DOWNLOAD: Faunts - Feel.Love.Thinking.Of + It Hurts Me All the Time
Faunts have refined the intersection between the dreamy textures of shoegaze and infectious synth pop on their latest album, Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. On the title track the Canadian fivesome wrap listeners in hazy drones, send drum machine patterns down supine spines and coo in their ears. And for those who like shoegaze standing up, the arpegiated synth line and new wave chorus of "It Hurts Me All the Time" compel the feet to shuffle along to the group's musical misery. A must hear for fans of Stars, Broken Social Scene's synthy side project.
Sounds like: Stars, My Bloody Valentine, New Order
Faunts - Feel.Love.Thinking.Of
Faunts - It Hurts Me All the Time
Previously:
Faunts - M4 (Part II) (The Paronomasiac Remix)
Faunts - Memories of Places We've Never Been (T.H. White Remix)
DOWNLOAD: Broker/Dealer - Soft Sell (Thomas Fehlmann remix)
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Perhaps now is not the best time to be named Broker/Dealer, but Ryan Fitzgerald and Ryan Bishop are making the best of it. After a four year hiatus during which Fitzgerald played guitar on Polyphonic Spree albums, B/D regrouped their financially-themed production duo to release "Soft Sell" on Spectral Sound. The EP also features remixes from legendary German producer Thomas Fehlmann, who toughens up and dubs out the pair's smooth techno pop sound. His grainy, pumping beats anchor the track as ethereal pad melodies flow in and out of focus. It's just the kind of track you'd want to hear instead of looking at your stock portfolio -- a bit out of this world.
Sounds like: Thomas Fehlmann, Quantec, Juan Atkins
Broker/Dealer - Soft Sell (Thomas Fehlmann digital only remix)
DOWNLOAD: Brian Cares - Say Say
Berlin club Bar25 is equally notorious for top quality line ups and its patrons' behavior. The club also expanded into releasing music, much of which fits the loose, disorienting sound blared from its speakers until all hours. The music of long-time resident DJ Brian Cares is quite in step with this aesthetic as exhibited on his forthcoming Bar25 debut, Fingerprints, and its teaser EP. It's blessed with real levity and sense of humor, helping his quirky twists and turns go down easily. The lazy stride of "Say Say" is tugged by Latin guitar strums and buzzing synths, its laconic vocalist nagging listeners into showing a little life. Also recommended is "Hey DJ," a hilarious and catchy tune narrated by Jake the Ripper, who demands dancers stop bumping the decks while requesting Hot Chip; check it out on Brian's Myspace linked below.
Sounds like: Thomas Brinkmann, Raz Ohara
DOWNLOAD: Roots Manuva - Let The Spirit (Hot Chip Remix)
Before becoming synth pop stars, Hot Chip first gently mocked and generously emulated the spirit of hip-hop in their own music. Now they're content to remix rappers, as they've done with a tune from British MC Roots Manuva. Once can see why they would be attracted to the "Let the Spirit," originally produced by Metronomy, with its synth horns flaring and gregarious vocal refrain. Their version ticks up the tempo a few notches and opts for a more dynamic mood, letting Manuva's jaunty lyrics tuck and roll through dusty breakbeats, thrumming synth progressions and dreamy Rhodes arpeggios. It's so fitting and catchy, you might just find the spirit taking a hold of you, too.
Sounds like: Matthew Dear, Hot Chip, MSTRKRFT
Download: Roots Manuva - Let the Spirit (Hot Chip Remix Radio Edit)
STREAM: Sten - Fortune, Way to the Stars, & Squares
Dial Records head honcho, Peter Kersten might have a laidback temperment, but his work ethic is anything but. In addition to making music under the monikers Lawrence and Sten, Kersten has built an increasingly popular and successful label with his friends Turner and Carsten Jost, one which celebrates experimentation as much as irresistible dance floor grooves. While Kersten strives constantly to improve his own music, its tone and quality has proven quite consistent. Check out "Fortune," a track from recent label comp You Are My Mate: Even tempered and enigmatic, the Detroit-influenced tune rolls its ascending synth progression over the pattering of toms, hi-hats and icy marimba lines. Sten explores moods and methods across his latest album, The Essence, which hosts tracks like the nervous and pacing "Squares," and the space-exploring epic "Way to the Stars" -- a true treat for melodic tech-house lovers. You might just be tempted to join Kersten on the couch for a listening session.
Sounds like: Theo Parrish, Carl Craig, Pantha Du Prince
EXCLUSIVE STREAM: Junesex - Worst Than Love + Remixes
If sex sells, Parisian electro upstarts Junesex are among its finer peddlers. The shadowy foursome work perverted themes into their quirky, jerky tunes with hedonistic abandon. Their sound ranges from high energy bounce on "Boy With Your Tongue" to the more sedate and contemplative "Worst Than Love," the forthcoming single on their Junesex International Airlines label. This tune is a serious flipside which considers falling in love with a fuck buddy to a relaxed electro pop backdrop comparable to their countrymen in Phoenix. Remixes from seasoned house producers Losoul and Gilb'R (of Château Flight) bring the tune back to the dance floor in different ways: The former relishes skippy repetition, swing beats and a left-of-center chord structure, while the latter uses vintage synths and plenty of tension to expand the track to epic proportions. So no matter what point on the sexy spectrum you're on, the newest from Junesex has you covered.
Sounds like: Phoenix, The Teenagers, Tahiti 80
Stream: Junesex - Worst Than Love
Stream: Junesex - Worst Than Love (Losoul's Art in Times of Love Remix)
Stream: Junesex - Worst Than Love (Gib'R's Château Flight Remix)
DOWNLOAD: Sisters of Transistors - The Don (Acid Girls Grey Disco Remix)
Even for Graham Massey, an acid house pioneer with 808 State, techno guru, prolific collaborator and multi-instrumentalist, his newest project is a step outside the norm. The Sister of Transistors is not just a band, but an outlet for Massey's addiction to buying 60s transistor organs on eBay and a social club for female synth enthusiasts. They meet at the South Manchester Museum of Keyboard Technology and hold weekly workshops, looking a bit like the above picture: Massey sitting in the middle, battering his drum set, while the ladies coax Italo-influenced melodies from their organs and sing along. Sounds like fun, right? The group's first single, "The Don," serves as a teaser to their forthcoming album, and offers an unexpected bridge between anthemic synth pop and Italo horror flick soundtracks. The single is rounded out by a rave-warped remix from L.A.'s Acid Girls, which honors Massey's role in the proliferation of sirens and glowsticks yet remains tastefully distorted and palatable.
Sounds like: Simian Mobile Disco, Tiga, Lindstrom
Download: Sisters of Transistors - The Don (Acid Girls Grey Disco Remix)
Sisters of Transistors' Myspace
DOWNLOAD: Gang Gang Dance - Princess + House Jam
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It's been four years since Gang Gang Dance unleashed their first fully formed album, the hauntingly beautiful God's Money, upon unsuspecting audiences. It was a bit like aural black magic: unpredictable, enticing, and just a bit frightening. Now the NYC four piece is set to broadcast their next otherworldly transmission, Saint Dymphna. If two advanced cuts are of any indication, the group has grown more interested in songwriting in addition to sculpting soundscapes. "House Jam" breaks all the rules of house music but manages to be catchy and soulful, if driven by a willfully difficult beat. GGD craft a mosiac of synth shards, droning vocal loops and shiny guitar noodling that vocalist Liz Bougatsos sits perched upon, regaling audiences with her fantastical and newly straightforward delivery. But things just get stranger from there, not least because "Princess" is GGD's interpretation of a grime tune, replete with young MC Tinchy Strider straddling the jaunty and buzzing instrumental. Whichever path Gang Gang Dance takes in the quest for engaging weirdness, I'm liable to bounce along behind.
Sounds like: Animal Collective, The Boredoms, Black Dice
Download: Gang Gang Dance - Princess (ft. Tinchy Stryder)
Download: Gang Gang Dance - House Jam
STREAM: Morgan Geist - Most Of All
Before forming Metro Area and reminding people that disco wasn’t all bloat and glitter, Morgan Geist produced techno music which offered a New Jersey tonic to Carl Craig’s glowing Detroit style. This year he's gravitating closer to his techno roots with a second album entitled Double Night Time. But unlike past efforts, Geist's path takes a more poppy detour, as well as vocals from Junior Boys' crooner, Jeremy Greenspan. One album cut, the sparkling "Most of All," evokes Hall & Oates' songcraft with chilly synth lines, reverberating guitar lines and Greenspan's measured delivery. By contrast, "Skyblue Pink" is more contemplative, cobbling together a raft of synth sounds that burn slowly through melancholy movements. It seems that with each turn Morgan Geist is able to reinvent himself through a different musical lens; but this one has the most potential to turn heads in and outside the club.
Sounds like: Junior Boys, Hall & Oates, Human League
Stream: Morgan Geist - Most Of All
FEATURED ALBUM STREAM: Syclops - I've Got My Eye On You
Throughout his prolific musical career, Maurice Fulton has worn many hats and moniker masks to fully capture the breadth of his creativity. The Baltimore native started recording in the mid-90's with house groups like The Basement Boys, and was soon catapulted into artistic notoriety for his work on Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman," a truly massive and seminal house track. Since then, Fulton has pushed, pulled and warped his musical boundaries, taking on 18 different names to span deep-house, downtempo, future jazz, breaks and fusions thereof, unafraid to dive into the unknown and make it work. More recently, Fulton and his wife, Mutsumi Kanamori, have ripped gaping holes in the sides of genres with their twisted project, MU. Equally frightening and awe-inspiring, MU projects a post-apocolyptic industrial/synth slate that batters dancers as Kanamori howls and sneers at bewildered listeners on their albums, "Afro Finger and Gel" and "Out Of Breach (Manchester's Revenge)." All the while, Fulton's hot remixes for Hot Chip, Kathy Diamond, Annie, The Rapture, Chateau Flight and Chicken Lips (among many others) have propelled him into the indie dance scene as well.
His latest project, Syclops, brings together a mysterious trio of largely Finnish musicians to bring his jagged visions of dance music's future to life. Their debut album for DFA Records, I've Got My Eye On You, buzzes and stretches happily through more organic, laid back textures on "Naoka's F," jazzy lab experiments on "A Lovely Sunday" and synth funk shards on "Where's Jason's K." It's a pure representation of dance music's possibilities with live, virtuostic musicians. In fact, you can stream the entire album here for one week only! Fulton may have donned many guises and covered many a genre throughout his 15+ years of making left of center music, but it all comes back to the unbridled creativity constantly flowing from his hands and mind.
Sounds Like: The Juan Maclean, Osborne, Daniel Wang
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