Tribute to La Roux

Today I have to make an extra tribute to one of my favourites, La Roux. Why, is because we are joining forces tonight with two nice girls that are in love with Tracasseur and especially the previous post about La Roux. They told us that it was love at first earshot.
Therefore I will make the tribute with the latest single “Bulletproof” and “I’m Not Your Toy”, the latest leakage from the forthcoming self-titled album. You can pre-order the album here.

La Roux - Bulletproof

La Roux - I'm Not Your Toy

Extra bonus #1, check out this remix of “Bulletproof” by Zinc.


Extra bonus #2, pretty fresh and nice remix by Monsieur Lifelike:

La Roux - In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix)

Yuksek

Parisian Yuksek, aka Pierre-Alexandre Busson, is one of the front runners of the new wave of French electro. He has been releasing dance music for a few years now - his sound is heavy on the synths, electro-techno beats, stop and start breakdowns, and seems to be just as influenced by hip-hop as he is by Detroit techno. Yuksek has releases on Rise Records, Hypnotek, I'm A Cliché and Relish Records - all of which are run by amazing producers.

Since 2005 he has played many gigs in France (Nouveau Casino, ParisParis, Panik, Point Ephémère, etc.) and abroad (MEG festival in Montreal). Alone on stage with his machines and a microphone, he goes back to the origins with his no-nonsense old school sound.

Yuksek's other project is called Klanguage - their myspace page says "a girl, two guys, some old-fashioned keyboards, few drum-machines, 2 guitars, a bass."
On thursday he plays at Debaser, Stockholm. Buy tickets here.
Check out his myspace here.
Here are some of my favourite songs and remixes by him:

Yuksek - Dat's Right

Yuksek - Extraball (Pilooski Remix)

Tommy Sparks - I'm A Rope (Yuksek Remix)

Yuksek - Tonight (Album Version)

Bot'Ox - Rue de l'Aresnal (Yuksek Remix)

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Yuksek Edit)

White Lies - Farewell To The Fairground (Yuksek Remix)

Bat For Lashes once again, but live...

I've already written about Bat For Lashes a while ago. But I love this mysterious girl and I want to show you this live performance at the show "Later with Jools Holland" that I watched a couple of days ago. Pretty amazing...



Bat For Lashes - Daniel (Live Later with Jools Holland 04-21-2009)

And here are some other songs and great covers performed live at "Lounge BBC Radio 1", "Fair Game with Faith Salie" and at the Radiohead Tour 2008. Which song is really the best live or are all songs great?

Bat For Lashes - Daniel (Live Lounge BBC Radio 1)

Bat For Lashes - Use Somebody (Live Lounge BBC Radio 1, Kings of Leon Cover)

Bat For Lashes - Sweet Dreams (Live Lounge BBC Radio 1, Eurythmics Cover)

Bat For Lashes - I'm On Fire (Live Fair Game with Faith Salie, Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Bat For Lashes - Glass (Recorded live on Radiohead tour Nimes June 14th 2008)

And as a small bonus, a new fresh remix from our favourite Mr Van Cleef:

Bat For Lashes - Daniel (Edwin Van Cleef Remix)

Thermostatic for you!

This band is not new to me, but maybe new for friends of Tracasseur outside Sweden. Therefore I think it’s the right time to introduce the Swedish band Thermostatic for you!

From the second largest city, Gothenburg. Five members. Originally founded in 2003. Signed by Swedish indie label Wonderland Records in 2005. Became Best Newcomer in 2005 at SAMA (Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards). Have released two full-length albums and a couple of EP:s. Their latest release “Humanizer” was released in 2008 and contains plenty of nice tunes.

The music is inspired of italo and the eighties, with a blippy sound from the C64 and early Nintendo computer games with strong influences of modern electro, combined with sweet vocals by Louise “Vox” Marchione. If you should compare them with other acts, names such as Ladytron, Miss Kittin and Universal Poplab lies close at hand.


If you want to catch them during a live show, they are playing at Sticky Fingers in Gothenburg May 1st. And further on at Midsommarfestivalen in Emmaboda June 19th.

Thermostatic – Driving

Thermostatic – The Box

Thermostatic –So Close So Near

Thermostatic – Make Believe

Ugly Edits Vol. 2

I love Database (who we've written about in a previous post) and their brand of cut-up disco. It seems they love me too, because they're releasing the Ugly Edits vol.2 EP as a free download on my birthday, May 25. I thank Database for the lovely present, but I'll promise to share it with you!

The Boys and The Noize

Boys Noize's real name is Alexander Ridha, a 26 year old electro-tech producer and DJ from Hamburg, now living in Berlin. It is also the name of Ridha's label, Boysnoize Records, which he set up in 2005. Between the ages of six and fourteen, he practiced piano and drums.

Under the name Boys Noize, he has released records on French label Kitsuné Music, Tiga's Turbo Records label, and on DJ Hell's International DeeJay Gigolo Records. He has also remixed tracks for Tiga, Para One, Feist, Kreeps and Depeche Mode, as well as popular remixes of British indie anthems "Banquet" by Bloc Party and "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" by Kaiser Chiefs.

Ridha has also released EPs under the names 909d1sco and Kid Alex. Boys Noize released his debut album "Oi Oi Oi" in September 2007. His new album should come out soon but until then don't miss his gig at Berns, Stockholm on Saturday 25th of April.

Here are some of my favourite songs by them Boys....

Sébastien Tellier - L'Amour et La Violence (Boys Noize Remix)

The Love and The Violence...

Riot In Belgium - The Acid Never Lies (Boys Noize 909 Disco Remix)
Well i think the acid lies all the time...anyway its a good remix by them boys.

Para One - Dudun-Dun (Boys Noize Remix)
The original is great, but this might be even better.

Feist - My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)

Great vocals to a supercool song.


Cut Copy - Lights & Music (Boys Noize Happy Birthday Remix)
Dunno why they call it happy birthday remix....

Boys Noize - Let's Buy Happiness
First song on my mixtape: Sir Lancelot A bit hard mix

Gonzales - Working Together (Boys Noize Vox Mix)

So much better than the original, sorry Gonzales....

Boys Noize - Shine Shine (Original Mix)

Another great vocoder flavoured song by them boys.

Hot stuff (edited)

Here's some hot disco stuff for you! First up, I know you're tired to death of all those Norwegian remixes of Thai electro pop tracks, but Pelifics' remix of Cindy Seui's "All It Takes" is definitely worth a listen. Pelifics always produces top notch nu italo (check out his Astrolabe remix) and Cindy Seui makes music somewhere in between funky disco, synth house and electro pop. I'm pretty sure we'll have reasons to get back to both of them.

Cyndi Seui - All It Takes (Pelifics Remix)

Edit: Why not post the original and the remix of Astrolabe?

Cyndi Seui - All it Takes

Astrolabe - Leave the Station (Pelifics Remix)

Next up is a new track from Canadians Le Matos, who we have posted about before. This one is an up-tempo nu italo or French touch track, but still much more mellow than the more techno-y "Quiet Earth" for example.

Le Matos - Pray for Death

Lastly, (yet) another remix from Fred Falke. This time of Aussie's Sneaky Sound System and their "I Love It", which originally was released in 2006 with remixes from Bag Raiders and Calling In Sick. This remix was made for the 2009 British re-release though, which dropped last month, so it's not brand new.

Sneaky Sound System - I Love It (Fred Falke Remix)

DW remixes Edwin Van Cleef

As you've probably gathered, we really like both DW and Edwin Van Cleef. Mr Van Cleef was due to release "All I Have To Offer" (which we posted here) on up and coming So French Records with remixes from Charlie Fanclub, Freshlovers, Xinobi and our own DW. Sounds like an awesome EP, right?

Unfortunately, from what I gather Edwin and the label couldn't agree terms so the EP doesn't seem to be released. Not at So French anyway, and probably not with this line-up. That's a real shame, but we've managed to salvage the DW remix for you.

Edwin Van Cleef - I Want You (DW - I'm Gonna Remix)

Anthonio remixes

Norwegian electro pop queen Annie's new single "Anthonio" is being released May 4. It's produced by Richard X and is really good, but it's two remixes (out on Beatport yesterday) that really catches our ears.

The Designer Drugs remix has been around for a while now and is an up-tempo electro house floor filler:

Annie - Anthonio (Designer Drugs Remix)

The Fred Falke remix is fresh from the oven. It's also more towards house but a much more mellow French touch track with Falke's trademark lush synth strings:

Annie - Anthonio (Fred Falke Remix)

As a bonus I'll give you two other tracks with Annie remixed by two other big French touch producers; Lifelike and Fred Falke's former brother in arms Alan Braxe.

Annie - Heartbeat (Alan Braxe Remix)

Ercola ft. Annie - Follow Me (Lifelike Remix)

The return of Basement Jaxx

New track from the classic Brixton, London duo Basement Jaxx! It will be included on their new album, still untitled and still being mastered, due to be released sometime around May or June.

There will be a lot of great guest vocalists on the album, among others Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Santogold and even Yoko Ono. Sam Sparro has also been hinting that he's working with them.

We hope our Swedish readers make sure to check them out when they visit Way Out West in Gothenburg this summer.

Basement Jaxx - Raindrops

It's good, but it doesn't reach the heights of this classic samba house track from '97:

Basement Jaxx - Samba Magic (Original mix)

Multinational Sandi Sirocco

This fresh band Sandi Sirocco formed as recently as early 2009 in London. Even if they have their base in London, the group consists of members with different origins. They comprise of two lead vocalists, the half Spaniard Noah Dias-Rubez and the Russian-Ukrainian Sandra Shimko. Along with these two vocalists Sandra’s stepbrother Lash Angelizvili from Georgia and the Scottish producer Johnston Sheard forms the band.

Their music has the touch of disco, flavoured with the modern electronic freshness. You can hear influences from Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), ABBA, Blondie and Giorgio Moroder.

The song “Dancing Dancing Dancing” was written with inspiration from a rich Hungarian with seasickness that harassed both Noah and Johnston on a Croatian boat-cruise a couple of summers ago.



The band is still unsigned, but the question is for how long? We believe it’s only a matter of time…

Sandi Sirocco – Dancing (Extended Version) (Removed by request)

Sandi Sirocco – The Knight In Panther's Skin (Removed by request)

Sandi Sirocco – Vanity & Shame (Removed by request)

GRUM remixes Friendly Fires

GRUM has remixed Friendly Fires' latest single "Skeleton Boy". Luv it!

Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Grum Remix)

The original is awesome too, even if you've heard it to death. Our sources in Amsterdam saw the March 2 concert on Melkweg, and apparently the hip movements of Ed Macfarlane, the lead singer, set the whole of Amsterdam in motion. I hope they come to Stockholm soon.

Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy

That's what she said!

My favourite show right now (apart from Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office UK. R.I.P) is definitely The Office US.

But I still don't know who to vote for as my favourite character; Michael Scott or Dwight Schrute so I just show you a clip with them saying the most stupid stuff you ever heard:

"You need to do something about your BO" "This is a Schrute Buck" "I burnt my foot, very badly, on my foreman grill"...and it goes on and on.

Daft Punk the video game!

It hasn't happened yet, but there may come a day when I grow tired of the iDaft emulator. Therefor I'm pretty psyched that I now can take a break from it and play the new Daft Punk video game for a while.

The synopsis of the game is that you're either Thomas or Guy-Manuel and that Justice have stolen your samples. Now it's up to you to get them back while avoiding the raging (Justice? DP?) fans.

Enjoy the game here.

Bonus:

Daft Punk - Human After All (Peterdragontail Remix)

(Peterdragontail)

Re-uploaded:
Daft Punk - One More Time (My!Gay!Husband! WEheartDaftPunk DP + Romanthony + Mano + Krames + Housemoguls 13Min End Of Nite Club Edit) (phew!)

(My!Gay!Husband!)
(My!Gay!Husband!'s blog on IHeartComix)

Alphabeat, Frankmusik & Leon Jean-Marie - Digital Love (Daft Punk Cover)

(Alphabeat)

(Frankmusik)

(Leon Jean-Marie)

Pump up the jam

In a previous post I referred to A-ha's "Take on me" as one of the best pop tracks ever made. Another one is of course Technotronic's "Pump up the jam", a track I like as much today as I did when it was released in '89. So here's my tribute post to Thomas de Quincey's and Manuela Kamosi's masterpiece.

First up, some covers:



Norton - Pump Up The Jam

(Norton)

Tenderlions - Pump Up The Jam

(Tenderlions)



Then, a couple of remixes:

Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam (The Disco Villains Remix)

(Disco Villains)

Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam (Malk Remix)

(Malk)


(Sondra Prill - contestant for "Angriest singing in a music video set on a beach")

Lastly, a mash-up and the original:

Technotronic vs. MSTRKRFT - Pump Up The Looks (Fiar Medico Mashup)

(Fiar Medico)

Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam

Dj Falcon

Until I do my interview with Archigram I write about my favourite French bird; Dj Falcon. His name is Stéphane Quême and before producing tracks for the legendary house label Roulé he worked in A&R department at Virgin. In 1999 his released his first EP (on Roulé) called "Hello My Name Is Dj Falcon" and produced a Remix of Cassius's "La Mouche" who is an all-time classic now. One year later, he started working with Thomas Bangalter on a track called "Together". And the rest is history...
He is a brother of Delphine Quême (Quartet) & Cousin of Alain Quême (Alan Braxe).

Check out his MySpace page here

Here are some of my favourite tracks by him:

Dj Falcon - Unplugged

Dj Falcon - Untitled

Dj Falcon - First

Dj Falcon - Honeymoon

Together (Dj Falcon & Thomas Bangalter) - So Much Love To Give (Archigram Remix)

Together (Dj Falcon & Thomas Bangalter) - Together

Rocky IV

80s Stallone - IV (re-posted)

I'm not a super big fan of the Rocky movies, but I would have to say that the first one is my favourite. I've got a feeling that's not a very controversial opinion and probably an incredibly dull thing to say.

I'm guessing 80s Stallone prefers the fourth movie from '85 with Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago, Rocky's Soviet adversary. London's 80s Stallone was on the massive Masters of the Universe 2 compilation a while back. Check out more of him over at our friends Dödselectro.

80s Stallone - IV

And, since us Swedes have to root for Dolph:

Dolph Lundgren - Maximun Potential

Tracasseur & DW in Romania

As we have mentioned earlier, Tracasseur paid a visit to Iasi in Romania to play records April 4th. We travelled along with our friends in the band DW, who we have written about before. DW played live and we took care of flipping records.

No one of us five lads had ever been to Romania before, so it was quite an adventure for all of us. Before we left Sweden everybody was making jokes about vampires and Dracula, but the thing is that we never saw anything of that, except on a poster for a museum. Instead we had a blast and experienced a new country for us in a fantastic way. Nice friendly people, and special thanks to the great hospitality and treatment from Flama Events and J&B.

The gig was on the roof of the Moldova Mall in the centre of Iasi. About 1.000 people attended the party called “Start A Party”, and it was a great party! DW did their live-set with success, before Jonny Puma and Arnie Becker took care of the dancing roof. Here is a mish-mash video from our dj-set:



And here are some of the nice tunes that we played during the night (some of them posted before, but hey, they are great tracks, so we can post them again):

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Russ Chimes Remix)

Röyksopp - The Girl And The Robot

Super Society - Our Love (Donna)

Testarossa - Monte Carlo (Dazed Dub)

Teenage Bad Girl – Ghost House

Robin Gibb - Juliet (CatComplex Remix)

Drlkt Freddie – Airtight

Armand Van Helden - You Don't Know Me (Grum Remix)

This is Rock and Roll

Our Norwegian friend The Great Goodenough.

The Great Goodenough - This is Rock and Roll

Detektivbyrån, not like everybody else...

The Swedish band Detektivbyrån (in English: the detective bureau) is a different and interesting band based in Gothenburg nowadays, but originally from Karlstad. Their debut album “Wermland” was released in September 2008, before that they have released a compilation of earlier music named “E18 Album” and the EP “Hemvägen”.

The description of their music is not that easy, but if you mix together a children’s show on TV, a funny circus and Swedish music tradition spiced with some electric vibes, you’re are somewhere near the atmosphere that Detektivbyrån offer. They could be compared with bands such as Monster & Maskiner, Hansson & Karlsson and of course with Yann Tiersen who made the music to “Amelie from Montmartre”.

Even you could compare Detektivbyrån with other acts, they are unique and always experimenting with the music and new “instruments”. On “Wermland” they are for example using shoes, pens and a scissor as “instruments”. They say that if they try out ten different new things that they could use in a song, nine of ten are crap but one could be great.



If you want to catch these guys live, you could either visit Poesifestivalen in Trollhättan April 25th or Debaser Medis in Stockholm May 20th. Otherwise you can see them on these festivals in Sweden this summer; Arvikafestivalen, Putte i Parken or Emmabodafestivalen.

Detektivbyrån – Life / Universe

Detektivbyrån – Dansbanan

Detektivbyrån – E18

Detektivbyrån – Om Du Möter Varg

Detektivbyrån – Lyckans Undulat

Detektivbyrån - Neonland

Less yap, more clap!

Today I'll let the music do the talking, so here's a cholesterol bomb of stuff I like at the moment:

Great Aussie indie electro: Leeds' GRUM remixed by Calling In Sick:

GRUM - Runaway (Calling In Sick Remix)

The Twelves have remixed one of the best pop tracks of all time:

A-Ha - Take On Me (The Twelves Remix)

U2 is an up and coming garage band from Ireland. I think they have a singer called Boner or something. Y'all know Justice.

U2 - Get On Your Boots (Justice Remix)

Poney Poney's upcoming album will be produced by Justice’s Xavier de Rosnay and will be out on Institubes. This track is produced by Para One and remixed by Pacific!.

Poney Poney - When Do You Wanna Stop Working? (Pacific! Remix)



More Aussie electro: Grafton Primary given more of a club feel by The Aston Shuffle.

Grafton Primary - All Stars (The Aston Shuffle Remix)

Great remix by Surkin of The Juan MacLean. Nice early 90s house/techno feel.

The Juan Maclean - One Day (Surkin Mix)

Play Paul have made this little house gem of Danish Ryskee's track:

Ryskee - Leave Me Amor (Play Paul Remix)

And to top it off with some indie dance, here are The Males:

The Males - Damage Control

Sorta Lifelike

Me, Jonny and DW are back from Romania in five pieces (one each). No close encounters with vampires, probably because I spent almost all of last week eating garlic and sharpening wooden sticks.

Meanwhile, several tracks from Paris' Lifelike have been popping up on the blogs recently. First up is more of the Franco-Australian collaborations that have been so successful over the last few years; Lifelike's remix of Aussie rockers Dirty Laundry.

Dirty Laundry - Hate Me (Lifelike Instrumental)

Next up is a remix of Dimitri from Paris from, err, France.

Dimitri From Paris Pres. Electra 80 - Rock This Town (Lifelike Mix)

The remix of Danish disco band Private was posted on Ohh Crapp... today, which means there is a good chance it gets the hype it deserves but didn't quite got when it surfaced a while back. And why not try to add to it?

Private - My Secret Lover (Lifelike Remix)



And here's just some classic Lifelike:

Treasure Fingers - Cross the Dancefloor (Lifelike Remix)

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Epic Last Song (Lifelike Remix)

32Crash - Slowcrash (Lifelike Remix)

Ledge - Icarus (Lifelike Remix)

Lifelike - The Soul Of My Love

Bag Raiders

It seems like my colleagues from Tracasseur are back without any bite marks from Transylvanian vampires. Anyway that's what they say. But you can never really trust vampires... I will ask for photos of them on their gig with DW, and if there are no pictures it means either two things: they never really played or they are vampires now and we all know you can't take pictures of vampires...

From Transylvania to Sydney, one of my favourite Australian bands are Bag Raiders who are doing their America tour right now. Hopefully they come to Europe soon. Dancefloor princes Chris Stracey and Jack Glass from Bag Raiders have done a slew of remixes. From Sneaky Sound System to Kid Sister, Headman, the Midnight Juggernauts and K.I.M. (featured in the infamous Grand Theft Auto IV video game), Muscles, zZz, the Lost Valentinos and more. Here are some of my favourite songs and remixes. You can also check out their webiste here.

Bag Raiders - Turbo Love (Tough Love Edition)

Bag Raiders - Nil By Mouth (Knightlife Remix)

zZz - Lion (Bag Raiders Remix)

Bag Raiders - Fun punch (Bag Raiders Remix)


Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars

Midnight Juggernauts - Twenty Leagues Under (Bag Raiders Remix)

Chromeo - Call Me Up (Bag Raiders Remix)

The Galvatrons - Remember When We Were Kids (Bag Raiders Remix)

Supercool music video:

It's all about Africa

Finally I will see my friend Sean Rogg's art exhibition. Just a few hours left. I have no idea what's happening in Romania with Jonny Puma and Arnie Becker. Maybe they have been bitten by female vampires by now...

I think we all know by now that we all come originally from Africa, and that includes even the music. Listen to these African up-tempo songs and you will understand where the origin of all modern dance music comes from.

Alemayehu Eshete - Addis Ababa Bete

Ethiopian groovy up-tempo song.

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Big Man

A very big song.

Babatunde Olatunji - Jin-Go-Lo-Ba

This song is the original and you probably heard many versions of it.

Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70 - Roforofo Fight

This song is sampled by Fatboy Slim on his first album. The song is First Down. So it's time to dig through your old Fatboy Slim collection...

Ghosts and Vampires!

Well two thirds of Les Tracasseurs are gone to Romania to support DW at their live-gig. But I'm still here in Stockholm so I can come to my friend Sean Rogg's art exhibition at Kleerup gallery tomorrow. And besides, I heard that they are going to Transylvania, the heart of count Dracula´s hometown. Hope they brought lots of garlic...

Anyway, it means I have to be more active this week and I start by writing about The Black Ghosts. They are two guys from London doing music that is a mix of pop and electro on the legendary label Southern Fried Records. On their myspace page they just call themselves Ghost 1 and Ghost 2...They had some modest success with the song "Full Moon" featured in the movie "Twilight". More vampires...

Here are my favourite songs and remixes with these ghosts. Also check out their music video for "Someway through this" It's really a favourite song of mine and the video is amazing. You can buy their album "The Black Ghosts" here.

The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It

The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It (Boy 8 Bit remix)

The Black Ghosts feat. Damon Albarn - Repetition Kills You

The Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This

The Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This (Plastician & Skream remix)