🐣 AMELIA AIRHORN — NY IS RED HOT

The glaze of future funk, glossy vaporwave offshoot, sparkles in the big city flavours of 'NY Is Red Hot', broiling in cola sweetness and carving out a groove that bubbles with feel-good-ness, and in fact with summery red-hot-ness as well. In Amelia Airhorn's single, with its wanna-join-in communal-feeling vocals, the guitar chords hit with a robust shimmer of funk, the brass blares triumphal like beacons of upscale uptown sheen, strings glimmer like streetlights, the bass croons in subtle columns weaving with the deep thump of the beat, the jostle of it all a whirlwind of disco and dancing, the keen future funk fade-ins and fade-outs providing not only subtle parallel to builds and drops in terms of dynamic feels, but also with its irregular amplitudinal consistency conjuring a real life setting: moving through a club, nearer further from the speakers, outside for a cigarette, leaning in for a warm lips-to-ear conversation.

This track, at once flavourful both in danceability and in the inherent nostalgia-summoning, somewhat filmic nature, is or at least was a common feature of the earlier music of Ryan DeRobertis aka Skylar Spence, the pop-infused retro sample collages that awoke from then-vaporwave component Saint Pepsi. This is one half of Amelia Airhorn—the other being The Knocks, a duo with a similar penchant for funk though with a more polished surface, more Kitsuné-ready, more mainstream friendly: they never had to contend with actual Pepsi Co.'s legal team, for instance (DeRobertis' moniker change occurred in 2015).

The evocative yesteryear collage nature of the track plus album artwork and the retro airbrushed typography, this mirrors the collaborative cocktail. On its own 'NY Is Red Hot' brims with energy and noise, shines bright in the nocturnal glitz that surrounds it like mist, conceptually frames it; but with context, this merging of underground SoundCloud musicmaker and pre-initiated pop producers represents a meeting of the new unexplored avenues of making a success in music and the well-trod halls of namedrop beatmaking, traditional and unconventional, past and now, the span of time and attitude that is the foundation of future funk.

---

• 🔔 This single is taken from Amelia Airhorn's 18-track debut release, The Knocks & Skylar Spence Present...Amelia Airhorn. You can download it for free from ameliaairhorn.com, where you'll also find fun background on characters in the Amelia Airhorn universe, i.e. NYC itself.

---

---

📠
☟ Amelia Airhorn Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ official site ⚘ ios app

☟ Skylar Spence Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ SAINT PEPSI BANDCAMP ⚘ twitter ⚘ wikipedia

☟ The Knocks Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ wikipedia ⚘ beatport

---

---

MAURICE AYMARD & GUI BORATTO HOME

So much of life is hassle, but then again so much of that hassle is life. To live carefree doesn't mean a lack of hassle; it is a lack of perceived hassle. Where do we stand but in our own minds considering our to-do lists, taking hesitant steps towards our futures with our pasts reluctantly shrinking behind? It is all there. And this is the mire of a life too-considered, thought of too-deeply, where merely the weight of reality is unshakeable and burdensome. So, yeah. Music is medicine for the human condition. Music is distraction. Music sounds good. No matter what type you like. Sing-alongs, cry-alongs, dance-alongs - whatever. It's all important.

Sorry about that. Don't mind me. I've just been thinking too much. Luckily I've been doing it whilst I've been listening to music so it's kinda like it could've all happened in a dream or something. And right now I'm sitting on a very housey cloud (no I'm not "on drugs", I just have an imagination) and its the glorious repetition of this kind of music that is good for p much hypnotising you and calming you down. In a different scenario though, like at night in a club, that repetition serves the same purpose - inducing a trance-like state - but fits the situation, making you dance like crazy and not calming but creating euphoria.

What's been doing this to me, you ask? Why, it's 'Home' by Maurice Aymard & Gui Boratto (whom I wrote about in August). This is the lead single from Maurice Aymard's forthcoming debut album, Between Stars (on Aymard's own label, Galaktika), which is gonna be - if this song is anything to go by - a cool collection of Latin-spiced house tunes.

'Home' is a great collaboration between Venezualan Barcelona-based Aymard and Brazil's Boratto, who flew to Barcelona and went "straight from the airport to Aymard's studio for an intense 24-hour session". What I noticed first is that, despite being house/dance music, everything here sounds completely organic, home-grown; there are real instrument sounds here ranging from shakers and bongo drums to bass guitar (complete with actual plucking sound and fingers moving along the strings) and drums in general: cymbals lightly crashing and understated hi-hat shuffle.

An organ with liquid chorus plays out some delicious jazzy chords which evoke watching the manic pace cities at night with tired eyes. The bassline is dripping with groove. Synth sounds join the party (or what could be a guitar) with a really nice tremolo melody, twinned with delayed lead synth that sends retro shudders through the whole thing and high-pitched strings help give that urban sense of drama.

And if that wasn't enough for you, the single includes a remix of the song by Berlin-based English producer & DJ, Jay Shepheard.

He gives it a more electronic twist, turning into something closer to a club track, whilst retaining and somewhat enhancing, with beefed up string section especially, that dramatic nocturnal feel that the original exuded. He takes some of the original tremolo melodies and stretches them out with major delay. Jazzy piano chords are interspersed throughout alongside a female vocal sample. The bass is now synthetic, with an 80s-style 'wah' to it; staccato synth chords also rapid-fire across the board in the second half of the track. Dreamy soft synth and strings lead us out to a medley of percussion.

Please, if you enjoyed this, keep an ear out for more from Mr Aymard to come.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Maurice Aymard on Facebook
Listen to Maurice Aymard on Soundcloud
Hear more Maurice Aymard on Myspace
Follow Maurice Aymard on Twitter

Like Gui Boratto on Facebook
Listen to Gui Boratto on Soundcloud
Follow Gui Boratto on Twitter
Learn about Gui Boratto on Wikipedia

Listen to Jay Shepheard on SoundCloud Like Jay Shepheard on Facebook

CHILDHOOD SEMESTER

If there's like, nothing out there about a band or artist - as in, they don't have a Facebook page or Twitter account - then the only way to find out information is to google 'em (it's the verb so I ain't capitalising anything). However, with an ungoogleable name like Childhood, that could be pretty tricky. A lot of people now are taking the one-everyday-word-is-all-I/we-need stance when it comes to band names and aliases. Which I don't mind at all. I actually quite like it. What I don't like is being unable to find out anything. Luckily, Childhood are on FB and twitz so it's ok, don't worry. Just sayin' was all.

Anyway, they are a four-piece/quartet/four-person-band from London. Made up of Ben Romans Hopcraft, Leo Dobsen, Daniel Salamons and Jonny Williams, they describe themselves as a "hot boyband" - you be the judge of that. They're pretty handsome, I'll say that much. But I'm not here to judge looks. This ain't a beauty contest yo. This is a music contest. Minus the contest part.

So anyway, this song is called 'Semester' and it's a wonderfully distorted number that has a really nicely produced bass, a real low-low gravelly sound, something you often don't get with this brand of lo-fi indie pop, which is quite refreshing.

The vocals, with a similar yet Southern-accented yearning and confidence displayed in the past by Alex Turner, are backed up by "ooo-ooo"s that give it a nice pop hook - something retro about that too. There's a grey sky feel to the song, something distinctly English in the sound. The guitars jangle with light distortion in the verses, scream away completely overdriven in the chorus sections, and later on in the bridge get completely shoegazey with heavy doses of flanger - that's whilst the drums go intermittently go mental with a lot cymbal bashing.

It's a nice sound overall - decidedly raw, especially the drums, which sound as if I could be hearing them from next-door, and slightly bleak yet with the friendly jangle and catchiness of pop that will make Childhood a quite-sure hit, if they aren't already. This is the AA-side (what? I thought it was "B-side"?) from a single with another song of theirs, 'Solemn Skies'. You can buy that here.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Childhood on Facebook
Listen to Childhood on Soundcloud
Follow Childhood on Twitter
Watch Childhood on YouTube

GAY CHRYSOTILE [VIDEO]

Why this song is called 'Chrysotile' I have no idea - because it is the most commonly encountered (I say that like it's a Pokémon) form of asbestos going, and in the song there's pretty much no reference to asbestos. I know what you're thinking, "Forget about the song name yo - the band's called GAY!" Sure they are. They are called Gay. But a band name's different to a song name. There are loads of crazy band names in the world - you'd probably be surprised at the LACK of story behind a lot of them. They serve to grab your attention mainly. Maybe it was a joke to begin with, so they could get onstage and say "good evening everyone, we're Gay" and get a few laughs from the crowd or something. I don't know.

Just listen to/watch it, ok?

Fun frolicking in the video. I like to see that. Who doesn't? But about the song, it's nice. Kinda has an afrobeat vibe about it, certainly in the well-arranged verse anyway, where the drums are off-beat and the melodious guitar picks a zingy little sungura-style melody (sungura is the popular guitar style of Zimbabwe). But in the chorus it comes to a raucous sound and regular rhythm, whipped up by the appearance of a horn section and distorted guitar strumming. It's like a North American (they are from Toronto) pop rock song taking a laid-back stroll down a street in Harare.

Judging from the lyrical content of the song, which has an out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new kind of feel to it, there could be a reason for it being called 'Chrysotile' - the act of replacing stuff built from asbestos as a parallel to being "restless, restless for newness" as the lovely falsetto harmonies sing in the song. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

N-E-WAY. If you like what you heard, it is the newest song from Gay's upcoming album Dance Mix 95, out 12th July on Pleasance Records.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Gay on Facebook
Visit Gay official site
Watch Gay on YouTube

TIM BURGESS THE ECONOMY

This is just the kind of music that you need on a sunny Wednesday evening, chilled and gentle, like the gradual drooping of the sun as it glints upon the world from sideways. Long shadows and longer cocktails. Trimmed lawns and trees waving in languid rhythms. Clouds lightly dusting the sky. Yeah, just like these things.

It's just the kind of scene that this song - 'The Economy' by Tim Burgess - serves as a rather nice soundtrack. I have to admit, when I first heard it I was like "...what" - BUT! I was soon won over by the peaceful grooves of the song, smoothed and lulled into a state of chill. Verily.

What begins as something that you could find playing in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants - y'know, cause of the particularly beach-bum, lapping-waves feel of the subtle slide guitar in the background and the general happy feel of the skiffly acoustic guitar - turns quickly into a multi-layered well-textured almost, well - probably actually, psychedelic song.

Nice eh? Really nice. You can see what I mean though, right? It does start with this Hawaiian feel, but into this really nicely built monumental psychedelic soft rock/pop rock song. The falsetto vocals throughout peek just above everything else, always remaining audible and strangely soothing, keeping to a catchy melodic pattern. But it doesn't take centre stage, and actually - nothing in this song does take centre stage. Everything works as one, each element allowing the others their own breathing space and own little chances to shine.

A 60s-hippie type vibe bemists the song when a flute begins playing, cool and reedy, weaving a breathy melody around the staple strumming pattern of the guitar. But the real surprise is a guitar solo, a really overdriven electric guitar, playing understatedly but with force and passion, taking us soaring up into the clouds towards the end of the song, where all the sounds are culminating - support vocals enriching it with their harmonies, the thickening effects of distorted guitars joining the acoustic rhythm, a breezy synth filling in the gaps.

Full-flavoured yet gently chilled (like I said, it's perfect summer evening music), it comes from his second album Oh No I Love You, released last year. I had no idea but Tim Burgess is lead singer of The Charlatans, boy am I stupid.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Tim Burgess on Facebook
Listen to Tim Burgess on Soundcloud
Visit Tim Burgess official site
Follow Tim Burgess on Twitter
Watch Tim Burgess on YouTube

TOYS WE ARE [VIDEO]

In November last year I wrote about Paris duo TOYS for the first time - their Natural Plastic EP was pretty cool indeed, dominated by the super-powerful track 'Noise'. They, namely Paul Prier and Bastien Doremus, are rather fond of music-making machines and analogue synthesisers, and it shows in the music they create - their first release boomed with bubbling-over energy and zinged with unique ornamentation; put shortly, a lovely sound.

I was eager and excited (PUMPED you could say) to hear what else would come from TOYS in the future... I even said it in the post, I literally said almost exactly that.

And the day has arrived. Finally. After a week of waiting since an announcement on their Facebook page they posted a video for their new single 'We Are'. The clip - directed by Maximilien Franco - features what seems to be an anti-Death kind of figure, giving people back their souls (the lyrics of the song's chorus being "We are the souls...") in a reverse-filled slow-motion gritty-city setting, Paris I guess, suiting the sound of the song very nicely.

Watch. But also, and more importantly, listen.

Everything that I first liked about TOYS is still there: the big beat - in this song it's thunderous and dotted with delicious 80s rock-drum fills; the catchy synth melodies, which hop about as sun-reflected arpeggios, jump out enticingly as chords in the chorus, scream in pentatonic keyboard solos; and the atmosphere - dark yet shot through with brightness. Heavy piano chords slam down throughout, fitting the thick sound of the song, yet the vocals are falsetto and fly above the music, like a bird watching scenes of life unfolding below.

But what's different this time around is an anthemic quality in the chorus, something that kind of didn't exist in their debut EP, but something that certainly puts a more arresting spin on things - it's more textured, the vocals are large and layered... there's more going on y'know. The ray-gun synth chords in the chorus follow a really catchy progression (and make a really nice sound, too), laser-beam solos are like melt-in-yo-ear, and there is generally more of a pop element to it I suppose. It's a different sound to what I was expecting but it has been warmly received.

Does this single come prior to an EP? An LP? Hmm? Well I guess we 'ave-t'wait'n'see.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like TOYS on Facebook
Follow TOYS on Twitter
Listen to TOYS on SoundCloud
Watch TOYS on YouTube

THESE NEW PURITANS FRAGMENT TWO

Hey, oh my gosh, it's These New Puritans, which is really exciting because I honestly thought that we weren't gonna hear anything from them ever again. A defeatist thought, yes, but now I'm even happier that they're back. They're back! Imagine that. Anyway, I loved their first album Beat Pyramid (2008) and also their second album Hidden; the sound between these two albums changed drastically from a distinctly stylised esoterically worded beat-driven indie band, to something more symphonic, still highly stylised and - although I hate to use this word - 'arty'.

It seems with this new release, 'Fragment Two', that we may be seeing a blend of out-there-unexpected-artiness and something a little more conventional - kind of a happy medium between the first and second album. Their new album is called Field of Reeds (out 10th June) and the title is kind of interesting for me. This is because I heard a few years ago from an interview with 'band leader' Jack Barnett that he wanted to write an opera about the islands of the Thames Estuary: their upcoming album may be that opera. But who knows. Maybe that was a pipe dream.

Anyway, on to the song.

The meaty meaty piano in the song is very 'them' (as are, as ever, the softly-spoken vocals), it sounds like a logical not-too-far departure from their last album. The way that the bass and drums then are led by this piano bashing is pretty nice - I like how everything fits in; even the backwards-organ-type-sounds that arise keep with that same rhythm. Mainly, I love how everything is just slightly off-centre - it's not standard by any means, but it's wonderfully squiffy - different instruments come in when you're not expecting it, the snare snaps exactly when you think it won't. Lovely. It builds to a climax, with some kind of horn instrument playing a truncated solo, bass notes rumbling. There is also a cheeky reverb on the snare drum every now and again.

It is quirky and I like it quite a lot. It wasn't what I was expecting, but then again nor was Hidden what I was expecting. Is avant-garde too strong? Yeah maybe. Let's just say that this song is refreshing. Like a new cuisine. Not like a peach cooler.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like These New Puritans on Facebook
Listen to These New Puritans on Soundcloud
Visit These New Puritans' official site
Follow These New Puritans on Twitter
Learn about These New Puritans on Wikipedia

FAUVE BLIZZARD [VIDEO]

Well, this song would actually mark the very first FAUVE EP, titled Blizzard - out 20th May. For the moment, however, the guys from FAUVE have released an eponymous song from the EP. Yes, that means it is also called 'Blizzard'. But they've only released it in video form. Not that that's a problem at all - it's a good video, and it seems to fit in with the whole theme of the song. In fact, if you wanted to get down into the real nitty-gritty of it, you could say that the song could not exist without the video - especially since the first time hearing this song is in conjunction with the video. It's almost as if FAUVE wanted that to be the case.

And if that were true, would that mean that FAUVE were more of a creative collective than a band? Well, yes. They profess themselves to be a 'project' and indeed count themselves a group of five musicians and one videographer. This means that they can present their music in a way that no other band can, really, without employing somebody else to film the video for them. It means total creative control and an ability to express whatever sentiments you want to in the video for your songs. You can, basically, make them fit. In any case, this video for 'Blizzard' is certainly an interesting way to offer up what is essentially the first single from their first EP. I wrote about their song 'Nuits Fauves' in December and instantly fell in love with their sound - what I didn't know is that they had no 'official' releases yet. So on, roll the months... and here we are.

Watch and enjoy. (it's in French btw).

There's an urgency in the vocals of the song, the mile-a-minute spoken-word/rap, frantically spitting out venom against what they call "le blizzard" - the blizzard, everything that's in the way of your desire to do the things you want to do; essentially, the blizzard is fear, obscuring a rational view of the future. But the song basically says to be not afraid of it. In so many words. It ends with 'nique sa mère le blizzard' - basically, 'fuck the blizzard' - and 'tout ça c'est fini!' - 'all this is over'. So, by turns and twists, the song gets from being afraid of the blizzard to being brazenly unafraid of it. It's all about dignity, standing up your own two feet, fighting boredom, doing what you want to do, determination, clench-your-teeth-and-do-it, take-a-leap kind of stuff. A nice message. Intense video to go with it.

As for the music itself, it's a gentle hip-hop beat with a set of strummed guitar chords - very effective for providing a base for the vocals which seem to be saying everything. It gets increasingly louder before the breaks, reflecting the torment in the lyrics, perhaps. In any case, it's an interesting sound and one that FAUVE initially caught my ear with - it's nice to hear that they're sticking with it, to be honest.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like FAUVE on Facebook
Listen to FAUVE on SoundCloud
Follow FAUVE on Twitter
Watch FAUVE on YouTube
Visit FAUVE's official site

MOOD RINGS PATHOS Y LAGRIMAS

Beau-ti-ful. That's what I think of this song by Mood Rings, 'Pathos Y Lagrimas'. It's the new single from their upcoming album, VPI Harmony, out 24th June on Mexican Summer.

But yeah, enough of that, what I was saying was that this song is beautiful. Very very pretty. I've just been reminded of some sad news and this song kinda suited that terribly perfectly. Not perfectly terribly. That's something else entirely: something that this song definitely ain't. It's really very evocative and full of slow waves of energy that pulse out like pure feeling.

But it's not intense. It's not in your face. It has its mood (excuse the pun) and the five-member band from Atlanta build on this mood, creating sweeping swathes of sound that are as lethargic as they are poignant. It's a hot breeze that seems to stumble over blades of grass and trees to get to you rather than blast through its obstacles.

It's a careful, almost mournful, tune with an interesting groove given to it by a stop-start rhythm on the drums - they go half-speed, double-speed, and the bass plays continually to the later, almost waiting for it to catch up. Nice effect. It's like one minute you're up and positive, taking things in your stride; the next, you're down-in-the-dumps, quite ready to pack it all in and curl up in a ball somewhere. Maybe that's just me. But they've captured it well in any case.

The frequent solo surf-guitar stylings in their lo-fi light-distortion cast mellow lines of sound over the wash of echoing 80s drums and other instruments. The vocals are plaintive and earnest, suiting very well a song with a title of 'Pathos Y Lagrimas' ('lagrimas' is tears in Spanish, guys). There's a distinctly dreamy feel about the type of lo-fi, delicate 80s indie kinda music that this band plays, a wonderfully crafted sound that's as chilled as it is emotive. An eerily heartwarming-yet-lacrimose offering. And, as I said, beautiful, byu-di-full.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Mood Rings on Facebook
Visit Mood Rings' official site
Follow Mood Rings on Twitter

SMALL BLACK FREE AT DAWN [VIDEO]

I remember seeing Small Black on the similar artists bit on Spotify when Spotify used to be more navigable and my computer less slow. Can't remember if I listened to them at the time or not but in any case, here they are in my peripheries again. So I decided to write something.

And with this Brooklyn-based band's new song it's not very difficult to like it, that's for sure. 'Free At Dawn' is a really nice mellow song. It is extremely easy on the ears and at the moment it's very early morning as I write this so that is definitely playing to their advantage - though, of course, it can work in a multitude of scenarios no doubt. Though if the title of this song is anything to go by, it's a dawn-time song. In which case I'm late.

Softly juddering 80s style bass synth gallops through the whole song over a wash of synth that comes back in places to build itself up into a hook between choruses and towards the end, where there is a climax of sounds. This is a very pop-oriented song and it's not surprising that it's the first single from their new album Limits Of Desire (out now on Jagjaguwar) - but with its gentle, crooning vocals dripping in reverb and delay, as much of the rest of the song is, its lack of biting snare drum and the general ambience created by the mélange of soft half-polished noises, it's a pop song with a chilled edge. A pop song left in the fridge like a lettuce. Keeps it fresh, keeps it crisp.

Nice video eh? Fits this mellowed chillwave tune just fine. It perfectly depicts the sights of a city at dawn, or at very early morning in any case, when there's no one else about and when the whole 'free' thing is certainly a tangible intangibility. The city and all its trappings, even though nothing's open, is yours - so to speak - and wandering around is quite liberating in its own urban way. Mellow stuff for a mellow subject. Nice!

A good Sunday song, too. I wouldn't know, I have to work today. But on any other Sunday... yeah.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Small Black on Facebook
Listen to Small Black on Soundcloud
Hear more Small Black on Myspace
Visit Small Black official site
Follow Small Black on Twitter
Watch Small Black on YouTube
Learn about Small Black on Wikipedia

JON HOPKINS OPEN EYE SIGNAL [VIDEO]

You can do so much with electronic music. Well, I guess you can do a lot with acoustic instruments, but when you've got to the point of playing a guitar with a flute or something you should probably stop flogging that horse. True experimentalism happens with instruments mainly through electronic means. So imagine what you can do with a purely electronic sound. With a pioneering spirit and a lot of curiosity, playing around with electronic music must be second nature.

It seems so with London-based producer Jon Hopkins - the fact that he became a long time collaborator with Brian Eno (the so-called king of experimental electronic music), after Eno heard and liked his music, should tell you something at least. What it tells you, I dunno, but it told me that he must be good. And he is. Just listen to his new track 'Open Eye Signal'.

The track is mesmerising. It sucks you right into its groove, the relentlessly pulsating bass pushing it onwards and being the engine for the whirlpool which drags you further and further in. Hypno-electro. If that's a thing. Maybe it can be a thing. Anyway, the song builds up from its basic foundations, the slightly off-kilter beat mixing regular snare sounds with snares that sound as if they have been ripped open. Soon sheets of delicate ambient noise filter through the ruptured modulating main and provide the whole thing with a shining-gold atmosphere - lovely.

The track morphs in the last quarter of its duration into something dirtier, something with more teeth and less pretty ambience. The synth is messed around with, tussled, distorted, pulled this way and that, the percussion as good as disappears leaving a maraca sound to keep time. It's a very long outro, if you could call it that, but it is just as fabulous as the rest of the song.

If you liked this, I'm sure there will be more brilliance on Jon Hopkins upcoming album Immunity, out 3rd June on Domino.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Jon Hopkins on Facebook
Listen to Jon Hopkins on Soundcloud
Hear more Jon Hopkins on Myspace
Visit Jon Hopkins official site
Follow Jon Hopkins on Twitter
Learn about Jon Hopkins on Wikipedia

IS TROPICAL DANCING ANYMORE

The first thing that I like about this is the fact that you can make an interrogative statement out of it: "Is Tropical dancing anymore?" I'm not sure. Just who is this 'Tropical'? Not to worry though, cause it ain't a person or a thing it's just silliness, just wordplay. Sorry.

The other thing that I like about this is that it's a nice song - yes, 'Dancing Anymore' by IS TROPICAL (formed 2009 & hailing - god I hate that word - from London) is a very nice song. It's an indie-dance song, essentially, with a hint of something troubled in the melancholic style of the singing. I suppose this reflects the lyrics of the song, "You don't take me dancing anymore, oh it's been a long time since I been on the floor" - touching really. Especially to someone who likes to dance a lot. A consideration of the fact that things change in life, everything is temporary, especially the fun relationship you think you used to have but no longer do have cause there's no more dancing and way more, I dunno, shouting or just being boring and staying inside all the time or something? Things crumble, and this song is an upbeat illustration of that unfortunate (for many) fact.

You can have a listen to the song yourself below of course my friends.

It's got a good sound huh? It's almost a hark back to those halcyon days of indie dance in 2007-8 the way it goes. It's good a good galloping bassline, a 4/4 beat that whilst not breaking into new ground serves its purpose and makes you move all the same and a nice bit of saw-wave synth in there to keep things interesting. The hooks are everywhere, in the verse, the chorus, the melody - quite addictive but feels almost like it's over too quickly. Time flies when you're having fun I guess.

The video, however, is a different story. How strange. YouTube removed it, I think, but Vimeo kept it on. It's... well, I suppose in a bizarre way it shows the sometimes unfulfilling nature of growing up. Dreams fizzle-fade and whatnot. I like the video and it certainly, um, keeps to the rhythm of the song. Watch if you ent already.

Weird eh? But anyway, all that aside, this song is the first single from IS TROPICAL's upcoming album I'm Leaving, set for release May 20th on Kitsuné. And there you have it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like IS TROPICAL on Facebook
Listen to IS TROPICAL on Soundcloud
Hear more IS TROPICAL on Myspace
Visit IS TROPICAL's official site
Follow IS TROPICAL on Twitter
Check IS TROPICAL on Tumblr
Learn about IS TROPICAL on Wikipedia

BRODINKSI DANCE LIKE MACHINES

No, I haven't taken up drawing in my spare time, this is actually the bizarrely titillating, comic-style cover for Brodinski's first ever EP released on his own label - Bromance Records - called Bromance #7 (released 10th December). This is one of the songs from the EP, of course, and the title 'Dance Like Machines' is something that is, well, let's say explored in the video: there are a lot of strippers and there is a lot of dancing. Besides dancing being their jobs, it's no wonder that they're dancing to this latest tasty morsel from Louis Brodinski - I'm almost throwing my clothes off as I type and listen, which as you can imagine is a tricky feat, so I'll stick to the point.

The stabbing synth of this song is addictive, a kind of electronic honky tonk / harpsichord trance style - the kind of sound that you wouldn't mind having in your ears for more than the duration of the song. It's all set to a relentless techno beat that is characterised in its severity by the huge sub bass globulating under everything; it's as if a beautiful table has been set, all the silverware and candlesticks are in place, the wine is just about to be poured, but from out of nowhere the table itself starts expanding and contracting, and the tablecloth is undulating like so many storm-tossed waves. Yes, there's beauty in the brutality of this song - exactly the same as the unlikely beauty that is found in the strip joints in the video. Do I get extra points for that comparison? I hope so.

It's a great song, one that will get you pumped for going out dancing, or one that will aid further in your dancing when you're already out dancing. I love how Brodinski manages to marry the dubstep rhythm of the first part of the song, and throughout, with the thumping, technolicious 4/4 beat that is its mainstay. Enjoy. Some say the video is NSFW, and indeed YouTube removed it on those grounds, but who cares. Watch it wherever. Watch it on the train in front of people or something.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Brodinski on Facebook
Follow Brodinski on Twitter
Listen to Brodinski on SoundCloud
Visit Brodinski's official site
Check Brodinski on Myspace

TORO Y MOI SO MANY DETAILS

I'm not sure whether Toro y Moi chose the song title 'So Many Details' because this lovely song of his is positively swimming in lashings of details, or if it's just coincidence, but either way, like I said, it's lovely.

Musically active for around three years now, Toro y Moi (real name Chazwick Bundick - really) is a mainstay of the laid-back chillwave genre and has already released two albums; this song comes as the first single from his upcoming album, Anything in Return - set for release on 22nd January 2013 - and whilst it remains chilled, there are many textures that make it a delightfully rich medley of sounds.

The song begins with a looped, dreamy effect that sounds like the equivalent of a troop of clouds travelling across a clear sky, followed quickly by some clipped and muffled brass-type sounds all bubbling together. Then the beat proper comes in, playing host, for the main part, to a dusty kick drum that underpins the whole, lazy, head-swaying hip-hop mass that cruises along with the the thin falsetto vocals and a soulful yet cartoony and crumbling bassline that warms the soul. There's a hollow, modulating synth breakdown with atonal, glitchy chords before introducing a female vocal sample that floats in like a guest-appearance ghost - lovely touch.

But before the end of the song, over halfway through, around the same time as the once intermittent pinging smacks of delayed guitar chords become more frequent, the song descends into an electro trance, the vocals become more echoing, high-pitched bleeps cascade around and - happily - frantic tribal drum sounds circulate underneath all the mayhem. Wow. If you listen to that song properly (and NO, I don't mean stoned, like 80% of YouTube comments on 'good' songs suggest) it takes you away to some faraway electro playground that isn't cold, dark or damp, but warm, colourful and made expressly for you.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Toro y Moi on Facebook
Follow Toro y Moi on Twitter
Listen to Toro y Moi on SoundCloud
Visit Toro y Moi's official site
Read Toro y Moi's Wikipedia page
Check Toro y Moi's blog

PALMA VIOLETS BEST OF FRIENDS

If you haven't already heard it, I heartily entreat you to listen to this song. It's a real doozie and it's from London boys - Lambeth, to be precise - Palma Violets, who take their name from the iconic British sweets: Parma Violets. The song is called 'Best Of Friends' and it's got a completely throwback sound that smells very much like punk: brazen, energetic, frustrated. In fact, it sounds very much like what The Jam were doing in the late 1970s/early 80s, with regards to maintaining that "angry young man" mentality of their punk contemporaries whilst dressing in suits and incorporating a whole lot of mod-adored rock into their sound. I'm saying it sounds like that, not that it is that, just so you know.

I've chosen to share their performance of this song on Later... with Jools Holland because it is not only the first place I heard it, but - having now listened to the recording - I think it's actually a better quality version, going more hand-in-hand with their slapdash punk/rock sensibilities. Being live, the energy that the band put into their music becomes a lot more evident than merely hearing it on a record - they throw themselves about, embellish instrumentals with shouts and yelps, and generally put every fibre of their being into playing every note, shouting down the microphone, or smashing the hell out of the drums.

Indeed, guitarist Sam Fryer has said:

We want people to really feel it - we want the bass to rip through people's bodies, the bass drum to go straight inside your head.

Here we have distorted chords thrashed out and left hanging in the air whilst the vocals for the verse come out in a slur, before the booming chorus with all the oi-type yelling and shouting as a vessel for the simple, yet heartrending refrain "I wanna be your best friend, I don't want you to be my girl". It's a quintessentially British 'thing' - from their name, to the style of music they play (and how they play it), along with other British nuances like another, slightly strange song of theirs called 'Last Of The Summer Wine', named after a comedy series about a bunch of mishap-making old people in the countryside. These guys are already on the rise (they won NME's Track Of The Year award with this song), which is a fabulous thing; whoever said guitar music is dead? Because, judging from what I can hear, it isn't. And if it is dead, then Palma Violets are carrying it on their shoulders.

And of course, if you haven't, listen to the official, album-quality version of 'Best Of Friends'. Their debut album will be released on 25th February 2013.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Palma Violets on Facebook
Visit Palma Violets official site

PARLEZ-VOUS ANGLAIS? SUNGLASSES & SHIRTS

It's strange, but even the sound of LCD Soundsystem's first album, to take an example, sounds oddly retro now - the reason for this being, perhaps, that James Murphy was himself looking to the past. The reason I mention this is because this song from Parlez-vous Anglais? itself sounds like an act that could've existed alongside LCD back in the electro disco heyday (Oh! those Halcyon, plastic-rainbow days) but no - it's new. It's new music that sounds retro because it was influenced by a guy a few years ago who himself was entrenched in the New York disco sound. And a bit like Calvin Harris (first album, thank Allah). All this history is boring, isn't it? War of the Roses? Only at Christmas time.

Anyway. I am very happy about this song. Despite sounding quite similar to some other stuff, it is - of course - its own creation. The name, by the way, is 'Sunglasses & Shirts' by French band Parlez-vous Anglais?. I love this kind of sound. It reminds me of being at University, reminds me of all the silly nu-raveness back then, the Dulux colour wheels of people who rolled humming snippets of the Klaxons. But, memories of a not-very-old-person-anyway aside, the song is great. It's a brash representation of sheer fun, complete with all the things you like to hear, and all the things that get you up and shimmying around like nobody's business: slapdash guitar, bleepy, whack-a-mole electro sounds, and sung-spoken vocals that ooze attitude.

Laid-back yet ready to spring into a Windmill and impress all the girls at any time, the only thing I'd say thing song is missing is being released in the right season - this is a Summer song. Maybe it's acting as a cure for the season instead of a reflection of it. Deep.

This song comes straight from the boys' new EP, also called Sunglasses & Shirts, which is a foray into the electro indie disco delights of yesteryear. You can listen to that on Spotify, or you could buy the whole thing from iTunes. Lovely stuff.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Parlez-vous Anglais? on Facebook
Follow Parlez-vous Anglais? on Twitter
Listen to Parlez-vous Anglais? on SoundCloud
Watch Parlez-vous Anglais? on YouTube

EMPRESS OF CHAMPAGNE + DON'T TELL ME [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This is a pleasant surprise. To start today, we have the intriguingly named Empress Of with her very first release, the sufficiently bubbly 'Champagne' and its more moody B-side, 'Don't Tell Me'. What Empress Of, the project of Brooklyn-based musician and producer Lorely Rodriguez, has created here is a lovely old school sound, drums straight from an 80s drum machine - or so it seems - busy choruses that soar with intermingling synth patterns. For a debut release it's really good, and an extremely promising start to what could be a well-received career.

The release itself, 'Champagne' is a slow-bounce two-step, fun and bristling with little guitar sounds that seem like miniature fireworks. I like the swift change in dynamic between the relatively sparse verse, with its nonchalant vocals, and the jangling, near-psychedelic busy electric sounds of the chorus. The video for this number is below, featuring Empress Of herself, eating watermelons. Fun. Oddly fitting.

But then there's the B-side to this song: 'Don't Tell Me'. It's much more sombre, with slow-dance, epic drum sounds, long synths, a touchingly sweet vocal drenched in reverb and echo, imploring to remain in blissful ignorance. A heartbreaking ballad-style song that drips with nostalgia and the power of emotion that can be conveyed by talented artists through music: Empress Of is one such example of this, displaying feeling with her electric and wholly dreamy sound.

And good news: 'Champagne' can be downloaded below FOR FREE! Holy moly, Amaterasu-ōmikami on high, what a treat! (But hurry up about it.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Empress Of on Facebook
Follow Empress Of on Twitter Listen to Empress Of on SoundCloud
Visit Empress Of's official site

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.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hot Chip on Facebook
Hot Chip on SoundCloud
Hot Chip on Twitter
Hot Chip on Myspace
Hot Chip's official site

PAPA PUT ME TO WORK

Over a year ago, we wrote about the fabulous indie rock infectinator 'I Am The Lion King' by PAPA, but now they are back with another belter to keep us going until a promised full-length release comes to us early in 2013 (as yet unnamed). If first EP A Good Woman Is Hard To Find is anything to go by, we should be in for a treat. New single 'Put Me To Work' makes the new release seem pretty hopeful as well.

Whilst much less focused on a groove than some previous efforts ('I Am The Lion King' being the prime example), 'Put Me To Work' is a rollicking rock number, complete, even, with rock piano - something you don't hear very much of these days. The song itself reminds me of The Killers and even Gaslight Anthem, to an extent, but both of these bands have their own, more-Springsteen-aping sound and, naturally, PAPA have their own sound, too. It's a warmer, heavier, altogether thicker sound, but still a lot more stadium-chasing than I thought it was going to be. The haphazard style of guitar is something I can really get on board with, as is the relentless breakdown towards the end of the song.

It's a night-time drive kind of atmosphere, however, as opposed to the relatively sunny delight of their first EP, but still I get the feeling that 'going Springsteen' is neither PAPA's goal nor their intention: just another dimension to add to their already quite varied sound. I am looking forward to hearing how the rest of this next album's songs are going to sound compared to this.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PAPA on Facebook
PAPA on Twitter
PAPA on SoundCloud
PAPA on Myspace
PAPA's official site

BIG BLACK DELTA BETAMAX

After wowing the UK with first song 'IFUCKINGLOVEYOU' (which I apparently missed), and earning praise from the likes of Jay-Z and Dave Navarro as a result, Big Black Delta is back with another single from his ('him' being Jonathan Bates) forthcoming album, scheduled for release in early 2013. We don't have a name yet, as much as we'd like to tell you what it is.

For the moment though, we can just be happy that there are these two singles to enjoy until there are more songs to enjoy. This newest one, which will be released Monday 26th November, is called 'Betamax' and it's a great tune.

I like the whole vibe of this song. From the lovely chord changes in the arpeggios of synth that trickle down for the duration of the song like analogue raindrops, to the vocals that sit perfectly within the colossal blanket of electro goodness that is the grounding of the song, even to the epic crashing slap of the snare, it's a joy from start to finish. The last fifth (or so) of 'Betamax' however is a towering giant of music, dubstep rhythm drums that sound vast and all-encompassing, and a blaring horn that drills through everything else making for a sound that puts you under its spell right away. Brazen.

On second listen, better. The nuances of the song, the dynamics, the pop hook that keeps it catchy, a sense of experimentalism, all work and create a sound that you would be a fool to miss out on. Video below - enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Big Black Delta on Facebook
Big Black Delta on Twitter
Big Black Delta on SoundCloud
Big Black Delta on YouTube
Big Black Delta's official site