Thanks to The Fader and Altered Zones/Yours Truly, we are now blessed with both sides of CFCF's new 12", out now on UNO. "Cometrue" finds the Montreal producer returning to the land of expertly-crafted piano house, while "Looking So" is a sultry slice of what we might call future R&B. Buy the 12" here or the digital version here.
Blondes get a little crazier, funkier, more tribal and weirder than ever as heard in this Farley Gwazda-directed video for "Pleasure." Their Business / Pleasure 12" is available for pre-order from RVNG Intl. with a release date of June 14, 2011.
Definitely feeling this new jam from Copenhagen producer Paxton Fettel, who recently remixed Taragana Pyjarama's "Oceans" towards the "coastal sunset." Like the best deep house, "May Own Ace" establishes and maintains a meditative groove from the get-go, with Paxton opening up the mix to cavernous echo and then closing it tight again. From his upcoming Definitely In Love EP, out soon on Greta Cottage Workshop. You can buy his Skyflares EP here.
You've probably already heard Taragana Pyjarama's "Oceans." Here's a remix engineered by Copenhagen producer Paxton Fettel. His "Coastal Sunset Remix" is where minimalist dream-house goes full-blown deep house.
At an absolute loss for words over how amazing this Mike Simonetti edit of Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" sounds. The Italians Do It Better label boss basically leaves the skeleton of the song intact even as he removes the most prominent element - Mr. West's vocal track - in its entirety. The result is, as commenter Saks&Teip pointed out, "slo-mo house" consisting of the original song's oversimplified beat and orchestral strings, with some synth washes added in to put a nice sheen on the mix. So, it's Yeezy, minus Yeezy. Incredible.
Sleep schedules and time zones, be damned! I missed out on the limited-by-number download of Pional's remix of Frank Ocean's "Lovecrimes." Oh well, at least we can still stream it. Here, the Spanish ambient beatmaker turns the raw R&B of the original into a pretty classic sounding, sexed-up house track. Let's hope Pional or Hivern Discs gets a second burst of generosity and re-offers a download, because this would just sound so good on a mix CD or iPod, right?
Been waiting on D/R/U/G/S' debut release ever since I heard "Love/Lust" way back when ALTERED ZONES was born. Well, the moment has finally arrived. D/R/U/G/S' Love/Lust 12" is out May 9 on Moshi Moshi / Tender Age. It features a crisper, cleaner rework of "Love/Lust" as well as new tracks "Velodrome I" and "Velodrome II." The latter two tracks are suprisingly sci-fi-inspired and spaced-out compared to D/R/U/G/S darker output. Incredibly fresh-sounding and tightly-stitched electronica of the highest quality. Stream the whole thing below; pre-order it here.
Every once in a while, stars align in such a way as to allow the perfect union between artist and record label. One where the artist's sound is so inextricably attached to a label's aesthetic that any other record deal would seem lacking. It happened with Gold Panda and Ghostly International: the result was Lucky Shiner, my favorite album of 2010. And it will happen again on March 28, when Fool House releases Taragana Pyjarama's self-titled EP. Fool House is famous for having released Delorean's Best New Music'd Ayrton Senna EP, before their full-length Subiza went on to be Best New Music'd as well. Based on "Ocean" and the hype already building around this release, we can expect similarly great things from Taragana Pyjarama, too. From the first sounds of waves crashing against the beach to the last sounds of feet splashing around in water, we are submerged in the warmest, most welcoming sounds we can imagine. Minimalist dream-house to fall asleep or swim far to. Seems to feature a sample of Imogen Heap's "Goodnight And Go" (unconfirmed). Taragana Pyjarama is out March 28 on Fool House.
Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, was another tragic example of what can happen when earthly forces and human populations intersect with random chance. Scores were killed and many more remain missing. And yet, even in the midst of Christchurch's sadness and suffering, some positives can be found. Hundreds of aid workers and eventually millions of dollars will flow to the area to help those in need and assist with rebuilding. On a personal level, it's how I found out about Mount Pleasant's music.
Curious about Christchurch, I went to bandcamp and browsed the most recent music tagged with "Christchurch." I was impressed by a lot of what I heard, but I was most struck by Mount Pleasant, a self-described glamour/pop artist who has been blogged about by alltheusualsuspects but who I somehow missed until now. I came to learn that main contributor Jonathan Phillips' family home was severely damaged by the quake. You can see photos and read his harrowing account at Mount Pleasant's blog. If you're able, heed Phillips' call and donate to New Zealand's Red Cross here.
We can be thankful, though, that Phillips and his family survived and that we have a new Mount Pleasant album upon us. "II Tough II Dance," "Safer" and "Florida" are chilled-out disco/funk/house tracks from upcoming album The Aztecs, due for release on March 16 via bandcamp. By the looks of it, The Aztecs also features one Joanna De Vocht on production and vocals; her chanteuse lends an even smoother vibe to Phillips' already velvety tracks. On these songs, Phillips and De Vocht manage to take the best of 70s disco and funk and combine it with 80s New Wave to make something that sounds familiar and fresh at the same time. Listen to three Aztecs songs below, buy them at Mount Pleasant's bandcamp and keep your mouse clicked there for the full album on March 16.
I've been following London producer Bad Autopsy since February 2010, when "Beam Beamer" and "Psionic Terror" premiered on No Pain In Pop. Under the headline "Transcendental Slime," the songs sounded like the garage child of Burial and Forest Swords bubbling up from the bottom of a primordial swamp, with frustrated, ghost-in-the-machine vocal samples seeping into a mix of smog and sick and twisted beats.
Since then, Bad Autopsy's been exploring brighter sounds with a bit more bang to them, first on the songs he's uploaded to his SoundCloud and then with his self-titled EP for Ramp Recordings. His most recent upload, "Decades," certainly belongs in the brighter, banging category, even if it's inspired by a number of genres. The song's synth stabs seemingly belong to trance, but the polyrhythmic beats and drawn-out diva vocals are pure electro house. Whatever the case, "Decades" is highly addictive and seriously recommended, as is the rest of Bad Autopsy's frequently shifting SoundCloud page.
Guyanese ambient beatmaker Pional turns Ariel Pink's brothers-in-arms pop ballad into a shuffling slow-burner, backed by a disco beat, with tribal drums, synth stabs and woodwind tones.
Here's a fresh banger from Manchester duo D/R/U/G/S, whose frustratingly limited catalog of three original songs and one remix is completely forgiven by how freaking good these songs sound. "Liquid Max (Testmixx)" starts with a pulsing beat and throbbing bass chords that recall Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" and ends with cut-up diva vocals cascading over twinkling synths. If there's anything wrong with the song, it's the sudden ending and relatively short length of 3:22. When house sounds this good, I could listen happily forever.
