🐣 ANNA OF THE NORTH — SOMEONE

In a hypnotising swirl of '80s flavours, a wash of mind-cleansing synth that spreads like nocturnal mist or faux fog from a smoke machine at a retro disco, Norwegian-New Zealand duo Anna of the North spin an expansive track in the form of 'Someone', exuding a sense of hopefulness, a filmic reverie whose soft focus scenes of neon-pink-and-green-on-black flash in your mind, a balance of feel-good fun and melancholy romance swinging to the rhythm of the thumping electro drums. "It’s about how easy it is to break your promises when you’ve had a couple of drinks," the band explains in a press release.

"Going deeper," it continues, "the song is about accepting that you’re only human and to learn how to forgive yourself for your own mistakes and accepting that sometimes we need someone to save us from repeating any old habits." You can definitely, definitely feel the drama of that explanation imbued in the track, something highly emotive at work as Anna literally sings asking for someone to come and save her. The wide, vast synths of this track suggest a newness, a discovery, a revelation, the feeling of having been closed up now cast aside in light of new acceptance, something about the cold light of day blaring bright as the glistening sheen of synth sparkles atop the juddering electro bass, sobriety and honesty set sail in a vessel of retro pop.

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• 🔔 'Someone' is taken from Anna of the North's debut album Lovers, which is getting released on 8th September via, for some reason, three labels (Different Recordings / Honeymoon / +1 Records). You can pre-order it variously via this link.

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📠
☟ Anna of the North Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ myspace

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ELEN NEVER SLEEPS RUM EP

This is a treat. I remember reading something about Tokyo based indie singer/musician Elen Never Sleeps' SoundCloud page about his song 'Rum' being part of an EP of the same name, but I never knew when this would surface. About a month ago, ENS (as it is conveniently shortened) emailed me himself with a link to his EP - probably because I had written about the song 'Rum' a while ago. Mainly, I feel terrible that it's taken me this long to get around to writing about it. However, there is a decidedly positive undertone in my spirit as I'm listening to the Rum EP: it's really gorgeous.

Awash with nostalgia, the EP is a knowing throwback to sounds of the New Romantics, yet having been created this year, it is also dreamily modern. 'Emerald' is a good example; with glassy synth chords as a constant gentle foundation to it all, ascending bass notes and super-reverbed clean guitar twiddling in the shade, it's driven by a house beat to the very end of the song. Added to this is the distinctive voice of Kaji (the only name I can attribute to the man behind the music), a crooning style that sometimes - especially in the chorus of 'Emerald' - is overcome by wild surges of emotion, trembling yelps that perfectly evoke feeling and, in its tones, inspire a nostalgic mood.

Likewise, the minimalist retro drum machine beat of 'Saudade' (a title that shares its name with an untranslatable Portuguese word that is the state of feeling deep nostalgia for something/someone that you love) has a modern lilt to it. The wide synths here float over a sparse yet slow-funk bassline. Here, the vocals drift occasionally into falsetto as taiko drums boom with incidental, tropical drops of marimba loveliness now and again; this sound that leans towards feelings of melancholy in a supposed paradise (i.e. "The City") is conjured throughout.

No better is this demonstrated than in the pathetic fallacy of EP closer, 'The Dark Star' – backdropped with the sound of a menacing storm complete with crashes of thunder, a drum machine beat frazzles over subdued yet disco style bassline as the vocals croon a song of loneliness. Most of the song is delightfully simple, leaving the sounds to speak for themselves, making the loudly reverb-laden chorus with its dreary storm samples rather powerful. Opener and the eponymous 'Rum' (covered in more detail here) is a great start; with its jazzy, late-night feel and catchy vocal pattern, it's certainly my favourite – the muted guitar chords, the seagull-esque sounds: all perfect.

Like no other song on the EP, bouncy track 'Skyline' stays true to its title and conjures a glittering montage of a city at night: lights blinking, cars whooshing below skyscrapers. It's an upbeat 80s-indie-style tune that should inspire at least a little wiggle of your toes. The vocal harmonies in the chorus here are lovely, rich and warm, which, combined with its pop doo-doo-ing and join-in claps towards the end, makes for arguably the "happiest" song on the EP. But all in all, it's fitting that an EP about nostalgia, loneliness and love should start with rum and end in the middle of some dreadful weather. Slotting into the retroactive concept of drowning one's sorrows before taking a long walk at night, the Rum EP shines with minimalist elegance, with Elen Never Sleeps re-using some retro styles in his own unique depiction of nostalgia.

Grab the EP on a name-your-price basis over at Elen Never Sleeps' Bandcamp.

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JACOB 2-2 MILO DE VENUS

Some tender loving beautiful sounds for you today. Hello. It's been raining all day. It's not a matter of it stopping, just a matter of it fluctuating from drizzle to downpour and back again. It's just that kind of day. Nobody's home. The sound of Moto GP yawns through the house from the neglected television. It's so dim that I'm tempted to turn the lights on but then it would almost seem darker outside. Gotta treasure this late-August malaise.

Anyway, it's the kind of day where in past summer holidays of your childhood you'd be aimless, bored, stuck indoors. None of your vast library of videogames appeals to you, the TV seems crashingly dull - what do you resort to? Board games? Arts & craft? READING? Or literally just doing nothing: lying on the sofa complaining, raiding the kitchen every hour or so for a bowl of Coco Pops (or whatever your cereal-fancy happened to be)? Nostalgic, innit. And so is this song 'Milo De Venus' by Jacob 2-2.

I hadn't properly seen the cover for the album where this song comes from, Herbivore, out 23rd September on Canadian label King Deluxe; but you can see - there is the colourful custody of childhood.

This Brooklyn-based producer seems to have burrowed his way straight into my heart with his music. It reminds me of so much, on a general scale, that I cannot even begin to list it, but on the other hand, it reminds me of nothing at all: it's an illusion. Nostalgically charged sounds to float you to that sometimes-bleak irrecoverable state-of-mind that tries to reach far back into the mists of time and search for your dreamily romanticised past.

There are ambient sounds of some cosmic pinball machine at work as clunky percussion, accompanying the nicely scatty beat all the way through, 1980s-adventure-movie synth bass gunning for our collective memories, and the gloriously nostalgic crackle of a record player - all decorated with sparkling high-pitched synth and magical cheese-pop bells. It's the malady and dream of the birth of consumer culture all at the same time, those repetitive images - like the Venus De Milo, here subverted by Jacob 2-2 - all wrapped up in this song that exudes the atmosphere that pervaded all our sunny endless lazy summers. Even if it is a borrowed sense of nostalgia, do we not all feel it?

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JOLLY MARE NOBODY CARES

Here is some music all the way from Italy. It's by a person - DJ/producer - who goes by the name of Jolly Mare ("mare" is sea in Italian, so I am guessing that's what it's all about) but who is actually called Fabrizio Faberismi. They were a participant in the Red Bull Music Academy 2013 and played, from what I can gather, a more than acceptable opening set for duo Masters at Work at Le Bain, New York.

Apparently people left there as fans of this guy, and I'm sure I would have too. However, for all the fledgling hermits out there, music is all online, baby. So let's create some more fans today by spreading these wonderful sounds around, eh? This particular number is one of the latest from Jolly Mare and is called 'Nobody Cares'.

I thought I was just going to be posting the audio for this but I actually found the video quite easily, so I just went for it, I bloody went for it. It's below. And it fits in perfectly with the retro vibes of the song, playing scenes from what could be a straight-to-VHS film from the glitzy trashy 80s. Of people frolicking/living in/by the sea.

The funky beat in this tune, with its differing snares, is the foundation to the rest of the funk found within - from the twanging, forever-sunset guitars to the gloriously wibbling lead synths in the first half. Different instruments of varying syntheticness swim in between each other in a medley of fun: in the background, LED-light type synths scuttle around faintly in the background, glittering against the rich backdrop of chilled-out good times.

The true groove here, however, I think comes from the bassline. More synth, it's true, but this song seems to be BUILT on synth - Starship may have built their city on rock and roll, but Jolly Mare builds these structures of dreamy escapism wholly on synth. But yes the bassline - soaked in 1980s aesthetic and grilled on the barbecue of retro-future fantasy, it's not far off getting the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end. Just perfect.

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NEON BUNNY (야광토끼) OH MY PRINCE (왕자님)

I feel like crying because my laptop has become so slow that I end up waiting rather substantially when switching between windows, tabs, waiting for pages to load. Has it finally come to getting a new laptop? Probably not. a) I am impoverished. b) I don't want to waste something that kind of works. So anyway, with that aside over with, let's get on with it.

Today it is something a bit different to what you might be used to me posting. After seeing a program about TV in South Korea last night I decided that it would be interesting to have a look about South Korean music today. Wow. I have spent all day looking so far and I've barely eaten, just been sitting here clicking and getting frustrated at my slow laptop (yes when you need more than one tab on a browser open a fast laptop is preferable) and some of the music I've found is really nice. One thing I discovered was this song. A lot of places are classing it as K-pop and I suppose that's right: it's pop (basically) and it's K - Korean. Makes sense.

On the other hand, some people are saying it's K-indie. Korean indie. Who knows. Given that she's an independent artist, I'd say the latter to be honest. It's by a girl who goes by the name of Neon Bunny (real name: Lim Yoo-jin) and it's called 왕자님 ('Oh My Prince' ... I think). She's had to my knowledge only one album out, Seoulight, released in 2011 and a mini-album or closer to an EP last year called Happy Ending. She used to be in indie band The Black Skirts and recently, like this month, collaborated with electro artist Smells on the recent-ish song 'Listen To Your Heart'. Anyway that's all a whirlwind of information that probably doesn't mean very much to you.

So once you've listened to the song, you can see what I mean about it being pop. It sounds poppy, that's for sure. However it's more the retro-style kinda 80s pop that people like College are making - yes indeed, this song is kind of an upbeat version of the kinds of songs you'd find on the soundtrack for Drive. It's all there: the beefy drums whose snares I very much like, the soft analogue synth arpeggios, palm muted reverbed 'n' chorused guitars even make an appearance. What's different is the stuttering screech of synth chords in the verse and the ornamentation of the beat, lavished as it is with open hi-hats and the occasional clap. Neon Bunny's vocals are perfect, too, spreading a catchy melody veiled ever-so-slightly with far-off reverb.

It might not be totally "out there", but things don't need to be "out there" to be good. And this I do believe is good. It's really nice to listen to, has a catchy melody and a thumper of a beat supported by saw-wave bass synth that judders your brain. It's all pleasant though, a brightly coloured ride through a sunny sky. I'd be very happy to hear more from this artist. For the moment, though, this is just right for summer - and so it should be, it was released around this time last year. But this summer's better cause it's actually nice weather.

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PART TIME ALL MY LOVE AND ALL YOUR LOVE (TOGETHER WE ARE FINE)

Could this be the longest title I have ever written? It could well be. But that's ok. There's gotta be a milestone every now and again, and if a long title is your thing, then here you have your record-breaker - fact-finders rejoice. But on the other hand it's really not the point and it's totally fatuous, moreover.

It's only long cause the title of the song is long. It's called, obviously, 'All My Love And All Your Love (Together We Are Fine)' - like a kind of romantic equation - and it's by, just as obviously, Part Time. They are from San Fransisco and they make quite nice music. This is literally the first I've heard from them though, so who am I to judge? I'm the one who's heard this song to judge! That's who! Hoo hah!

What I first liked about this song is its quite clear retro sensibilities, from the modulating soft synth that provides a nice shining mercury foundation to the winsomely whimsical echoing vocals, the evidence of having at least one ear firmly in an 80s mood is certainly here. It's smooth and pleasing to the ear, like caramel is for the mouth.

My vote on what's mostly to blame for that wholesome feeling of tasty satisfaction is the ultimate funk of the bassline, which even including a pleasurably glassy slide down the fretboard. Coupled to this there's a rabidly twangful guitar (maybe I'm wrong) kind of sound that pitches its solo sounds more towards the end of the song, adding a decidedly quirky angle to the tune. Most of the song's vocals are in the second half and mainly just repeat the title like a hopeful mantra, or one of positive yearning - the multiple voices in these instances are nice, adding a friendly appeal that always seems to effuse from a jubilent choir of voices (à la The Go! Team - it's what sprung to mind first DEAL WITH IT).

Did you like it? Yes? No? Well, if you did you can thank Allah because they've got a new album on the way called PDA, out 9th July on Mexican Summer records.

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FOR LEMME BURN [VIDEO]

This group has the ambiguous or even agnostically indecisive name of Flowers or Razorwire - but we can shorten this, and it seems officially so, to FOR. I will call them the latter. Three characters is easier than twenty for sure.

Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, I can start properly. Well, FOR is a duo (as you can see from the picture - although their bio on their label's site states that it's just one guy) from Trani, Italy, who started making music in 2009. Fast-forward to now and they have a nicely polished sound that combines a few different elements to come up with bouncy, sunny pop with a groovesome groove that just makes you want to shuffle dance on a cloud.

What we have is this bassline that is obviously so noticeable that I have to write about it first and foremost. Yes indeed. It's slap-bass style with a bit of wah-wah thrown into the mix for a decidedly funky groove, one that slides around the notes with glistening brilliance. On top of this there's a constant guitar stab straight outta some 70s funk, a lovely decoration to an already superb foundation. With piano chords and an 80s-style hollow synth zooming around, too, the mix cradles within it a heart that is decidedly in the summers of the past.

Here is the video. Lots of bubblegum bubbles: retro, just like the song.

To put the icing on the cake, the yelp-singing vocals provide a distinct pop hook - though turned on its head with the ripe use of lo-fi aesthetic in its presentation. Can't understand too many of the words but that's not a problem - the sound and pattern of still be stuck in my head. I think that having a nice song stuck in your head is a bit like sucking on a lemon drop or some other boiled sweet that can't be crunched but enjoyed slowly: lingeringly tasty.

This was released on independent Italian record label Snowy Peach.

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LAMU BACK TO '92

There isn't a lot wrong with a little bit of synth pop. In fact, I quite enjoy it-slash-would be happy listening to only synth stuff forever (but don't hold me to that because I think I would actually be very sad without everything else, although you can do a lot with synth).

One particular variety that I enjoy is 80s/early-90s style synthpop that seems to be coming from, I suppose, people of my generation who had this sound on in the background - radios or whatever - in early childhood. Those are the formative years, and what you hear when you're younger, especially the stuff that gets a positive reaction from the adults around you, is very influential in later life. I think so anyway. Maybe I'm wrong. I probably/maybe am wrong so don't hold me to anything I've just said. Just consider it yourself and make your own decisions and do what makes you happy.

So here's an artist from Boston called Lamu who seems to be exactly one of these heralds of the not-forgotten-past that I just mentioned. I've chosen to write about 'Back To '92' because even in its name is this nostalgia for a simpler, more-colourful, fun time of life. Perhaps not even nostalgia, but just fond memories: even the smallest of happy memories can make you well up sometimes. Anyway, here it is.

Is it just me, or do those little organ-sounding synth chords sound a little bit (only a LITTLE) like they come from a Christmas song? In fact, I do believe that they are a tad similar to 'Last Christmas' by Wham! which I think illustrates my point: the influence from the past is clear. But whatever, the sound of this song is great - pure synth: some crunchy, some bassy, some high, some low. All of it is a bento box of synth. The chorus is also very catchy is is very good when it's a good song, like this one.

Even the verse has its melodic hook in the vocals, echoing away, describing things from '92 (presumably) that have sentimental value: Walkman, sitting in church, rollerblades, etc. It's a dream-laden picture of childhood, just like a soft focus hazy home video with smiling family and friends being silly together. Everyone looks at their haircuts or their clothes and says, "oh my - what was I thinkin'?!" It's that kind of scene that this song evokes and it's all the better for being able to do that.

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Listen to Lamu on Soundcloud
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MOSCOW CLUB BRADBURY EP

Wow. This couldn't get more 80s if it tried. But it's such a nice sound, such a summery one too - for me anyway - that I'm not surprised that moscow club (or möscow çlub) has chosen to adopt this style (they call it "nerdwave") for themselves. Indeed, this Japanese band have totally taken the spirit and vibe of pop music from that era and plonked it right here - obviously, in the 2010s we have much better recording facilities than they did 30 years ago. So you can make 80s music these days, but you can make it a hell of a lot better.

And I thought that this sound was shown best in moscow club's Bradbury EP released four months ago, which features two songs 'Farenheit 451' and 'and the Moon be still as bright'. These are both references to the work of Ray Bradbury, of whom the band must evidently be fans - the first song takes its title from Bradbury's novel of the same name and the second is the title of one of the later chapters of The Martian Chronicles, which in turn takes its name from a Byron poem:

So we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

Lovely innit. Don't you love context? Although music from the heart is nice, music inspired by emotions towards everyday situations or perhaps not so everyday ones, it is still a nice little surprise when a band is inspired by literature or some other kind of non-music stimulus to create their stuff. It gives extra dimensions and links different pieces of art - through their musical reactions - in interesting ways. But enough theory.

'Farenheit 451' begins with an excerpt I can only guess is from a reading of the book itself. Then it kicks straight into life, a foot tapping bassline funking its way through and a wailing synth weaving on top of it. The vocals are really catchy - even though I don't know the lyrics, I have already found myself humming them. Why would anyone hum a bad song? Get me?

The second song, 'and the Moon be still as bright', is a more nocturnal affair, with ambient synths creeping along like liquid nitrogen across an old movie set. The bassline, as with the first song, is complex and funky, delivering the heart of the song in pure groove format. The band seem to be unable not to create a catchy tune, as everything about this one is just as catchy as the first. Vocals, synth melodies, ambient breakdowns - they're all perfect. And this one has handclaps, too. You have to be a mental human not to like this.

This indie band (indie in the full sense of the word and utterly DIY) actually have an album out at the moment called Station, for which they are also pressing their first vinyl LP, that you can listen to on their SoundCloud. Where to start? Just listen to all of it of you liked this. And all of their past stuff.

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HOT CHIP DON'T DENY YOUR HEART [VIDEO]

What a weird video. Directed by Peter Serafinowicz - who has been in a kind of creative relationship with Hot Chip also directing some of their other videos, including 'Night And Day' - it's all about... Football. But it's not your regular football game. No. In fact, it's never your usual football game when all the players succumb to an impassioned desire for a homoerotic orgy right there on the pitch, then merging to form a giant person who then begins to slow dance with another giant person made up of footballs (which, by the way, had already rained down from the sky, just before a load of polygonal gold men started dancing in a circle on the pitch). Does that sound bizarre enough for you? 'Don't Deny Your Heart' indeed...

As for the song itself, it's not 'regular' Hot Chip either (every time I hear a new song of theirs I think back to their first album and realise how different they are now), but a more decidedly pop-infused foray into feel-good, 80s-type music that makes use of a bassline that glides from high to low, complete with a funky disco breakdown - sounding like a cross between 'diet' version of MJ's 'Thriller' and Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al' at times. Exploring new sounds, however, is always more exciting than treading over the same ground - perhaps the video is an illustration of as much.

This is Hot Chip's latest single and it's out today.

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Hot Chip on Facebook
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KINDNESS HOUSE

I've been listening to this song like pretty much all of the past weekend. It's very different to what's going on currently. It's a touching homage to 80s pop and 90s house music - hence the title, thanks to its stabbing piano chords - and a song filled with warmth. The synth is great and expansive and muddy and it sounds like a well of feeling overflowing. The beat is deliciously old-school.

The lyrics are something else. I won't transcribe them because that'd just be stupid. Listen to the song yourself - hear the words for yourself. The main thing is that it's inherently sad, with a hopelessly optimistic overtone that gives the song its major key kind of vibe.

Yes, this is 'House' by Kindness and it's absolutely wonderful.

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• Kindness is on Myspace
• Couldn't find anything else.
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AGE OF CONSENT HEARTBREAK

Who are Age of Consent?

They are a duo who make good music, that's what. The single I came across today is 'Heartbreak'.

It's out now as a single on their Bandcamp page

With vocals that sound a little TV On The Radio-esque and a subtle, even stripped-down, electro heart beating like semi-human robot's pulse all the way through, it's a sign of good things to come from the London-based twosome.

There is a lovely 80s vibe of this track, evoked wonderfully with its rolling beat whose snare sounds like its right from an ancient drum machine. It is also displayed by the retro vox sounds that pop up every now and again. The layering of the synth altogether is verging on concertotic, being near-minimal in the verse, then towards the chorus building up and growing thicker with ever-increasing strata of electronic goodness.

Get one of your five a day.



And for fun, here is the Visions remix of the track. These are glitch-heavy electro poundings and modulated fizzings that bring to mind a kind of Justice Junior riding a go-kart around a mini race track.



Hyper distorted, well treated version of what is already a dancefloor-friendly track. Well done Visions.

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• Here's Age of Consent's official site
• Check out more of their music on SoundCloud
• They are also on Facebook
• Follow them on Twitter
• Check out Age of Consent on Bandcamp
• ... and Last.fm
• ... and YouTube page
• Here's their Tumblr
• Visit their page on Songkick
• My goodness, they're on Myspace
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JUNIOR HIGH PSA VIDEO

Electro is a wonderful thing: unmistakeable rhythm and utterly hedonistic melodies designed solely for the brain's tempopleasure centre. And electro such as that displayed by Junior High in their song 'PSA' is indeed a wonderful thing.

There's a brilliance of carefree sentiment infused into every sound of this track, just like the attitude previously preached in the heyday of electro-dance music by artists like Justice and Simian Mobile Disco. That was back in the block colour haze that was 2005/6. Junior High pick up the flaming torch of red and yellow construction paper and bring it hurtling to 2012.

'PSA' pays tribute to Junior High's electro ancestry, tracing lines back to dance music of the 1980s but adding modern grooves. Like Smarties with E numbers, like hot chocolate with cream, like a non-non-alcoholic piña colada, it's already good before it's polished with a wholly modern, post-millenial varnish.

The bass synth is warm and kind of creeps into your veins, coaxing your blood cells to leave their duties and dance around for a while. It is an acrobatic bassline, stretching yogically between octaves, always locked in to the track's sturdy gym mat of a beat. The synthesised chords that wash over you like a Super Soaker in summer are deliciously modulated, soaring and echoing beneath the happy-happy vocals. But it wouldn't be complete without the little guitar licks that pop up after the halfway point. It gives the song a peak to climb, from which it sends you the guitar's zesty distortion. Joy!

This single comes ahead of their S/T LP, scheduled for release on 22nd May.

Check this video. Colourful, lo-fi and playful, it fits the vibe of the song entirely.


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• Here is Junior High on Bandcamp
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MODE MODERNE STRANGE BRUISES EP

Listening to Mode Moderne's new EP Strange Bruises (released on Light Organ Records yesterday, 15th May) is a wonderful experience. It's like travelling back in time on a cloud or a magic carpet. And while you're travelling back, soaring through the skies of the past, the voice of Ian Curtis sounds in the air like a charm or magic amulet. Maybe that's unfair. There's an acrobatic side to the vocals, at times, that is more reminiscent of Morrissey, as in EP opener, 'Nightly Youths'.

Either way, twofold irony and non-irony of a name that means 'modern fashion' is quite a nice touch. It is not modern music as it sounds like the post-rock-synth-pop of the 80s. But it is modern because bending our necks, and ears, back to this era is a trend at the moment. Realising this is like hearing birds sing on a May morning as the trees rustle under the sleepy gaze of a cool sun.

'Guns' is brilliant, displaying the pop-rock sensibilities of the band, sounding like a cross between Joy Division and The Stone Roses - kind of like Editors, too. It's earthy, rich and altogether a joy to listen to (no pun intended). At other times, the sound is entirely a more psychedelic, more cheerful and less darkly lo-fi as Joy Division, as in the flanger-happy earworm breeding 'Private Library' and the agoraphobics' nightmare of a last track, 'Open Air'. This last one really gives a sense of being outside, a kind of warm suburban feel of languishing exploration twinned contrapuntally with a been-there-done-that ennui.



This darker side to Strange Bruises is highlighted by the natural melancholic desperation, which creeps in the crooning vocals, noticeable especially in the aggressive minor vibes of 'Electrocute Me'. This is evident also in some of the painfully contrasting lyrics of the track: "Some things lead something, others lead to nil"; "I apologise, but I wanna die"; and "I cross my legs, uncross my legs, and cross my legs".

Other lyrical statements include the gloriously inane, "Raise your hand for sugar in your tea, raise your hand for luxury" in title track, 'Strange Bruises'. There must be plenty of others, but I cannot quite transcribe all of the lyrics here. It deserves a couple of listens, basically - you catch something new every time.

There's a lot of energy, as shown in most of the songs, but the wall-of-sound, sunny overdrive of 'Foul Weather Fair' is a good illustration, as is the demi-sad 'Electrocute Me'. This is an energetic anti-dirge of a dirge about, I suppose, being in a constant state of two minds over something or other. The refrain that begs "Electrocute me..." is a plaintive cry amidst the jangly distortion of the guitar and it sounds positively, or negatively, great.

It's new new-wave. If you like The Drums, or Editors, and want something that sounds more authentically past-future (or future-past) than both, then get on board with Mode Moderne.

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• It's Mode Moderne, on Myspace!
• And here's their Facebook page
• Their Tumblr site
• Find Mode Moderne on Bandcamp
• You can follow Mode Moderne on Twitter
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TEENGIRL FANTASY CHEATERS /// DANCING IN SLOW MOTION

It's about time I shared some Teengirl Fantasy (great name right?) songs here. Though these are probably about two years old, I've still been blasting these out every so often because it's simply so good. But who are Teengirl Fantasy? Made up of Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss, it's a little like a musical revolution - so different to anything that I've heard in a while. Predominantly, these songs are a mix of dance, techno, trance and EBM, super chilled and more catchy than a cold circulating through an airplane.

Watch out for this psychedelic video for the glorious 'Cheaters':


Having that trippy visual within the video actually really helps to focus on the song itself - unless you're listening to it in the background, in which case that's a terrible shame! No, I'm only joking. But on this heavy grey morning, what else could you ask for but the blessed vibes and chilled modulatory waves of this anthemic dreampop number cuddled by its pulsing beat?

And great advice too in this brilliant song too - "Cheaters never win, winners never lose, that's why I'm sittin' here crying the blues." Too right.

A wonderful mix of emotion and complete carefree dancefloor-dreaming disregard for anything exterior (or interior) pervades the atmosphere of these two tunes, floating in the air like a tipsy neon cloud of absolute pop-heaven and raining down heart-shaped parcels of ethereal electronica.

With that in mind, I think we can safely say that this slightly melancholy-sprinkled next song, 'Dancing In Slow Motion', is the complete harmonious manifestation of what I just said above.


Featuring soulful heart-wringing vocals from the powerhouse Shannon Fuchess (part of !!!), this song is a triumph in sound. Simply put, this song is perfect - slow in speed but huge nonetheless, its sense of 80s nostalgia by way of the chimes and the pre-drop toms, the voice - everything is great. I hope you have enjoyed listening to this should-be-known musical outfit.

Both songs come from Teengirl Fantasy's 7AM, released mid-late last year.

• Listen to more Teengirl Fantasy on their Myspace
• Have a laugh at their crazy old homepage (no longer updated)
• Check out their Facebook page
• And follow Teengirl Fantasy on Twitter while you're at it

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EGYPTIAN HIP HOP

I was going to go see these guys at Glastonbury, they were playing after Crystal Fighters at the West Oxylers stage in the Dance Field but for some reason or another I missed it.

This was on the Sunday when the sun was positively beating down on the festival, so to hear the funky Duran Duran meets Robert Smith at Club Tropicana rhythms of Egyptian Hip Hop song 'Moon Crooner' would've been perfect; the mud would've turned to sand before our very eyes, I'm sure:


The colours and weird haircuts of the video suggest that the 80s revivalist sentiment running through the music runs deeper. It sounds a little like Black Kids (remember them? "You are the girl...") with that funky bassline, which adds to the picnic-in-the-park synth popping in. There are also slices of Late Of The Pier in there, too, with that almost DIY, new-pop sound. The real phenomenon, though, is how singer Alex Hewett gets away sounding so much like Robert Smith. Surely there's some legality in sounding exactly like something else?

But then again, we can see it as one big homage. Their influences are "new wave/prog/pop circa 1979-1984", explaining the sound entirely. It's a fun sound, one I'm not sure for how long it'll stay interesting, but one that is piquing a lot of people's curiosity at the moment. Here's an interview with BBC Introducing... from early 2010 as EHH were about to embark on their first UK tour - all members at just 17 years old.

What's next from the Manc pop foursome? Who knows.

• Here's their Myspace for more music (I recommend 'Wild Human Child')
• And their regularly updated Facebook Page to get you interested

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WHEN SAINTS GO MACHINE - KONKYLIE • ALBUM REVIEW

When Saints Go Machine is a new band for me, but they've been hiding their electro pop selves in Denmark since 2007. This album is their second, using German label !K7 to broaden their reach past Scandinavia.

Firstly, having listened to 'Church And Law' - the first single from Konkylie, released 6th June - about ten times more than I had done previously, and comparing it with the rest of the album as a whole, I can say that it's an absolute belter. The quaint introduction bursting into the bass hook that pulls you fantastically through the song, and the exceptional chorus - steeped with softness and warmth - add up to deliver an astounding number. The line "Hardened by church and law / The spell that binds us all", sung with a great deal of shivering passion, is something that resounds well after the song is finished. Yes, this is one to stick on repeat.

Just as I thought Konkylie was going to adhere to the same tempo of songs throughout, especially after the not-so-smooth 'The Same Scissors', the house beat of 'Jets' kicks in, with a tireless bass groove that drives it forward and provides much needed halfway-mark energy. Moving on then to the similarly paced 'Kelly', beginning a charm offensive with clunking xylophone synth and a wonderful opening line - "First time Kelly kissed a boy..." - its layered voices evoke a sunny almost tropical spirit, nostalgic as it is filled with happiness. The fade out at the end, and the vocal melody throughout, is very 80s pop, and this track exhumes its smiling body to dance with it at a colourful bar.

However, I'm unsure about some of the pseudo-strings and orchestral sounds that pop up here and there. This is most noticeable on the album's final two tracks; 'Who Made You Stand Still' (slightly spooky and out of place for the band, with parts that remind me of the soundtrack to The Machinist); and 'Add Ends'. However, we might excuse the latter, given its position as the final song, for trying to end on a classical chillout high descending into a hot night sound of chirping synths like insects and fragments of strings. Sadly not a strong song, fading away instead of burning out.

Despite that, it's a solid album overall. When Saints Go Machine's vocals have a distinctive tremolo-falsetto quality (and sounds more than a bit like Antony Hegarty), a definite highlight of their sound, and which arguably is at its best in 'Church And Law'. This instantly listenable feature saves the day in Enya-esque 'Add Ends', and displays a nice virtuosity in 'Parix' - a genre-bending song with ultra-trance synth and 80s marimba plinks combined with a firm, assertive, slow-motion dancehall beat. Konkylie's modern beats infiltrate a nostalgic spirit, producing an album that is half amazing, half not bad.

Saved by several strong songs, namely the first four ('Konkylie', 'Church And Law', 'Parix', 'Chesnuts') and my second favourite, 'Kelly', Konkylie is a decent second album that needs a few listens to get into. Not every song is great, but it's a smooth ride and a pretty, scenic journey that you'll be glad to have taken the time to have embarked on.

Listen to When Saints Go Machine on Myspace
...or on SoundCloud

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