SQUARELOUD B.T.T.B

Gosh golly, my oh my, I haven't anything like this in a long time. It's a kind of sound that I suppose the world was first exposed to when Justice were first on the scene in like, I dunno, 2006/7. Whatever, it was in the past, quite a while ago, at the same kind of time when the joke-genre "nu rave" was being simultaneously reviled and revered. Ahhhhhh, those were the days...

In a sense, they were the days, but the days are also now. Each new day that goes by is another day of experiencing the music of the past for the music-makers of the present. They are standing on the shoulders of giants - every creatively inclined person who gets inspired by a sound from the past does this. Perhaps it's a little melodramatic to say that, but the sentiment is there: the past helps to create the future.

Anyway, Beijing-based duo (I think it's a duo, judging from the picture) SquareLoud has brought to the table a wondrous sound, reminiscent of Justice's electro-rock vibe except it's fresh and new, with no memories yet attached to it, more dynamic, epic-sounding, less-dance-oriented. Yes, it really is a fantastic piece of work. Turn your headphones or speakers up and prepared to get blown away, this is 'B.T.T.B'.

Pure electro-rock. It is a wonderfully noisy medley of distorted synths and deep slap bass to begin with, decorated with silver-glistening string sounds piercing over the top of the melting-pot foundations. Many breaks in the song give it great dynamism, with different parts literally grabbing your attention, introducing different sounds like a showcase of just how much they can do creatively. We get different overarching overdriven melodies screeching, with a full, epic sound before we reach the middle, where the distortion becomes brutally crunchy, chopped up to the rhythm of a wild punchy beat that's been twisted and tamed. The second half holds yet more variations, chopped stuck-record sounds and glitched-out synths, an orchestral cacophony of electro virtuosity.

I do not know what BTTB stands for, but as you can tell, I quite like it. The song kinda grabs a hold of you, shakes you, puts you down - perhaps this is what "future rock" (one of the tags for the song on SoundCloud) is supposed to do to you. Either way, I'm excited to hear where they will take this already nicely matured, energetic, and energising, sound.

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FORD AND LOPATIN TOO MUCH MIDI

In association with Kia, Adult Swim are releasing a cool single every week for 10 weeks straight - for streaming online as well as free download. The Adult Swim 2011 Singles Program looks like it's shaping up to be a fantastic showcase of some great new talent in music - something that I am always very happy about, and something that Yes No Music is priding itself on. So without further ado, here is last week's single, 'Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)' by Ford & Lopatin.


The track is joyful electro house, pulsing with a firm 4/4 beat and dirty, scratchy bass sound. Saturated, hollow synths populate the track throughout, all stop-start and chopped up - very Justice; there's a clear rock influence here - especially shown by a crazy guitar solo towards the end of the song. The vocals come in meekly and chilled, contrasting the fuzz of the rest of the song. It's a perfect way to start the Singles Program, and a perfect song for this time of year, with an overall sunny, upbeat feel that would go perfectly with a warm summers day. Think sunglasses, picnics, and impromptu barbecue-piss-ups.

This single comes from new album Channel Pressure, released June 7th (Software Records), after a name change in February of this year from Games to this more descriptive moniker - named after the duo themselves: Joel Ford (of the group Tigercity) and Daniel Lopatin (who also records more experimental stuff under Oneohtrix Point Never). Releasing their first recordings in 2010, Ford & Lopatin have continued to create music heavy on analogue synthesisers, midi sequencers, and drum machines, resulting in a loveable electro house sound with more than a dash of experimentation added in.

Check their SoundCloud, and Myspace (which is just earlier, Games-era tracks).

This week's single is 'Gone Again' by Best Coast - something that I actually covered last week.

Top photo by David Black
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MOSCOW YOUTH CULT LIVE @ THE LOCK TAVERN

Yeah, that's right, Moscow Youth Cult. They're an electro duo from Leicester, who play something a cross between Joy Division and a lo-fi Simian Mobile Disco. Their live shows are augmented by a magic, cathode ray tube TV which projects grainy B-movie footage onto a screen behind them as they rock your world, pushing sliders and turning knobs; an interesting quirk. They will be playing live at The Lock Tavern tomorrow night, Thursday 16th June (they're on at 10pm, I'm told), and it's free - so do pop along if you're in the area.

Their EP, Hive Mind, has been released for free download (see below) and it's most definitely worth a listen. 'Girls of Boredom' is a perfect single, combining a hard and fast drum track with a dark, engulfing bass synth for a backing with attitude; add to this cutesy chip-tune and distorted, catchy vocals and you have yourself a song that's 2 parts in-your-face, 1 part pop. There's a similar feel to 'Sakura Sakura', though the strange J-pop style is completely different in execution here. Beginning with a cut up mess of distorted, compressed synth that wouldn't sound out of place on a Justice song, the song quickly moves into a fast paced world of synth distortion and chip-tune again, with female vocal samples - Japanese, of course.

Moscow Youth Cult - Hive Glow EP by Moscow Youth Cult

The last song, 'La Casa (MYC Mia MYC Tua)', features a floating bass that seems to croak with the heavy distortion placed upon it, sounding a little witch house to begin with, gradually turning into an odd, modulating house track. This wordless song is a great example of the talented production that goes into these songs.

If you liked that, you can actually get the whole of their Hive Mind EP sent to you for download. Find this below (although you can download from the above SoundCloud player too). It's a pretty wonderful way to get new music - and an EP, unless it's from a very well known band, should be free (I think) as it's kind of just a taster. Like free samples on a Sainsbury's deli counter.

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