EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Former Ghosts - Mother
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(Photo: Jeff R. Williams)
Former Ghosts offer a particularly cool adaptation of ’80s-born DNA, a remixture of the elegant Gothicisms that defined the early years of labels like 4AD, Mute and Factory: spectral, electronic, haunted and haunting. “Mother” is from Fleurs, the debut album from the dark-star trio of Freddy Ruppert (This Song Is a Mess but So Am I), Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu) and Nika Roza (Zola Jesus), and it’s got so much restrained emotion that the air around it seems to quiver. Fleurs comes out October 20 but the band’s tour starts tonight in Phoenix (full dates after the break). The bad news is that Roza won’t be on this tour due to her studies, as she explains here. The good news is that Freddy and Jamie will.
Previously:
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras: Soon
Don’t look at Catholic as the next great reissue: The music made by synth-disco magus Patrick Cowley with vocalist Jorge Socarras between 1976 and ’79 has never seen the light of day. Cowley was one of dance music’s most important artists; heard today, his iconic remix of “I Feel Love” in 1982 seems to set the stage for so much of what was to come that decade. He didn’t get to see any of it: Cowley passed away late in ’82, one of the AIDS epidemic’s early victims. On Catholic (coming next month from Berlin’s Macro label) he’s at his style-spanning best, slipping between minimal electro, elegantly dark synth-pop and proto-coldwave gems like the symmetric first single, “Soon,” breathed into robotic life by Socarras’s dryly emotional speak-singing (and available now with remixes by Morgan Geist and KiNK).
EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Ghost Society - Love Love & Twisted Mind (featuring Jonas Bjerre)
Hands down, Ghost Society’s “Love Love” is my favorite of the week. Maybe girls flock to certain things. Shiny things, expensive things. Watery vocals and Danish synths and songs that carve a breathy brushstroke, things. This music is the soundtrack for that dream where you’re flying, soaring over mountaintops on a pair of silvery wings. Jonas Bjerre, the ethereal frontman of Mew, leads the second track—“Twisted Mind”—out of the enchanted forest and up into the clouds. If you’re into that kind of thing, you're really into that kind of thing, and you’ll be singing along in your sleep.
Sounds like: Mew, Blue Foundation, all the awesome songs from the Twilight soundtrack (Radiohead's on there!)
DOWNLOAD: 2020Soundsystem - No Order
When Ralph Lawson, label-head of 2020Vision, decided to spice up his DJ sets he reached out to unlikely collaborators -- a growing number of live musicians. These days the group, since branded 2020Soundsystem, have embraced their band configuration and crank out techno-influenced synth pop with a darkened edge. "No Order," taken from their debut album of the same name, features the gravely pipes of The Glass's Dominique and thrusts forwards at the behest of popping bass guitar lines and simmering synths. A must hear for anyone who wished a DJ would pick up a guitar/keyboard to get the party popping. Make sure to see them for yourself in Austin.
Sounds like: New Order, Depeche Mode, Queens of the Stone Age
2020Soundsystem's RCRD LBL Page
2020Soundsystem's Austin Schedule:
03/18 @ Karma Lounge (11:00PM)
DOWNLOAD: Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream (Hong Kong Blondes Remix)
As an endless parade of bands compete for audiences' rapidly dwindling attention spans, it takes a full scale media assault to get noticed. Perth-based duo Empire of the Sun seem well aware of these requirements and fulfill them with a colorful taste for the dramatic. Frocked in costumes evoking Klaxons, Fischerspooner and David Bowie all at once, this twosome peddle perky synth-pop fronted by preening vocals and paired with videos set in Shanghai. Hong Kong Blondes, who were recruited to remix the group's "Walking On a Dream," match the two's decadence with big, blocky beats rendered in oversized dynamics. Finally, Empire of the Sun have found worthy peers for their attention-grabbing schemes.
Sounds like: Klaxons, Fischerspooner, Erol Alkan
Empire Of The Sun - Walking On a Dream (Hong Kong Blondes remix)
VIDEO THRWBCK: Telex - Moskow Diskow
Telex served as the Belgian bridge between the sultry Italo stylings of Giorgio Moroder and the man-machine anthems produced by Kraftwerk. "Moskow Diskow" from 1979 is a propulsive example of their hybrid sound and a reminder of how strangely music videos started out.
DOWNLOAD: Metronomy - A Thing For Me (Sinden Remix)
Being a relentlessly prolific remixer has taught UK producer Sinden how to identify, isolate and magnify the best bits of songs. So while taking on Metronomy's boyish come-hither jam, "A Thing For Me," he spied the group's New Order-influenced arrangements and turned them into the basis of his cracking remix. While the falsettoed vocals still ride high in the mix, he generates a thrumming bass line and stately yet quirky synth staircase that call to mind the influential synth-poppers and places it on a gnarly, bucking rhythm. The Metronomy trio barely holds on but has a blast. What about you?
Sounds like: Cut Copy, Sinden, New Order
DOWNLOAD: Djuma Soundsystem vs Raz Ohara - Zillion Lights
From an artists' perspective, one great perk of making techno and house is the ability to ride one hit single into long-held notoriety. Danish duo Djuma Soundsystem have done just that on the back of their massive 2003 track, "Les Djinns," which received a second wave of popularity thanks to a sheaf of remixes commissioned by Get Physical Music. Now, as a part of the Get Physical's 100th release bonanza, Djuma Soundsystem are back in the saddle for a punchy new track, aided by the excellent vocalist/producer Raz Ohara. The track's thrumming pulse and flaring synth stabs are as lovely as they are propulsive, with Ohara's longing voice narrating its inner melancholy. Another single to ride? Maybe so.
Sounds like: Booka Shade, M.A.N.D.Y., Gui Boratto
Djuma Soundsystem vs Raz Ohara - Zillion Lights (Radio Edit)
FEATURED: Wierd Celebrates Five Year Anniversary On 11/21 + Downloads
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This Friday, 11/21 at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg, the cats behind the weekly NYC shindig Wierd and its accompanying label will be throwing a righteous five-year-strong bash. Celebration is in order, a lot of great minimally-minded synth bands and deejays have rolled through their doors and appeared on their releases over the years, and running a weekly party for five years in New York City deserves commendation in its own right. Four bands from the label will chop it up on stage--Blacklist, Xeno & Oaklander, Led Er Est, and Opis Finis--while deejays Pieter and Glenn will spin afterward until 4AM. Flyer after the break. Download a track from each band playing below, and if you can't make it to the big one this Friday, Wierd Wednesdays happen every week at Home Sweet Home in Manhattan.
Download: Blacklist - Blue Shifted
Download: Xeno and Oaklander - Blue Flower
Download: Led er Est - Woman in a Cafe
Download: Opus Finis - Perplexed Pathos
DOWNLOAD: Eliot Lipp - Beamrider
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Even without wordy MCs, you can feel hip-hop's undeniable swagger in the frothy instrumentals of Eliot Lipp. Free from rappers' blinged out egos, the New York-based producer puts whatever twist he wants on his banging beats, from squelching sci-fi beats ("Beamrider") to a spray of Bubble Bobble glitches ("Sentinel"). It also allows him to be incredibly prolific, and the forthcoming Peace Love Weed 3D on his own Old Tacoma Recordings label is album number six in less than five years. Lead single "Beamrider" is a triumphant opening that rides tough on descending bass lines and toasts the good life with blissful melodies. "Sentinel" jabs playfully at listeners' ears with blurry synth funk stabs. Be prepared to crank these up.
Sounds like: Michna, Daedelus, Prefuse 73
Download: Eliot Lipp - Beamrider
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