Flash

I've been on holiday, which is my excuse for the short sabbatical. But now I'm back, with an ipod overflowing with tasty tunes. (Huzzah!). Anyway...

I don't know who St Andrew are, but I know that I've spent the whole morning trying to find out. Apparently he is some guy called Andrew Swanson, he has studied film, some other boring stuff... and he makes nice tunes. 'Cosmic Terror' is his calling card and despite spending most of today listening to his stuff I can't think of anything better to post up. Its a punchy piece of laidback electro, very much in the mould of Nosaj Thing and Flying Lotus but with a bit more action - bigger synths, glittery electro shizzle plastered all over it, some great vocal work, etc. Well worth a listen for anyone who's a fan of the aforementioned two producers, or a fan of electronic stuff in general.

I've been waiting for a good quality copy of this next tune for a good month or so now. And here it is. The Chase & Status remix of Nneka's 'Heartbeat'. This is quite possibly the most obviously commercially-viable crowd-pleaser ever produced by anyone in the history of history (thats probably why they've labelled it so self-consciously) but... f*ck it. Because it is amazing. (In before underground people banging on about how they've sold out. It sounds good to me and thats all that maters).
The thing about crowd-pleasers is that they are pleasing, after all. Big guitars, big bass, massive snares, good times.
Expect this one to be going off everywhere. If it isn't already.

Speaking of commercial stuff, La Roux is very popular at the moment. It seems like anyone who's anyone, or noone (but wants to be someone), is remixing her tracks. 'Bulletproof' is the most recent single, and it's attracted everyone from Foamo to Tepr, but my favourite mix so far comes from the Barcelona duo Y A L L. It's attracted a lot of notice since they entered it for her remix competition by virtue of being brilliant. The Barcelona boys have thrown a load of electro stabs and synths on the song, with a bit of strings (a la Justice/MSTRKRFT/Neo Tokyo) and it sounds awesome. Very dancey, bouncy and cheerful. All the things the original was, multiplied by the power of electro. Definitely a must have.

Last up, how about some feel-good indie? I've posted about Two Door Cinema Club before but I feel like they deserve another mention. The band come from NI and they make very happy summer tunes. 'Undercover Martyn' is their first single and 'tis very nice indeed. You can see the video here if thats the kind of thing you're in to, or just give the track a listen. It's very sing-along, they change the pace up nicely, the guitars are all trebley and rifftastic. Think Delorean, Mew, a less-french Housse de Racket/Phoenix. Indie-pop stuff, basically. There are probably some much better comparisons out there, I just wanted to list bands I like. Ho hum. Check 'em out, they could be the sound of our 'barbeque' summer.

More tomorrow.

St Andrew - Cosmic Terror Buy
Nneka - Heartbeat (Chase & Status 'We Just Bought A Guitar' Remix) Buy C&S
La Roux - Bulletproof (Y A L L Remix) Myspace
Two Door Cinema Club - Undercover Martyn Buy