EGGROLL – NO SATISFACTION (VALIANT VERMIN REMIX) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Brilliant! That's the first word I'll say about this. But before I even begin to tip-tap some words out about the song itself: Just WHO is Valiant Vermin anyway? FURTHERMORE — Eggroll…?!

(The) Valiant Vermin aka Bettina Campomanes is a young (I believe currently she is 17) producer from the Philippines. A self-described bedroom project, the Facebook page for it shows off Campomanes' modesty and humour: her bio reads "I didn't want to go outside so this happened," whilst her description is "I'm 16 years young and bored as hell." The very epitome of bedroom producer if ever there was one. Bettina is also a prized member of the Manila-based artist collective, Youngliquidgang – the co-founder of which, Zeon Gomez (aka Ulzzang Pistol), made a lovely guest mix (#014) for Y/N recently showcasing the group's talent; it included the electro-pop goodness of 'Good Girls Sin' by VV herself.

Her latest track is an impressive remix of an obscure and rather ungoogleable '80s duo, Eggroll. Called 'No Satisfaction', the original is as '80s synthpop as you can imagine: power drums, keytars, twangly guitar. I was gonna just link you to the video (dated 1987, aired on NY Public Access) but I'll embed it at the end of this post because you'd like it probably.

Anyway: the remix is a different kettle of fish.

Taking the strong, soulful vocals of the original, Valiant Vermin puts these to use in an extremely appealing way, setting them above an elastically punchy four-on-the-floor beat and syncopated stabs of robust house piano, as well as the occasional synth chord. Wheeling synth melody screams over the top with all the exciting intensity of Sonic 2's Chemical Plant Zone – but more jazz, less urgency. Speaking of jazz, piano fills spill over between chords in virtuosic fashion, further highlighting the elated funk of this track. It's house, classic 90s house – with a dash of French-touch sound – combined with the fun-loving nature of jazz and electro, simply brimming with energy. Download it for free!

Two things are immediately clear: 1. To find & utilise well such an obscure gem; 2. Production is high quality. Here is a talent still relatively undiscovered, from somebody barely even an adult (in the true sense of the word) yet. You can only hope that Miss Campomanes continues on this creative path; who knows what she will dream up in years to come.

And, as promised…

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ENTHEOGENESIS – ICE WATER [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Well well well, here's something new. It's from a Sydney-based producer who goes by the name of Entheogenesis. It's an interesting name that comes from the word "entheogen" – basically a synthesised or natural drug used in a "religious, shamanic, or spiritual context" (ty Wikipedia). But uh, that aside, let's take a look at the actual music of the musicmaker – in particular, the musicmaker's latest track 'Ice Water'.

Drenched in a glaze of tare-style deliciousness, the track is wet with sounds, totally fluid to a slo-down, narcotic degree. Percussion shimmers lovingly in bristling thickets where clockwork hi-hats dance with woodblocks and sharp metallic sounds. Add to this a serious set of kicks and sub-bass boomings, and you got yourself a beat. Decorate with an amalgamation of cold electronic sounds – seemingly arrhythmic soft chords and ambient murmurs – and leave to simmer in its own slow sway. Serve.

At only 1:28 it's short 'n' sweet, but it gives an idea of the kind of genreless experimental hip-hop-tilted psychoactive-substance-championing electronic stuff that Entheogenesis makes. For an even better idea, check out the debut EP, Vanity, downloadable at a name-yer-price basis on Bandcamp, released earlier this year via Brighton (UK) label Shimmy Records.

Entheogenesis (you realise it's a long, weirdly difficult-to-type name when you type it a lot) is also part of the Sydney-based 穏便 Gentle Records collective, dedicated to releasing beats from local talent. Most recently, Ethneo (that's better) also played at elsewhere in Surfers Paradise for the 3rd instalment of the very-cool-looking LILT – self-described as "Beats & electronica audio/visual adventure." You can read about LILT003 over at Raw Ink.

• Just in case you forgot or didn't know, you can download 'Ice Water' for free. I believe the little download arrow is on the player above. Peace.

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METOME – SAMPLE CHAIR [FREE DOWNLOAD]

It's only been a few weeks since we heard from prodigious Japanese producer Takahiro Uchibori, aka Metome – in the form of the moody 'Rainmaker' and its ominous video – but already there's something new for us all to savour. Yep, he's as prolific as he is good. And this time around it's something a bit different to the norm; usually Metome is all sumptuous post-lounge with free-flowing jazz instrumentals and rapid-fire sampling— usually.

But the oddly yet somehow brilliantly named 'Sample Chair' is a sketch of something different, a foray into a different set of sounds, an experiment with wide synths that seem to have been given off by some distant space ship somewhere, a far-flung space-disco orbiting a planet where we'll arrive hundreds if not thousands of years from now. Perhaps that's the case. The other possibility is that Takahiro's mind is as elastic and frenetic as his sounds, and hence the seeming strangeness of 'Sample Chair'.

That of course is not say that it isn't good. It's great! Irregular bouts of keyless almost atonal synths pop up unexpectedly, bouncing around as if being thrown and somersaulted in low gravity; here the virtuosity isn't in the notes themselves, but how the notes are manipulated, how they are placed with regard to rhythm, or maybe more accurately with no regard to rhythm. Organic kicks and claps and clicks occasionally pop up; the melody whirlwinds at times in a frenzied storm; high-register vocal samples chirp in the expansive galaxy of the blissful chords.

There is almost no reverb at work here at all, invoking a heavier sense of silence or rather the space between sounds than previous Metome tracks, which often were hazed or lightly breezed with soft and pretty reverberating sounds. It's experimental, taking the essence of glitch (look at the track image for instance) – which is to create glitchy sounds – and using it to instead twist and manipulate his sounds in natural, real-life, less digitised ways, as if his synths are putty that he simply plays with.

• Discover a lil more about the lovely Metome w this lil interview he did for YES/NO

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SPAZZKID – AT FAULT (FEAT. THERE IS A FOX) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I love Spazzkid. How can you not? I mean, even as a person (called Mark Redito) he's really nice, so the fact that he makes really lovely music is a bountiful bonus if ever there was one. If you don't know this guy then, um, get to know: the best way is to trawl his Bandcamp page where you'll find everything from Early Demos (2004–2006), to the wholly immersive experience that was his album release of last year, Desire (願う). His lovingly crafted sounds ring with electropop, with chillwave, with J-inspired melodies, with footwork flavours and above all, with touching positivity.

I managed to miss the uploading of his latest track 'At Fault', however, but thanks to Oliver (s/o The 405) I heard it today and I knew instantly that I had to write about it and share it. This track is unique in that it features the cooperation and collaboration of fellow SoCal resident, There Is A Fox. Real name Hiro Makino, I wrote about him and his dreamily endearing brand of indie-folk-pop last Autumn, and was therefore pleased to find his sound and style permeating this song alongside Spazzkid. Beginning life as something that sampled & re-arranged a There Is A Fox original, 'Bad Day', it grew until these two artists were working alongside each other on the track.

Tagged "folktronic" I think this just about sums it up. Folk-pop guitar appears out of the void in vibrantly choppy succession with xylophonic sounds raining down in the slow sway of the song; by the end everything is jumbling together in a colourful mash of sound, from right down low with the booming bass and muffled kicks to the high registers of rattling percussion and looping guitar riffs. Vocals sing out innocently with lashings of dream-laden reverb, "It's not my fault…", calm in the zinging euphoria of the track. It is expansive, opening up as it goes along, evolving all the way, filled with wonderfully living-and-breathing organic samples and sounds residing harmoniously next to wholly electronic fabrications. At every moment it is endearing; did you hear the little cough/clearing of the throat at the start? Just another magic touch.

So there it was. Hoo-hah! It's lovely. I can't help but love it. I'm a fan. I hope you're a fan too. Fyi this song was supposed to feature on Spazzkid's upcoming EP (which I'm v excited for), but it grew and grew and, as he describes, "ended up wanting a life of its own. It stands for itself, pure and beautiful." Well well well indeed it does.

• Go and download 'At Fault' for absolutely nothing.
• Enjoy this little interview that Spazzkid was kind enough to agree to.

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NOVO AMOR – FROM GOLD (NOKUIT REMIX) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

From an original song that rings with lilting plucked guitar and an epic-yet-cute feel as it mutates from a toy-like sound into one with force and drama, we have a remix. Yes, the original 'From Gold' by Novo Amor (real name Ali Lacey, from Cardiff, UK) is a folksy number, but this remix by newcomer Nokuit – a somewhat veiled producer from who-knows-where – is a much more electronic affair, turning an organic and earthy vibe into one of unearthly artificiality.

Utilising vocals from the original, the track moves along at a slow pace – it bristles with thickets of percussion, clattering and crashing, smacking and fizzing with an itchy determination, skiffling with glitch sensibility. This essentially broken beat pulses with syncopated kicks, nicely understated below the creeping flora of noises. Golden thread glistening of noise are just audible in the background; guitar sounds echoing seemingly within their own selves twang delectably as richer synth sound rumbles up from the deep.

Nothing is overstated here in this chilled soundscape. For me, the main feature is the beat. The beat the beat the beat, prickling your ears in a wholly satisfying way. But um this is basically a very good example of ambient music as much as it is a complete indulgence in the powers of glitch. It keeps to itself, glows with delicate energy, seeps slowly into your skin like sunlight, all the time swaying and slow, yet is harsh and busy and irregularly ticking. A great mix.

I am told by Nokuit that this remix (also a FREE DOWNLOAD!) – the only track uploaded so far – marks the start of their project, their foray into the music world, and I personally happen to think that this is a very good start indeed.

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TOM DOYLE – FREE FLOATING [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I like it when a song lives up to its name. Fine, so sometimes a song's title has nothing to do with the song itself – in such instances we find the meaning ourselves, charting out the connection in our own terms. If you see a song with title like 'Free Floating', though, you can probably expect that the song itself is gonna be one that matches the expansive freedom in drifting through the clouds. Like with this song called 'Free Floating' – it matches up perfectly.

It's by Tom Doyle, musicmaker and graphic designer (notably making lovely minimalistic posters for URL venue, SPF420) based in Los Angeles. Despite being 3 months old, the song has passed under my nose without detection; I'm now listening to it for the I-don't-know-th time, watching the weird lilac clouds of dusk and the white-orange of muffled sunset reflected in windows, and it's a fitting soundtrack I gotta say. Yes, swathed all around in richly textured synth chords, whirling in a slow-motion cradle of soft tangible stratosphere, it mirrors well the beauty of the world.

Birdsong chirrups as syncopated rapid scales of bloops play in liquid digitalism, analogue beeps run in sunny arpeggios the whole way as an aching string-like vibrato synth sings out an airborne melody. The slow sway of the beat claps on, rolling trap hi-hats rat-tatting all the way, till a bridge with heavenly "ooooo" sounds leads into an ever-quickening frenzy of high-register synth, boiling in the pure pan of the beat, that same vibrato bubbling towards the fade-out of the track. It's a lovely sound, stretching from the smooth electronica of chillwave to the sharp beats of trap and clean melodies of J-pop, and one that I hope this guy will continue to pursue, explore, experiment with.

Anyway, you can download this for free – and why wouldn't you? – right over here.

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DE LA SOUL – STAKES IS HIGH (DEMICAT REMIX) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Oh wow look it's Demicat. Do you know Demicat? It's like totally fine if you don't know Demicat. He's a producer from South Korea who makes nostalgia-infused electronic music, from heady wistful dance to the retro fumes effusing from his hip hop-style tracks. I've written about him before, in conjunction with another South Korean artist, the singer Neon Bunny, on collaborative track 'Singing Bird' – this appeared on his Out Loud EP, released last september. You can buy that for the decent sum of $5 (or more) from his Bandcamp page.

His penchant for the retro, namely the indomitable sunny sound of the 1990s, comes through totally in this new track he shared with the world a few days ago. Created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of hip hop trio De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, the track is a remix of one of De La Soul's tracks, 'Stakes Is High', from the 1996 album of the same name. The original clacks hard with boom bap, tangled with gloss tendrils of bass, but Demicat's remix is an entirely different beast.

Adding snappy rising-heat electronic chords, muffled with lounge-smart nonchalance, and the hard punchy beat of electro combined with its deliciously distorted squelch of bass, grabbing at your ears in its jaunty pattern, dynamically twisted the sound, blanketing sound with a vacuum of treble, building it up with thin whooshes of sound, the track's loudness subject to the excitement of a house track, all the while with the original vocals ringing crisp and clear in what could easily be a freshly squeezed piece of music from right here and now. But it isn't. It's a slice of the well-loved past, lovingly collaged with torn electro, scraps of house, framed with beats plosive in their bulging rigidity.

Free download via Demicat's Facebook page. What's not to like? Go go get it if you want want want it.

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HARRISON – WHY YOU MAKE ME HAPPY [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Last time I wrote about Canadian trackmaker Harrison it was regarding his track 'Lolipop Love', which heavily sampled something else. In fact, a lot of his stuff is heavy-heavy on the sampling side of things – being a component of vaporwave in the form of funk-loving New Generation, I wouldn't expect anything else to be honest with you. But: all artists change, all artists evolve – they wouldn't exactly be artists if they didn't now would they? Gotta have like some certain degree of progression and amelioration surely, or if not that, a creative wandering mind which hates boredom.

Now, however, with 'Why You Make Me Happy', Mr Harrison might be trying something different. He released or perhaps it's more realistic to say uploaded the track a few hours ago, posting it on Facebook with the message that he was "Trying to grow up and use less samples." I don't know if using less samples is a sign of growing up, but changing anything about your musicmaking style is at least a telling sign of maturation. Tagged "Future Love" the track is sure of itself in its upbeat, spacey romance, sprinkled with cut-up vocal samples as it continues into its synth-led heart.

Cause it is pretty synth-led, glowing in the fizzing jaunt of the beat, shining like rays of light streaming through a window and cutting through the summer dust of a room; samples of outdoors background noise separate sections of the song, giving it a fresh, Springtime feel. By the end, all elements have been added: laser pulse high-register synth melody stuttering, clonking woody xylophone, whooshing future air of synth chords. All of it comes together, fluttering vivaciously, a clean, surgically-cut track that still possesses the sensual nostalgia of the type of songs that Harrison would sample – a sense of soul, romance, funk lilt. Shocks of sound cluster zip in the meld of everything, the pop equivalent to orchestra hits, the flummoxing caress of the heart thanks to this wholly new and futuristic yet retrodirected sound, a whistle awakening memory, life returning to the earth.

Uh anyway, this is from Toronto-based producer Harrison and it marks a significant change in his sound. Being only 18-years-old, there's plenty of room for growth despite being so clearly gifted and skilled at musicmaking as he already is, and as such I await with anticipation to see how his music will sound in the future.

This is a FREE DOWNLOAD btw (click yoself here).

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HOUSE OF TAPES – LAST WORDS

Japanese netlabel Tanukineiri is never one to shy away from releasing wholly experimental sounds, and that goes without saying for today's fresh output from Nagoya-based musicmaker House Of Tapes. Exploring an almost Gothic atmosphere of drone-like noise and abstract melody, his Last Words EP marks a change in sound from his colourful album released at the end of last year, Warped Colors; by comparison, the four songs on this EP seem colourless, monochromatic, but this doesn't make it any less interesting or engaging than anything else he's created.

With the whole thing free to download from the kind people over at Tanukineiri, there's one song – the title track, 'Last Words' – available for streaming so I thought I'd introduce you to that one in particular. An exercise in distressed sounds and close-to-exotic beats, in parts it sounds like a wildly distorted version of the potion shop theme from Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a dark yet affirmative sound that eschews genre for study of sound and the creation of an otherworldly, pseudo-nightmarish atmosphere.

With everything set to echo tightly, like noises played in a secret cave, the track moves from bongo-esque percussion and hollow distorted synths into a mellow jangling guitar melody, a mash of sunset-conjuring notes that floats scuttling over abrasive drum machine patterns. Around halfway through, evaporated synth chords surge and bring the track up almost to the level of pop, high-register string-like noises partnering with heavily altered, ever-echoing vocal samples. These seem to cackle well into its last moments, like unintelligible last words, where rhythmic drums muffled under the hot haze of some vast imagined machinery lead us into the last jangling of guitar. The track fades away with analogue crackles.

Experimental indeed, it fills the brain with a ghostly artificiality, moving between a cool positive ambience and a menacing judder of resignation. 'Last Words' is not exactly something to dance to, nor is it necessarily something you need to see live, but it is something to consider; it's something to hear, something to be registered by the mind, something to inspire wandering thoughts.

Grab the Last Words EP for FREE here (cliiiick)!

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FAST BOO TIMES SQUARE [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Something for you from Spain (or Catalonia, depends on your view), or more specifically, Barcelona. It arrives in the form of a new project from duo RCA Flacos (a union between DJ/producers Jai el Flaco and RCA Victor, named after the blues, jazz & world music label of the same name) – a brand new, project in fact, named Fast Boo. Whether or not it references a particularly zippy ghost from Mario, they released their very latest, newest and only single last month in the form of 'Times Square'.

A medley of instruments and vocals – with the voices of B. Gina, Crizz Vazz & Rico Smith, Quim Muns on bass and Roger Martínez providing saxophone – the track was ultimately conceived by Fast Boo. It's a futuristic track that plays with the current intergalactic style of R&B floating around now, the kind of thing that sheds its shackles to the Earth and soars out into space with a pair of shutter shades and all the surgical sheen of a neat, catwalk-born astronaut. The deep bass kicks, sometimes accompanied by a gently distorted slice of bass, underpin a phasing set of synth chords that glisten in waves of climactic vibration.

With this, the vocals follow the same melody as the saxophone in a slow pattern that exudes the wonderment of witnessing some landscape for the first time, or recalling the slow nostalgia of such a memory, as is the case here (I assume) with regards to the bustling lightshow of Times Square. Altered sometimes into vocoder spaceman style wordings, the vocals add a human element to the track that keeps it, whilst in space, at least in orbit around our little planet. It's a sumptuous song that drips modernity, alongside small snippets of memory in the form of 80s snare-drum smashes, with a sensual groove that has you swaying in swirls of indefinable bliss.

If this is the first thing that Fast Boo are offering to the world – a post-R&B, slo-swing pop number – we probably have many more treats in store from these guys as time goes on.

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BACKBONE BLANK FIELD [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Taking cues from typically urban music like R&B, garage, bassline and even dubstep in the halftime swing of the beat, this is 'Blank Field' by Paris band Backbone. Having formed in August (the 15th, specifically) of 2012, Backbone is a five-piece band that mixes female and male vocals; organic, "real" sounds and synthetic, mechanical noises. They describe their sound as "feutré, absorbant, rythmé" - that's hushed, absorbing and rhythmic. Certainly there could have been a little bit of inspiration here from The xx, especially in the dual vocals, the sub-bass and the general atmospheric feeling of the songs. But that's not a bad thing at all.

'Blank Field' begins as a relatively quiet foray into a world of rich, low attack synth chords and drips of electronic percussion - in the background, samples of what sounds like a crowded room pan from left to right. Smooth columns of sub-bass gleam beneath the chords. Each vocal sounds unaffected, clear, pure even, with just the right amount of big room reverb tailing from each. The beat grows busier with hi-hat rolls and the addition of snapping snares; beautiful guitar licks like flecks of sunshine appear from the chill of the song for a lovely euphoric flavour.

By the end, that guitar lick sinks into the background, the volume on everything coming to a crescendo, a rising tide of synth and a violently bubbling collection of random synth bleeps, which is all we're left with at the end. The slow nature and smooth vocals of the song give it a sense of laid-back yet passionate R&B, a slow jam direct from Paris complete all the delicate trappings and trimmings of experimental electronic music. It's always nice to hear people doing something different and Backbone are no exception; their mix of electronic and live instruments supports their gentle yet intense sound as much as the flighty vocals do. Lovely stuff.

I don't think there are any releases as yet but their SoundCloud definitely hints towards an EP in 2014. It could be a long time, it could be a short time. But here's hoping that it will actually materialise. You can download this, and past songs, on their SoundCloud so deffo check it out ya.

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ARCHIVIST ARCHIVIST EP [STREAM & FREE DOWNLOAD]

It's not often you hear something like this. In fact, I'm not sure if I've heard this kind of sound exactly as it appears here before. It's certainly a very interesting listen. What is "it"? What is "this"? It is the debut self-titled EP from South London duo Archivist - known separately as Ed Begley (vocals, lyrics, piano, guitar, programming, synths, percussion) and Rory Simmons (guitar, programming, synths, trumpet). The multi-instrumentalism and programming know-how certainly make for a dynamic combination; this is a very accomplished piece of work. In just five songs, you - the eternal listener - are taken on a wild ride through variegated realms of rhythm and sound, all with an overarching theme of poignant and pretty dreaminess.

The introduction to Archivist's world comes in the form of 'Wonder Through'. Against sounds that summon the hustle-and-bustle of everyday city life, with the jittering tick of hi-hats and loops of blustery electric piano chords, a sense of calm - of wonder even - effuses from the standing-still-in-the-midst-of-madness vocals that sing of "streets paved with gold"; sweeps of guitar and glittery synth crash around as Ed Begley's powerful falsetto belts lungfuls of emotion. Indeed, that voice is something that makes this EP what it is. Undeniably and gloriously English, it's also an extremely well-polished voice that is certainly put through its paces throughout the EP.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the riff-heavy pumping rock of second track 'Whatever You Are' - cymbal-laden drums smash out the beat as the looping guitar riff accompanies Begley's mean drawl in the verse, clinking percussion dotting the spaces between the cold sounds. It's in the final third of the song where the vocals scream loud, holding long lung-bursting notes in rock-god fashion - not an actual human sound I've heard nor been more impressed with since I heard The Mars Volta's 'L'Via L'Viaquez' - just sayin'. It's good!

'We Can't Be Friends' features a weirdly unnerving sense of funk against near-menacing spears of thick synth, all to a hip hop beat underpinned with meaty double-bass. This one feels very English indeed - there's a touch of Kasabian (maybe even Gorillaz) in here, yet rinsed in a waterfall of decorative sounds. Closing track 'Chancer' has a similar feel to it. Beginning with industrial synth heaped with delay we're soon plunged into an electronic wonderland of progressive sound set to a constant minimal beat where Begley's voice reigns over it, richly layered in some parts but always reverbing mistily into the meld of noises. With a slightly different sound, 'Swim' is an ambient illumination of rippling liquid waves, busy with chords and percussion, and haunted by lamenting falsetto vocals. At about 2:42 the beat suddenly breaks into a rapid uptempo samba-style affair, percussion shaking like lines of dancers in the background, and a delayed, distorted trumpet begins a futuristic jazz solo as ascending guitar notes provide a delicately fluid ornamentation - a very fun change in dynamic.

If you're looking for something exciting and different, this is what you should be listening to. Though only their debut EP, it already sounds like Archivist have years of experience under their belts. Counting amongst their influences Radiohead and Aphex Twin, their sound is telling of a love of particularly British musical acts; this release not only celebrates this kind of intelligent and meticulous half-electronic-half-live affair, but steps into its midst as a co-conspirator and takes the scene even further forward.

The EP is out now as a free download on SoundCloud and a name-your-price download on Bandcamp.

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HOME NOD IF YOU CAN HEAR ME // GET UP AND LEAVE [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This picture right here, right here, does the job at pretty much accurately describing not just one but in fact both of these songs. I dunno. Do you know? What am I talking about? In any case: I've found some more really nice music and I hope that's ok with everyone. My aim is to find nice music and well most of the time I do achieve that aim. That's not arrogant, it's just what happens ok? Sorry.

This time around I like literally couldn't decide on what song to include here. There are so many lovely songs on this guy's SoundCloud and I recommend - at least, if you like the stuff you hear here - checking out his entire back catalogue. He's prolific and his name is Randy Goffe but we shall refer to him simply as HOME for that is what he has baptised himself in this online world. This Florida-(Punta Gorda)-based producer is making some seriously delicious 80s-flavoured sounds that make me just wanna eat ice creams, drive fast cars, play GTA Vice City, emigrate somewhere tropical, drift on a lilo in a pool in a mansion bought by drug money. Perhaps not that drastic but, you know. It's a College-y, Electric Youth kinda synthpop sound and I love it.

The first of these (yep I'm sharing two: shock HORROR) is called 'Nod If You Can Hear Me' and, well, you'd better get ready to nod cause you're definitely gonna hear him.

This song is alive with synth bass that really helps to drive the song - the perfect vibe for driving along a dramatic coastal road someplace pretty. Rich chords plummet down to your ears from the thumping pace of the song, which is for the most part quite a minimalist experience: a simple beat takes us from start to finish, doubling up on hi-hats for a faster pace towards the end. For me, this is over way too soon. I could listen to this like, all night. Or all day. Wheeling synth with delayed attack time swoop in with an ache, a longing, that feels like squinting on a sunny day. Glorious.

And then there's this other one. It's 3 months old but that has never stopped me from posting a song. No siree. So without further ado, here is 'Get Up And Leave'.

This one has a different atmosphere about it. There's a touch of lingering sadness in gentle electric piano chord progression, in the pattern of the lead synth melody floating above everything. It might just be me, but it sounds as though the bassline doesn't properly kick in until later in the song, after halfway, begetting a heavy atmosphere that isn't completely apparent from the get-go, but which is wonderful to gradually fall into as the track goes on its way. At 1:29 we lose the lead synths, or they just join in with the original chords, to create a less celebratory tone, making for an organic fade-out in terms of passion rather than volume. Like a break-up song, kinda. I can imagine someone driving away from a house having just broken up. I'm welling up just picturing that.

Anyway. It's all lovely. These are just two particular gems in the treasure chest of sounds on HOME's SoundCloud. HOME is a good name; whilst not very googleable, it is a nice statement on the instant familiarity that you feel with his sounds. Given that he's "like 17" as well, it's even more of a nice surprise to hear these great sounds. If he's not like 17 then shame on him for lying. Just kidding, it's fine. It's music, after all, not a registration form.

In other news: you can download a mixtape of "pretty much every song [he's] ever done" called The Atlantic Tapes. All of his songs are free to download, including these two above. MUSIC FOR EVERYONE!

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VULKANO SPIDER SPIDER [FREE HALLOWEEN DOWNLOAD]

Hi everyone. Whoa. Feels like it's Halloween today? I'm sorry, I'm being sarcastic. It doesn't feel like it at all. I'm sitting looking out the window at a pretty dull day half-watching Russia Today considering a cigarette even though my mouth has been numbed by a too-strong coffee. In case you're wondering, I usually go for Al Jazeera but my TV has decided not to find it today - maybe it's a sign of Halloween after all. Halloween. Abby Martin certainly makes you think doesn't she?

Anyway, here is like, a Halloween treat or something like that. Maybe it's a trick. It's a bit of both. Rather than trick or treat it's more like "trick AND treat" (trick 'n' treat). Basically, it's by Vulkano and it's called 'Spider Spider'. Despite being trois mois old, this Swedish duo have given this song free download status for Halloween, something akin to offering up a virgin for sacrifice but with less gore and more music. I last wrote about these two - real names: Lisa Pyk-Wirström and Cissi Efraimsson - in July when their song 'Vision Tricks' sparked my interest; it called to mind the unnerving minimalism of The Cure's 'A Forest', complete with thick and rumbling bassline to add a bit of menace.

This song though is like a dark sound poem illustrating the movements or thought patterns of an actual spider. The dull thudding bass is definitely a spooky sound, almost like some homemade instrument made of human bones in a dodgy old shed in the middle of some overgrown garden of a derelict mansion. Or something like that. It's blissfully simple, following the same notes and patterns throughout, more like a creepy dance song than a pop song, the repetition like the frenzy of a cult-level mantra set to thumping kick drums, rolling toms and rattling-chain tambourines.

Cissi's vocals yelp in unaffected clarity, injected with the same passionate quirkiness that the music exudes. Opening, she sings, "I am out on spider hunt, I collect them, I collect them" - a line that drips with a light weirdness in which the rest of her lyrics are soaked. It's a fun song. Not pretending to be or even straying near the realms of "goth" or anything like that, it's interesting to see something music with such an unconventional spirit so near to pop - Vulkano recently went on tour supporting Kate Nash. Imagine that!

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LIFE & LIMB FOOL'S NEST (LIES "PROMISES" REMIX) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Hello. Remixes, not always but often, are really fun. It's not just a re-tweaking of a finished song, it's a whole new song, a whole new person's creative vision based on the original elements launched into the world by the original creator of said elements. It goes to show not only how interesting it is to have somebody else's take on things every once in a while, but also that "art" - yeah that includes music - can never be finished. Even Marcel Duchamp "remixed" the Mona Lisa by drawing a moustache on the original and calling it L.H.O.O.Q (which is a pun cause in French, the reading sounds like elle a chaud au cul). As long as remixers are out there in the world, art of any kind can never be considered utterly finished. In anything's contemporary, original format, however, it is difficult to see a new beginning - that is, unless you are the kind of person who can remix things.

But I'm talkin' too much! About stuff! Stuff!

So let's talk about this song. It is, as you may have guessed by now, a remix. And it is a very nice example of a kind of completely different take on the original. In this instance, the track - 'Fool's Nest' - is originally by a one-half-Italian, one-half-New-Yorker duo called Life & Limb. It's a nice chunky slice of synthpop that is buzzing with saw-waves and sentimental overtones.

Enter LIES. This Italian duo - Oscar Cini and Piero... something - (whom I've written about a couple of times before) have essentially softened the original and turned into something more dreamy, more intangible in a way, than the structured original. They've sped up the pulsing lead synths of the original, teasing with the hint of tumbling hi-hats in the background as the vocals come in ghostishly looped on one syllable with forever-eternal glassy synth chords sweeping the whole song with their ambience.

It's the kind of thing that makes you drift off a little; LIES' style of embedding an addictive, cyclical beat in amongst a bristling thicket of noise has that kind of effect on a person. Thin snares pummel the offbeat with minimal hi-hats riding high above a constant click and the steady, sometime-rolling thump of the kick. A wonderful take on a song which is now similar to this one in title, and a bit in sound, only: even the atmosphere changed from sentimental and slightly sad to one of feelingless dreaminess. Hooray for the (good) remixers of the world!

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CIARA BODY PARTY (BOYS GET HURT REMIX) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Right, firstly, in like every post I've written about Boys Get Hurt I've called it a duo. Two people. That is, Yuki and Takumi. Due to I don't know what reasons, Takumi "quit" at the start of this summer. So basically, everything I've written about these guys has been wrong. Well, this guy. It's just Yuki Abe now. If you'd like to have a quick refresher course on his music, then please be my guest.

So this is just a singular project. Anyway that's enough of that. Mr Abe emailed me the other day notifying me of his new song, a remix of Ciara's 'Body Party'. The original is a downtempo pool of sultry slow-jamz R&B that positively steams with tip-of-the-tongue sexuality - obvious, but not obvious enough to be outrageous. It's just the kind of song that Boys Get Hurt would remix and he's done a good job of it, too. Yep, it drips with disco sensibilities with an uptempo beat, taking the slow heart out of the original and replacing it with a ticker that is pre-wound-up and ready to move.

Giving Ciara's vocals from the original a lot of room to breathe, running the course of the song instead of cutting it too much, this fast-paced rendition takes you from the velvet-clad bedrooms of slow-jams to a disco hut on a beach somewhere. Marimba chords support other tuned percussion melodies, little glockenspiel loops, that lend a joyous vibe to the tune - that feeling of endless summer which Boys Get Hurt gets absolutely spot on every time. There's a little string melody in here as well that sounds familiar, like it could be the same decorative cluster of sounds that graced Madonna's 'Holiday'. The spirit of the song is just that though: holiday. Fun in the sun. Beach dancing until sunrise.

It's always fun listening to Boys Get Hurt. This kind of dance music, a collection of sounds that recalls the soul of early 90s pop with emotive recollections of summer and a beat that's always buzzing with energy and busy with percussion, is lovely. You can always rely on Yuki Abe to deliver this friendly familiarity that in every new track bursts with freshness. And this is FREE TO DOWNLOAD as with most of his songs. Woo!

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RYV HWUT EP [FREE DOWNLOAD]

To the uninitiated, the title of this post could seem like a bit of a mess or a mistake or both: a messy mistake. But never fear, it is actually not a mistake. This is the hwut EP by American producer RYV (also known as real-life-person Charlie Abbott). If you're wondering, though, what "hwut" means exactly, then all you need to do is cast your mind to King Of The Hill cause Hank Hill says "hwut" all the time. Alternatively, Urban Dictionary can tell you a lil' bit. As for RYV, I dunno, could be the Czechoslovakian for 'jerk' (rate of change of acceleration) in physics.

But let's move on. Enough of this - who am I to speculate? Let's listenate to this music. I'm sorry. Anyway, I found it the other day thanks to Spazzkid, who in some way, shape or form, knows Mr RYV. One listen was enough for the music to convey its quality, which is generally a good thing is it not? Like, why should you have to listen to it a zillion times to decide whether it's good or not? A short-but-longwinded-story shorter: three nice songs.

The atmosphere overall seems to grow wider, expanding into seemingly unexplored territories, the vibe more lonely and spacey as we venture further from where we are sitting to the outer reaches of hwut. From the cool coldness of the intergalactic flute synth chords and mechanical hotch-potch of percussion on the spacey opener 'Yaspring' (with some awesomely integral vocal samples and crackling lead synth stabs), we move onto the floating glitchness of 'Yuhhh' with its heavily reverbing xylophonic cloud, sounding by the end as though we are drifting off somewhere, into the nether-hwut.

'Betweentimes' starts with a shock, a dissonant sweep of a harp, to let us know that the journey through hwut is almost at an end. It is brimming with an uneasy atmosphere, poised as if ready to explode into something different yet remaining tensely on-guard the whole time. Organic-sounding perhaps-double bass supports the thin, abrasive chords with a dark and moody slo-jazz flavour; electric crackles pierce through (it actually sounds like he's sampled an electric attack from Pokémon?) as thin strands of a beat click their way through the song. Cut-up vocal samples form a cutesy yet unnerving melody.

This is a sometimes mindbending journey through tasty sounds and an increasingly alien atmosphere - delicious and flavoursome. And it's a free download courtesy of LA art/music collective & independent record label, Stereocure. All three songs. I know right? Cool.

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HARMFUL LOGIC S☹RRY [FREE DOWNLOAD]

At the time of writing, I'm currently upstairs in a house somewhere in the suburbs of Surrey buzzing off some coffee. It's "French" coffee from Tesco's. Someone is hoovering relentlessly outside the room, thoroughly sucking up that dust 'n' dirt. I've just been having a look at Rob Kardashian's new sock range (here are my favourites) and outside it's kinda sunny but kinda damp as well. But it's not raining, which is a plus. Why do I tell y'all dis? Just to paint a picture. That's all. Oh - I'm getting a bit annoyed with someone putting their feet in my face, as well.

Anyway. We are here for music. But that is an image of what I am doing whilst I listen to this song 'S☹rry' (hereinafter 'Sorry', can't be pastin' that forever) by 20-year-old Irish producer Harmful Logic, aka Steven Clarke, who is from Drogheda. Ever heard of it? Me either, sorry, but apparently it's got quite a nice art scene. That's all I know, thanks Wikipedia. My mind's feeling pretty cloudy and the fizzy wash of sound that exudes from 'Sorry' is quite a nice cushion to wrap around it right now.

The song is based on a semi-unrecognisable set of samples including a woman saying something and a sound like Gregorian chanting - giving it the bleak sense of sanctuary that comes with wandering around a musty old church - as well as more instrumental samples, a stringed something-or-other like muffled glitter in the bubblesome deep of the white-noise synth that shudders below and within all the other sounds.

The beat is done in a lo-fi hip hop style, thin snares cloaked with reverb partner with the slightest of kicks to the metallic metronome of the hi-hat, speeding up and disappearing at some points for some subtle dynamic changes. It suits the lo-fi sound in general, really. Altogether this song is like being dipped in that kind of feeling where you're somewhere but not REALLY THERE, the mush of conversations passing over your ears, other thoughts on your mind. Kind of dark, but relaxed about it all. Chillin'. That's what this song's like.

If you like this then you'll be pleased to know that Harmful Logic also recently put out an album - his debut, Lost In The World - on Mexico-based label, PIR▲.MD Records.

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CLUBFEET ACAPULCO & LA [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Hello hi. Apple juice is not often purchased by me but when it is purchased it is rapidly consumed. Do you also find that? But this is neither here nor there. Sorry, it's music time isn't it. Here is something new. It's called 'Acapulco & LA' and it's by a band called Clubfeet.

They are from both Australia and South Africa at the same time - I'm not sure how that works out. As in, which members of the band are from which countries I don't know, so I apologise for that. Their first album, Gold on Gold, released in 2010, caused quite a stir and they've been kinda popular ever since. Perhaps not on such a global level but certainly in their respective mother countries, sure. Oh I just looked at the press release. Yeah, I was right. They're a "critical and commercial hit" in Australia. Too right as well. They have some nice tunes.

One such is this one, which they are offering to fans and non-fans alike on their SoundCloud page - 'Acapulco & LA'. As soon as I saw the title of this one I just thought of sub-tropical party fun and, listening to it, I wasn't wrong. It's a damn party song. It sounds already like an indie-dance classic. Yep, with that intro of ambient synth roaring like distant waves, jungle noises, and a gently calming, simplistic guitar melody set to a driving beat, you know what you're getting into.

Soon there are some truly delicious sounds - hollow synth melodies and the undeniable jolly cool that comes with a xylophone exposure. Xylophone chords, as well. Truly chilling yet heartwarming on the most basic level ever. Surely the xylophone is like one of the oldest instruments. Always is like someone playing bones or something.

It's a dancefloor number that should find its way into many indie-wired clubs in the future. It just oozes that beach party sound, with the added personable appeal of knowing that a five-piece band has created the track - somehow, it just is more personable. As with this kind of music, it's emotional, too, often going with the easy heartbreak that can occur in the darkness of a club environment - lover's tiffs and rifts in relationships haunt these places like the scent of alcohol-soaked carpets itself. As such, there's emotional lyrics, such as, "You broke my heart and now I'm lost forever" and the catchy pop-hook of "I lost another beat of my heart" with the support of ahh-ing backing vocals.

Nice. Keeping that indie-disco flame alive with a nearly 90s-dance twist, 'Acapulco & LA' can be downloaded for free and comes from Clubfeet's second album, Heirs & Graces, which is out now.

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LES BICYCLETTES DE BELSIZE SEBASTIAN (NAITSABES) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I'm a little confused about where this song is coming from. But I did my best and I think I can explain it. So. Originally there was a song by a duo called Charlie and Paisley called 'Sebastian' in which they were backed by the band, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize Park. Les Bicyclettes de Belsize then practically remixed the song, which consisted of setting it to reverse and putting in some nice samples in the form of snippets of dialogue from classic British films.

I suppose it wasn't really that confusing in the end. But still, it's a lot easier to get your head around things when you write them down, don't you find? Well, for me, it helps.

The reverse quality to the song is what gives it an equal dosage of beauty and strangeness - the latter mainly in the reverse vocals that now say "Na-it-sabes..." instead of "Sebastian" as they do in the original. The beat, now in reverse, takes on the mantle of an off-beat trip-hop rhythm and, together with the winsome lilts of the instruments of the song, the whole thing turns into quite a life-affirming piece that - for me at least - calls to mind the Baz Luhrmann song 'Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)'. Although that song used to leave me a little depressed because it was literally taking you through the future of your life.

Thankfully, 'Sebastian (Naitsabes)' isn't quite as polemic as that "feel-good" diatribe. It's much more subtle, mainly heard in the resulting effect of the ambient backwards sounds and the samples. For instance, the samples I most connected were from Billy Liar - a Keith Waterhouse novel, play, then film: "It's the town. It's the people we know. I don't like knowing everybody - or becoming a part of things. Do you see what I mean?" Being from the homely-homely suburbs of Surrey, I can understand that.

Anyway, it's a well chosen set of samples, all from the old British "kitchen sink" dramas of the 1960s. Gives it an Englishness that makes me feel nostalgic. Nice, whimsically winsome (I've used that before and I'll used it again), unique sound. BTW their name comes from a 1968 British musical film of the same name.

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