Mr. Reck's Dance Party

Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)

2009-07-23T17:19:00.001-04:00

I mean, who isn't? Ready for the weekend that is. The quintessential goal of all Americans: to reach that pinnacle of free time and post-work liberation - the weekend! Fake Blood make sure we're soundtracked when leaving the parking lot for the afternoon commute by twisting up the Calvin Harris original, stripping it of the awkward british vocals and concentrating on some bouncy beats and drum breaks. A guaranteed head-nodder/mood raiser perfect for Friday night preparations, especially in the last minute and a half where FB go full-on club and taste solid buzz.

Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend (Fake Blood Remix)

Miami Horror - Don't Be On With Her

2009-07-22T19:14:00.002-04:00

The arcade disco fires up immediately, breaks slightly for compressed guitar noodling, then calms and builds back up again before highlighting what must be the cheesiest keyboard bass tone heard in years. They're all classic tricks, even down to the rapid-fire handclaps and the barely there "Woo"s here and there. Less a song than a quick glance into a party of an indistinct era you're unsure if you're invited to or not. Might as well go in.

Miami Horror - Don't Be On With Her

Sally Shapiro - Love in July

2009-07-21T17:06:00.000-04:00

Talk about timely: Our love befuddled Sally Shapiro returns, albeit in a different season altogether, wandering through the streets, demanding her love in the current month. "Give me your love in July," she commands. You got it, Sally. Producer Johan Agebjorn strikes no new gold with his production, but instead mines old gold that is still bright and shiny. Though a few key changes are enough to keep my ears alert, as is the glassy slightly bent tones of Shapiro's voice. She pleads, we'll listen.

Sally Shapiro - Love in July

Air - Do The Joy

2009-07-20T07:20:00.000-04:00

A buzzing guitar emerges from the dustcloud, and with a few tremolous keys we're right in the middle of a 50's sci-fi soundtrack. The aliens are coming. You can hear them radiating above. But then, what are these sweet piano chords competing with the terror? It must be Air! Returning with their new album Love 2! This explains the robotic proclamations, the plucking xylophones, the gradual shift from the tense to the joyous. "Do the Joy" is an odd maneuver for a first single, but after Pocket Symphony's barely-there, brooding slow-jams (definitely a good thing!), the new song is a nice sign that there's still some heaven amongst the menace.

Air - Do the Joy

The Tough Alliance - 1981 -

2009-07-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

When pondering the open-ended imponderable future of one's life, what better feeling than to picture one's self an unstoppable juggernaut, capable of overcoming any obstacle, perhaps even time itself. The Tough Alliance give us the soundtrack to such an attitude with their beautiful "1981 - ", a delicate shuffle complete with padding drums and a gorgeous helping of pan flute. A strange addition to be sure, but one that completes a beautiful mental projection sure to rouse anyone from uncertainty. As the lyrics explain, the unknowable is, of course, "all in my head".

The Tough Alliance - 1981 - ______

Woolfy - Return of Starlight

2009-07-14T07:00:00.001-04:00

Imagine if you will, a seminal 70's disco hit spinning on a turntable. The song's beats, fast and flurrious, have the crowd in heat. But this isn't the 70's, it's 2009, and damn if we don't want to just chill. Now behold the magical man named Woolfy, who has moved his paws over to the mixing board and is gently, but deliberately, dragging the tempo down to turtle speed. All of a sudden things get cosmic, dreamy, totally... cool. "Return of Starlight" puts us in the passenger seat on an interstellar bounce. We look out the windows, see the galaxies, and ponder about our arrival home, until we spot something nostalgic in the distance. "Oh, Captain, I think we're home," we hear. Sounds about right to me.

Woolfy - Return of Starlight

Housse de Racket - Synthétiseur

2009-07-13T07:17:00.000-04:00

If there are two things I really can't get enough of, it's French House and good live electronic music. Today, Housse de Racket (Parisians Victor le Masne and Pierre Leroux) are delivering both. First we have an extended remix of their first single Synthétiseur, a solid addition to the canon, with all the glittery synths, vocoded catch phrases and disco guitar you can handle. The Daft Punk and Justice influences are palpable and delightful. Second, we get a different take on the same song, as Victor and Pierre perform the song live with a drum set and wailing electric guitar. The recording's not too hot, but the performance is on fire. They take the song in a completely different direction and get the audience going absolutely nuts. With further listening, it emerges that despite Synthétiseur's overtly techno feel, Housse de Racket's upcoming first album will actually be filled with jangly guitar and drum jams. But still, the echo of that French House sound keeps coming, as you can hear in the video for "Oh Yeah!" Oh yeah, indeed.

Housse de Racket - Synthétiseur (Housse de Racket Remix)

Housse de Racket - Synthétiseur (Housse De Racket Live Mix)

Optimus Prime - 127 Steps

2009-07-09T16:08:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we looked into the past at the 80's relic that was Stan Bush. Today we look into the future, with a young, anonymous Serbian man, who goes by the alias Optimus Prime. His dreamy, slow paced electronics lead us through the night with a grace and fragility that is often absent in good techno. OP's composition contain an organic quality that emerges out of the synthesizers somehow. The music has absolutely nothing to do with Transformers whatsoever, but it is kind of fun to think that maybe if the cartoon Optimus Prime were ever to make a mixtape for his pals, that this Optimus Prime's music would fill both sides and inspire emotion underneath all those wires.

Optimus Prime - 127 Steps

Optimus Prime - Underwater Night

Stan Bush - The Touch

2009-07-08T18:54:00.002-04:00

With all the miserable reviews circulating about Michael Bay's absolute destruction of one of my childhood's sacred totems, I figured today might be a good day to revisit a musical moment in Transformers history that no true fan-boy could ever forget. I speak, of course, about the moment towards the beginning of the absolutely amazing Transformers: The Movie, when Optimus decides to sacrifice himself for the sake of the Autobots. As he rides down a ramp into certain doom, Stan Bush's "The Touch" emerges for no good reason and soundtracks Optimus's launch into the sky, his beatdown of intercepting Decepticons and his final battle with the evil Megatron. In the end, it's Optimus's good will that does him in, and he bites the big one.

Later in the film, Hot Rod assumes the mantle of leader before fighting Megatron's new form, the super-evil Galvatron. And wouldn't you know it? Stan Bush is back!

This corn-ball approach, and not Bay's loud and obnoxious interpretation, is what was always the best part of Transformers. So today, we should all raise our Energon Cubes, toast our fallen leader, and rock out to "The Touch".

Stan Bush - The Touch

Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs (Valerna Remix)

2009-07-07T16:24:00.000-04:00

Valerna's original music is just a little too much. Their take on ye olde MSTRKRFT school of house is overtly grating, and lacks the fun it wants to inspire. Valerna's remix work is another story entirely. Of late, they've taken to tackling some of older stuff from the 90's with an overwhelming dose of glee. The best of these tracks is Valerna's over-the-top reworking of Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs". They somehow keep the original rhythm, distort the original keyboard part, and maintain a marginal amount of Reznor's vocals and turn it into a blistering, punched-in-the-face thrasher. I am totally curious what would happen if this came on in the middle of a DJ set. I foresee the disco dancing devolving into a full-on mosh pit.

Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs (Valerna Remix)

Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

2009-07-06T16:30:00.000-04:00

Florence and the Machine sound a whole lot like Florence, but couldn't sound further from a machine. Gears aren't churning here, and the only thing that is might be the jangling dulcimer that rotates on as "Dog Days Are Over" lilts and spins into a chaotic flurry of hand-claps. Florence's vocals go from a near whisper to a chorus of beaming chants, all signals that the bummers of the past are just that. Florence's new album, Lungs, arrives mid-July with all the accompanying artsy costumes and hype that seems appropriate.

Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

Vega - No Reasons

2009-07-02T17:10:00.001-04:00

It's Summer. We need Summer music. This works.

Vega - No Reasons

Bloc Party - One More Chance

2009-07-01T17:09:00.004-04:00

The much maligned Bloc Party have rushed another single out to listeners. Similar to their pre-Intimacy strategy of releasing the one-shot "Flux", "One More Chance" is most likely the harbinger to a fourth album. But "One More Chance" inspires more questions than anticipation. The band has painted themselves into a corner in a sense, since fans who have been looking for a purist follow-up to the near-perfect debut, Silent Alarm, have gone wanting. While detractors thought A Weekend in the City uneven, more headscratching followed with last year's big-beat inspired Intimacy. It seemed Bloc Party had strayed too far from their indie rock roots with crashing Chemical Brothers' style loops and synthesizers. (I, for one, found a lot to like on Intimacy, despite how its multiple release formats made it difficult to decipher what the actual tracklist was.) "One More Chance" pushes the band nowhere in particular. The song could be a b-side from the last album, but the lyrics are what's truly puzzling. Although obviously a post-breakup love song, Okereke's pleas for another chance sound just shy of pleading with his fan base to stick around to see what's next. What most people probably need from the band is a reassurance of confidence. With this new single sounding somewhat thrown together and rushed out to release, fans will wonder why the band doesn't take the time to privately figure it all out, instead of grasping for the spotlight. To demonstrate that Bloc Party are fully capable of such confidence in recent memory, please enjoy the thoroughly wonderful "Flux".

Bloc Party - One More Chance

Bloc Party - Flux

Veronica Maggio - Måndagsbarn (Le Prix Remix)

2009-06-29T17:14:00.007-04:00

There's something appealing about not knowing exactly what you're listening to lyrically. Of course, this can be a problem. If I happen upon some really great international hip-hop, there's every chance in the world that the lyrics might be calling for my death. But in the world of pop and love songs, it's nice to not worry so much about message and listen to a singer's phrasing and enunciation for once. Veronica Maggio is apparently a big deal in Sweden, and in Sweden she will probably remain, as she never records in English. Good for her, I say, Bad for us though, because Maggio has a beautiful voice and writes some great material that is difficult to get stateside. Her new album is not available in the U.S. now, but if you go on iTunes and Amazon you can pick up her 2006 release Vatten Och Brod , from which our second song of the day, "Dumpa Mig", is taken. First though, a solid remix of Maggio's new album single "Måndagsbarn" by Le Prix who do a nice job of throwing her into the club with some dashing synths and shooting stars that totally complement all those cooing vowels and hard consonants.

Veronica Maggio - Måndagsbarn (Le Prix Remix)

Veronica Maggio - Dumpa Mig

Michael Jackson - Morphine

2009-06-29T17:08:00.002-04:00

Did Michael Jackson predict his own death, all the way back in 1997? This is the theory put forth by the writers at creamteam.tv who are using the Blood on the Dance Floor track "Morphine" as evidence that MJ's dangerous morphine and demarol habits hadn't ceased in over a decade. The track even contains the lyric: "He got flat baby / Kick in the back baby / A heart attack baby / I need your body … Trust in me / Just in me / Put all your trust in me / You’re doin’ morphine" The song is totally out there not only with its industrial-themed composition, but also because of the contrast during the chorus, where Jackson keeps saying "Demerol / Demerol / Oh God he’s taking demerol..." to a much more relaxed and - dare I say - drug-induced score. As the Jackson fanatics scrutinize the catalog for clues, they will look to "Morphine" for answers. Not that they'll find any, but the song is downright fascinating.

Michael Jackson - Morphine

Michael Jackson - Captain Eo

2009-06-27T11:37:00.001-04:00

In the wake of Michael Jackson's death, and the non-stop media coverage that has followed, I've been trying to figure out what it was about Michael Jackson that fascinated me personally. I can't deny that as a kid I was a big Michael Jackson fan. I had cassettes of Thriller (bought at a community yard sale behind my elementary school) and Dangerous (a record my dad only begrudgingly played in our over-sized van's sound system), and would be sitting on the edge of my seat for the nationally broadcast video premieres of his music videos. There was something larger-than-life about Michael Jackson that was realized in the fantasy lands he occupied in his videos, and I think, aside from the Motown influenced music (I also enjoyed a good Lionel Ritchie song back in the day), that was where my interest stemmed from. To get to the heart of my fascination, I thought it might be a good idea to revisit a pinnacle in the Michael- Jackson weird category: Captain Eo.

Captain Eo is a 3-D film starring Jackson and a group of Jim Henson muppets that played in Disney's EPCOT amusement park for an impressive eight years (1986 - 1994). Executive produced by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (!), the film has the look of some of the Lucas Ewok films made in the ashes of the original trilogy. The plot is bareboned: Jackson, as Eo, and his muppet pals pilot a spaceship directly into what looks like the surface of a Death Star, crash and go deliver a "gift" to a robotic Anjelica Huston. This "gift" happens to be Michael Jackson's laser beams, gyrations and goodwill singing, which all combine to transform the inhabitant's Ridley Scott-Alien-like existence into a scratch and sniff sticker catalog. With so many groups involved in production, Disney, Henson, Lucas, Coppola, and Jackson, Eo is bound to be a mess, and it is. But it's a glorious mess, the kind that any kid who's distracted by shiny stuff would love. The mess even overshadows the fact that Jackson's doing any singing and dancing at all. I can think of no better way to memorialize a life of pop iconography, where in the end, Jackson's over-the-top, bizarre, and possibly criminal actions may have been more lasting than his actual music.

Double Dagger - Vivre Sans Temps Mort

2009-06-25T15:58:00.001-04:00

Double Dagger has officially just arrived dammit. And it's about time. My buddies Nolen and Bruce have been at this whole punk rock basics thing for a while now (nothing aside from bass, drums, and vocals), and I'm ecstatic they are finally getting the attention they deserve. The Baltimore music scene has picked up considerable steam in recent years, and Double Dagger have had enough presence to ride the wave with Dan Deacon into the limelight. They've been showered with opportunities: Label distribution with Thrill Jockey, a music video premiere with Pitchfork, and rave reviews filled with acclaim. All well-deserved after years of incredible live shows and an increasingly sophisticated catalogue of releases arriving every few years. Now, with the release of their third proper album, More, they have taken their game to a whole different level. The band is exploring the possibilities of depth in their sound through both performance and production, and the results are brilliant. Take "Vivre Sans Temps Mort", a five and a half minute musing on life and death that starts with - of all things - an organ? Double Dagger have doled out punctuated blasts of distorted bass before, but never with such patience and restraint. Also, check out this terrific stop-motion video they've got to go along with the song. Awesome! While I may have once recommended Double Dagger simply because I knew them, it's about time I told people they have absolutely no excuse but to listen. More is out now.

Double Dagger - Vivre Sans Temps Mort

Double Dagger - We Are the Ones (Live May 22, 2009)

Sun O))) - Big Church

2009-06-24T15:46:00.001-04:00

While a wide detour from the typical Dance Party post, this epic Sun O))) song, "Big Church", from their new album, Monoliths and Dimensions, is just too good not to share. I have a soft spot when it comes to larger than life choral arrangements. It's probably why I've worn down my copy of Vespertine to a scratched up coaster. It's why I think the best thing Matthew Barney ever did was throw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir into Cremaster 2. Sun O))) do this thing right, letting the voices compliment and ring with their hollow-boned, buzzing metal chords. "Big Church" is weird, unsettling, and otherworldly, filling its nine and a half minutes with a share of complexity that reveals itself after multiple listens. I don't know if you will even like this, but I think it's one of the best things I've heard all year.

Sun O))) - Big Church

Discovery - Swing Tree

2009-06-23T17:19:00.000-04:00

Discovery's sound isn't very hard to describe. If you've ever heard any present-day Top 40 R&B and the band Vampire Weekend, you've got the whole equation right there. Take the preppy white punk-reggae thing, throw some auto-tune in there, and out comes Discovery's new LP, appropriately called LP, just in time for Summer. The pedigree makes sense (kind of), as the band is a partnership between Rostam Batmanglij of the aforementioned Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot. The results are blippy, cheer-drenched compositions bizarre in ways that only white guys channeling T-Pain could produce. Immensely enjoyable.

Discovery - Swing Tree

Discovery - Osaka Loop Line

Magic Wands - Black Magic

2009-06-22T16:06:00.000-04:00

Some light, bouncy pop for you today from Magic Wands. Not much to do with wizards per se, Magic Wands seem more interested in evoking the imagery of your favorite unicorn Trapper Keeper from elementary school. "Black Magic" is dressed with some faintly distorted guitars and the occasional ethereal background keyboard, but mainly sticks to concentrating on the sweet vocal combination of its girl-guy roster, Dexy and Chris. And while I prefer the original version of "Warrior", I'm also throwing in a nice remix of the tune from The Xx (remember them?), who slow the song down with some brash drumming and a little reverb. Their EP, Magic Love and Dreams, follows almost a year's absence from any release, so snag it and savor, since it looks like we may have to wait for a full-length.

Magic Wands - Black Magic

Magic Wands - Warrior (The Xx Remix)

Fukkk Off - More Than Friends

2009-06-18T15:22:00.003-04:00

Fukkk Off is mainly known for his tune "Rave is King" and the subsequent remixes that appeared after its release. Sort of a template of sorts, "Rave is King" said all anyone needed to know about Fukkk Off: he was going to make raving music; unashamed, drug-induced, blippy, glowstick-twirling club music. His new album, Love Me Hate Me Kiss Me Kill Me, is set to continue in the same vein as his breakthrough single, but it looks like there might be a few curveballs. Take "More Than Friends", a club track without a doubt, but peppered with some fun rapid-fire old school rap from Hazel and Razor Cain. Together they ponder extracurricular relationship possibilities while their significant others use the facilities. Having not heard the whole album, I can't tell you whether there will be enough variety like this to entertain the casual listener, but superfun all the way through, "More Than Friends" has me hooked.

Fukkk Off - More Than Friends

Fukkk Off - Rave is King (Discodust Edit)

Codebreaker - Follow Me (The Juan Maclean Remix)

2009-06-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've been looking for an excuse to post about The Juan Maclean for a few weeks now, and this fantastic Codebreaker remix is all the reason I need. Not that Juan Maclean's new album, The Future Will Come, isn't excuse enough. This remix and TFWC are both filled with examples of why I love Juan Maclean so much: He takes elements of electronic music that most current artists consider antiquated and silly and blatantly makes them the centerpieces of his compositions. We're talking silly keyboard voices that haven't been heard for twenty years, outdated drum machines, 909s, items that a more sophisticated artist has long discarded. Take the Codebreaker remix. Listen to those electronic drumkit hits. Those aren't just by chance, those are almost signature now to the Juan Maclean sound. The best example of this from the new album is "No Time", which, despite its very human vocals (courtesy of Juan and Nancy Whang) and live drums, is structured entirely around a 909 loop that a kid might have been playing with on the Acid computer program in 1997. And that's what gets me, because Maclean knows how to make it work. Somehow, it all sounds very 2009.

Codebreaker - Follow Me (The Juan Maclean Remix)

The Juan Maclean - No Time

Dan Lissvik - Practice

2009-06-16T16:53:00.002-04:00

As an enormous fan of Studio's Yearbook Vol.1 & Vol. 2, I thought it might be appropriate to investigate the solo work of Dan Lissvik, one half of the enigmatic Swedish group. But listening to cuts from Lissvik's 7 Trx + Intermission, I'm slightly underwhelmed. Without Rasmus Hagg's Spanish guitar flourishes, Lissvik concentrates more on filling his compositions with Middle Eastern instrumentation and key signatures. Overall, the solo work seems slightly unfinished and in many ways sparse. Of course, this is not to say there are not gems. Lissvik is very talented in his own right. "Practice", for example, is a terrific jam with a straightforward Studio-like beat accompanied by a cool sitar riff. Also really good? Lissvik's "Version" of Fever Ray's "When I Grow Up", wherein he adds what sure sounds like a pan flute and a fun, clunky pace, overwriting the menance in Karin Dreijer Andersson's original tune. And who knows? Maybe his other work will grow on me, but for now I'm sticking to these two.

Dan Lissvik - Practice

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up (Version by Lissvik)

Salem - Dirt

2009-06-15T15:18:00.000-04:00

I was recently reading a great article somewhere about the redeeming power of hardcore in times of economic stress. The writer had been attending Boris and Sunn O))) concerts and bathing in the massive guitar distortion. He found it cathartic and fulfilling, instead of say, frightening or disturbing. I also believe in the positive impact of noise and "dark" music, not just in troubling times, but all the time. So, today I am recommending you take a listen to Salem, who take electronic music down the same abandoned streets as The Knife, but bathe it in Nyquil. The band's recipe for doom begins with some very simple drum machine hits, then mixes with squelching deep synths and bizarre, effects-laden vocals. The result is an echoing, screaming, blast that is slow, menacing and strangely fulfilling.

Salem - Dirt

Salem - OhK

Adele - Hometown Glory (Night Facilities Remix)

2009-06-11T16:10:00.000-04:00

This post is less about Adele and more about a pet peeve that I have had for a while now that I think Adele may have solved. Y'see, I loved Six Feet Under. It was a terrific television show; maybe one of the best ever. And its series finale was a real knockout, what with (no spoilers here I hope as it's been four years) all the characters' futures mapped out succinctly in less than ten minutes. One of the unfortunate side effects of this amazing finale has been what I call the "Breathe Me" effect. Sia's song, used in the aforementioned scene, really drove home the drama of the Fisher Clan's demise, but what we have all experienced since then is the "Breathe Me" effect, wherein any advertisement, television show, movie, or dance audition seeking to make us sad uses this song. I for one am tired of "Breathe Me" and think today should be the day we put it out of its misery.

So, first, we are going to retread into history and get all the "Breathe Me" we can out of our systems. To begin with, enjoy (for the last time!) the most memorable version of the song:

Sia - Breathe Me (Mylo Remix)

Then, let's all revisit the final scene from Six Feet Under so we never have to watch it again ever:

Okay, now that we've been cleansed of all that is "Breathe Me", I propose a solution for those of you that may be having trouble letting this song go, and that is the Night Facilities Remix of Adele's "Hometown Glory". Now, I know what you're thinking, and yes, this is a totally different song. But that's the whole point! What you won't find are the sweeping strings and Sia's thin vocals. What you will find are strikingly similar piano parts and the soulful richness of Adele's voice. Right here, right now, I'm taking a stand, and I hope you will too. Please join me on this day of healing and song replacement, for the sake of melodrama everywhere.

Adele - Hometown Glory (Night Facilities)

The Xx - Crystalised

2009-06-10T16:41:00.000-04:00

Ah, The Xx. New "it" kids (19 years old to be exact) from London. Their handful of demos are floating around making big impressions, and for good reason. They're cool, calculated. They don't intone much but muster a nice trot. The music is detached and has the pleading tone of teenage drama wedged between each rest. As if the music weren't enough, they've cultivated a stare-casually-at-nothing style that works perfectly for the video for "Crystalised", a great song that gets going and then floats away like it never existed. Keep an eye on them, and report back when their debut arrives this July.

The Xx - Crystalised

The Xx - Stars

Autokratz - Always More

2009-06-09T16:57:00.003-04:00

Many electronic artists are so interested in their keyboard patches and programmed beats that they can sometimes forget what makes the best pop songs: a hook. They can come in many forms, but no hook usually leads to a dud. Autokratz's new single "Always More", from their upcoming album, Animal, has the simple ascending scales to hold the melody together, but the hook arrives in a burst of echoing synths before the very first word. The song does a nice trade then, back and forth between the verses and the hook before wrapping it all up with a nice chorus underneath. "Always More" accomplishes the rare feat of getting stuck in your head with barely a breath of the lyrics.

Autokratz - Always More

Muscles - The Lake (White Williams Sludge Remix)

2009-06-08T16:33:00.001-04:00

I love when an artist not only comes along to reimagine a song from the ground up, rendering it unrecognizable save for a small sliver of the original, but also adds a layer of melody previously unapparent. Klumpfisk did it with his brilliant take on Studio's "West Side" last year, and here White Williams does it admirably with Muscles' fairly bland "The Lake". Where the original was plodding, Williams gives the song a sense of mystery and build-up. Williams' trick is to pitchshift the chorus of "Should we go back in the water?" enough that within the context of the misty echoes, the answer is almost certainly, "Absolutely not." White Williams is the project of Joe Williams, a former indie rock drummer from Cincinatti, whose usual compositions are light, airy and fun. But no time to have fun in "The Lake", the Sludge mentioned in the title is ready and waiting to swallow us up.

Muscles - The Lake (White Williams Sludge Remix)

White Williams - Route to Palm

Walter Meego - Forever (Van She Tech Remix)

2009-06-04T16:25:00.000-04:00

Van She are a cool band on their own, but wow, their on-the-side remix project Van She Tech really know how to deliver. In fact, they have been producing such quality jams for the last few years that I've actually started taking them for granted. The first time I went to listen to their take on Walter Meego's "Forever", I just fast-forwarded to another song during the minute-long hearing test that starts off the song. Stupid move. Once "Forever" hits the 1:00 mark it jumps immediately from the high-frequencies into what I call a smack-you-in-the-face bass that doesn't let go until the song's over. Not to say that there's no understanding of dynamics here. Van She Tech are always very good at taking it down a notch just to crank it to eleven again, hence the catch-your-breath moment at the 2:30 mark and the subtle return of the opening chimes in the last minute. Meego's singer, Justin Sconza, gamely suggests he can make us excited, Van She Tech just manage to make it happen.

Walter Meego - Forever (Van She Tech Remix)

Ghostape - My Country

2009-06-03T16:11:00.001-04:00

Here's a weird one: a seventeen year old black Swiss acappela techno producer named Ghostape who creates publicity shots of himself in complete darkness and steam with a towel on his head. Underneath the shroud, Ghebrezghi Gabriel's creating some really interesting, minimal music with the use of a few random pieces of percussion and electronic equipment. But overall the music is sparse, utterly rhythmic, lacking melody, and instead filled with the strange, harmonizing and childlike mantras of Gabriel's loose English. Ghostape's compositions are fascinating if only for the potential they portend. What would Ghostape's music be like if he had access to a full professional studio? Or is this the work of someone who has that access and has chosen to strip down the sound? Like so many others distributing demos online, information on Ghostape is few and far between, making a song like "My Country" all the more interesting, if only because it's impossible to tell where the hell is he talking about!

My Country

I Feel Your Soul

Plastique de Reve - Resist

2009-06-02T16:11:00.001-04:00

Today we are listening to some straight-up crazy European techno. Plastique de Reve only have a few releases available through DFA's Death From Abroad imprint, but this one is really wacky. Besides the acid-tinged bass, Plastique bring out a nutso anarchist pep squad, appropriately called The Radical Cheerleaders to shout out the death of capitalism. When they start the call to "Resist", you might be confused as to whether you're at a rave or a rally, but I promise it's super-fun, even if you don't want our city-states to fail.

Plastique de Reve - Resist

Parallels - Vienna

2009-06-01T16:30:00.000-04:00

As summer quickly approaches and the temperature rises, there are going to be times when we'll all need to cool off. I've always thought that music could have a variety of effects, but I almost positive that listening to Parallels actually lowers my body temperature. More than likely my chill is due to lowering the thermostat, but "Vienna" sounds like the inside of a cryogenic freezing chamber where the echoes of an igloo listening party for the Immaculate Collection were stored for the last twenty years. In their infancy, Parallels are switching back and forth between lead singer Holly Dodson's natural vocals and her voice thrown through a vocoder, but their best songs shine when Dodson doesn't sound like an out and out robot. Here are their two most solid songs so far, "Vienna" and "Ultralight", just in case your A/C conks out.

Parallels - Vienna

Parallels - Ultralight

Rubies - Stand in a Line

2009-05-30T08:30:00.003-04:00

Rubies, appropriately named (I'm assuming) for lead singer Simone Rubi, are a fun bunch. Their funky, folky sound could best be summed up by comparisons to their closest collaborators. Rubi's voice bears a striking similarity to Leslie Feist (who also guests on their tune "I Feel Electric"), and the strummed guitars and gentle disco rhythms are akin to Erlend Oye's Kings of Convenience and The Whitest Boy Alive, whom the Rubies have toured with. I highly recommend their debut album, Explode From the Center, coming out June 9. It's bound to be your poolside companion. This is enjoyable airy music to sip lemonade to one second, then immediately danceable the next. To demonstrate the different sides of the band, here are two cuts: "Stand in a Line", an album stand-out that switches between a loose bass line and jagged synth, and "Too Bright", a sunlit shuffle that accomodates feet on the coffee table.

Rubies - Stand in a Line

Rubies - Too Bright

Royksopp feat. Robyn - The Girl and the Robot

2009-05-28T19:35:00.003-04:00

Royksopp's new album Junior is filled with terrific songs, but none shine brighter than "The Girl and the Robot" with the amazing Robyn. Royksopp dial up the New Order Blue Mondays with the chorus button on their keyboards, while Robyn brings her always amazing ice-cold vocals. I know that so far, this blog has been filled with hyperbole, but I truly believe that Robyn is the greatest pop singer alive. The fact that she opened for the aging Madonna is a joke. Her self-titled album has aged incredibly well, despite the three full years it took to get released in America, and the four years since its original European release. Royksopp take full advantage of the absence of new Robyn tracks (remixes are only going to tide an audience over for so long) with "The Girl and the Robot", a solid track which might just be (seriously, not exaggerating here) the best pop song to be released this year.

Royksopp feat. Robyn - The Girl and the Robot

The Pragmatic - Rendevous

2009-05-27T18:15:00.000-04:00

The Pragmatic sound like The Postal Service. A lot. Lead singer Karl Kling sounds so much like Ben Gibbard that I've gotten to the point where I'm just pretending The Pragmatic's new Circles EP is just new Postal Service, which is kind of a disservice and a compliment all in one. Because, be honest, I bet you miss The Postal Service. It's okay to say you do. There have been plenty of Death Cab, Dntel and Figure releases since 2003, but any anticipation for a second release has become sort of a joke at this point. So, since there's not much chance of Gibbard and Tamborello getting back together anytime soon, why not have a band who sounds a whole lot like them make some music instead? The Pragmatics are making a small niche for themselves based on the membership of Andre Anjos, who has been doing terrific remixes as RAC. For much of their new Circles EP, the RAC sound comes through in the Nintendo-like synths that fly around and sometimes become the melody, but the band gently dials back the brouhaha on "Rendevous" to good effect. I hope the band eventually gets past their imitation-is-the-best-form-of-flattery stage, but if not, that's okay too.

The Pragmatic - Rendevous

The Pragmatic - Circles

Basement Jaxx - Raindrops

2009-05-25T15:00:00.001-04:00

Basement Jaxx's upcoming new album is called The Return of Basement Jaxx. The mystery is, I guess, where they went that they had to return from? It has been three years since Crazy Itch Radio, so perhaps it's a return to the studio, but with the release of the single "Raindrops", Basement Jaxx are promising their best work in years. A Basement Jaxx album is always an uneven affair, because while their french contemporaries have relied on the Daft Punk instruction booklet, Buxton and Radcliffe have an odd ear for oversampling the strangest whistles and wheezes, mixing them with dorky keys and often clumsy beats. When they fail, their songs collapse under their own weight. But when the Jaxx succeed, they soar. "Raindrops" is possibly the best song of their career. With its builds and releases topped with a fantastic hook (about builds and releases), this is the Jaxx's "One More Time". The promise of the song is more than a Return, so here's hoping they deliver with the full-length.

Basement Jaxx - Raindrops

U.S.E. - All the World

2009-05-23T13:10:00.000-04:00

I have trouble waking up sometimes. I have a long commute to work in my car, and often times I need a song to pump me up so I can face the ride. This is that song. It doesn't matter if I'm just sleepy or in some paralyzing bad mood, "All the World" will pin my eyelids back, get my blood flowing, and send my nerves sizzling. It's not just a good song. It's a song that reaffirms my faith in humanity. Go ahead and listen to it. Make sure the volume is all the way up. I almost guarantee that this song will make you smile, want to grab a friend and just start running somewhere for no reason other than the simple pleasures of the world. The United State of Electronica have approached this point before, but I'm pretty sure this is their best shot at complete unadulterated glee. Bask in the sunlight.

U.S.E. - All the World

Chris Cornell - Part of Me (Kleerup Remix)

2009-05-21T18:01:00.004-04:00

Here's Swedish production genius Andreas Kleerup with another really great remix, this time for career suicidal Chris Cornell. Cornell's Timbaland produced crapfest last year was a bizarre turn for the former lead singer of Soundgarden, so for Kleerup to even consider the material is a little odd, but the results are nice and funky. With the slapping bass and the buzzy snare hits astride Cornell's verses, one wonders if Cornell just picked the wrong person for his foray into pop. Kleerup's debut full-length last year was a sharp set of straightforward beats and a random assortment of fun voices like Robyn and Lykke Li, but my favorite Kleerup track has to be his remix of The Cardigans' Gran Turismo (one of my favorite albums) track "Erase/Rewind", so I'm throwing that in too along with the video for the original track "Longing for Lullabies".

Chris Cornell - Part of Me (Kleerup Remix)

The Cardigans - Erase/Rewind (Kleerup Remix)

Fan Death - Veronica's Veil

2009-05-20T17:42:00.000-04:00

Have you heard about this? In South Korea there's an ubran myth that if you leave an electrical fan on during the night in your room, it will kill you. There are all kinds of theories as to why this might be, so manufacturers have gone so far as to make fans with timers that turn them off after lights out.

I wouldn't have even known about this paranoia had two eccentrically named women from Vancouver, Dandilion Wind Opaine and Marta Jaciubek-McKeever, not named their exceedingly awesome disco duo Fan Death. Fan Death are making a kind of fun mid-tempo dance music that reminds me at once of 80's era Loose Joints and the clickety clank of The Raincoats. There's a kind of creepy air floating through the music too, which gives it a little edge. Investigating Fan Death, I'm noticing a ton of influence/involvement with the fashion community, which you'll be able to see in the video. I've never heard of music directly inspired by clothing and South Korean urban myths, but there's always a first time. I think you'll dig it.

Fan Death - Veronica's Veil

Fan Death - The Best Night

Phoenix - 1901

2009-05-17T14:53:00.000-04:00

At first, Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix wasn't working for me. I was one of the few people who favored the variety of United and Alphabetical to the Strokes-ish rhythm guitars on It's Never Been Like That. So in anticipating Wolfgang, especially hearing that Philippe Zdar (of Cassius) was back at the board, I assumed we'd be getting more of a return towards the band that brought us "If I Ever Feel Better". In listening to Wolfgang for the first time, I was struck with disappointment that the band had held onto the departure of the previous album, but in subsequent listens (mainly because the record is hard to stop listening to), that disappointment has been replaced with an optimism that Phoenix knew exactly what they were doing. And while Wolfgang might be a little on the short side, each song has a depth to it that reveals itself over multiple listens. Of course, what was never in question was the lead single. "1901" is a pure pop music bar of gold handed carefully from the Gods into our eardrums. If you haven't heard Wolfgang yet, or if you're not acquainted with the guys of Phoenix, get started, because it's going to be a beautiful friendship.

Phoenix - 1901

La Roux - Bulletproof

2009-05-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

I have trouble understanding the current public fascination with Lady Gaga. Sure, the eighties aesthetic is permeating through just about everything, but LG's general weirdness seems an odd fit for the Top 40, even if the hooks in "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" are guaranteed to get stuck in your head like Subway's Five Dollar Foot Long jingle. Another reason for my confusion might be the fact that there are so many female pop singers emulating similar sounds that can actually sing with a bit of range and are writing solid pop songs doomed to get moderate play in Europe but fail to break through in the U.S. Once such singer is La Roux. Her first set of singles, "Bulletproof", "In for the Kill" and "Quicksand" are all impeccable, but "Bulletproof" stands out as the song that would seem to satisfy the American hunger for Tiffany-style keyboards and processed vocals that LG is cashing in on.

La Roux - Bulletproof

The Gossip - Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)

2009-05-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

On first listen, The Gossip might not seem like the perfect group to get the remix treatment, but their stripped down sound is always topped off by the blistering and increasingly soulful vocals of Beth Ditto. Tiga intelligently used Ditto's pleading words in his take on "Yr Mangled Heart" a few years ago, and now disco master Fred Falke is having a go, with "Heavy Cross". As Ditto's intensity increases, Falke does a nice buildup in the middle here, leading to an all-out blissful explosion at the 4:50 mark. I never thought of Ditto in the same realm as Tina Turner, but now I can't get the comparison out of my head.

The Gossip - Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix)