Well. Well, Well.

Didn’t even know i could still log into this thing……

A little morsel of fun landed in my hands yesterday which put a smile on my dial.

Don’t know much about them except there from Melbourne and enjoy making fun of themselves and this certainly comes out in their music.

Rimpy Sed have taken an  interesting look at American infomercials, which at first glance i thought might result in a rather bland music video but it didn’t. Well there you go aYE!

Some dates if you wanna check em out!

St Kilda Festival – Feb 11th

Cherry Bar – Feb 25th

Enjoy !

Dyskoswet by Rimply Sed

blake

Sometimes these days I feel like the only time I swing through these pages is when I’m violently ditching something at you with the triumphant cry of ‘LOVE THIS LIKE I LOVE YOU’ (see Mob, Glitch and Buttons, Fuck). Which is part of the point of blogs I guess, but I do worry that you may construe my reckless effusion as being insincere. I assure you, it’s not. This has just been a good few months for music. That, and I FUCKING LOVE EVERYTHING.

But, ironic exaggeration aside, ‘Teen Dream’, the new Beach House album, is just… stunning. Really stunning. It’s not due out until late January next year and already it’s jockeying for my best album of 2009/2010 (leaks make for hazy ranking periods). I enjoyed their first major offering, ‘Devotion’, but had found it a little too wintry and sleepy overall, like the sole intention of the name ‘Beach House’ was to make a joke out of the album itself. It was beautifully produced certainly, and signposted a lot of the elements that make ‘Teen Dream’ such a profound pleasure, but in the end I found myself reducing the album down to being merely sleeping music. A role it filled very well, but in retrospect this may have been an ignominious end for quite a remarkable record.

Not so with ‘Teen Dream’, with which I’m willing to say Beach House may well have turned in the crucial album of this summer. Whereas ‘Devotion’ seemed to traffic in rain-drenched waves and overcast holidays, ‘Teen Dream’ coasts on hungover and hot Saturday mornings, lazy Sunday beers and summer girls. It’s like Delorean made a special effort to get his glum mate out of the dumps and inadvertently caused him to produce the best music of his life. Whereas once Beach House drifted from track to track, covering their songs in a monochromatic, icy blur, now they soar towards their choruses, each song an expression of some new-found confidence and optimism. The album title is indicative too; ‘Teen Dream’ owes a lot more to the nostalgic, John Hughes-tinged optimism of ‘Saturdays=Youth’-M83 than it does Atlas Sound (which may be a patchy comparison, but I discovered the two at the same time and they share a certain resonance in my mind). Although fans of their previous work will still be able to wallow in the familiar array of fuzzed out edges and tentative sentiment; despite this shift toward dreamwave/glo-fi/et al, the sonic template and songwriting aesthetic has remained largely stable.

The end result is a lush, gauzey and gorgeous album, filled with gentle crescendos and vocals of velvet softness. It’s music that you want to backstroke lazily around as you flirt awkwardly with the girls you used to love. The kind of songs that make you see your life as a film recorded entirely in Super-8, filled with dull lighting and hipster asides. Music containing the cautious optimism of your teen years and suffused with the occasional longing you have to feel that strongly and abruptly once again. An album that will prompt you to write as pretentiously as those past few sentences look on the re-read. Yikes. But all this and more awaits you when you listen to Beach House’s brilliant new album ‘Teen Dream’ (especially the pretension). It’s available on January 26th, but in the meantime I’ll leave you with my primary obsession from the record, the gloriously restrained anthem ‘Walk in a Park’. The song itself is beautiful enough – and certainly showcases Beach House’s new attachment to the world of major chords and semi-traditional songwriting – but when the final climax kicks in, you suddenly find the song recast in shimmering euphoria and endless longing and you begin to realise that you might actually be listening to something quite remarkable. Which the entire album is. Do keep your eyes out for it. I guarantee you, it will define your summers.*

Beach House – Walk In The Park

-luke

* Really, really, really not a guarantee

Was feeling a bit blue post-Aria’s, but then iTunes randomly saved the day.. Salvation was in the muffled form of Brooklyn-bred lo fi rockers Small Black. Perfect tunes for reminiscing about holiday romances that never actually took place, and long walks on the beach that were quite short and didn’t take place on or near a beach. And then, with that perfect Washed Out remix on headphones, staring up through the office skylight at a blue washed sky it dawned on me… It’s totally Friday afternoon. BOOM!

Sydney is in good form today.

Small Black – Despicable Dogs

Small Black – Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix) (best down-tempo electro jam of all time???)

Will Bec and I be seeing y’all (with shirts on) at Stereosonic tomorrow?

-Mandu

Oh this is so good. This is so, so, so good. I’ll admit that I had wilfully avoided Fuck Buttons up to this point, partially due to the decidedly average name, and partially due to the fact that the entire idea of ‘noise’ as a genre makes me break out in hives. It’s kinda like my attitude to math rock – I can appreciate the art behind it, but when listening to it I am always faced with the burning question: when would I ever play this album for my own enjoyment? Noise-wise, everybody lost their shit for HEALTH recently, but I always found them a bit too fuzzed out, a bit too ragged to really enjoy; I could never properly settle in to what they were trying to do. Which is all part of the point, I guess, but that doesn’t necessarily make for a pleasurable aural experience. And from what I can understand, Fuck Buttons’ debut album, the critically lauded ‘Street Horrrsing’, was a bit more in this vein, albeit with a semblance of melodic overlays that have become their hallmark. Well, at least their hallmark within the noise scene; this shit ain’t Bach.

But now we have their sophomore effort, the cryptically titled ‘Tarot Sport’, and goddamn if they haven’t turned it on for this release. While a certain ‘noise’-iness still pervades the seven tracks on the album, the melodic drive has leapt to the fore, guiding the tunes through a stunning midpoint between the jagged, soaring electronica of ‘Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts’-era M83 and the relentless builds and sprawling climaxes of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky. The triumphal key changes beloved of so much dance music charge most of the offerings on the album, but they’re buffeted on every side by arching waves of folded feedback and heavy, rolling drum lines. ‘Tarot Sport’ is essentially split into five songs that fit that profile, mingled with a couple of shorter offerings that show off the band’s more abrasive side. Not that these tracks are in any way bad, but when thrown up against the monument of the other set pieces on the record, they seem to pale into insignificance. All in all, quite amazing.

But enough rapturous description, here be music. I’ve attached penultimate track ‘Space Mountain’ for your perusal today. It pretty much does everything I’ve already alluded too but, potentially, better. It begins with drums pounding and echoing across the track, while an array of sharp, pulsing synths oscillate and shimmer over the top. Then, bar by bar, new drums, new synths and new progressions get steadily added in, before a bending, distorted guitar enters the mix after a couple of minutes, steadily blanketing everything in an almost overwhelming cloud of ragged noise. And then finally, exultantly, a dimly perceived high-end drops in at the five minute mark and goddamn if I didn’t nearly start crying when I first heard it. Shit was visceral. May I recommend listening to this very, very loud on a good set of headphones. Such is the nature of the track that you just want to keep on turning the volume up and up to try and fully understand what’s going on underneath it all. Which, at its best, is probably the miracle of noise. And this, I think, is noise at its best. Anyway, I provide this track with my highest recommendation. Enjoy.

Fuck Buttons – Space Mountain

This song pretty much shot them to the upper echelons of my ‘must see live’ list. So great. ‘Tarot Sport’ is out now. Buy it. If you like this track, when stacked up alongside everything else on the album it becomes truly magnificent.

-luke

Matt of Van She fame has broken the from pack to go on his own little electro-pop safari.

Debut track ‘Saturday Night’ explores familiar topics, such as the day that comes between Friday and Sunday, and the period of time between 6:00pm and 7:00am depending on seasonal variations and daylight savings.

And apparently it’s pronounced Van Skee (can anyone corroborate this?)… Van She’s that other mob.

This is quite nice. Some of my favourite moments from ‘V’ were tracks with Matt’s vocals, so enjoy and expect plenty more very soon.

Matt Van Schie – Saturday Night (via the lovely folks at triple j)

Bookmark Matt’s website for up to date info and follow Matt @mattVanSchie on the tweetspace

-Mandu

I’ve been obsessing over Olympia/Seattle-based outfit, The Nextdoor Neighbors, so hard since discovering them a few weeks ago. Ridiculously endearing, this offbeat electro folk/pop duo released their debut album, Magic Vs the Machine, on Bicycle Records late last year, and it’s quite an impish little affair. With Kathy Cotes on keys and Jessie Hill on vocals, they work the kind of innocence that you’d normally see smothered in irony, but here it’s nothing but refreshingly honest. And oh man, that voice. She’s probably sick of hearing it, but Hill sounds exactly like a young Khaela Maricich. There’s this captivating ease about her that at times sees everything in the periphery just melt away from those transcendent lilting vocals of hers before they settle back in and play off Cotes’ pretty melodies.

You can pick up The Nextdoor Neighbors’ album from Bicycle Records’ site, and check out more of their tracks at their Myspace page.

The Nextdoor Neighbors – Cultural Revolution

The Nextdoor Neighbors – Anti-Lullaby

- bec

I have got no desire to go to Mexico. Between this, this and a really scarring experience I had down at Madmex on Crown St (shutup don’t want to talk about it stop talking)… well I’ve kinda made up my mind, amigo, that Mexico is not for me-o.

Feeling like Bondi Burrito for dinner tonight. Y’all been there?

And while I consume that there $12.50 AUD enchilada, I can gorge my ears on spicy stuff from the ancestral home of UK fidget, Jack Union.

Pologino – Golondrino (128 kb)

It’s a new EP called ‘Caguama Noise’ by a fellow named Poligono – bold and techy but with all the horny groove you’d expect from a Mexican house producer. Definitely on the deeper end of Jack Union’s sliding scale and I’d say its far more restrained and intraverted than Poligono’s previous jams. He had a release on Idiot House a couple months ago.. really pounding stuff, great fun.. but then Acid Jacks rarely set a foot wrong.

Get the new EP here, and check out Poligono’s Idiot House release and beyond on the man’s MySpacio

-Mandu

Every time I look at the title of this blog, my mind flies back to the heady days of 2007; the year when electro first exploded into the mainstream, propelled forward on a wave of stomping house beats spliced with synth-rock and electroclash sensibilities. I remember thinking at the time how amazing it was that good dance music had managed to recapture melody from the all-consuming shit-mouth that was anthem trance and disco house. After all this time mired in the subwoofer, there was melody. Melody was going to save us all.

And then I’m back in the present and I think to myself ‘thank Christ, bass is back’. It was like we all hit 2008, got halfway through and realised that dance music without bass is, well Top 40 really. And we’re better than that. Fidget, kuduru, UK funky, dubstep, bassline, ghettotech – they all seem to be on a mission to bring dance music back to the dark, dirty and booty-shaking subterranean chambers where it belongs. And Melbourne promoters Strobe are welcoming it with open arms. After tearing Melbourne to shreds back in February with a Proxy/Thomas von Party double header, Strobe are taking it up a notch this Friday the 22nd with a decidedly massive triple bill featuring Jesse Rose, Zombie Disco Squad and Oliver $. And we have tickets to give away to it. See the bottom for details.

Jesse Rose should need little introduction by now. The man was one of the major players in the fidget scene when it swept the world early last year (and apparently one of the guys who coined the term as a joke in the first place), and nowadays finds himself at the forefront of this new brigade of bass-heavy house music mercenaries. Currently signed to the genre-defining Dubsided label, he’s recently completed an Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1 (available here) and has a brand new album due out the day after the party. It’s called ‘What Do You Do If I Don’t?’, and best of all you get a free copy of the CD with entry. It’s stomping, surprisingly jazzy and pretty awesome, and you can check out a track that is all three of those things below.

Jesse Rose – Touch My Horn

Zombie Disco Squad are one of the pioneers of the so-called (and potentially racist…) Zulu house sound. Melding fidget with baile, bmore, hip-hop and African tribal funk, the ZDS boys push a relentless, mind-destroying brand of house music that oscillates wildly between clipped hip-hop samples, quirky synth stabs and pounding house beats. They’re just about to drop their new double A-side ‘Esperanto’/'Eurovision’ on Jesse Rose’s own Made To Play imprint and I assure you, it is reliably massive:

Zombie Disco Squad – Eurovision

And, finally, Oliver $. I must admit that up until recently I hadn’t really heard of the man, but he’s doing big things in Berlin at the moment and has a fairly esteemed position as one of Jesse Rose’s primary proteges. Straddling the fine line between booty house and minimal, Oliver $ is being championed by both sides of the spectrum due to his unique and decidedly understated approach to making some of the funkier dance music of the last year. Dubstep worthy bass, snatched vocal samples and bouncing kicks. This is just, in a phrase, fucking cool.

Oliver $ – Watcha Gonna Do

It’s all happening this Friday, May 22 at Billboards in Melbourne. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased from Moshtix and Ticketek. I can thoroughly recommend it. I’m almost positive this party is going to be batshit mental.

Even better though, we here at Electrorash have a double pass to give away to one oooooooh so lucky reader. How awesome? So awesome. Simply send an email to music@electrorash.com with STROBE in the subject line, and tell us in 10 words or less how you’re going to deal with the coming zombie invasion (the real zombies, not the Disco Squad). Get onto it! I’ll see you there.

-luke

Is wicked… instead of filling it full of exclusives/own productions like so many other producers do, Toddla has packed the 2 hours with the tracks he grew up with; if you’re looking for amazing mixing go somewhere else, but if you can look past a bit of chop/changing their is a hugely entertaining selection of tracks that steps away from the usual essential mix fare.

Tracklist:

Mantronix ‘King Of The Beats’ (Simply Vinyl)
Main Source ‘Lookin At The Front Door’ (Wild Pitch Records)
Dr Dre ft Snoop Dogg ‘Deep Cover’ (Death Row Records)
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo ‘In The Streets Of New York‘ (Cold Chillin’)
Nas ‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’ (Columbia)
Notorious BIG ‘Juicy (Remix)’ (Bad Boy Entertainment)
Smif-n-Wessun ‘Wrekonize‘ (Sound Bwoy Bureill Wreck Records)
Yvette Michelle ‘I’m Not Feelin You’ (Loud Records)
Tupac ‘Do For Love’ (Interscope)
Slum Village ft Busta Rhymes ‘What It’s All About’ (Barak Records)
A Tribe Called Quest ‘Bonita Applebum (Why Version)’ (Jive)
Carly Simon ‘Why’ (Mirage)
Gapband ‘Outstanding‘ (Total Experience Records)
Dazz Band ‘You Are My Starship (Urbanstar Remix)’ (Urbanstar)
Toddla T ft Siobhan Gallagher & Tinchy Styder ‘Butter Me Up’ (1965 Records)
Saint Etienne ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ (Heavenly)
Roisin Murphy ‘You Know Me Better (Toddla T Remix)’ (EMI Records)
Toddla T ‘Better’ (1965 Records)
Talking Heads ‘Girlfriend Is Better’ (EMI Records)
ABC ‘The Look Of Love’ (Mercury)
Electric Funk ‘On A Journey’ (Prelude Records)
Lady Cop ‘To Be Real’ (FFRR)
Cajmere ft Walter Phillips ‘Midnight’ (Cajual Record)
Popular Peoples Front ‘Make It Hot’ (The Popular People’s Front UK)
Basement Jaxx ‘Do Your Thing (Seiji Remix)’ (XL Recordings)
Skream ‘Midnight Request Line (Switch Remix)’ (Tempa)
Supafix ‘Jomsong’ (Earth Records)
Kerri Chandler ‘Bar A Thym’ (NRK/Nite Grooves)
Surkin ‘White Knight 2’ (Institubes)
Mike Dunn Presents The MD Express ‘God Made Me Funky’ (Open)
Crazy Cousinz VS Common ‘Do You Funky’ (White Label)
Alison Hinds ‘Roll It Gal (A Lil’ Bit Funky VIP)’ (1720 Entertainment)
Zed Bias ‘Neighbourhood 09’ (White Label)
Sia ‘Littleman (Wookie Remix)’ (Long Lost Brother Records)
Tell Me ‘Tell Me’ (White Label)
Mr Oizo ‘Flatbeat (Remix)’ (PIAS)
So Solid Crew ‘Oh No (Sentimental Things)’ (Relentless Records)
Wiley ‘Eskimo’ (Kat Records)
Dizzee Rascal ‘I Luv U’ (XL Recordings)
Busy Signal ‘Tic Toc (J Needles Driver Blend)’ (VP Records)
Wideboys ‘Westside (06 Up Norf 06 Mix)’ (Point Blank Records)
Lady Ragga ‘Niche Crew’ (Sub Jams)
DJ Luck & MC Neat ‘With A Little Bit Of Luck (Dub Militia Remix)’ (Red Rose)
Benga Vs M Dubs ‘Bump In The Knight’ (White Label)
Klaxons ‘Not Over Yet (Skream Remix)’ (Polydor)
Juju ‘Punks’ (NarcoHz)
Loefah ‘Disko Rekah’ (Deep Medi Musik)
Mala ‘Alicia’ (White Label)
Roy Davis JR ‘Gabriel (M Beat Mix)’ (XL Recordings)
Fugees ‘Ready Or Not (DJ Hype Remix)’ (Columbia)
Leviticus ‘Burial‘ (Philly Blunt Records)
Toddla T & Herve ‘Shake It (Red Light Jungle Revenge Remix)’ (1965 Records)
Skobbz ‘Sleng Teng (Jungle Mash Up) (Rockers)
Backyard Dog ‘Baddest Ruffest (Pipes & Slippers Mix)’ (Warner Music UK)
Toddla T ‘Rice & Peas’ (1965 Records)
Duffy ‘Stepping Stone (Cavemen Remix)’ (A&M Records)
Philly ‘Love Action’ (White Label)

Download

Back by overwhelming demand (serious-like!) here’s more from the enigmatic Sydney via New York (not San Fran as previously advertised) electro-pop’d duo, The Vanish. They’ve got some shiny new gems and a re-polished old one to share.

The Vanish – Heartbeat

The Vanish – I Don’t Speak French

The Vanish – Hold On (Mastered)

You’ll notice I’ve reposted Hold On – its been mastered, so this ones for keeps y’all.

Word is they’ve been in Sydney rehearsing with a drummer, so I’m assured there will be  a bunch of gigs – DJ sets and live shows – to be announced over the next 2 months. They’re almost dancefloor ready, and you should be too.

And yes, thanks to the bro who found it, they do have a MySpazz. Check it out for some snippets of upcoming tracks – particularly feeling ‘Rewind’.

-Mandu