Poland here we come, tomorrow we leave for our Poland Tour. To all our Polish fans, we'll come to give you an extra good time. Woop woop!
We'll do this mini-tour together with the amazing Polish electro-pop band Kamp!, that we've written about several times. We'll visit three cities in three days. The tour begin in Kraków on Thursday, via Łódź on Friday, that's actually the hometown of Kamp!, and we finish off on Saturday in Katowice. It would be awesome to meet up with our fine friends of these cities on the dancefloor.
We downloaded our app yesterday for the great Elektrana Radio, where we do a monthly show. Elektrana Radio is the official online radio station of Elektrana Stage from one of the best music festivals in Europe, EXIT Festival.
Except from our show that is aired every third Wednesday of the month, they got more than 50 radio shows from DJs and producers from all over Europe. Now you can listen to electro pop, electronica, electro, nudisco, indie and much more in your phone too.
Lifelike, who really don't need an introduction, is releasing his next single in February on his own Computer Science label. "Heatwave" is of course based on the classic '83 italo hit "Stop" by B.W.H., and from what you can hear from this preview is that it has undergone a very gentle treatment. You feel like you want to know more about the French master, read our interview with him if you haven't already.
Parisian electro kid Allure is back with a new track. "L'Amiral" has on one hand a foot in the French touch electro, but at the same time it has the sort of epic melodies and harmonies that makes you think about film music, or even classical music. I like it a lot, and I'm looking forward to his album coming out in April. Also, check out this video from his January 7 gig at La Machine du Moulin Rouge
This is our latest contribution for our show on Radio Elektrana that was aired this Wednesday. "The 84–120 Mixtape" take you on a journey from a slow steady beat to a little more intense beat. It start out in 84 bpm and slowly increase throughout the whole mix and finish off in 120 bpm. A beat intensity enhancement with 36 bpm within a 56 minutes mix!
Tracklist: 1. The Drums - Me & The Moon (Moonlight Matters Remix) 2. The Knife - Marble House 3. jj - Still 4. Digitalism - Stratosphere 5. Beth Ditto- Do You Need Someone 6. Villa - Beats Of Love (Extended Version) 7. Grum - LA Lights 8. Yeasayer - Madder Red (Munk Remix) 9. The Routines - The Sound (Auxiliary tha Masterfader Remix) 10. Jupiter - Vox Populi (Lifelike Treatment) 11. Chromeo - Don't Walk Away 12. NightWaves - Fascination (Keenhouse Remix) 13. The Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (Tommie Sunshine's Quaalude Edit) 14. Human Life - In It Together (Polygon Palace Remix)
Kill Them With Colour is at it again. And again it's an awesome remix of the king of pop; the one and only Michael Jackson. This time they have even made an awesome video edit to accompany the remix!
Cleveland one-man indie-synth band Gossip Culture just released his latest single "Whispers In My Ear" off the upcoming EP on Girlfriend Records. The song is a nice electropop slowjam based on old Motown records. Just confirmed is that the EP will include remixes from Sferro and Deniz from the German electro duo You Need It!. Look out for the release this spring!
Señor Stereo is the disco/house project of Joe Maz, Danny Daze and Gigamesh. They released an excellent EP called "Unintentional" last summer, that I would totally have written about if it wasn't for my two month summer break. Their cover of Lime's old italo classic "Babe We're Gonna Love Tonight" is concentrated 80s disco and was one of my favourite tracks of the summer (it wasn't included on the EP though).
Now they have released a remix version of "Unintentional" with remixes from Treasure Fingers, Nadastrom (recently played by Annie Mac on BBC1) and U-Tern. Also included is a remix by Gigamesh himself, which he's kind enough to give away for free. Look out for more Gigamesh stuff in the near future, as he's working on a bunch of remixes while finishing off his own EP.
Here's a tip we received from Franck Freak You of On the Fruit Records. RÜFÜS is an Australian band that recently released a self-titled EP on their own Monekeleon label (buy it on iTunes). They make electropop music, but with rather unorthodox methods as they like to sample different sounds from the beach or the forest. This gives their music some sort of organic feel to it.
As they're also personal friends with Franck, they have joined forces with a club version of "We Left" coming out in a few months with remixes by SymbolOne, Go Go Bizkitt!, Broke One, Beaumont, Springflower, Monsieur Adi and Ride the Universe. Sounds pretty awesome right? So awesome that you can't wait? Well, how about we give you the Ride The Universe remix then?
London duo autoKratz is finally back with a new single on January 24. They have previously been released by Kitsuné, but "Opposite of Love" is being released on Bad Life. The original is a nice techno pop song, which comes with remixes by Les Petits Pilous, Joe And Will Ask? and NT89. My favourite remix is the North Light ft Perseus remix, which have been a favourite for a while now, but was mastered and finished just the other day. Of course you know all about Perseus, who made that awesome Grum remix last year (it ended up on my Best of 2010 list). Junior from Perseus has left the group and taken the name North Light and this is the last remix they made together. More about that very soon though.
In the meantime, become Facebook fans of North Light here and Perseus here.
Tonight we're having our Swiss friends of Flashworx here to make a smashing set at our club Tracasseur Nights at ACE. It's gonna be huge! We've already shown them the city of Stockholm and tonight they're gonna show us the magics of Flashworx. Prepare for a fantastic night at ACE.
Here is an exclusive mixtape they made for us for this weekend along with one of their latest remixes of Cavaliers of Fun. Enjoy!
Tracklist: 1. Huriah Heep - Salisbury 2. Douze - We got the love 3. Kartell - La Jeunesse Retrouvée 4. Litov - Americano 5. Midnight Magic - Beam Me Up (Jacques Renault Remix) 6. Panthers - Goblin City (Holy Ghost! Extended Disco Dub) 7. Stevie Wonder - Superstition (Fare Soldi Zupparstition Remix) 8. Toomy Disco - Age Of The Jaguar 9. Escort - Cocaine Blues (Greg Wilson Remix) 10. Dj Agent 86 - Wavestate
An EP that been wanted for a while is finally out. Sferro mentioned his plans for his EP early autumn and we got the chance to preview some snippets and trials. Already back then you could sense that his first EP would be something worth waiting for. During the process some of the first melodies has been exchanged and new stuff has been added and we've been able to hear the whole process, making this release something that it feels that we are a part of. Probably why it's so great!
"New Output" is a solid release from Sferro, who runs Girlfriend Records, one of our favourite 80s inspired labels. I found my favourite tracks in the title track and "Reverie", both with that lovely 80s touch, Sferro takes us back and then home again. The whole release with four tracks comes with a free download and we share two of the tracks here, so go and get the other two over at Girlfriend Records releases page asap! Also, notice the fine cover made by yours truly...
In December we got this fine remix from Sferro of Anoraak's "Crazy Eyes" that we haven't posted yet, it's time for that now before we get the crazy eyes from Sferro himself.
The first single from Cut Copy's longed album is "Take Me Over", that we posted back in November, revealing some really close influences, even if it's pure Cut Copy magic. It's Cut Copy at their best, a perfect track that makes us want to listen to the whole album right now.
The Tim Goldsworthy remix of it has been around for a while but the Azari & III's is kind of fresh. So fresh that we share it with you. Take us over!
Remute got this intense track with samples from the old classic 90s track "Eins, Zwei, Polizei!" by Mo-Do. The original was good when it happened back then but now I think it will happen with Remute's version instead.
Portuguese-German house producer Moullinex has been one of my favourites since I started scouring the music blogs, and his remix of Cut Copy's was of course one of the biggest blog hits of 2007. A few days ago he released his long awaited new EP "Chocolat" on the excellent German Gomma label. "Chocolat" is a more of the recent deep, funky disco sound that his last EP "Superman" had, and what Gomma is famous for, and slightly less uptempo than his Cut Copy days of electro house. Not included on "Chocolat" is the freebee below which kinda makes you think of Shaft.
Moullinex is of course deeply connected to the D.I.S.C.O. Texas label who we want to send an extra greeting to, and not only for sending out the promo. Apparently they're still fans even though I wrongly wrote that Volta Cab had been released there. The reason for that? Someone at Tracasseur thought that the Clarissa cover "looks like a Discotexas cover". But apart from the poor fact check from our part it's a great idea...
So we got trolled hard by Fare Soldi two days before New Year's Eve when they sent over their remix of Herr Styler. Of course they knew we were stressfully working with our Best of 2010 lists, and that we'd be so hungover after NYE that we'd forget to post it, resulting with us looking like amateurs to you, our dear readers. Of course we stepped right into the trap and for that we beg you forgiveness. We also vow to get back at i friuliani.
It was a while ago we posted anything by Aussie pop-stars Pnau. So why not rectify that by posting LA duo Jump Jump Dance Dance's percussive disco remix of their new single?
You can't have missed that we're going to Poland to support our favourite Polish electropop band Kamp! next weekend. Since we have heard so good things about Poland and since our Madrid trip was put forward, we might even go back there the week after too. If the gods are willing of course. Meanwhile, Kamp! have been remixed by the Russian disco house act to watch out for in 2011; The Tapeaters. Good stuff!
The young label of Teenage Gang Records was so kind to offer us an exclusive full-quality mp3 of one of their forthcoming releases, Druma Kina's new EP, called "Walking Away". The exclusive track is the remix by Montauk, one of Sweden's best upcoming acts. On the release there will also be remix duties from Cavaliers of Fun, Ledhead and Cosmonaut Grechko.
And speaking of Cosmonaut Grechko, his new limited EP that will be out January 14 will actually be Teenage Gang Records' first release and the Druma Kina is the second, to be released January 21. On top of that the Druma Kina release is released as a free download, but donations are warmly welcome, so if you got the young heart, you know what to do! Both releases will be available over at Teenage Gang Records' release page (actually you can find Cosmonaut Grechko's release there already now).
We just got this exclusive 80s flavoured "drive-your-car-along-the-ocean-a-la-test-drive" from Final DJs. I'm still excited that every track from this German duo is so great, not that I doubt their skills but what amazing high quality every track holds. Drive on into the sunset with Final DJs now.
Always happy when Worship comes with some new stuff. With "Bavaria 1999" it's even more than happiness, it's pure love. Amazing Daft Punkish movie music a la 70s Moroder's Midnight Express theme with the touch of the modern era. Kind of sums it up I think.
Worship said this when we got the track: "This will be my last bizarre-underground-synth-track before my next disco/pop release." Hope he will continue making these 'bizarre' stuff, because it's fabulous!
Some of you may remember Swedish pop act Kamera? Now some of the members have formed a new band named Ljusår('light years' in English). The three members are Joakim Hjelm, Kalle Pilfalk och Björn Öqvist and together they believe that the world actually needs more pop music.
Romantic and existential pop will come from Ljusår, and they got influences way back and from today's pop music. And now when their first self-titled single will be released they hooked up with great Swedish producer Le Prix to make a 8.24 long remix. Beautiful track!
It was way too long time since we last wrote about our old friend Testarossa. He's been quite busy the last year with an enormous amount of dj-gigs. He's also been running several successful clubs such as Fashion at Fasching, Tom Tom Disco, Snap! and Discow Moscow here in Stockholm.
But yesterday we got a mail with two new tracks from him, and as always it's well-crafted tracks with inspiration from the italo and the electro scene. This guy knows how to create an awesome tune!
And actually we got some other tracks back in November that slipped our radar (or kind of got lost in our full inbox), but these two remixes are too good not to be posted.
In early December we presented to you the new act Moonlight Matters, former music maker Seba of Villa that now gone solo. And what a splendid start he has made so far, we believe 2011 will be the year of Moonlight Matters. Here we interrogated him what's going on in his life:
We've got to know you for not that long ago as Moonlight Matters, but you've been around for a while with Villa. What is the story about you going solo? Though writing and producing the Villa music resulted in some good times and nice tunes, it had been a challenge for the three of us too work together from the start. Our difference in opinions/ambitions/taste seemed to become ever more irreconcilable. Since I wrote and produced the tunes Fredo & Thang decided they wanted to continue Villa without me and work with another writer/producer...
You made it into our top list of the best tracks from 2010 with your Digitalism remix, quite a start for your new project, hehe. Honoured? Very much sooo! Love Tracasseur!
Along with this interview we have your latest remix of The Drums "Me & The Moon", which also made it into several top lists of last year as one really great track. What is your relation to The Drums? I just love their organic sound, They are so young but sound like they've always been here. What you hear is what you get, The Beach Boys on speed!!!
And you chose to pitch it down a lot, to a real heavy steady beat. We love it!
I loved putting the vocals in a whole different context, like most of my remixes. In some way this translated to me into a slowbeat Ultravox/Human League/Depeche Mode vibe. Though I know this track wont tear up dance floors, I'm very happy with the mood and the vibe of the result dragging you thru it.
So are we and speaking of remixes, we mentioned in our post a while back that you got some real interesting ones coming up. What to come? I've currently finished remixes for Ellie Goulding/Clare Maguire/Pacific!/Hercules & The Love Affair and currently working on one for Metronomy with more exciting ones on the shelf. Also interesting is that I've done a track for a new Luc Besson movie with Iggy Pop on vocals.
Oh, sounds really exciting. We can't hardly wait. Are you producing any of your own material also right now or are you focusing on the remixes? well, I'm currently also in the process of finishing my first Moonlight Matters EP, which will be out soon this year. Really excited and looking forward to this in 2011. I've invited some nice people to join in with the fun...
Could we maybe get one of those nice people to share with our readers? Haha, all I can say is that it involves a nice brass section and top notch vocals...
A real teaser, we will get back to you with that one. Ok, sounds that you got a lot going on, can you handle it? The success story of Moonlight Matters has just begun I believe? I've been passionate about music for a long time and I'm determined to make a statement in 2011! I'm grateful and I hope I can keep on doing this for a while, cause I'm just getting started!
Yeah, you can't quit, because we love what you've done so far with Moonlight Matters. Do we have a deal? I solemnly swear I will give it my all to keep amusing you with proper tunes throughout the future!!!
Wohoo, that pleases us. And with that calm we will leave you alone for now so that you can get back to producing some more top tunes for 2011! Thanks Seba and good luck! Thank you! My pleasure!
D.I.S.C.O. Texas is a great Portuguese label. The roster include the likes of Moullinex, Xinobi and Rockets along with new signings Justin Faust and most recently Australian duo Coupons. I had no idea about the addition of Coupons until very recently, but that's great news both for them and the label. I've been keeping an eye on them for a while and approached them for an exclusive mixtape a while back. Now it's here, and it has been worth the wait. The tracklist is awesome, not least because of all the unreleased Coupons tracks.
We'll have reasons to write more about Coupons in the future. Not least when we can get our hands on that fantastic "Unreleased #3" track on the mixtape! In the meantime, fan them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
Tracklist:
Coupons - The Tallest Palm Tree
Neon Indian - Sleep Paralysist (Com Truise 'Eyelid' Remix) - Loop
Coupons - Driving To Your House Party (Jad and the Ladyboy Remix)
Nero - Me & You (Danger Remix)
Games - Shadows In Bloom
Aeroplane - Without Lies (Black Van Remix)
Twin Sister - All Around and Away we Go
Moullinex - Tear Club
Azari & III - Into the Night (CFCF Remix)
Vega - No Reasons (Tensnake Remix)
Mustang - Apocalypso (Acid Washed Remix)
Coupons - Unreleased #3
Digitalism - Blitz (Moonlight Matters Remix)
A post we really should've written back in November was a coverage of the release of AXXE's debut EP "Mainstream". But posting everything we think is blog worthy would be impossible unless we started running the blog full time (which we'd happily do if someone would pay us). Besides, we basically wrote about the EP back in February. Since then remixes by Cavaliers of Fun, Meroz, UCP and Zakolski have been added to the release along with the ones by Worship and Neon Workout.
Anyway, getting hold of AXXE's Grease rework, in collaboration with Flashworx who are coming to Sweden to play with us (yay!), is the perfect opportunity to make it up to them. So dress up in 50s clothes (in as much 80s style you can), and get down to this while downloading the "Mainstream" EP from Juno, iTunes, 7digital or DJ Download!
Almost like some sort of winner's speech (well, joint winner anyway), we got this lovely mashup between Monsieur Adi's remix of Ellie Goulding's "Guns and Horses" and Daft Punk's "Make Love", made by Master Adi himself. And Ellie's voice, Adi's strings and Daft Punk's romantic original blend together into a warm fuzziness. What better way to start 2011?
So it's time for a new Best of the Year post. I won't bore you with the usual "it was sooo difficult selecting the tracks", even if it was. For example my already cropped-down list of 25 suddenly grew to 34 just before I went to bed last night. I managed to get it down to 25 again today, and compared to the thousands of tracks I've listened to this year they have all been in the top of my most played lists, have meant something special or generally made a big impression on me. So if your track ended up around number 20, please don't see it as a terrible write-down; there's a lot of great music I had to exclude, and I spent more time cropping the list than getting the list in exactly the right order.
But let's go to work.
#25. Volta Cab - Clarissa
I'll start my way up to the top with Volta Cab who added to the Russian wave that the likes of Tesla Boy started. Volta Cab makes dreamy nu disco or soft house though, and my favourite track from the strong debut EP was the title track.
#24. David E. Sugar - Flea Market (Third Party Remix)
David who? yeah, I know we haven't written about him, so adding him on my top of the year list might seem like we haven't done our job. In part that's true, David E. Sugar made a great album, and a great single in "Flea Market", so this is a small step to make it up to him. Also, I really liked the 90s rave air of the break in the Third Party remix. More stuff like that is coming up.
There were some strong beautiful female voices singing beautiful pop songs with up-tempo beats this year. One favourite was Ellie Goulding, another one was Jen Bloom, who with the production help of monstr made a great song, and a great single with remixes from Artwork and Dcup.
The Toxic Avenger released an epic EP late this autumn. Of two versions by Toxic himself and two great remixes we could have chosen either one, but since (spoiler alert!) Black Strobe will pop up later, I went with the intense, yet melodic original.
And now some power-synth to cover all the nutrition groups in the food pyramid. Clancy was a new acquaintance in the spring. Him teaming up with Build is really a match made in heaven. Favourite Clancy was one of his two remixes of Delphic.
Did anyone say Build? He had already built up a great reputation for his up-tempo remixes and characteristic sound. This year he showed us that he's more than just a great remixer.
Great debut EP from the talented trio Stay Ali on Technofavrik, the label run by another great; Monsieur Adi. The Swedish trio have apart from their obvious talents, the feeling for beautiful melodies sometimes that slightly quirky and artsy touch that show their background in art music.
This year we were fortunate to play with some great djs. One of them was Justin Faust who we happened to have been fans of for quite a while. He turned out to be just as great a guy as producer and DJ, and his happy disco take on his music gelled perfectly with upcoming Brooklyn act Punches', who with a different sound have essentially the same take.
Fare Soldi had a very productive year, spitting out remixes and original tracks. We loved the fat frico disco, and we had a great time when we played together in Stockholm. Plus we got some great advice from the label veterans for when we start a label of our own. I could have picked any of a number of tracks and remixes, but the hair metal guitars in "Il Vecchio e il Mullet" sums up their playful sound perfectly.
Boys Noize' remix of The Chemical Brothers's "Swoon" was the hyped track at the Exit festival this summer. Everyone played it, including David Guetta (I think), and it will forever make us remember the sunrises of the Dance Arena.
We are still the massive Tesla Boy fans we were in 2009, so meeting them down in Serbia made us giggle like schoolgirls. Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit, but we're stoked that wheels are in motion to bring them to Sweden. They released their full-length album this year, and "Rebecca" was my new favourite.
Someone else who have been a favourite for ages and who released his first full-length album was Grum. Me and Jonny argued a bit about who'd get the "Through the Night" original on his list. It ended up with me having to "settle" with the Perseus remix which is just inches behind the original. Am I being too hard on Perseus? Well, they don't need to sulk since I've already heard one of their upcoming remixes which is bound to end up on my Best of 2011 list... More on that later though.
A late entry on the list, but with a bullet marking. I really loved Fiero's Janet Jackson remix and their 80s sound. And we're not talking about all the '83 italo sounds from the nu italo, we're talking about romantic '87 Quincy Jones sounds. The track that has grown the most on me is their power-ballad-house original "Tonight". Thanks Digitalfoxglove for the tip, and expect more from these guys in 2011!
#12. Jamaica - I Think I Like U 2 (Breakbot Remix)
Not much coming from the magic hands of Justice this year, but on the other hand Xavier de Rosnay produced the re-named Poney Poney; Jamaica. Great indie pop with electro genes. Breakbot continued to produce great remixes in the shadow of his hit "Baby I'm Yours". Jonny picked that one, so I picked his Jamaica remix which made anyone who heard it jump up and dance.
"With You Forever"? 2010? Yes, one of the biggest tracks of 2009 was given this gentle treatment by one of our favourite acts last January. And since it's been my favourite FM Attack track from this year it deserve a place on my list.
#10. Active Child - When Your Love Is Safe (Classixx Remix)
The Americans reacted to all the nu italo from recent years with pointing out that all good music from the 80s wasn't made in Milan in '83. And suddenly the sounds of the 80s retro trend jumped a couple of years ahead and over to the other side of the Atlantic. And if the Fiero track was half ballad half house, this Classixx remix of Active Child was nothing short of a classic R'n'B ballad. And heartbreakingly beautiful at that.
#9. The Shoes - Stay The Same (Siriusmo & Jan Driver Remix)
Siriusmo is a big favourite. He's always super funky and there's usually a lot going on in his tracks. His remix collaboration with Jan Driver of The Shoes' great track starts off laidback and funky and then builds and builds. Great track to kick in a new gear in your set.
Robyn has really grown out to be the queen of electropop. Her transformation from her early commercial bubblegum pop days to who she is today is truly impressive, and her success is well deserved. Fred Falke had a slower year this year than the year before. But his remix of everyone's favourite Robyn track is Monsieur Falke in fine form.
Fenech-Soler's debut album was my favourite album this year. I just love their utterly danceable indie pop. The new single "Demons" is awesome, but my pick is the delirious rave-samba-indie song "Stop and Stare" which was on my favourite compilation of the year: Kitsuné Maison 9.
#6. Black Strobe - Me and Madonna (Jolie Cherie Remix)
Black Strobe not only made a great remix of the Toxic Avenger track above, they released a single of their own on Kistuné, which was a solid release with great remix support. My favourite was the Jolie Cherie remix with its trance-synth break.
Kamp! went from strength to strength and snatch a spot on my list this year too, this time with an original. "Distance..." is a piece of extremely well-written pop music with lots of breaks and build-ups leading up to a great finale. We are really looking forward to go to Poland in a few weeks to support their mini-tour.
Yeah, I know I had the original on my Best of 2009 list, and I know that the G.L.O.V.E.S remix was leaked as early as last December, and I know that "Holidays" is an awesome track from Miami Horror's equally awesome album that came out this year. But I just can't look past this track that came to be my soundtrack to the summer of '10. I just love how it starts off all relaxed before erupting in a house piano orgy.
#3. TEETH!!! - See Spaces (DREAMTRAK DIAMOND SOUND)
This track made it to the podium even if TEETH!!! acted like amateurs and assholes when they deleted my Youtube video, giving me a first strike in the process. Such injustice will take time to forget, but it's on the other hand not Dreamtrak's fault. Plus this 90s-flavoured rave-anthem is just such a great track, and have had more than a few dancefloors go crazy.
2010 was a lot of disco, 90s rave and power-synth. No matter how much we played Diamond Cut's remix of M'Black, we never grew tired of it. Great pop song and wonderfully well-produced. It has kind of a slow start, but when it starts to unravel after two minutes it's worth the wait. Plus I love it when the wall of sound hits you like sledgehammer after the break.
#1. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (Monsieur Adi Remix)
My favourite track of the year is the result of a perfect match between two extremely talented musicians with what seems as great appreciation of each other (we know Ellie Goulding likes Monsieur Adi's remixes as much as we do). That the original is a great pop song helps of course. The result is an intensely beautiful song that still works well on a dance floor. I send a gold medal down to Paris that will match Adi's golden robot body perfectly.
Poland here we come, tomorrow we leave for our Poland Tour. To all our Polish fans, we'll come to give you an extra good time. Woop woop!
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