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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Here at Plastic Cowboys all mp3s are for promotional use only and in the aid of helping you to find new and exciting artists and to give them the exposure they deserve. So if you like anything you hear, please go to a show, buy a t-shirt etc, or visit one of the listed sites where oyu can purchase mp3s, CDs, records and such.
If you are, or represent, an artist written about about and woulod like anything removed, please e-mail us at chuckdjs@googlemail.com and we will oblige immediately.
Conversely, if you like our blog and would like to send us any of your music for us to listen to and write about, or if you'd like to write to us for any reason, again, hit us up at chuckdjs@googlemail.com
