UJICO* – SUMMERTIME MEMORIES

It's house music. But it's house music with a difference. It's electro-house music. And not just any old electro-house music, but... well, not every bite of electro-house I take tastes as delicious as the atmosphere given off in the Casino Night Zone from Sonic II; no, it's not every day that the electronic claque of French-touch feeling house gets mixed with chiptune-flavoured VGM-inspired music, as has happened here, but it's always a better day when something like this is discovered.

Something like what? Something like 'Summertime Memories' by musicmaker Ujico* (with asterisk, that's no typo). IRL name, Keitaro Ujiie, he's an 18-year-old producer from Tokyo who also makes music under the name Snail's House, under which moniker he has previously released an EP called Kirara for Japan-based label Trekkie Trax (associated with other dance-based artists like Carpainter, who's also counted as a founder of the label). 'Summertime Memories' is a two-week old track that first, if you have any penchant for anime aesthetics, lures you in with its artwork, and then sucker punches you right in the groove bone with an explosive dab of HOUSE. And it's a free download: double win.

It'd be unfair to call this entirely house, though. Even though the kicks thud and the hi-hats skitter intricately along with the best of 'em, even though its snares boom with simmering pugilism, it seems (after first listen at least) to have more in common with future funk than straight house. Why? Because of the pulsing feel of is continual beat, the ebb-and-flow of sidechained sounds that punctuate future funk jams the world over. Admittedly, however, this style does feel as though it derives from French-touch house anyway, so what am I saying?

Added to this booming feel-good rhythm are stuttering synth chords, bold melody lines bleeping with chiptune aesthetics, saw-wave synth bass, the constant plink of a rhythmic boop, chopped and garbled vocal samples, all of it never jostling for space but running concurrent to each other with fugue-like complexity. It's urgent and dirty, summing up the humidity and bustling joy of summertime in just under four minutes of irrepressible groove, and therefore deserving of the description given by its maker on SoundCloud: 夏に向けたエレクトロなチューンです! ("This is the electro tune of the summer!")

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☟ Ujico* Social Media Presence ☟
Facebook • SoundCloud • Twitter • YouTube

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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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LOW TEE HEY YOU (AND FOREVER) (TAPE TRANSPORT REMIX)

Back in September I wrote about a release from a man called Anders Obel, aka Tape Transport, from Norway. The release was Panoply and it was dripping with retro dancefloor appeal, ambient atmospheres and glitchy ornamentation. That came from an email he sent me, so I do really appreciate getting emails (I might take ages to reply but I DO TRY to reply to everyone). This song right here right now also came from something TT sent me. Rather than an original, however, it's a remix, which is fine. I love a remix. I've gotten very into remixes over the time I have been living and breathing; from not understanding them at all whilst I was an adolescent, scorning and avoiding them in late teen years, and now accepting them as legitimate pieces of music in themselves, my view on remixes has changed a lot. It's a good idea to change your mind often. Sticking with one thing, well, it's gonna get a bit stale innit.

Anyway this remix is of a track by a guy called Low Tee, a producer from NYC and someone who I've seen round and about on Twitter but I've never really checked his music out. It took this remix to make me check it out. Tape Transport's version of 'Hey You (And Forever)' is a far cry from Low Tee's original – a blissful house number dominated with percussive organ caresses and flute synth – but that's a good thing. As long as the result is good, does it matter how far or near a remix lies to the original? Not particularly.

Beginning with a super-slowed-down sample from the original, which is then pushed into the stratosphere in terms of tempo, before being scratched and flipped on its head, the track sheds the house rhythm of the original, but doesn't leave behind the dancefloor completely. Collections of synth chords in zippy syncopation give a lovely electronic house appeal, creating the atmosphere of a nocturnal pre-night mood-upper with the heavy heft of a hip hop beat. Skittering hi-hats – which go mental towards the end – smatter the track with frenetic energy-driving vibes whilst smoke machine synths create lo-fi ambience across the board.

It's a smart, urbane track that whilst retaining the sheen of newness, contains somewhere within a leftfield appeal with its jungle of noises, tiny and almost undiscernible vocal samples abound in the fabric of the song, as well as those white-noise-aping synth chords. Arriving at the tale-end of this year's set of warm days for the Northern Hemisphere, Tape Transport's remix of Low Tee's 'Hey You (And Forever)' lights a little fire in your heart and tells you that it's still ok to go outside and party, despite the weather.

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GUEST MIX 002 :: 99LETTERS

A second guest mix! Wow, what the H! What the F! I know. It's really cool. Like I said when I introduced Bawxxx for Guest Mix 001, a mix is a good way to not just show off a person's tastes but also their talents: mixes are kinda easy to do but difficult to master (like anything really). This next Guest Mix arrives courtesy of Japanese producer 99LETTERS, an evident aficionado of hard electro house and tech house. Of course, as producer, he creates music himself - and seemingly insatiably too, telling me that he has "make more music." Real name Takahiro Kinoshita, hailing from Osaka, Japan, 99LETTERS was first inspired by "techno and ghetto house," listing Boys Noize, Gesaffelstein, SCNTST, Hoshina Anniversary, Erol Alkan, Tiga ("...and more!") as current influences on his music.

Speaking of his music, there are a few tunes in this mix that are actually his. Yep, sure are. There's his breezy indie-dance-style remix of fellow Osaka-dwellers The Paellas' recent track 'Sugar', the crunch buzz of his original track 'Adios' as well as 'Gangurio' and its assault of bleeps, finishing with his remix of Gesaffelstein 'Pursuit' - a chopped-up, slow-techno tank of a track. Of course, there's lots of other things in this mix - from Daniel Avery to Erol Alkan, from Tiga to Canblaster: it's a long buzz-saw of heart-pumping techno and electro.

TRACKLIST
Circle Of Life (Lion King)
The Paellas - Sugar (99LETTERS Remix Demo 1)
Daniel Avery - Reception
Tiga - Mind Dimension
Gesaffelstein - Variations
99LETTERS - Adios (Original Mix)
Erol Alkan - Bang
Adam X - Fare Beat
Canblaster - I Can't Wait
Benjamin Damage - 010x (SCNTST Remix)
Mr. Oizo - Bruce Willis Is Dead
Boys Noize - Reality
Jeremy Greenspan - God Told Me To
99LETTERS - Gangurion (Demo)
Housemeister - We Need Cash
Gesaffelstein - Pursuit (99LETTERS Remix)

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Listen to 99LETTERS on Soundcloud
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INSHAPE SUPER GOLFER [VIDEO]

Gotta keep the electro flag flying. And when I say electro, I mean like, well, the kind of electro that is dirty and buzzy and has 'Flat Beat' for its ancestor, in a way. Repetitive but glorious. Well as Hot Chip mentioned to us all, there is such thing as a "joy of repetition". Over and over and over and over. It kinda whips you up into a frenzy doesn't it?

And so I introduce the unrelenting beats of 'Super Golfer' by Parisian electronic duo InShape. They're made up of A.Abela and O.Boutinaud and this song that they have made really piqued my interest. Why? Because I hadn't heard anything like it in a while. Despite it being "derivative" or whatever you want to call it, it struck me as a fresh sound. Maybe they will be dancing the Tektonik in France again before we know it.

With a simple 4/4 house beat as the foundation, the two have created a genuine head-bopper of a track. I'm currently tapping my foot but that's neither here nor there. The beat, either way, is thick and reeks of attitude - there's no decoration here; it's nothing but a meaty metronome but it is the perfect fit for this situation. Yep, along with the fidgety hi-hats it's just the ticket.

This video as well is just... so silly. I love it.

With a menacing intro, there are nasty distorted synths in this song, giving it a very dirty sound. Bouncy bass synths back up from behind, providing support for the staccato sound. Brief washes of chorused synth come and go in waves. Towards the halfway point there's a REAL distorted synth that sounds something like a chainsaw being started - grindy and gravelly. At this point the funk of the song begins to appear, bringing the song to life even more than it already was.

There are little touches along the way that ensure that the song doesn't lose your attention - the sounds are twisted, added to, layered, switched around and blown up. With or without them, however, it's a pretty brash and brazen track and that is is exactly why I like it: InShape know that in 'Super Golfer' they have created a dirty electro track. And that is precisely what it is. If you dug this as much as I dug-digged it then you can purchase InShape's debut album Full Measures right away.

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MR OIZO SECAM

It's always nice to hear a new Mr Oizo song. Last time we heard anything new from him, it wasn't actually anything new and was in fact a compilation called Unreleased Unfinished Unpleasant containing, well, unreleased and perhaps - it was he who said it - some unfinished stuff. Now, this one, 'Secam', is genuinely new. Proper new. New like a new pair of socks or pants. It's a feeling like no other when something so familiar, like underwear, takes on a new form, i.e. that of brand-new shop-bought items. And that's how I feel about this song. It's Oizo, but it's new yo.

BOY IS IT NOISY. IS IT EVER. Ya it sure is. But that is Mr Oizo. Yeah, sure, you could argue that this isn't the typical Oizo of yesteryear, the one who seemed to chop up circuitboards and blend synth notes themselves to get a near-unlistenable sound, something completely erratic and verging on the wtf-is-this-guy-doing vibe. Still interesting listening though wasn't it? But yeah you could say, "oh man he's changed this isn't monsieur oiseau dat i no :/" - but I'd just say whatever. Cause this is a nice song.

As ever, he seems to mix a very dark, aggressive feeling with feel-good funk - a very wrong sounding mix in theory, but one which in practice definitely works. This particular song, 'Secam', has a definite wobbly and slippery synth feel that soon gives way to a frenetic frenzy of synth stabs, chomping vocal samples, clashing razor-sharp hi-hats and fever-pitch bell sounds, a bit like those wind up teeth that clatter along, all to a ground-shaking beat that slaps and thuds its way through. It totally zaps you, going for an all out attack on your little ears. Unrelenting and loud with a funky edge. Yes, it is Mr Oizo.

This actually comes from Ed Rec Vol. X (expected 10th June), which celebrates ten years of Ed Banger Records, alongside other label friends of course, like Justice, Mr Flash and SebastiAn. And, um, you can actually stream it all here, on Electro News's SoundCloud.

btw I think 'Secam' is "séquentiel couleur à mémoire" (sequential colour with memory) - the first colour TV system first used in France (compare PAL and NTSC) cause I was wondering what it was. So there.

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BODY FANTASY (YUKI ABE) IN IN

You know I keep saying how yeah it's fine whatever doesn't matter how old something is it's still new if it's the first time you've heard it? You know? Well, that kinda backfired with this song.

It's two years old and unfortunately between then and now the guy behind it, upcoming Tokyo-based DJ/producer Yuki Abe, has since moved from the moniker of Body Fantasy to work alongside a guy called Takumi Kawahori on new project Boys Get Hurt (more on them at a later date in the near near future). But for now for seriously, it's all about Yuki Abe and this lovely song of his, 'In In'. It's still a song and we can still listen to it so it's like totally valid no? Yes.

It starts off sounding a lot meaner than it actually turns out, a high-tempo electro house tune that sinks into sounding like an up-to-date Mylo tune with a cut-up synthesised vocal sample. It's a pretty glorious sound, with a euphoric melody playing over the top - the last two minutes of the song is a total mélange of sounds, layered and energised. Hot stuff.

Summery vibe, big summery vibe, big dancey dance-a-thon. Feel-good-stick-it-on-and-get-moving vibe. The dynamics of the song are great too, really nice keeping you on your toes and your ears suitably pleased and sated with the differing levels and layers and whatnot throughout this quite exciting song. Shame it kind of... doesn't exist anymore. Such is the permanent impermanence of the internet! Ho ho ho!

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Listen to Yuki Abe (Body Fantasy) on Soundcloud
Follow Yuki Abe on Twitter
Check Yuki Abe's blog

CRYSTAL HARU NO UMI (OCEAN IN SPRING) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I really like this song. But it's a shame because I always keep finding these songs that are months, even years old - this one is like a year old as it is. But then I think, "What does it really matter?"

And as I keep saying, if it's the first time you've heard it, it's new. Like, I don't think I ever heard Jimi Hendrix's 'All Along The Watchtower' till I was 18 - and what? I'm still alive. No lightning bolt has hit me. No gods are angry with me... I think. And so it is with this lovely song from Japanese electro trio CRYSTAL called 'Haru no Umi' ('Ocean in Spring') - oldish tune, but hey it's new alright.

How I found these guys was as simple as Teki Latex mentioning them on Twitter, just offhand. Then I discover that that they are actually the new signings to his label, Sound Pellegrino. But yeah this is all blah blah, let's listen to the song.

From the rippling and totally chilled intro, it's a glorious blend of chiptune-style music - the kind of thing you'd find on the title screen of an old but obviously totally cool videogame - of Japanese style music (because I can hear in there that the melody keeps to a Japanese musical scale and whatnot), and also of electro house music. Ok, 'electro house music' is a rather generic term, but I get this mainly from the totally in-yo-face beat: wide hammering snares and pulsing kick, with handclaps added for good measure. Like a zingy cocktail, people may look at you strangely for ordering it, but boy-oh-boy is it satisfying.

EDIT: Ok, so Ryota from CRYSTAL told me that it's their own rendition of a traditional Japanese song played around New Year called, likewise, 'Haru no Umi'. "The song is originally by Michio Miyagi and composed in 1929," he said. "And it is well known in Japan. While New Year holiday, you can hear the song in every restaurant and shopping mall in Japan :)" - fun fact! And you should listen to the rather stunning original.

Catch my drift on this, or not? I really like it. I don't know where this fits into the grand scheme of things when it comes to CRYSTAL's "official" releases. Maybe this isn't even by them. Maybe it's all a big joke. Well, ha-ha if so. And if not, then I am glad to have found it because it shows off their skills quite nicely; a great ear for dynamism within a song, composition and for the sheer good-humoured nature of having fun with synths. The base of all good electronic songs I'd say, no?

It's quirky, different, and comes with enough bite to warrant multiple listenings (and you can download it for freeee). In any case, this is more than enough for me to listen to on repeat until their first EP on Sound Pellegrino, called Get It, comes out on 20th May!

You'll find a more stripped-down, chiptune version of this song if you mosey on over to CRYSTAL's Geocities page - old-school.

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Like CRYSTAL on Facebook
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KAVINSKY PROTOVISION [VIDEO]

Kavinsky - otherwise known as the real world person Vincent Belorgey - is back with a new album due out early 2013: Outrun. This, 'Protovision', is the first official single from that album - 'Odd Look', a snippet of which we covered a few weeks ago, has actually not been released yet. But, all these technicalities and names aside, I'm just glad to hear that he's back. It seems that a lot of people are giving him a pretty hard time for "pulling a DRIVE" in the video below, but if you've followed Kavinsky for a while, you will see that Kavinsky is itself a creation by Vincent: both the music and the eponymous character form part of the atmosphere that goes with the whole package that is Kavinsky.

Whether or not you like or can even get on board with a conceptual idea like that is besides the point (no matter how cool or not cool you think it is): the point is the music. And as far as the music that comes from the mind of this guy goes, it remains an exciting, dynamic sound that doesn't pull any punches and that remains almost as it has been since the release of his first EP Teddy Boy in 2006.

So in 'Protovision' we are treated to an epically wailing guitar, which is the main star of the 3-minute-long thumper of a track. In typical Kavinsky style we hear a super strong beat that thuds along beneath a grim, fuzzy wave of synth bassline - a showcase of 80s-car-chase-inspired sounds that display and illustrate as much excitement as inspires them in the first place. The only change that has been made to the sound since previous tracks is perhaps a larger dash of wide and epic, cinematic atmosphere that has managed to have been captured within the glowering synth of 'Protovision', yet still it is the small touches that make the most differences sometimes.

Detractors might say that Kavinsky is always the same - if you don't like that sound, then lack of change is bound to annoy you. Personally, I think this sound is one that Vincent Belorgey should tenaciously cling onto and hold close because it's one that, like a loveable or memorable character, people will not tire of hearing.

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DON RIMINI THE FUTURE IS OURS

I'm finding it really difficult to enjoy anything at the moment because I have a headache. It feels like the moon has been teleported into my head. As you can imagine, it's kinda painful. Anyway - on with the show and all that.

So this is French producer Don Rimini (real name: Xavier Gassemann) with a right banger (sorry) called 'The Future Is Ours', coming from his recent EP, (FOMO) Fear Of Missing Out, which is out now. He's been around since 2007 and made it particularly big off the back of a song called 'Let Me Back Up', released in 2008, which is an epic glitchy electro-house number making full use of the glorious repetition of sounds and rising and falling dynamics that characterise this kind of music.

So this time around, it's kind of different. 'The Future Is Ours', as the title suggests, is decidedly relentless, grab-em-by-the-balls kind of song. It's a very funky number, embracing the true house style with an endlessly looping bassline and a hard-not-to-love vocal sample, emphatically asking the question "Can you dig it?". It's one that overpowers your body and mind - even with a headache, right now I am more than enduring this song: I'm enjoying it. Muchly. And you should too!

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MR OIZO UNRELEASED UNFINISHED UNPLEASANT [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Today is just full of treats isn't it? First a new Cyril Hahn number, then lovely hip hop, and now: the news that Mr Oizo (aka Quentin Dupieux) has released some previously unreleased, and evidently unfinished and unpleasant tracks, on an album wistfully entitled Unreleased Unfinished Unpleasant. What's more, it's available as free download from www.oizo3000.com, "Mr Oizo's lazy website". Free download, no caps: just what the doctor ordered.

Old Quentin Dupieux has been something of mystery, everyone wondering: Just when the arse-ing hell is there going to be more Mr Oizo shiz, by Jove?! Well, he's been busy making films. That picture tells you enough. But if you would like to know more about the film, Wrong, which he showed at Sundance this year, here's an interview with the man himself.

So, about Unreleased Unfinished Unpleasant. It contains unreleased stuff from 2004 to 2012 (tracklisting on the second screenshot of his website below) and is, as you'd expect, typically Oizoian: electro house with ear-twisting sounds and funky melodies set over some seriously spiky, abrasive beats, best shown off on 'Tissu' whose paranoic, frantic synths could share a room with the nervous, space-invadery sounds on 'Hidolls'. Then you have the barely-a-song songs like 'Mositif' with the refrain "End of the world", you have, weird shoes-squeaking sounds of 'Gunzeon', the unexpected ghostly head-banger that is 'Coco', menacing big synth in the heart-pounding 'Flip Bat'... I could go on, but you get the idea: It's new Mr Oizo! Boogie on down to Oizo3000.com and get downloading if you know what's good for you.

To reiterate that tracklist for you it's...
1. Kylie
2. Duck Guts
3. Hidolls
4. Tissu
5. Mositif
6. Pepa & Pepa
7. Gunzeon
8. 143
9. Flip Bat
10. Coco
11. Moto44 (Crashed)
12. JC Dus

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Mr Oizo on Facebook
Mr Oizo on Twitter
Mr Oizo on SoundCloud
Mr Oizo's Wikipedia page
Mr Oizo on Myspace Mr Oizo's lazy website

MESS ME CALL [FREE DOWNLOAD]

It was this time a year ago that I was first listening to the Swiss electro-house producer Mess Me. A year ago. Yep, I wrote about his track, 'Lightless'. But now he's got this new track that he added on SoundCloud yesterday and it's pretty fabulous, I've gotta say. He posted a link to it on his Facebook page in fact, along with the warning/disclaimer/carrot-on-a-string: only for '80 synth lovers ♥

Quite promising, no?

It would mark a massive change in his sound. What I heard last year was hardcore electro house, lots of fuzz and buzz and grinding, distorted synth tearing into my brain. It was great. But now he seems to have taken up the mantle of an 80s reviver (like College, Gentleman Drivers, Kavinsky, etc) and gone to town with his new found retroness.

The song is called 'Call' and is full of heavy, electro house energy - the thumping thud of the drum tracks and a saw wave, ongoing bassline that undercuts everything make that pretty clear. But there is the addition of some complex synth arpeggios, as high-pitched as they are hollow and clear. Listen below.



Great isn't it? There's a certain Balearic euphoria to this, I think. I found this in the beat that sped up before a drop and also in the general simplicity of that electro house foundation - the notes he had chosen, well, perhaps I'd heard them a lot before in a lot of party, summer music. And that's basically what this is: it's party, summer music. The sun's actually shining in England today. I'm going to listen to this song again and jump around whilst I make some coffee.

Oh, this is a FREE DOWNLOAD by the way.

*downloads*

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• Here Mess Me is on SoundCloud
• And Mess Me on Facebook
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GENTLEMEN DRIVERS FEROCE

Watch that. And tell me it's not cool.

Granted, the video isn't original (it's actually a short film called C'était un rendez-vous by Claude Lelouch), but it fits this brutal electro house song so very well. It might as well be the original. Like when Jimi Hendrix covered All Along The Watchtower and Bob Dylan said "yeah, ok, it's basically your song now" - same with this video. Gentlemen Drivers have done it better.

Hailing from Paris, this duo have described themselves as having an American imagination with a French sauce. And you can hear it. There's that big bold Parisian sound with a bit of American euphoric techno thrown into the mix. This particular song is quite old, but it's amazing. The dark, Dracula-at-the-organ-like synthesisers join us at the beginning of the journey and accompany us all the way to the end of the song. Soon the beat drops in, the kick perfect with one ounce hammering treble, 50 ounces full and meaty. The little drops where some modulating, low-attack synth chords are perfect too, providing a bit of respite from the atonal medley of fluttering synth that is always present.

Great song. Shame I got on it so late. Looking forward to hearing more.

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• They are on Facebook.
• They are also on Twitter.
• Here's their Myspace.
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KAVINSKY NIGHTCALL

I haven't yet seen Drive, but if some of the music blasting out of the essences of the by-mouth reviews and praise of that film is anything to go by, it's safe to say that it'd be a good idea to go and see it. And of the music, the sound that seems to be in the air at the moment permeating the brain of anybody/everybody who went to see the film is the distinctly brilliant 'Nightcall' by Kavinsky.

Real name Vincent Belorgey, Kavinsky is one of the children of the Parisian electro house family, having toured with the likes of Daft Punk, Justice and The Rapture, delivering high energy tunes based on that 2005-7 fuzzy electronic aesthetic. And that's not everyone. Aside from being mates with one of my favourite French artists, Mr. Oizo, he's also called upon the talents of fellow electro-honeymooner Lovefoxxx (of CSS) to lend her lovely vocal stylings to the creeping cat of a track that is 'Nightcall'.



And what a creeping cat this track is. If Kavinsky here is trying to evoke a kind of night feeling, of the dark air and rushing blank road orange streetlights, the quiet and cold if it all, then he has done it very very well. The slow house beat whisks you away like an urban dreamtime rowboat into a kind of 80s alternate reality where everything resounds with a kind of computerised nostalgia. The altered machine-like voice offset against Lovefoxxx's vocals is the perfect contrast. All I can say is that I love the tempo and I love the feel. It's the kind of thing that suits night much more than morning, like I said. Like a creeping night cat. And this song, by the way, comes from Kavinsky's 7-song 2010 EP, Nightcall.

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• Listen to more Kavinsky on his SoundCloud
• Or Myspace
• And here is Kavinsky on Bandcamp
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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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