Prequel

2008 has ended. 2009 has begun.

Which is pretty much as expected. But what else can be expected? The unexpected?

Probably not.

But in terms of music... well... I expect that Coconut Records and Air France will get a bit more notice from the media at large, and start to prosper even more greatly in the blogosphere. The Script will hopefully die. Or just quit, I'm not bothered either way. Frightened Rabbit's rise to fame will no doubt deservedly continue, as will The Hold Steady's, and My Morning Jacket's - perhaps slightly less deservedly considering how unbelievably (frighteningly) good the Rabbit are... but nevertheless...

I suppose I could use this post to sum up my favourite songs/albums/bands from '08 and make some predicitions on gems for '09 but I think I'll save that for a special day when I have nothing but a hangover to deal with. In the meanwhile, some musical news:

Kris Menace is now masquerading as 'Jaunt', but hes managing to be as consistently awesome as ever so fair play I guess. The Twelves have started releasing pretty average tunes by their standards (the recent couple of tracks they did with Cicada were a crushing disappointment, I won't bother posting them). Designer Drugs have continued to be amazing, although in a slightly different (more bassy) way, as have Fake Blood (see below). Bag Raiders are still great. Hooray.

...

Also, I think that rambling nonsense has filled up enough space to warrant me posting all these amazing songs. Hooray again.

Coconut Records - Nighttiming Buy
UNKLE - Restless (Fake Blood Remix) Buy
The Black Ghosts - Lets Get Physical Buy
Modjo - What I Mean (The Crayon/Aloud Remix) Awesome

How did I miss this one?
Bag Raiders - Nil By Mouth (Knightlife Remix)

Five For Friday

With another weekend of big spending and even bigger partying coming up, I thought it was about time to post some suitably big tunes. 'Pixelated', from my new favourite Phonat (teaming up with Super Mal), is your standard party vibe - all flashy synth work and hard-hitting bass drum - with some tasty vocal chops and a funky bassline. (It goes a bit funny at one point, but the production team bring it back under control in good order). Bit of a tune. Moulinex provides a more soft and consitent sound, and his remix of College's 'Fantasy Park' is probably one of my favourite songs of the moment. A pretty revealing achievment, considering I only got hold of it about ten minutes ago. The weird vox-synth pattern sucked me in immediately. (His remix of Tellier's Kilometer is also none too shabby.)

Slightly more hardcore is Modeselektor's dubsteppy version of 'Blazin'. I've pretty much included it purely out of a hunger for powerful dubstep bangers, but it is suitably strong in the bass department, and pleasantly violent. Does get a bit repetitive though.

But still worth getting hold of.

And last, but not least, is Kavinsky's remix of 'Roche'. Where Moulinex uses funky, almost pornographic bass (and actually pornographic vocal samples) to capture the essential Sebastien Tellier 'sexed-up' vibe, Kavinsky goes for a more subtle approach - slowing the whole thing down and bringing out the vocals nicely. The strings give it an almost cinematic atmosphere and it's pretty much the perfect song for napping to. (In a good way.) I'm definitely off Kavinsky-hunting after this post.

Super Mal & Phonat - Pixelated Buy
College Feat. Anoraak - Fantasy Park (Moulinex Remix) Buy*
Ghislain Poirier - Blazin' (Modeselektor Remix) Buy

And a couple of bonus Tellier remixes for more of a laid-back weekend:
Sebastien Tellier - Kilometer (Moulinex Remix) Buy
Sebastien Tellier - Roche (Kavinsky Remix) Myspace

*With regards to the Moulinex 'Buy' links, I haven't been able to find purchasable mp3's of the promos I've put up. However, he's got some good stuff on beatport and itunes, so I've sent you in their direction.

Hangover

Everyone loves High Contrast. And everyone loves Kanye West. And I love unbelievably bad quality bootleg rips.
I can't remember who I nicked this particular bit of magic from, but god bless them. It's off a London Elektricity essential mix, as far as I can tell, and it may or may not be Mr. High Contrast. But either way it is a HUGE bit of tasty liquid D'n'B.

For those who aren't into that kind of thing, though, I've also been listening to a bit of Arctic Urgency as well. The vocals on their remix of 'I Wish I Was A Polar Bear' are a bit funny, which is pretty much a given as the song is about polar bears, but the rest of the track is undeniably ... good. The Damn Arms remix of 'Far Away' is pretty decent too, Cut Copy have inspired a few good remixes with that particular song.

I've thrown in Phonat's remix of 'Fire' for good measure. It puts a spring in your step.


Actually I've just listened to it again. What a tune.

The Young Punx - Fire (Phonat Remix) Buy
Kanye West - Flashing Lights (High Contrast Remix) Buy
Ted & Francis - I Wish I Was A Polar Bear (Arctic Urgency) Buy
Cut Copy - Far Away (Damn Arms Remix) Buy

What Comes Before Part B?

Obviously I haven't posted in a while, mostly courtesy of an essay deadline that saw me sitting at my desk around 5 in the morning wired on coffee and hearing voices. Good times.

Anyway, I was on a Part A bus last night sipping a few cocktails and wrapping people in cling film and it suddenly occurred to me that my afternoon was missing one thing.
Incredible electro bangers and cheerful electro pop.
Feeling surprisingly refreshed and alert this morning, I decided to compile a playlist which would ensure my bus journeys would never be so lacking in tuneage again.

Private got the ball rolling with their enjoyable, 80's retro sounding pop jaunt 'We've Got Some Breaking Up To Do'. The chorus is literally amazing, as are the funky synth stabs. I decided that the only way to take it up a notch after that was to return to my old favourite's: The Bag Raiders. There have been a lot of 'Far Away' remixes flying around the web lately but their effort is definitely a cut above, bringing the epic party sound they've perfected to another level.
Moving on, Leeds lads Heads We Dance provide a more hard-bitten, grinding bit of electro power with their recent single 'The Human Touch' - cheerfully doing their bit for the English scene. 'Ninja Gaiden' is similarly rough-edged, with all the distortion you would expect from a Calling In Sick track. And just to round it off, i threw in a bit of Toxic Avenger madness which is so incredibly fast-paced and pounding it would probably make any bus driver in the world start doing doughnuts and screaming abuse out of the window. Amazing.

Private - We've Got Some Breaking Up To Do Buy
Heads We Dance - The Human Touch Web
Cut Copy - Far Away (Bag Raiders Remix) Buy
ART WHIPLASH - Party, Sex and Bullshit (The Toxic Avenger Remix) Myspace
Calling In Sick - Ninja Gaiden Myspace

I mentioned TEPR's remix of Yelle's 'Ce Jeu' in my last post. And having spent all day listening to while supposed to be doing work, I thought it might provide a nice distraction for other people. Also, it doesn't seem to be on hype machine - which either means this post is going to be removed by blogger in a matter of seconds, or that It's an exceedingly lucky spot on my part. Anyway, the remix is surprisingly house, rather than straightforward raw electro. As you might expect, or even hope for. But I'm always open to a bit of classic dance and TEPR has nailed the good old piano chord progression, the breakdown into fuzzy base and the ever-popular weird distortion sound that really makes a good club track.

Slightly less consistently incredible is the Bang Gang Deejays remix of 'Drugs In My Body'. Their use of the vocals is pretty lazy, and at times annoyingly distorted. Having said that, when it drops into the funky bass pattern and shiny, crystal clear snyths its a pretty pleasant club tune. Definitely worth a listen.

If you're a fan of the art of distortion and grinding, chopped up vocals though, give the We Are Terrorists take on 'Ironical Sexism' a listen. It's got a bit of a rock sound, although it's still comfortably electronic and pretty powerful. Not bad fighting music. It's the kind of track that makes you feel like you should be smashing stuff up and shouting along to the words like some kind of rave-crazed nutter.

And if that's too hardcore then I've also posted Citizen Cope's 'Sideways'. This song has literally picked me up and laid me quietly to rest every single night of the past week, mumbling softly along to the lyrics. Definitely highly recommended for anyone who hasn't already heard it. And thanks to Scrubs for alerting me to an old favourite.

Yelle - Ce Jeu (TEPR's Club Remix) Buy
Thieves Like Us - Drugs In My Body (Bang Gang Deejays Remix) Buy
Revolte - Ironical Sexism (We Are Terrorists Remix) Myspace
Citizen Cope - Sideways Buy

TEPR Eff

I've been listening to some flipping HUGE tunes lately, courtesy mostly of two producers. First up is London boy Bill Eff, competing with the French electro crowd and not coming off to bad at all. Fittingly, his remix of Yelle's 'Ce Jeu' is the best I've heard, thanks most to it's simplicity and epic use of reverb. A lot better than The Twelves attempt, which is usually saying something. Although in this case it isn't because their version wasn't particularly spectacular at all. As well as that, I've had Eff's tune 'Hate You' on repeat. It carries strong overtones of a kind of 'Flat Beat' tune, but a little more dubsteppy and with a few more levels. You can imagine it influencing a drug-related burst of paranoia. (Which is a good thing).

As well as Eff, I've been listening to the ever-popular TEPR. No idea what it stands for, or where TEPR is from. And I've put zero effort into finding out because as far as I'm concerned his remixes tell you all you need to know. Which is that he's pretty good. His version of Ironik's 'I Wanna Be Your Man' is kind of excitingly rectro in its use of sliced-up chipmunky vocals, but the real banger is his old remix of 'Dangerseekers' (which has already done the rounds on the blogosphere, but I thought I'd revive it in the interests of good music). It's a pretty straightforward track - some good old synth stab rhythms and a thumping dance beat. Plus a bit of harmless fidget here and there. Well done, Mr (Mrs?) TEPR.*

And also, Calvin Harris's remix of See The Light may start off as slightly annoying and ridiculous - but for some reason I played it 5 times in a row today. It cheered me up. Great use of vocals and nicely playful with the melody. Definitely a good one so I thought I'd throw it in.

Bill Eff - Hate You (See Below)
Yelle - Ce Jeu (Bill Eff Remix) Myspace
Kap10Kurt - Dangerseekers (TEPR Remix) Buy
Ironik - I Wanna Be Your Man (TEPR Remix) Myspace
The Hours - See The Lights (Calvin Harris Remix) Myspace

*By the way, just checked the French (apparently) producers myspace and there is an incredible remix of Ce Jeu on there. Very clubby, and competition for Bill Eff's.

Tune In

So, basically, I need lunch. I'm thinking ... less talk, more music.

Classic old school head-banging jazzy Hip-hop. The kind of thing cool indie kids wearing straight-peaks listen to.

A Tribe Called Quest - Keeping It Moving Buy

Powerful, grinding, thumping Dubstep. Painful unless you're in one of those moods when you just want to shock out and stab things in time to music. F*cking awesome.

Bassnectar - Heads Up Myspace

Popular on good old Hypemachine. Interesting, bouncy remix of a Justice banger. Electro 4 life and so on. Nice bit of a break from the norm by Breakbot as well.

Justice - Let There Be Light (Breakbot Remix) Myspace

And also ... because you can't really have enough banging electro anthems:

Deadmau5 - Ghosts 'n' Stuff Myspace

Ditto:

Midnight Juggernauts - Road To Recovery (Miami Horror Remix) Myspace


Have a good week.