The Presets are finally back! You might remember the Australian duo of Kimberly Moyles (a.k.a. K.I.M.) and Julian Hamilton from releasing the completely crazy Beams and its consequent single "Are You the One?" in 2005. After the kind of carnage that song perpetrated in clubs worldwide, we can't wait to see the kind of reaction their new single is going to get, which coincidentally is out today on Modular. It's called "My People", and to celebrate its release we're giving away an awesome DIM remix of the track. It's a real electrobanger, full of distorted bass lines and all that good stuff. Download it below and check out the Modular RCRD LBL post for more info.
Your eyes do not deceive you: RCRD LBL's own Kings and Queens are opening for new wave legends The Psychedelic Furs at San Francisco's Mezzanine on December 29th. If you're in town, and in need to an awesome show to cure your post-Christmas mega-hangover, be sure to check out their heavy psychedelic grooves. While you're at it, download two of their tracks right here.
Grizzly Bear's Friend EP is garnering some hardcore year-end love, and we must say we're not surprised. The EP features reworks, covers, homages and alternate takes from the band's critically-lauded 2006 album Yellow House. One of the most arresting tracks of the EP is the electric version of "Little Brother", which takes the form of a jarring slow jam with lead guitarist Daniel Rossen's trademark vibrato over the top. It's a great track, and the KEXP blog has just featured it, so go on over there and check it out. If you haven't gotten Friend yet, we'll also re-post Grizzly Bear's cover of the Crystals' girl group classic "He Hit Me" which is featured on the EP. Enjoy!
The guys over at the SEEN RCRD LBL blog have gone and posted their top 10 albums of 2007 list (talk about casting the first stone...). Not to give anything away (except for the giant jpeg at the beginning of this post, obviously) but there will be techno brilliance, megalomaniacal rappers and everyone's favorite ball gown-wearing, BMX-riding Brit pop princess. Peep the list at the link.
Congratulations to Kompakt's very own Gui Boratto for making it to #24 on Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks year-end list! It's great to see pure dance genius recognized. The song in question, the nine-minute-long, epicly-swirling "Beautiful Life" will forever shout "happy fun times" at us from the summer of 2007 until the end of time. Check out Gui and the rest of the list at the link below, and while you're at it download the original version of "Beautiful Life" too.
Spinner have posted a new Stephen Malkmus MP3 as their Song of the Day. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' new record, the brilliantly-titled Real Emotional Trash, is out March 4th on Matador and promises to satisfy all those fans out there. "Baltimore" is a laid-back, fuzzed out '70s rock jam with Malkmus warbling all over it, the way that Malkmus is so adept at doing. Let's face it, nothing is ever going to top the Crooked Rain days, so let us appreciated the man for what he's worth, grab our hula hoops and rock out.
We absolutely love Cat Power, now more than ever since she's recording with the Dirty Delta Blues Band, staying sober, and releasing completely amazing blues rock records. We saw her open for Interpol at MSG a few months ago, and the only people who weren't completely blown away by her show-stopping cover of Liza Minelli's "New York, New York" were the dumb jocks who just didn't know any better (on a side note, since when do Interpol attract lame college dudes to their shows?). We just got a copy of Cat Power's new album Jukebox, which is like her 2000 album The Covers Record, only more coherent and spectacular. Cat Power is about to go on tour with the Dirty Delta Blues Band, and Brooklyn Vegan has the dates.
When Test Icicles broke up in 2006, we're sure a lot of people thought that would be it for Devonte Hynes--a short-lived yet highly influential run in a British indie band. However, and how lucky for us, Dev had a few aces up his sleeve. Straight after Test Icicles parted ways, rumors started circulating that Dev had moved to the Midwest a started an Americana indie-pop band called Lightspeed Champion. While this seemed somewhat unlikely for the most popular member of an electro-hardcore band from London, every single molecule of us wished it to be true, and it turns out it was. The impressively-permed Dev is releasing Falling Off the Lavender Bridge in February on Test Icicles' old label, Domino Records. Omaha-based blog (the town where Dev recorded Lavender Bridge) Omahype just featured a live track of Dev covering the Strokes' song "Heart in a Cage". Enjoy.
The Turntable Lab dudes have gone all music nerd (big surprise) on us today and posted some rad videos to their RCRD LBL blog. One of them is a really old and weird clip of New Order performing "Thieves Like Us" on a British TV program and playing a synthesizer the size of our office, and all with brilliant results. Obviously New Order are amazing, but it's hard to not think that sometimes their contribution to electronic music would be more appreciated is they didn't have to live in the shadow of Joy Division. Just a thought. Anyway, check out that video and more on the TTL RCRD LBL blog.
Another week, another installment of DSCVR DIM MAK! Today the label take us all the way back to 2005, when they released Chandeliers in the Savannah, the debut album by Neon Blonde. Neon Blonde are Johnny Whitney and Mark Gajadhar of recently-defunct hardcore heroes the Blood Brothers, and the lead single from Chandeliers, "Headlines", incorporates both elements from the Brothers (Johnny's manic vocal style, break beats) and traditional piano and songwriting techniques. Making for an interesting listen to say the least, Neon Blonde released "Headlines" to wide acclaim, and made a video with award-winning multimedia director Toben Seymour. Peep the Dim Mak RCRD LBL blog for links and more on Neon Blonde...
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