SPAZZKID – DAYTIME DISCO FEAT NEON BUNNY

Spazzkid basically never fails to disappoint and in this instance the same is true in his brand new track 'Daytime Disco'. Here he becomes a super talented producer for the vocal talents of Korean singer-songwriter Neon Bunny, whose voice sings a gorgeously plaintive song over the super palatable flavours of Spazzkid's squelchy dynamic synth patterns.

These bounce on a jelly bouncy castle of sound in the form of bloopsome sub bass globules, which are the footwork kicks underpinning the wildly frenetic beat, skittering with exhilarating hi-hat-cymbal-combination gunning out with amicable-uzi rattlings. As ever his ear for dynamic is spot on; the beat loses its shit where it needs to, the synth grows fainter in some parts for Yoojin Lim's (Neon Bunny's irl name) voice to drop its beautiful mist upon your ears more purely, a break in the music makes room for the sample of what sounds like the cheerful chatter of a restaurant. It's lovely.

Little accoutrements finish it off as sonic ornaments in the form of bleeping little popcorn wiggles from left to right, and also featuring some dreamy guitar twinkling from Hiro Makino aka There Is A Fox (and it's not the first time he's collaborated either, having made a track back in spring with Spazzkid called 'At Fault'). I'm so happy to hear that Spazzkid, Mr Mark Redito, is continuing to attract attention from all the right places – this time from ultracool London / NY label Cascine – and that he's doing this with his group of international friends, too.

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• You can purchase 'Daytime Disco' right here (clickety-click).

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☟ Spazzkid Social Media Presence ☟
Soundcloud • Bandcamp • official site • Twitter • Tumblr • YouTube

☟ Neon Bunny Social Media Presence ☟ Facebook • SoundCloud • Bandcamp • Twitter

☟ Hiro Makino/There Is A Fox Social Media Presence ☟ Facebook • Soundcloud • Tumblr • oto sound (another alias of Hiro) on Myspace

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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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Listen to Spazzkid on Soundcloud
Hear more Spazzkid on bandcamp
Visit Spazzkid's official site
Follow Spazzkid on Twitter
Check Spazzkid on Tumblr
Watch Spazzkid on YouTube

Like There Is A Fox on Facebook
Listen to There Is A Fox on Soundcloud
Hear more oto sound (another alias of Hiro) on Myspace
Check There Is A Fox on Tumblr

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THERE IS A FOX SLEEP WELL

It is sometimes quite amazing to find out what kind of music is just waiting to be uncovered out there in the wilderness of the internet. It is also easy for people in general to think that good music can only come from respectable sources, record labels, TV, magazines - these are the places you hear a band or music artist playing for the first time, right? Well, the internet is a still pretty-much-untapped vein of talent, with so much uncovered not just daily but semidaily, and hourly sometimes, so it's here that I like to zip around having a look to see if I can hear some nice stuff.

And I did hear some nice stuff just now. So whilst it might not be in keeping with the traditional Friday evening prelude-to-a-big-night kind of party tune that you usually hear at this time of day, I am going to shirk these cultural leanings that I'm so used to and write about this song. It's not a party banger. It's not really energetic. It is, however, very, very pretty - beautiful, even. It's by a track-maker from Long Beach, California, called Hiro Makino who makes music under the alias There Is A Fox. Most of his songs, he confesses, are about "sleeping and staying inside the house" - and that's just fine. Here's 'Sleep Well'.

Priddy. Dont'cha think? I think so. It's really nice. A tension-relieving weave of floating gentle synth and light acoustic guitar arpeggios lead into a swaying breeze of lovely sounds that range from waves of synth to glockenspiel glittering, from subtle synth gleamings to brief electronic bleeps. And the vocals, sleep-inducing, soft, begin the song with the touching line, "I don't know your name, but sleep well tonight" - they're like this throughout. Sentiment is wonderful.

The sounds build up, so by about four minutes in you're treated to varying layers of guitar melodies and other noises - a lovely mix: the musical equivalent of a waterfall hitting the plunge pool - that all calm down perfectly towards the end. All becoming a lot quieter. The vertebrae of bass being all that's left as you hear the microphone switching off. This is an admirable and subtly brilliant mix of ambient guitar and a kind of Lullatone-esque toytronic sound - cutesy, pastel-coloured, sleepy, dreamy. All those things. I really hope he makes some more music.

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Like There Is A Fox on Facebook
Listen to There Is A Fox on Soundcloud
Hear more oto sound (another alias of Hiro) on Myspace
Check There Is A Fox on Tumblr