Vitalic in the UK this September, I have my tickets! Dates as follows:

Vitalic live is just the best thing ever. Check out this live version of La Rock 01 and feel emboldened. It transports you to another world on 3mins 30sec and 6mins 00secs. My number one dance anthem ever.






Vitalic - La Rock 01 (Live) (alt link)








Later

Swedish music obsessive that I am just can't get away from the blooming stuff today! Not a bad thing at all of course.



Din Stalker (Hannes Stenstrom) makes up one sixth of circuitboard-heroes Slagsmalsklubben and without his allies still manages to come up with the byte ridden goods. This track off his MySpace reminds me of playing Super Metroid crossed with a slow-starting Simian Mobile Disco track. Vague I know. Good I also know.








Din Stalker - Dear Weekend (alt link)








Then on Slagsmalsklubbens Djur and Mir label there's a compilation called Yesterdjur, Yestermir, Yesterday which is pretty ace and full of bit-pop, electro-pop and indie-pop. My favourite song for reasons more than the band name is Grapefruit & Bodybuilding's 'Fight Allright' it's a no-fi indie-pop nugget that may well embed itself in your head =)







Grapefruit And Bodybuilding - Fight Allright (alt link)








Some more top lo-fi action on that same compilation comes from Convoy Roadstar who I suppose when forced into a corner and asked you could describe as a happier sounding Dandi Wind.








Convoy Roadstar - Hepstar Steps (alt link)








It always amazes me how a country with such a small population as Sweden seems to be some kind of musical paradise on Earth.



Grapefruit and bodybuilding when structured in to a regular routine will over time cause you to develop MUSCLES. Muscles is also an Australian guy having a good time with synthesizers at parties up and down the globe. He has really developed a long way in just a few months reaping the benefits of making such infectious melodies, his album Guns Babes Lemonade is out next month on Modular and is available to pre-order HERE and will no doubt extend our Summers with its promised 'trance breakdowns; shouting and lots of vocal harmonies; techno; cut-up vocal house; electro pop; big basslines and synths.' Oooh yeah!










Muscles - Sweaty (alt link)










Sticking with the super happy good times theme here is the video for Yelle's A Cause Des Garcons.

I find it hard to talk about a genre i'm not overly familiar with, for example dubstep/hip-hop, so it stands to reason that if I hear something that catches the untrained ear (mine) as well as those in the know (Modeselektor, Flying Lotus) then it must be good yeah? Yeah! Rustie's Jagz The Smack EP has been garnering praise from various quarters, and rightly so, even if I don't know anything. Get the Jagz The Smack EP from BoomKat.






Rustie - Crooked






I mentioned Flying Lotus, there's an amazing Flying Lotus remix of Dabrye on one of Ghostly Internationals compilations. All of their compilations are so good, so varied. See HERE.






Dabrye feat. Jay Dee and Phat Kat - Game Over (Flying Lotus Remix)






Talking of compilations, I made a mix CD for a friend the other day, it has no theme, is just a bunch of songs i've been enjoying at various times and places, a pretty mixed bunch that could be described as being like eating crisps and chocolate at the same time. I've zipped them up and if you like, you can hear it too.


DOWNLOADABLE HERE.




Tracklisting:
Wizardzz - Rest At The Gate
Wauvenfold - Clip
CFCF - The Explorers
Hemstad - Tuff Ungdom
Scrivin - Phenomena
Colleen - This Place In Time
Numéro# - Star Model
FrankMusik - Gotta Boyfriend
Slagsmålsklubben - Dysparennia
Joakim - Drumtrax
Johnny And The Moon - Tamed A Lion
Fox n' Wolf - Rules Out
Apparat - Holdon
Glass Candy - Etheric Device
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Mighty Girl
Jensen Sportag - Japanese Zombie Schoolgirls
Knightlife - All Systems
Tussle - Meh Teh
Com.A - Misjudge
Freezepop - Brainpower

I listen to too much music.

I've got a thing for repetitive persistent dirty beats of late. Most recent addition to that category has been The Micronauts. You'd know pretty much what to expect if I say that The Micronauts album is released on the guaranteed goodness of Citizen. You can get the album off of the BeatPort link on The Micronauts page.









The Micronauts - Distracted









Have a nice weekend. =)

After a new electronic sound? This might well come close, Gouseion's excellent album Puisne ensconces elements of IDM, euro-crunk, electronic pop and more, all blended together into perfectly crafted songs. It's as melodic as it is disorienting, staright edged as it is raw, hard to explain in words without sounding silly really, but trust me it's a really good sound that Gouseion is chucking out here. Get a copy from Boomkat







Gouseion - Pirony









MAX TUNDRA covering KLF





This is the best live show ever....non?


Max Tundra, man amongst men






Max Tundra - Labial








To further experimentalise this post, let's add Simon Bookish into the mix.







Simon Bookish - Interview








Ah yes, such refreshing lyrics. Quoting Max Tundra: "I was kind of spurred on by listening to the cliched rubbish on daytime radio, and I thought to myself ‘Here’s someone in the top ten, and every single line of this song is a totally overused phrase or cliche and it made me realise that my lyrics are actually a little bit wittier than that so it kept me going really."



YAY for experimental pop.

Back from Belgium's Pukkelpop festival. It was certainly better than I was expecting and fulfilled many of my musical fantasies. The following is a very brief musical overview of Pukkelpop. I will get my camera film developed in time and post my festival in pictures in due course.





Thursday:




Lo-Fi-FNK kicked it off, after two years waiting to see them, my moment finally came, enjoyable electropop fun, just need to work on their dance moves (hypocrisy)






Lo-Fi-FNK - Change Channel (Kaos Remix)








1990s made live indie good again.






1990s - You're Supposed To Be My Friend







Liars were considerably less scary and infinitely more accomplished than when I last saw them a couple years ago, probably the most interesting live act of the weekend.






Liars - Plaster Casts Of Everything







Battles were incredible too, my appreciation for drummers increased as a result of seeing them in action, relentless, monotonous, monumental.






Battles - Dddiamondd






The rest of the day was spent drinking cherry beer (possibly to the point of all 13 of us falling into the stereotypical British holidaymaker role) Then we danced to the head honchos of Kitsune - Gildas & Masaya, then Riton, Boys Noize (nuts) and Tiga.





Friday:




Slept or tried to, not that pro-plus lets you sleep, just shake uncontrollably. Roused myself for Uffie & Feadz, then MSTRKRFT who dropped something I was totally expecting.







D.I.M. - Airbus Baby







More cherry beer at the cost of James Holden and Apparat :( WHAT AN ERROR.




Saturday:




Early start for Home Video, who impressed me a lot, reminded in part of Radiohead, see for yourself.







Home Video - Melon







I was staggered at how rammed Booka Shade was, I guess I underestimated their popularity, then again we were in minimal mecca I guess. Mindblowing.






Booka Shade - In White Rooms






I was pressganged into seeing Kings Of Leon as opposed to Trentemoller, ho hum, at least I had cherry beer. Then I caught some of CocoRosie, pretty darned nice...






CocoRosie - Miracle






Justice did not disappoint, I chose to be cool and wear my EdRec tee on the first day whereas some kiddiewinkles chose to stand at the front and wave their tee's. Us? We danced with rhythmic convulsions and reckless abandon.





Erol Erol Erol, why do you treat us like this, just when I was about to collapse he put on the most re-energising song ever (past 6months) the new Modeselektor pulveriser. It was perhaps the aural pinaccle of the weekend.






Modeselektor - Black Block






So yeah, that was roughly what I heard.





To recover, I have fancied some Motoro Faam, wonderfully crafted, organic sounding experimental electronica from three 23-year old Japanese guys. Get it HERE.





Motoro Faam - And Infiltrations

How bleep is your love? If it's pretty bleep then you'll adore Partyshank, who like countless contemporaries have built up quite a following through MySpace, this has resulted in them now embarking on extensive touring with likes of Crystal Castles, Dan Deacon and To My Boy. Their sound is basically DAT Politics in tandem with breakbeat and jungle undertones that result in a cataclysm of high jinks! You can buy and pre-order stuff off their MySpace

After being told about the new Numbers album that is imminent I excitedly tracked down the preview track off it called Mind Hole. Now I know they've been heading down this route for a while, more serious, progressive songs which I don't mind at all and i'm still really excited to hear the new album. But, but, but, it just isn't this.....

Synthtrashpop heroes Fox n' Wolf never fail to please me with their hard electro-pop that smacks of hideously dressed times gone by (see further down) It is quite frankly impossible not to love Fox n' Wolf, impossible not to find yourself moving uncontrollably to their synth grooves, impossible not to feel 35% happier after listening to one of their tracks, impossible for me not to recommend highly enough! Get their stuff HERE









Fox n' Wolf - Electric Date (alt link)











So yeah, I was in Tanerife and I was listening to the radio, and this classic came on.










Paul Hardcastle - 19








There's definitely some Fox n' Wolf in there.









So that track had some spoken word samples in, but that's nothing compared to the sample and found sound masters The Books. If you're lucky enough to have seen them play live, you will no doubt have been amazed by the videos that accompanied the music. Well now those videos have been released on DVD. Here's some samples.






The Books - Take Time














The Books - Smells Like Content












The Books - Classy Penguin

If i'd have been blogging two-years ago i'd have been posting about The Vermicious Knid with great enthusiasm, such was my adoration for their sound. My adoration never stopped, just keeps getting shelved for a while, then making a welcome return after just enough time for me to forget how blatantly amazing they were and enough time for their unexpected twists mid-song to completely wow me all over again. Smalltown Devotion Hometown Compulsion in my eyes is the most under-appreciated indie album in pretty much forever, an indie rock/post-hardcore masterpiece that is so consistent throughout, taking many exciting twists and unexpected turns en route making it a wonderful listening experience surpassing by far the generic majority of indie bands out there. This will be some of the best indie music you will hear this year. Sadly The Vermicious Knid disbanded early in 2006 =( Luckily you can still pick up a copy HERE.








The Vermicious Knid - Ghosts Of A Drunken Past






The Vermicious Knid - These Were Wolves






The Vermicious Knid - Century Soldiers











Another 2-year oldish gem is this one by 10lec6 called Counter Stroke that featured on the legendary Rough Trade shop's Counter Culture annual. I don't know a great deal about them, what I do know is they are hella noisey hella good.









10lec6 - Counter Stroke










Force of Nature are KZA and DJ Kent, two long time friends that share the same musical tastes and vision. KZA is a huge vinyl junkie who has acquired an enormous record collection over the years, enabling him to have a wide variety music at his fingertips. DJ Kent, the other side, has been DJing in Japan for many years now and has developed his own unique sound and musical style that makes him one of the most stimuluating and respected DJ's in the Japanese dance music scene. Their latest release To The Brain on Mule is pretty much as described as above, refreshing and stimulating. It also features two more of Prins Thomas' wonderful Diskomiks'.









Force Of Nature - Traderoute

I never want to see another number in my life, I never want to see another Microsoft Excel formula in my life.



To celebrate the arrival of something that partially resembles summer, relax, pour yourself a glass of Port & Lemon and listen here to the wonderful Lone, a kind of magician, who specialises in beautiful soundscapes not too dissimilar at all from Boards Of Canada at their zenith or even Black Moth Super Rainbow at times. Beautiful, atmospheric, organic. It is all extra super good. You can grab the album 'Everything Is Changing Colour' HERE.













Lone - Summer Of Summer













More ambience, The Field is definitely one of my favourite things of the year. I discovered another track of his on Kompakt's Pop Ambient compilation. Lovely stuff.














The Field - Kappsta














But for those of you who need that bit more oomph, try this, Harlem's 'Cat Scratch' is an abrasive squelch heavy techno jaunt that will have all the cats and dogs in the neighbourhood fleeing in terror at its high pitched squeals! ACE. Thanksss to Copy & Paste for bringing this to my ears in the first place.














Harlem - Cat Scratch