in, the cosmic loops start and the hi-hat snaps drop while effects and melodies weave their way around the main line, drawing up to the forefront before falling back and allowing others to take their place. Another feather in the cap of the ever more brilliant Horrors, and a prize piece for Memory Tapes as well.

Memory Tapes - Bicycle (The Horrors Cosmic Dub Mix)

Much summery cosmic love,

James.

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Classic

2009-07-24T16:41:00.005+01:00

Sooooo, big this month are... Classixx, who are doing the electro/discohouse thing with much aplomb. Mixes of Holy Ghost! and Fischerspooner definitely stand out, as does single "I'll Get You" but are all in a similar vein, so it is nice to hear them broadening their repertoire with something a little deeper and, possibly, darker.

Here they take on Diplo & Switch project, Major Lazer and bring out a deep house piece with a hint of infused disco in there. Not quite as immediate as, say, their "Listztomania" piece, but great nonetheless. Thanks to Gorilla Vs. Bear for this!

Major Lazer - Cash Flow (Classizxx Remix)

Something else i have decided i am quite fond of is this track by "Forest Fire" which is a lovely, heartfelt, retro song and well worth the time for a listen.

Forest Fire - Fortune Teller

See ya,

J.

X

Saucy

2009-07-16T11:07:00.003+01:00

I suspect, everyone is on this already and anyone who hasn't discovered the simple genius of the A-Trak and Armand Van Helden collaboration, Duck Sauce, then where have you been?

Real Gold, we salute you again!

Duck Sauce - Anyway

J.

X

16bit

2009-07-16T10:37:00.003+01:00

I know 16bit vaguely from some of their previous works which, frankly, have been ridiculous to the point of almost being un-listenable (in a good way) and generally sounding massive over club PAs etc.

This remix of Borgore, an Israeli bass meantalist, is little exception really. tarting off with a gentle piano riff and leading into a nice intro, things swiftly descend into bass based chaos. It may not be hugely intelligent, but when it's this over the top and fun... who cares!?

Borgore - Foes (16bit Remix)

Out,

J.

X

Go 'Net

2009-07-14T14:43:00.003+01:00

Internet Forever are a bunch of scuzzy indie so and so's from London (partially via Cambridge) making a delightful little racket round and about London's east end at the moment.

Taking the scuzzy distortion of Wavves with the beautiful pop melodies of bands like Los Campesinos, including the male/female offset voacals and even throwing in my favourite Why? song for good measure. while not being the most musically brilliant cover, it has a certain energy and charm to it that is somewhat akin to the contented feeling of falling in love on a summer's day and being truly happy about it.

Internet Forever then; make you feel like you might be falling in love. Not too bad.

Internet Forever - Broken Bones

Love,

James.

X

Dragons

2009-07-10T14:54:00.004+01:00

Canadian electro-pop outfit Dragonette have been doing the rounds since 2005 and have previously delighted my eardrums with the Ratcliffe remix of "I Get Around" late 2007/early 2008 time. It was pretty slick.

Now JOCKS (1/4 of th now defunct Good Books) have taken out "Fixin' To Frill" with Misters Deep and Disco and fused them into something altogether larger than the sum of its parts. A pleasurably deep piece that builds into a pulsing electro beast before calming and drifting away quietly, making room for a delightful song to replace it. I rather love it.

Dragonette - Fixin To Thrill (JOCKS Remix)

Loves,

J.

X

ALLEZ!

2009-07-10T14:18:00.005+01:00

Allez Allez. Can't say i know a huge deal about these chaps, other than that Aeroplane remixed a single of theirs a few months back now and, obviously, turned it into a deliciously groove piece of Disco house. But then, don't Aeroplane do that to everything, regardless of what they were working with in the first place? Well... yes but fret not, as Allez Allez are more than capable of doing things for themselves.

In fact, i might even go so far as to say that Allez Allez could quite easily develop into the UK's very own Aeroplane or Holy Ghost! Big words I know, but i think this marvelous remix of Simian Mobile Disco's fairly ridiculous "Audacity Of Huge" speaks for itself. They even make the vocal sound less laughable. It's all quite deep and, i suspect, is going to fit nicely alongside a track i'll put up later that i have, defintiely, stolen straight from my good friends at 88 Days In My Veins who, coincidentally, are much better bloggers than me and should definitely be on your radar.

Long sentences aside, here is the track!

Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity Of Huge (Allez Allez Remix)

Bye!

J.

X

Kraftwerk project

2009-07-10T14:07:00.004+01:00

Yep, those tasty boys (well, one of them) from Kraftwerk have taken their hands to working with emerging artists from, of all places, Ireland!

Empire State Human hail from Dublin and produce electro with elements of big beat within it. Not shabby stuff but, then, what would one expect from a band working with THE legends of electronic music? Nothing less.

Offered up on a platter for us is the Rob Kiraly remix which takes it into pulsating electro territory and keeps much of the vocal in place for sing along convenience. Though I have to confess to the "I Love My Techno" vocals in a Rammestein-esque accent are a bit OTT for me.

Empire State Human - Afro (Rob Kiraly Remix)

Buy it HERE

J.

RUN!

2009-07-07T23:13:00.003+01:00

Pony Pony Run Run. Not a band who have a gift for names, i have to admit. That aside though, they are a band who have a knack for a beautiful pop melody and hook laden vocals. And around here that generally means one thing; that someone has taken their gleeful music and done something rather magical with it.

This time, Mondkopf have stepped up and risen to the challenge. Treating us to mix that shimmers in its beauty. In fact, it makes me want to book my plane ticket to Ibiza right now purely to hear it at sunrise on a beach after one of those nights you will never forget, regardless of how much remember. Honestly, this is one of my favourite things i have heard in quite some time.

Pony Pony Run Run - Hey You (Mondkopf Remix)

watch the video here:

Love,

J.

X

Big summer tunes

2009-07-03T12:09:00.004+01:00

So, time for a few big tunes that you will inevitably end up hearing all summer whether it be by choice or the simple fact that will no doubt get every-bloody-where.

First up, a collaboration between A-Track and Armand Van Helden which harks more back to Armand's earlier days and is probably going to alienate fans of his more recent works or A-Track's material in general. Having been dropped by the likes of Aeroplan, however, the disco house crowd are sure to love this one.

Next up is the new piece from Switch. Again, no mp3s yet (unless you happen to be a part of or good friends with some the grindin network). This time Switch as, surprisingly... stuck with his trend of indie based remixes and has chosen Florence And The Machine for this round. It isn't up there with his Hideaway remix but it is quite light hearted and summery.

Florence and the Machine - Rabbit Heart (Switch Remix)

Also sounding pretty big and on the rise at the moment is The Aspirins For My Children. Having been awarded the position of No. 2 track you most need to hear this week in NME a week or two ago 9for the Marina & The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot remix). Here we have a remix of Lost Valentinos "Common Thief" which gets the usual loving makeover featuring swirling, ethereal synth stabs and builds with the vocals chopped yet still set out a relatively similar pattern. I've said it before, and I will definitely say it again, keep your eyes on this chap, he will go faaaaaar!

Lost Valentinos - Common Thief (The Aspirins For My Children Remix)

Enjoy, eh?

J.

Xx

Fistibizzle

2009-06-17T13:13:00.003+01:00

After an incredibly successful first year in 2008, which saw a sell out crowd enjoying the sunshine and some of most exciting young bands around, Festibelly returns in 2009, on 29th August. Once again featuring some of the biggest up and coming names on the circuit at the moment, Festibelly is setting itself up for another cracking year. This time round capacity has doubled to one thousand, after last years more than sold out, and features a lot to get excited about.

Firstly, there is the beautiful setting, out in the Hampshire countryside, but not far from civilisation either, the perfect combination one might argue! Then there are the acts which include exciting talent James Yuill, the set to be massive this year Micachu & The Shapes, Man Like Me, who are on the precipice of dropping their long awaited debut album, upcoming indie rockers The Operators, colouringIN, the incredible new disco orientated project of label boss Tom Neville and collaborator Henry Bennet.

Also on site providing their unstoppable brand of party entertainment are the reggae-Roast crew who, as anyone that frequents their events in London will know, always prove that they really know how to kick start a party. On top of that, you will also be able to see the delights on offer from The Laurel Collective, The Pepys, Rob Cowen & The Dissidents, Jazica, Tarrbaby, RWD, Sombrero Sound System, Fear Of Theydon, Itchy Feet DJs and Alex Parsons over the course of the day.

Along side this will be a new addition for Festibelly, the Secret Wars crew will be providing their brand of street art battles throughout the day for anyone who needs a break from the forward thinking sounds of the music and simply wants to max out in front of some worldwide drawing talent. More info on this talented group of artists can be found here; http://www.secretwars.co.uk/

Camping is thrown in completely free of charge, and one will be able to find all the usual festival likely suspects around the site, from local food & drink stalls to tepees in which to relax and, if you’re lucky, the opportunity to make your own one of a kind t-shirts. And with all of this for £25 pounds, it is setting itself up to be one of the finest days of the summer.

Fore more info & to buy tickets see, http://www.festibelly.com

James Yuill live at Festibelly 2008

J.

X

Screendeath

2009-06-16T14:17:00.003+01:00

Picked this up of my favourite new internet implement, Twitter, recently and have decided it was definitely worth posting.

Screendeath has taken Melting Wing's "Kingdom Nineteen" and re-molded it into a rather lovely of dark disco infused electronica. with beutiful use of "horns" and a nice jumpy little beat that seem perfert for after hours maxing.

Melting Wing - Kingdom Nineteen (Screendeath Remix)

Out,

James.

X

Amazing Baby - Rewild

2009-06-16T14:09:00.001+01:00

Amazing Baby - Rewild review:

Two things become apparent very quickly on listening to this album. The first, I feel, is the sheer number of influences on show here, everything from ethereal Pink Floyd-isms to Damon Albarn-esque affected accents. The second, is that these influences in no way take over the record and claim it for themselves. No, this is entirely Amazing Baby’s record, and what a record it is. All the elegance of Broken Social Scene wrapped in the pop magnificence of Phoenix (who, coincidentally, they are about to/are currently on tour with), which is fairly large praise, I suspect. Either that or I’m just terribly sycophantic, but I do not feel this is the case, I just like picking good albums to review!

Rewild opens up with “Bayonets”, which combines a mixture of guitars, strings, synthesizers and samples to achieve its aim of setting the tone for the album. A task it manages with aplomb, all soaring melodies, chunky guitars and choruses. Conversely, “Invisible Palace” opens with enough pomposity and bombast to be make it worthy of a more over-the-top Arcade Fire moment, before dropping away into a very understated verse undercut by some gentle brass the chorus puts the OTT back into overdrive. A marvellous contrast of moods that revels in the glory of Pink Floyd. “Kankara” lies somewhere inbetween the two previous tracks, utilising big riffs, drums and, well, big everything, before dropping into a racy, upbeat verse and continuing through cyclically.

“Headdress” centers around a chorus comprised of one the greatest riffs of the year offset by reverb drenched backing vocals, and works stunningly. Also see; great use of subtle piano in an indie song. “Deerripper” is a full on ride through a crazed indie journey before “Old Tricks In Hell” brings us gently back into the wig of things with a beautiful intro and some more reverb drenched backing vocals on loop. The Narwhal is a predominantly acoustic affair which picks up two thirds of the way through and goes out on some lovely melodies

Next up is “Roverfrenz”, which simply sounds like it is destined for big things. A big song, with brilliantly gentle vocals, and a brooding yet upbeat track bubbling away behind it. “Smoke Bros”, the albums penultimate moment, comes across like the underground “Common People” for the new wave of indie before “Pump Yr Brakes” takes us out with a mixture very large guitar and a feeling of culmination. It takes a while to get here, but this is easily the peak of the album, as the guitars entwine themselves around one another while the drums provide the bombast and the vocals just drop in as though part of the music itself.

If you were erring on the edge of going to see Phoenix on tour, the prospect of seeing this rather epic record should have you buying the ticket and waiting outside the venue a day in advance.

See ya',

J.

X

TAFMC and such

2009-06-16T13:22:00.007+01:00

Well, i've been sitting on these for quite a while now, and it seems like everyone under the sun has been putting them out recently, so i thought i'd stretch them your way too.

The Aspirins For My Children has remixed Marina & The Diamonds again, this time he works "I Am Not A Robot" into something more ethereal and electronic than its original format. Daniel Barker seems to have a knack for transforming songs with wonderful hooks into te dizzy hights of breathtaking electronica, so get it while it's hot, eh!

Marina & The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot (TAFMC Remix)

Also on show today is an exclusive for Plastic Cowboys. As you may (hopefully) be aware of by now, KiD COLA dropped his first single on us last week and this, this is a massive remix of it from a young American named Hidden Cat, who you may recognise from the KiD COLA mix of his track The Superfuture.

KiD COLA - first Floor Elevator (Hidden Cat Remix)

Later,

J.

Friiiiiiiday! BLAM!

2009-06-12T12:29:00.005+01:00

It's Friday again, and i have a lot to do:

Review the Amazing Baby Album
Review Johnny Foreigner single
Write a post for The Fat! Club
Burn off new tunes to play tonight (about 10 CDs worth)
Go to Cargo to catch up with @OELSP (yep, twitter speak reaches plastic cowboys)
Head to the Queen Of Hoxton for a birthday,
Head to the Horse & Groom for Rut (run by the crew behind Vump)
Head to The Legion to catch up with Gold Panda)
Get to Marble Arch to DJ at 10.

Hmmm....

So, in the meantime, i'm going to cram a few posts worth of stuff into one, base laziness, innit (i'm totally learning to write how people talk, and shit).

First up is my favourite, Todd Terje taking Wham and giving them a dreamy disco workout. I like this rather a lot, Todd has taken the verse out leaving it as, more or less, a dub version though it retains the chorus.

Wham - Club Tropicana (Todd Terje Edit) Zshare link...

Also here this week is a little edit, from France's Mustard Pimp, of DJ Jean's The Launch which is fairly similar but with a bit more of a jacking beat. Amusing, at the least, though perhaps not filled with longevity.

DJ Jean - The Launch (Mustard Pimp Edit)

Then The Twelves try get all disco on A-Ha. Not quite sure if this works yet or not. How does one re-edit such a ridiculously hook-laden piece of pop? Well, here's how they try:

A-Ha - Take On Me (The Twelves Remix)

Enjoy the weekend, i'm off to a tea party at Kenwood House on Saturday afternoon, then a store opening for my favourite little boutique, Behave, in Camden at around six, before DJing again.

BLAM!

J.

X

No Rave

2009-06-10T11:21:00.003+01:00

Those delightful bass loving chappies from NONEWYORK have drafted up a new mix and, charmingly (though most likely, appropriately) titled it "NO RAVE", which hints at it being so bass loaded it's ridiculous. Frankly, that's bang on!

Big stuff!

NONEWYORK - NO RAVE Mix

Dark matter- N-Type
Shaolin Style (Nero Remix)- Bar 9
TRG - Horny (Reso Remix)- TRG & Mayhem
Art of Revolution (Original)- bassnectar
Nine to Five (DZ Remix)- BOLTAN
Antisocial (B. Rich Remix)- Raffertie
In The Death Car (Vocal Mix)- 16 Bit
#22 (Original Mix)- NONEWYORK
Mind Control- 501
Calm Down- AC Slater
CRACK- DZ & KOZEE
Explicit- Emalkay
Exia (Setsuna F. Seiei Mix)- Bombaman
Sunday Morning- Borgore
Dressed to Digress (Nero Remix)- Boy Crisis
Tokyo Pollution 3.0 (NONEWYORK Remix)- Tommie Sunshine
The Dream ft Dianaconda- NONEWYORK v Commodore 69
Young Folks (Dub & Run Remix)- Peter, Bjorn & John
Western Sensimilla- Dubtek
Dead Mix (Original Mix)- NONEWYORK
Dancehall Of The Dead(Kanji Kinetic Remix)- Kid606
Miss Her (Original Mix)- Komonazmuk
End Of The World- Nero
Dubnet- Stenchman
Gett'n Money- UltraBlack

J.

X

KiD COLA sinlge remixes!

2009-05-29T11:53:00.003+01:00

First up are Scotland's (Perth's, to be more precise) Disco Wizards who taken the original and turned it into a full on heavy stomper of a track! Huge drums are offset by massive, rumbling basslines while the First Floor Elevator melody sits nicely over the top.

Good stuff all round then. And coming up in the next couple of weeks we will be dropping big remixes from Hidden Cat and Jakwob. Get excited!

KiD COLA - First Floor Elevator (Disco Wizards Remix)

J.

X

Deficient?

2009-05-29T11:26:00.003+01:00

Bit of a departure back into bass today, good times. Enjoying a few nasty basslines at the moment, offset by moments of melodic disco wonderfulness. This time round it's France's The Deficient, who was re-worked the likes of Dance Area, AC Slater, Mustard Pimp and Lee Mortimer.

There doesn;t seem to be a great deal of info around on him, but he seems to approach his work with a desire to make you dance, not to simply beat you into submission with bass, which frequently gets very tedious and happens all to often.

Here's what he's done to Lee Mortimer:

Lee Mortimer - This Is Real Shit (The Deficient Remix)

James.

X

Jakwooooooob!

2009-05-29T11:09:00.003+01:00

This young man, Jakwob, has been a friend of ours since the early days of working with KiD COLA. Back then he was kicking out a lot of music very quickly indeed and showed a lot of promise. Now he is taking a bit more time over his work he is really starting to fulfill that promise, one need look no further than his recent remixes for The Teasers and Ellie Goulding to observe that.

Hailing from Lincoln, he part of the scene that is thriving there at the momemt thanks the likes of Andy George, Jaymo, Urchins etc and the various massive parties that are thrown in the town every month!

Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (Jakwob remix)

James.

X

Roar

2009-05-13T12:36:00.005+01:00

Well, it seems good news is afoot. What with Grizzly Bear's new album set for release soon and the promos sounding nothing short of brilliant things have got even better. Yep, one of favourite Frenchmen, Fred Falke, has taken time-out to remix new track "Two Weeks" and, rest assured, he nails it in classic Falke style. I sweat, if he carries on like this i'm just going to be spinning Fred Falke reworks in my sets. I guess that's no bad thing though.

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks (Frad Falke Remix)

That aside, I've had this song for months now but have done nothing with it, and getting a new remix of his last night made me decide to do something about this state of affairs.

Firstly, bound to be most people's "banger" for the summer is Foamo's Remix of Man Like Me's ode to the capital, "London Town". I'm sure i've rambled about Foamo enough by now, but the man just keeps on developing, refining and improving his style so get involved.

Man Like Me - London Town (Foamo Remix)

Secondly, after his rather tight little edit of Skream's mash-up of "In For The Kill" he seems to have been snapped up to do a full mix of new single, "Bullet Proof", and serves it up in fine style. Though admittedly don't feel the vocals always quite fit over the music in this piece, it is still a fine piece of work.

La Roux - Bullet Proof (Foamo Remix)

Out.

J.

X

The Aspirins For My Children

2009-05-11T13:25:00.004+01:00

London now has its band to watch for 2009. Quite easily the best thing I have heard for quite a while is the intriguingly named, The Aspirins For My Children. With a fairly rich history of production, having worked with the likes of Miss Odd Kidd, The Cock n’ Bull Kid, Ghost Poet and Jean-Charles De Castelbajac, the quality and experience very much shows through in original such as “Adults” with its pounding drums, mesmerising, layered, synth lines built around a hugely atmospheric chorus hook and of bizarrely appropriate pitch bending for good measure.

Another track, “Pineapple” sounds as though it a summer afternoon anthem for the more lively amongst us, with it’s strangely upbeat and lifting melodies and occasional looped vocal chants. One could possibly imagine Crystal Castles writing something like this if they stepped out of dark, smoky clubs and wrote music in glorious sunshine. “Cutter”, on the other hand, gives off an immediate presence of normality before rapidly developing into a great piece of electronica and then U-turning back to the start and again descending into elecrtonica. All inside of two minutes. Intensely brilliant.

On top of these original pieces, TAFMC also has a nice sideline in remixes, having re-worked songs for the likes of Situationists and Marina & The Diamonds, with several more in the works, “coming soon”. The mix of Marina & The Diamons’ “Obsessions” is a wonderful piece, utilisng Marinas’s vocal line and offsetting it with big drums, swirling melodies and soaring synthesised strings. Or, more simply put, it’s a wonderful piece that veers between simple melodies and haunting crescendos.
With plans afoot for shows later in the year and, hopefully, even more originals, I feel big things ahead for this one man music machine.

Marina & The Diamonds - Obsessions (TAFMC Remix)

Love,

James

X

Potentially the most ineteresting collab of the year...

2009-05-05T10:34:00.004+01:00

Is the much hyped link up between Four Tet and Burial. Two fairly different styles of music, both with huge cult status, bordering on mainstream popularity (I imagine this is up for debate, but they are not quite household names methinks), though coming from to the table with each with a similar ethos as they both seem to like their ambiance to some degree or another.

The result can be found on vinyl in any competent record store, or on the internet in the shape of "Moth" which, as predicted, is a piece of surprisingly upbeat electronica in terms of the melodies, though their is a strong Burial influence in the beats and in the subtleties that swing around the lead lines. I suspect your best bet will be Rough Trade or Phonica for this release (if you're in London, or want to order online from a good quality independent store), I'm certainly out of here to one of these as soon as pay day hits!

A slight grower but a beautifully constructed piece. I can imagine these two writing an incredibly moving album together, as Moth alone took me off somewhere else entirely, to the the extent that I jumped when the song after came on.

Buial & Four Tet - Moth

Four Tet and Burial on myspace.

J.

X

Fenech Soler

2009-04-29T16:41:00.003+01:00

A new UK act who seem to take of with aplomb over the summer.

Dealing in what can only be described as blissed out pop melodies and electronic hooks offset by, at times, mesmerising vocals. I don't really know much else about them, if i'm honest, besides the fact that they are playing Off With Your Heads at The Queen Of Hoxton on 7th May and will be thoroughly worth the trip down, i believe it is free too. Oh, and then there's this; their latest single 'The Cult Of Romance' due out May 11th is quite simply amazing. It has been championed by Pete Tong & Andy George (Radio 1) and was George Lamb's (BBC 6) record of the week.

Not too shabby methinks.

Come down!

Fenech Soler - LA Love

Fenech Soler - Airbrushed

check out their myspace for more! Fenech Soler

Love,

James.

X

Junior Boys get it very right

2009-04-27T11:49:00.003+01:00

\

Junior Boys still seem to come across as a rather underwhelming name, rarely heard outside of certain circles; but when one considers their work with techno legend Carl Craig and tours with the likes of Hot Chip alongside various high profile remixes, the true nature of their position comes to light.

Having actually been together and making music for many years now, one could almost regard them as the forbearers of Hot Chip’s mantle as the Kings of carefully crafted downbeat electronic stylings; though Junior Boys have always maintained more of a tehno influence which one can very much hear in this delightful record.

Opening up on this new EP with the melancholic "Parallel Lines”, with it’s delicate vocals gently layered over minimal landscapes and softened drums. Second track “Work” takes us into darker territories that occupy the land somewhere in between The Knife and Gui Boratto, with acidic loops and a pulsating bass. Then, suddenly, the mood shifts up a gear with “Bits & Pieces” which comes across like the bastard child of Hot Chip and Matthew Dear. There are even handclaps thrown in for good measure alongside layered vocals and hooky yet sporadic melodies. “Dull To Pause” is essentially a wonderful piece of down-tempo pop while “Hazel” takes us in the other direction, being wonderfully upbeat, underpinned with elements of (ex-Hot Chipper) Grovesnor.

Continuing with the theme of contrasts on this record, “Sneak A Picture” once again takes the mood down somewhat, utilising skipping beats, quirky synth lines and gently stabbing bass. “The Animator" is a piece I’m not entirely certain how to describe; whilst being stylistically very much a part of the record it seems to stand on its own slightly but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Needless to say it’s another brilliant piece of dark, electronic pop.

Closing track “What’s It For” is a beautiful, slow burning piece that starts off simply with some subtle background pulsating aquatic synths, before gentle vocals roll in over the top and an ecstactic melody casually builds over the whole thing in such a manner that one will hardly notice it’s presence until it leaves you and the EP has played out.

A wonderfully dark electronic piece, which is all the while strangely uplifting, Junior Boys have once again proved themselves as one of the most criminally underrated bands around today.

Junior Boys - Bits & Pieces

Love,

J.

If Not Now...

2009-04-17T17:51:00.001+01:00

Plimsouls - If Not Now, When?

Having been kicking around on the blog scene for a couple of years now, the time has finally come for Plimsouls to drop his first full EP on us, via Pieces of Eight Records who have brought us music from the likes of Style Of Eye and compilations from Sister Bliss. Rest assured, he holds his own against such weighty names.
Opening up with the slightly haunting “Twelve” we are a greeted with a huge, thumping kick drum while humming bass and swirling melodies build around the beat and strings begin to stab across building to a peak until, stop, and a huge lead synth melody rolls out and I’m hooked. Hodzo is built around a similarly intense kick drum but with almost more atmosphere, even choral vocals are included here, which the lead slowly builds out of until you find yourself in a sea of distorted bass, which drops away leaving the lead to carry through before the whole songs crashes back in and one is amidst a huge techno track! With breakdowns and builds using elements from each of part of the track, this is a wonderful piece that really sees Plimsouls utilising his potential as a songwriter.
“Tolle” takes us down a more “fidget house” route with its clicking beats squelchy melodies and slamming bass. Another track that goes to show the versatility of the young producer. Having covered almost three genres across three tracks it is also testament to his promising talent that the record also never feels disjointed, the mix through house, techno and fidgety beats is remarkably seamless. We are then taken on the closing journey of “One Step” which is a laidback house track with a nice funky, groove laden bass line, big drops and massive leads, that finishes off the record in fine style. In all honesty, the whole thing is entirely kompakt worthy, let’s hope they sit up and take notice of one of the UK’s brightest young producers.

Love,

J.

X

Switch is back.

2009-04-09T18:50:00.003+01:00

Yep, after a year in the wilderness producing the occasional ropey remix and utilising his skills producing albums for producers, many of whom seem to have been plucked from under Diplo's wing, Switch is back on form.

It's been a long time since his Mystery Jets remix hit the 'net in April 2008, but we do finally have more Switch productions worth a good solid listen. Yay! He's even brought a new sound with him. Taking elements of his distorted, crunching fidget stylings, has slowed everything down and taken Bjork into somewhere one might associate with dubstep, though i'd hesitate to say it was full on dubstep. Which is somewhere i'm not even sure the pixie-espue Icelandic cult figure ever expected to be, despite her best experimental efforts. It matters not though, as it's Switch back on form and we know what that means, dancefloor slammers galore. How wonderful!

Anyway, stuff the chat, get down and listen to it!

Bjork - Nattura (Switch Remix)

Love,

James.

X

New Kid Blue mixtape & New night @ East Village

2009-04-03T17:05:00.003+01:00

Kid Blue returns:

Kid Blue Lot49 Mixtape

1 Dopamine - Spunk
2 Vandal - Captain Magic (Rudi Stakker Remix)
3 Rainer Weichold - Bamboo (Format:B Remix)
4 Worthy & Yankee Zulu - The BS Connection
5 Merka - Another Place (Kid Blue Remix)
6 Eric Etrena & D-Unity - Drugs and Stuff (D-Nox & Beckers Remix)
7 Kid Blue DJ Tool 22
8 Fukkk Off - Rave Is King (Nhan Taan's Electro Boogie Remix)
9 Calvertron - Oh Ley (Kid Blue Remix)
10 Bertolini, Navas & Amo - Nervioso (Olivier Giacommotto Remix)
11 Jeroen Van Anken - Atomic Wobble (Kid Blue Remix)
12 Brian Thomas - The Drop (Kid Blue Remix)
13 Tiga & Zyntherius - Sunglasses At Night (D.I.M. Remix)
14 808 State - Pacific State (Rudi Stakker Remix)

See you there.

J.

X

Krazy Baldhead drops Ed Banger debut album

2009-04-03T16:22:00.003+01:00

Krazy Baldhead – The B-Suite

I do not think that anyone but the most hardened of Ed Banger fans would admit that they have been somewhat off the boil since their heyday in 2007, perhaps the last real innovative release being Mr. Oizo’s Patrick 122 (see the original it samples from; Gary’s Gang – Do It At The Disco) over a year ago now. So I have to confess to approaching the new Krazy Baldhead record with a touch of caution, despite having been a fan of his Dry Guilotine/Crazy Motherfuckas release back in 2006.

I am happy to say, that almost immediately upon pressing play, I was greeted by something that, while unmistakably Ed Banger, seemed to bring back that little spark that made them so appealing a few years ago. Mr. Baldhead (aka Pierre-Antoine Grison) has started off by approaching the album from a very different approach to your average. Consisting of sixteen tracks, spread across four “movements” consisting of four “parts” for the first two movements, three for the third while the remaining five make up the fourth and final movement. One could almost conceive that he has purposefully approached this electro record from a classical perspective, with of movements with interrelating parts, flowing together as though part of a mixtape, all the while remaining distinguishable individually.

The opening movement is constructed around a funky, yet distorted, pulsating bassline, whilst flowing in and out more blessed out, melodic moments before morphing back into where it started from in part one.

The Second Movement opens up with a jazz freefall before breaking out into an electronic take on the intro and drops smoothly into a funk fuelled electro/hip-hop piece featuring Tes on vocals. Part three sees the funk bass take on more of groove with some crunching synths layered subtlely on top before part four chops things up somewhat and takes us within the realms of Oizo and sebastiAn-esque material.

Movement numero trois takes into electro/rap territory with guest vocalists Big-O and MllE Yulia, bleeps, electronic squeals and vivacious loops, leading into a laidback melody and some very low-end bass which slowly builds into a an almost techno-esque piece, building around stabbing strings which drops away into distorted rhythmical bass loops and becomes a rather wonderful piece featuring Outlines which harks back to their remix of DJ Mehdi.

The fourth movement goes straight in for the epic jugular, all intense bass and solid drums before suddenly stripping back to a beautiful, high pitched melody and an odd vocal sample which leads gently into the next piece of the puzzle which slowly crescendos into a traditional piece of slamming electro. Part three gives way to a slowed down, distorted and grimy piece which follows into part four, where strings are layered over the top and leads towards a final assault featuring the Beat Assailant which closes down this album with somewhat of a bang.

Ed Banger Rides again.

Krazy Baldhead - Choppin'

J.

X

my favourite new dubstep person?

2009-03-27T16:37:00.003Z

Yep, I know absolutely nothing about Norway's Clueless, other than that he is from Norway and seems to have modeled himself on Burial, to an extent. He has no information about himself, his picture is silhouetted and shrouded in smoke.

He does, however, have a talent for producing brilliantly deep and melancholic dubstep tracks that will, inevitably, be compared to the likes of Burial and the Hyperdub 2-step skittish beat sound. There is, though, something much simpler and, perhaps, mre affecting to his sound, the beats are merely a by product of the song, used to prop up the haunting strings, keys and melancholic bass lines. Wonderful stuff.

Bright Eyes - No One Would For Less (Clueless remix)

Adele - Hometown Glory (Clueless Remix)

See you,

J.

You Fuckin' prat!

2009-03-26T17:39:00.003Z

Yeah, Primecuts has mashed up Cockney Thug into a different style once again and added loads more vocal samples i don't remember being there before. Mainly classics and fairly violent. This is the state of ghetto jackin'.

Rusko - Cockney Thug (DJ Primecuts Remix)

Despite the fact this is everywhere, it deserves a mention for being another feather in the already rather bird-like hat of Fred Falke. Not satisfied with dropping one of the best remixes ever on us, the Golden Cage one, he pulls off another absolute cracking piece of French infused electro-house using Little Boots as a template this time.

Little Boots - New In Town (Fred Falke Remix)

Crystal...

I don't much about this next lot except that they are Japanese, amazing and on institubes. But they do say this themselves:

“We are always conscious of the present music, of course. And we love Japanese music, old music & any other genre (techno, rock, jazz, classical, reggae, country...). Possibly you find our music “exotic”, but we do our best to make and play our music, so If you enjoy our music, we are so happy.
Please come to our concerts.”

Crystal - Initiative!

Having never been hugely into them, despite their fairly large scene status, Jokers of The Scene have finally impressed me enough to write about. One time, with a rather cracking remix of Congorock which is all upbeat synths and basslines liable to get inside your head and warp your brain, and the other is a dubstep remix of one of their tracks which opens beautifully before going all weird on us.

Jokers Of The Scene - Baggy Bottom Boys (DZ Ravestep Remix)

Congorock - Runark (Jokers of The Scene Remix)

Later.

J.

deeply does it

2009-03-23T13:51:00.003Z

Found a house/electronica producer by the name of Slava the other day, though it seems that i can find little info about him. In fact, what i assume is his myspace page has so little info on it i can not tell if it is the same artist! Bizarre.

Either way, this is a great piece of weird, moody, atmospheric deep electronica. I suppose you could liken it to Nathan Fake in a more bizarre and self-indulgent moment (good thing), but i suspect that would be a bit lazy. A strange piece of music for strange times.

Slava - Dark Dreams

Also awesome is the Aeroplane remix of Sebastian Tellier. I don't really fele the need to say much more about Aeroplane. They are going to be leading 2009 from the front. Whatch them explode of the next few months.

Sebastian Tellier - Kilometer (Aeroplane 'Italo '84 Remix)

And this i rather like too. Skream's mix was cool and Foamo's edit took it in a slightly deeper direction and may be an interesting alternate sound for future Foamo stuff when he decides to stray from big, jacking bass. Heartbreak, obviously, took a different route all together and came away with something entirely more interesting.
A faintly odd, disco influenced piece of house/electro which all revolves around a pulsating synth with dreamy melodies floating all around it and the soaring La Roux vocal gently rolling over the top. Beautiful.

La Roux - In for The Kill (Heartbreak Remix)

Out,

J.

X

Galactik Knights

2009-03-12T13:57:00.003Z

Galactik Knights were kind enough to send me a copy of their latest mix tape which is full of french touch and electro goodness. I rather enjoyed it.

Galactik Knights Spectrum Mix

1. Sedat- The Turkish Avenger
2. Thomas Bangalter- Ventura
3. Thomas Bangalter- Outrun
4. Alan Braxe- Vertigo (Thomas Bangalter’s Virgo Mix)
5. Le Knight Club- Hysteria
6. Sedat- Take Me Ce Soir
7. Raw Man- Across the Universe
8. Menace & Adam- So in Love
9. Dynamic Rockers- Life (Muttonheads Remix)
10. Lifelike- In My Car
11. Gipsy- Gipsy
12. Paul Johnson- I’m Alone Until You Show Me
13. Patrick Alavi- Zoulday
14. Galactik Knights- Digital Silver
15. Daft Punk- High Life
16. Paul Johnson- She Got Me On
17. Superfunk- Young MC
18. Armand Van Helden- Flyaway Love
19. JJ Flores & Steve Smooth- Freak You
20. Richard Grey- Bassline
21. Dynamic Rockers- Don’t Be Surprised
22. M-Flo Loves Monday Michiru- A.D.D.P.

J.

X

New COLA

2009-03-10T17:36:00.002Z

KiD COLA returns, this time teaming up with US electro protege Hidden Cat and remixing his sleeper blog hit, 'Superfuture.' Opening with cut up samples over a solid 4/4 beat and rolling bass lines, arguably reminscent of the classic detroit and chicago scenes, before building to peak and slamming back in with a distorted bass riff set to demolish anything in its way. With KiD COLA and Hidden Cat both looking on the brink of something big in 2009, this partnership was, seemingly, destined to happen, so keep your eyes on these two over the coming months.

Hidden Cat – Superfuture (KiD COLA Remix)

Also new this week is more Mustard Pimp stuff. My favourite of which is a genius (though slightly silly) mix of The Fresh Prince, done over with lots of bass and jagged electro synths. Boosh.

Will Smith - The Fresh Prince Of Bell Air

And after their rather excellent mix of Adele a few weeks ago, Chewy Chocolate Cookies are back with a mini-mix displaying a load of new material and remixes yet to come.

CCC Minimixtape:

1) Chewy Chocolate Cookies "Still Untitled" (Coming soon...) + FDHC "Silver screen" Acappella

2) Keatch ft. Gehts Noch "Call it Love"

3) Phenomania "Who is Elvis" Chewy Chocolate Cookies re-edit

4) From monuments to masses "Beyond gold & Elvis" Felix Cartal Rmx

5) Chewy Chocolate Cookies "Apocalypse" (Coming soon...)

6) Royksopp "Happy up here" Boys Noize Rmx

7) DJ Manaia "The bass killer"

8) Chewy Chocolate Cookies "Numero" (Coming soon...)

9) Cazals "Poor innocent boys" Shinici Osawa Rmx

10) Chewy Chocolate Cookies "Boom boom" (Coming soon...)

11) Lazy Jay "Float my boat"

12) Digital Boy "This is motherfucker" Chewy Chocolate Cookies Rmx (Coming soon...)

13) Junk Project "Brain tool" Chewy Chocolate Cookies re-edit

14) Drlkt Freddie"Blood" Chewy Chocolate Cookies Rmx (Coming soon...)

Much love,

James.

X

Italian Boys

2009-02-20T15:37:00.004Z

Seemed pretty pretentious with silly glasses and either mullets or rats tails. Mmmmmm, yum. Still, i guess there's some decent music coming from there now, which is nice.

Anyhow, most of this music is in the shape of Crookers, The Bloody Beetroots etc. Noisy, brash and offensive.

This Italian boy, Enzo Ponzio, has taken a very nice old school, deep disco house approach to the whole thing and has come out with some absolutely cracking tunes in the shape of the below.

Enzo Ponzio - Italian Boy

Enzo Ponzio - My 80s Funk

J.

X

Breakfast Bitch

2009-02-20T15:15:00.004Z

Yoyo,

So i've been pretty lax this month, my bad. It's mainly because i've been to drunk to see my own keyboard.

Anyhow, i think i'm going to do a spiel of rapid fire short posts, containing an overview of my listening habits and nights out of the last few weeks.

But first, news. Played my first DJ set this week, which went, remarkably, ok. Good times.

Now, Le Le seems to be a French bunch putting out a bizarre combo of french-pop and filthy hip-hop, all with an amusing tongue in cheek stance. Check out biggest hit, Breakfast, for a prime example.

Le Le - Breakfast (Mercury Remix)

There is also this rather ace Laidbeck Luke edit:

Enjoy.

J.

X

Jac that disco

2009-02-12T15:19:00.007Z

Our good friends and Hosts of Last On In's A Rotten Egg, every second Saturday at Shoreditch's 333 Jac The Disco have dropped a heavy as disco mix on on us, utterly living up to their name.

Check it out here:

Jac The Disco's Disco/New Disco Mix

01 llija Rudman - Dance Disorder (Original Mix)
02 Crazy P - Love On The Line (Unabombers Dub Mix)
03 They Came From The Stars I Saw Them - Moon Song (Holy Ghost Remix)
04 Lee Douglas - New York Story
05 Vincent Markowski - Dirty Capsules (Album Version)
06 Color Climax - Disque O Heights
07 LSB - FOG
08 Beppe Loda Pres. Egotrya - Volcano (The Revolving Eyes Disco Mix)
09 Den Haan - Night Shift
10 Alicia Bridges - Body Heat

Do it. As Ben Stiller/David Starsky/Maury Finkle would say.

Also, a bit on the late side of things, is some heavy Mustard Pimp's material. Keeping the bass distorted and heavy, they manage to inject an unprecedented level of funk and groove into the proceedings, helping keep jacking house fresh and exciting. Very cool. Gold even opens with dark piano lines and melancholic strings. We likey.

Mustard Pimp - Gold

Mustard Pimp - Rubik

I have also recently had a track through from Van Scott of the DJs Are Not Rockstars collective, with a new track from their label by Alexander Technique himself. Remixes are from Acid Jacks, Nick Catchdubs (Fools Gold) and Chewy Chocolate Cookies. However, Jesse of MSTRKRFT fame was so taken by the CCC remix that he did his own edit and has been dropping at peak points in MSTRKRFT sets. Excellent work Jesse!

Alexander Technique feat. Van Scott - Nightlovers (JFK edit of CCC remix)

It's a bit of a monster!

Watch out for some more disco floor melters soon.

Out.

James.

X

The return of Boys Noize, less than, secret weapon

2009-02-03T13:33:00.005Z

Yeah, it seems D.I.M. is back on the scene with a remix of Hot Chip, who seem to be be the band to take on at the moment. Having recently (ish) been mixed by Fake Blood, Switch, Ewan Pearson and lord knows who else, D.I.M. comes along with an interesting take on "Hold On".

Hot Chip - Hold On (D.I.M. remix)

Seemingly abandoning his intense and bass loaded work of previous outings, he has approached this one from a very funky and laid back, almost disco-esque, perspective and it works rather well. I'm not sure it's his finest piece, but it is certainly a nice break from the seemingly endless and uninteresting copycats that the market is persistently flooded with.

Other than that, i saw the best set i've seen in a long time on Saturday. This was from Peter Visti at Loose, spinning an absolutely genius set of deep electronic disco. I didn't know a single track but my jaw was on the floor for the entire set more or less. Very cool. I can not recommend Peter or Loose enough, as not only was Jutus Kohncke playing as well, but previous guests include the likes of Aeroplane, Severino, Namedrop & Benoit, Dan Hill, Tom Mangan, Frank Tope, Sound Stream, Pete Herbert, Maelstrom, Greg Wilson, Maurice Fulton, Phoreski, The Cosmic Truth, Moustache Mamas, Joakim, Simon Rigg, Ajello, Gavin Herlihy, Phil Mison, Jimpster, Palmskin, Richard Sen, Future Beat Alliance etc.

Pretty ace, right?

Peter Visti - Tokyo By Night

Peace,

J.

X

Minitel

2009-01-27T14:02:00.004Z

What is about France. I spent years listening to Hardcore punk and France rarely featured on my radar. I mean hardly ever to the point where i can not think of a single band from "surrender side" which i used to listen to back then.

Now, conversely, i don't seem to be able to retreat from the country's inescapable shadow. Yes, France would certainly seem to have the electro and pop market down to a fine art. I'm not quite sure who to blame for this, maybe Daft Punk? Regardless, i'm still going to sit here and revel in it.

I have, of late, been spending many hours listening to Minitel Rose. There isn't a great deal of information about them on their myspace page, but no doubt they have been around for ages and i'm running with the ball a bit behind the crowd on this. Either way, i'm not too fussed as they seem to have a knack for writing rather intriguing new wave pop tunes. Take "Magic Powder" for instance, a track that seems to based around a whistle. Now, i know Claude Von Stroke has proved to some degree that this can be a viable concept if you're good enough but two such songs in a couple of years. I think not. Except... "Magic Powder" is an absolutely brilliant and immediate piece of French-pop. Wonderful.

They have various remixes of bands such as The Teenagers and Of Montreal as well which are rather marvelous listens also.

Minitel Rose - Magic Powder

Of Montreal - gallery Piece (Minitel Rose Remix)

Much love,

J.

X

Pete On Sunday

2009-01-23T13:02:00.002Z

For the first, and most likely last, time I was in the MTV offices in Camden the other day for an exclusive screening of their up and coming documentary on Peter Doherty (which is being being screened this Sunday, which is the... 25 January I believe), and i have t admit to being surprised.

It was quite a long time before i got around to enjoying the music created by The Libertines, though these days i will certainly admit they had some great tunes. Though i felt they were by no means a life changing band, but each to their own i suppose.
Babyshambles, conversely, i immediately gave a chance having just come to the conclusion that maybe The Libertines weren't so bad after all. No luck, they have never done anything for me. At all.

When this is combined with all the negative press (i know one shouldn't really judge, but when someone has so much negative press it is hard to form a positive image of them within one's mind, and this stems from the biography of the band (his first band) written by a close friend of the guys) i just found Peter to be a fairly ridiculous, and possibly slightly pathetic figure, though also as a sad gentleman who has been betrayed many times and has a small, to the point of negligible, group of friends he can or could trust.

With this in mind, then, i found this documentary in which MTV filmed him in a twenty-four hour period leading up to a small catwalk show he was enlisted to partake in in a little Camden pub, a rather heartwarming experience. It is certainly an interesting insight into Peter and his life, when one doesn't take everything at face value and remembers that he is not quite the innocent child he frequently resembles across the course of the hour long show.

He immediately welcomes the MTV crew into his house, offering them tea, before beginning to show them around his countryside house. We are quickly regaled with stories of the house being haunted and of strange men living in his car, stories of which you can neve rquite be sure of the full extent of the truth, as there is always that change they have sprung form the imagination of the man in front of you. Though whether that would be the result of wanting to tease the crew or for or, potentially more sinister reason i shall leave for you to decide.

Peter comes across as a kind and gentle host as he tours us around the house, from his bedroom (now the cats') to spare rooms set aside for his kid and others. The house is in total chaos, of course, with one room, seemingly, being unsuitable for filming, of which we only see a slightly charred and limbless mannequin in the door way (i have since found from a neighbour that this has spent a certain amount of time hanging from the window of said room. Interesting... or weird?

We see hi prepare a little greeting for his friends coming to pick stuff up for the catwalk show and cut to the next day.
Six house to go, Pete is contactable to the people running the show (the catwalk show), as he skips, minces and cartwheels his way around the countryside surrounding his home and is seemingly destined to miss the show. I shall go no further than to say the documentary reaches an emotional, humorous and, occasionally, frankly bizarre climax.

Whether one hates, love or bears a benign indifference to this usually polarising character, this is an intriguing documentary into the life of a much maligned musician who is of great interest, on way or anther, to much of the world's music loving and journalistic communities. That aside, it is simply a rather wonderful piece of television, and one of which i could have watched hours more of.

Screening this Sunday, i suggest you watch.

Best,

James.

X

Ladyhawke and KiD COLA

2009-01-18T14:52:00.003Z

After Radio 1 plays from Kissy Sell Out and Frankmusik labelling KiD his new favourite artist alongside an incredible amount of support from blogs, the latter part of 2008 was an incredible ride for KiD COLA.

On the back of this, 2009 sees KiD COLA starting afresh with a massive remix of Ladyhawke's "Back Of The Van", which utilises Pip Brown's pop sensibilities and KiD's knack for puling out great hooks, as well as massive house beats, wobbling synths and even some dubstep influence. One could be mistaken for thinking this was going to be a lighthearted indie re-edit, until a stab of low end leads into his trademark drum pattern and the bass slams in, leading to all kinds of dancefloor destruction and on to newer territories for this young producer who is refusing to duped into a
pidgeon-hole.

Ladyhawke - Back Of The Van (KiD COLA Remix)

Love,

James.

X

Passion Pit

2009-01-13T21:08:00.003Z

Passion Pit

Hmm, so this band have probably been blogged by everyone under the sun, so why bother about writing about them at all. Well, partly because i want to and partly becasue i want you to know about them now. There are no two ways about it, this band are absolutely fabulous and deserve nothing less than to be absolutely huge this year, and it seems that this is an utterly inevitable fate and we will simply not be able to escape them this year. I honestly think this bunch of young gentleman for Cambridge, Massachusetts (think Boston) are going to "be this years MGMT/Vampire Weekend/some other band who blew up in a ridiculous fashion in 2008".

Having been turned on to them late last year, i promptly looked them up next time i took seat in front of my computer and managed to pick up a couple of tunes off the record and a remix. Rest assured, as soon as i got back after Christmas the CD was on it's way to me from the States where has been put out by small independent label French Kiss, and have been snapped up by Columbia over here.

Coming across like something original that has been created out the sum of various influences and great big dollops of ingenuity. You can hear elements of acts such as The Postal Service, MGMT and other such lauded, successful and influential acts thrown into the mix. However, don't take this as a slight that they are mere copy cats riding into 2009 on coattails. No no. Having been discussing the lack of a MASSIVE breakthrough trend, really, since the strokes blew up and everyone decided they'd be cocks and make me listen to garage rock for far too long. Far too long indeed. Could Passion Pit be the ones to break dreamy synth-pop to the world? Feasibly. As soon as the swirly synth melody in "Sleepyhead" you'll be hooked, if you're not... i swear you have no soul, love of melody or sense.

This short, consisting of only six tracks, EP is an absolute delight to listen to, and seemingly didn't really crop on many, if any, end of year "Best Of..." lists, which surprises me frankly. Opening up with the mesmorising "I've Got Your Number", utilising hollow little clops and handclaps under synths which twist hypnotically around the vocal line, the record never lets up. "Smile Upon Me" flies by in a flash of rapid beats and then the charming "Cuddle Fuddle" comes in, all cheery keys and dreamy melodies. Live to the tale is prerhaps the song that The Postal Service never wrote which would have made "Give Up" a great record rather than a good, albeit, over played one (and NO, Nathan Fake does not sound like The smegging Postal Service). Better things flies by and suddenly you will find yourself listening to "Sleepyhead". Thought you heard Time To Pretend/Kids/Electric Feel/A Punk etc a lot last year. This song will be the bane of your lives in 2009, not due to the fact that there is anything wrong with it though. Quite the opposite in fact, this is the perfect single for optimism form the moment the looped vocal sample comes in, it is the perfect soundtrack for optimism in this new year, to the extent that you will find it, be in no doubt about this, being drilled into your ears day and night from the moment the press get hold of it and tell every silly sod who hasn't once listened to their own brain in regards to taste in music, to buy it. Not of course, that i'm any different, I just like to say it early-ish.

This a fabulously ethereal, dreamy, melodious and wonderful record, and please do but it, i can not urge you strongly enough.

As everyone else seems to be throwing up sleepyhead, i'm going to put up what is possibly my favourite track from the record (as my inner scenester knows that it won;t be cool to like sleepyhead in about two weeks, haha), "I've got Your Number".

Passion Pit - I've Got Your Number

James.

X

Another day, more music

2009-01-08T13:54:00.006Z

First up today we have a cracking piece of electro from Mr. Vega. A preview of his upcoming debut album, "Dreamin' With The Lights On" is a straight up slice of fresh electro, offset by some great vocals layered on top of the gritty synth lines, bleeps and squeals. I'm thoroughly sold.

Mr. Vega - Dreamin With The Lights On
http://www. mediafire. com/?jtcdzmnavhi

Next, a brand new and exclusive mix from CTF!'s own Kid Blue. Heading into much more tech-house territory here. He has taken Merka's "Another place" and completely transformed it form it's electronica/breaks format into a completely different beast. I have a feeling this is the sort of thing we'll be hearing from acts such as Claude Von Stroke and Justin Martin the next time we have the pleasure of their company in the UK. More please Rory!

Merka - Another Place (Kid Blue Remix) by Kid Blue

And finally, a big favourite of Mr. Andrew George, a brilliant piece of electro-house courtesy of Galactik Knights who have turned in a terrific remix of Kanye West's Workout Plan. The dance world is seemingly quite sold on Kanye's new album with it's heavy use of synths, vocoders and fidget's favourite rapper, Kid Cudi. It's in Andy George's top 10 tracks of now, i need say no more.

Kanye West - Workout Plan (Galactic Knights Remix)

Out,

James.

X

Steel Riddles

2009-01-07T16:57:00.005Z

Firstly though, Designer Drugs have kicked out another massive remix of Avian X's Dark Circles. Opening with a massive vocal hit, it quickly drops into a building, looped, synth line before the bass drops and leads us into a brief breakdown before the main drop kicks in, things get dirty and crowds, i suspect, go absolutely fucking mental. Very nice.

Avian X - Dark Circles (Designer Drugs)

We had the fantastic and long awaited new Guns n' Bombs single recently, and here's a rare thing to come with it. A good Para One remix. As much as i love Para One, i've never been overly impressed with his remixes. This, however, has pulled me around a bit and is definitely worth a listen.

Guns n' Bombs - Riddle Of Steel (Para One Remix)

Also, i hear Junior Senior have finally split properly and this means much more time for Guns n' Bombs related activity. Fucking sweet.

Later.

James.

X

Fixed link

2009-01-06T22:50:00.001Z

Jack beats link is fixed.

Project Bassline - Drop The Pressure (Jack Beats Remix)

J.

X

Haus of Cards

2009-01-06T17:46:00.002Z

I seemingly can;t avoid this native of Santa Ana, California, Dan Sena at the moment. This particular remix seems to be almost everywhere so i thought i'd jump on the bandwagon while it was still young a week or two ago, then completely forgot because i'm a useless shite.

Anyhow, it's one of the finer cuts of electro i've heard for a little while. Utilising an almost fidget-esgue wonky synth line to underpin the whole thing, other melodies stab in and out or float across the top. A fabulous remix!

Weird Science - Haus Of Cards (Dan Sena Remix)

Another heavy piece of bass has stumbled across my path of late, this one by NONEWYORk who seem to be making quite a name for themselves across the water at the moment.

Seemingly having been a touch disappointing in it's original format, MSTRKRFT's "Bounce" has spawned a slew of remixes, many of which are rather nice. NONEWYORK's wonky, filth-fest of a mix is definitely one of the stand outs, working the vocal well around a ridiculous bassline. One to drop midset and confuse people i feel.

MSTRKRFT - Bounce (NONEWYORK Remix)

Out.

J.

X

La Mode

2009-01-06T13:49:00.003Z

The Australian upstarts responsible for that massive P.Diddy remix that was 1) Awesome and 2) Inescapable have shot over a new mix they've done. This one got me pretty excited as they have taken on a track by The Shoes this time, and we love the shoes after their Primary 1 remix and "Knock Out" which were both massive tunes! Oh, and let's not forget their wonderfully melodious remix of Mystery jets "Young Love" also. Very good times indeed.

Anyhow, La Mode have, with this, taken the base of the original and turned it into a delightful little piece of electronic pop music. Nothing complicated, they have simply shown their understanding of what makes a brilliant pop track. And as, on a good day, you simply can not beat an upbeat piece of pop music to get your day on track I think this is a fantastic work.

The Shoes - People Movin' (La Mode Remix)

Also new out yesterday is Disco Wizards new piece which, frankly, is the biggest and best thing they have done yet in my opinion. A six minute piece of unrelenting electro that is likely to cause devastation wherever it finds itself. Be afraid.

Disco Wizards - Computer Box Michael

Later.

J.

X

Human Attack

2009-01-05T17:45:00.003Z

Yes, our lovely friends in Youth Attack have gone and made a full blown banger out of an old Human League track. Nice.

It's very loud with some nice wobbly little synth snippets over a barrage of pure electro brutality. We like. Lots.

Human League - Sound Of The Crowd (Youth Attack Remix)

We also have a Boy 8-Bit mix of Mujava. Yep, another remix. It's just turned into one of "Those" tracks, hasn't it, a la D.A.N.C.E. and such. Still, it's always kind of nice to hear in a set as that synth line is pretty darned catchy. It's not a hugely original mix, but i would say it is probably better than Sinden's effort.

Mujava - Township Funk (Boy 8-Bit Remix)

Oh, and Andy George has got grubby with Toddla T and the output is as typically wobbly, wonky and filth-like as one might expect, with an almost dubstep-esque break in the middle. Nice. Congratulations on more success Mr. George. We wish you all the best for the new year.

Toddla T - Manabadman (Andy George Refix)

Next post i'm going to totally sell out and post Crookers remixes.

Out.

James.

X

New Year

2009-01-04T13:47:00.003Z

Time to get back on it I Think. What better way to start than a fresh slice of Jack Beats. This time they've taken on Project Bassline and have come out with something a bit different to their traditional bass heavy squelch pieces.

Check it.

Project Bassline - Drop The Pressure (Jack Beats 'Rinsed Out Rave' Remix)

Out.

J.

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Jeff

2009-01-01T20:02:00.003Z

Good New Years everyone? Technically, I did not. Fortunately i was so drunk my many mishaps don't seem to have dulled my thoughts on the evening and i feel like a rather enjoyed myself. Nice.

Anyhow, as heads will be hurting today, i thought i'd start of the year by putting up some mellow folk in the shape of Jeffrey Lewis. I've finally found an old track of his I haven't heard for two or three years and have not been able to get hold of for love nor money. It's not quite Don't Be Upset, but it's pretty cool none the less. So see what you think.

Not quite sure what little Jeff is up to at the moment, but if you ever have the opportunity to go see him live, do it. It's a bizarrely different experience. And i'm quite hoping he'll have a new album out soon as City And Eastern Songs was one of the best records out in 2006 and 2007's 12 Crass Songs, where he reinterpreted, ronseal style, 12 Crass songs into his own style Marvelous!

Jeffrey Lewis - Flippity Floppity,

Jeffrey Lewis - the Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane

Jeffrey Lewis - Together We form Jeff

Note: This stuff is a bit more abstract than his more recent stuff. The production isn't great, but you can see why Rough Trade picked up on him back in 2001.

Happy 2009.

Love,

James.

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2009

2008-12-31T13:16:00.005Z

Is upon us at last, here to get rid of this fairly shit year that has been 2008. Summed up, unfortunately by:

When a year summed up by:

would have been a lot nicer. Though it was close, for me anyway.

Despite the fact that it brought us great albums from the likes of Late Of The Pier, Hot Chip, Foals, Vampire Weekend, Rolo Tomassi, Fucked Up, These New Puirtans, Crystal Castles, Friendly Fires, Metronomy, some brilliant fabric comps from Luciano, Ame and more, The Death Set and a fairly average one from MGMT with sme stupendous moments. amongst the many more i've forgotten down to alcohol abuse and a terrible memory bordering on brain damaged.

As there have already been a slew of end of year "best of..." lists flying around i really can not be bothered to spend the time on one as per last year which took me fucking hours (around 5 of them, no lie). So just a few categories that i feel like with a winner for each.

Firstly:

Weirdest sight of the year:

Watching a drunk dwarf singing a cheesy commercial house single into the microphone to Pink Eyes on stage in the middle of a Fucked Up gig in The Barfly in Camden.

Band person i am most in love with:

Alice from Crystal Castles. If you've seen them live you'll know.

Best gig:

Rolo Tomassi album launch at The Old Blue Last In September. 250 people crammed into an 80 odd capacity room, all going mental to one of the best bands around at the moment. Then a long after party all night, all over London resulting in crawling home at 7:30 am on a Tueday morning. Oh, and Rage Against The Machine at reading was so good i cried. Again, that's not a lie.

Worst thing:

Well, it's not the worst, but it's what i'm putting. Not getting a full time job so being ridiculously poor for the last few months. And having a friend in and out of l'hopital too much recently. That sucked.

Best thing:

Getting KiD COLA played on Radio 1 by Kissy Sell Out. Not bad!

Nicest people:

Probably Youth Attack, closely followed by Urchins. Although Andy George and most of the Lincoln crew seem ridiculously sound as well.

Best musical thing:

Foamo's Mystery Jets remix doesn't get old. I seemingly can't get of enough of Juri Hulkkonen's mix of This Boy's In Love either. And seeing KiD COLA's Secret Machines Remix get the reception it did was pretty special to.

Best thing in 2009:

Is definitely going to be KiD COLA. Watch out.

And to see you in to the new year... how about some odd minimal stuff?

Minilogue - Jamaica

Massive Attack - Teardrop (Minilogue Remix)

I think i'm going to be at 333 with Trevor Loveys, Mowgli, Hijack, We Have Band, You Love Her Cuz She's Dead and many more tonight, so if you're around come and say hi. Though i'll also be paying fleeting visits to Brixton Academy for Operahouse and The Old Blue Last for Youves (Mirror!Mirror!) and Rolo Tomassi. And possibly Gash Vs. Skill Wizard... Deary me.

Happy 2009 to all.

Love,

James.

Xxx

P.S. Another big shout out Kissy Sell Out for the KiD COLA support.

Frankmusik

2008-12-20T15:21:00.002Z

So, we've heard of Frankmusik, right? Frankly (no pun intended), it has been pretty hard to investigate new music or gig line-ups, or even walk around London without seeing his name pop up somewhere, be it on blogs, on posters, at gigs or even in the broadsheets. He as been consistently listed as one of the most exciting up and coming producers the country has to offer.

Now, I have been criminally ignoring him until a couple weeks ago when my friend KiD COLA rang me up to say that Frankmusik had sent him a message to let him know that he (KiD) was his new favourite artist of the moment. I figured that was pretty cool since he was quite a big name, but i wasn't familiar with the music. So i wandered home after dinner and pulled up his myspace page. It was here that i found myself quite shocked that it had taken me this long to get around to listening to the young chap, as his productions turn out to be simply delightful pieces of alternative pop which deserve nothing less than to be heard by everyone and need to HUGE!

Check out this little gem you can hear on his myspace page:

Frankmusik - Vacant Heart

I hope you enjoy it as much as i do. And if you're in Scotland, it might almost be worth paying the ticket cost for that Keane gig to catch him in support.

James.

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Disco Wizards

2008-12-20T14:27:00.004Z

Scotland seems to be having a nice surge in musical productions these days, what with the likes of Hostage hammering out massive tunes from up North. This is a good thing as it makes up for us having had to put up with the likes of The View for the last few years.

Fresh out of Perth, Disco Wizards are two young gentlemen still in full time education, but still managing to produce mind-bending electro around this bothersome time constriction.

Hopefully we shall be hearing much more from these two in the new year!

Disco Wizards - Discoteq

Disco Wizards - Fuck Up Do Well

Love,

J.

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Steed Beats

2008-12-16T23:40:00.002Z

It would seem that Jack Beats remix of Steed Lord has finally been shot out on the promo lists. It's also good. Very good. Not massively surprising, but then.. you know what you're getting with Jack Beats; top quality house with massively squelchy bass. And we like it a lot!

I have to say, i haven't seen these guys play since we had them at Voodoo back in August, but they were incredible then and have most likely only got better since, so go hunt down over the festive period for some low end fun.

Steed Lord It's What U Do 2 Me (Jack Beats Remix)

Boom.

J.

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Trouble And Bass take on Fat!

2008-12-10T15:36:00.003Z

Yep, Baobinga has been getting dirty with Drop the Lime's NYC crew and has had the interesting result below:

Drop The Lime - I Love New York (Baobinga's Fucked Up Like Woah Mix)

Frankly, it pretty nasty. I recommend it.

James.

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