The dodgily named Baron Von Luxxury sent me a remix of Glass Candy a while back. Which I rather enjoyed... but I can't remember if I posted or not. If not you can give it a listen here.
A re-edit he's done of Marianne Faithfull's 'Broken English' has just dropped into my inbox. And it's hot.
A horror disco bassline (apparently originally performed by Steve Winwood) blends perfectly with Marianne's powerful vocal & great lyrics. While the Baron beefs it up & puts bleeps & drums in all the right places.
If you haven't done so, Marianne Faithfull's (first) incredible autobiography 'Faithless' is an essential read. It's been a long long time since I picked it up, but it's probably the best autobiography i've read. As one of the amazon reviews says... 'Never have I been so fascinated by someone elses life'.
The Chromatics gig on Saturday night was something pretty special. It felt like the kind of night that'll be talked about for a long time.... if not by anyone else then by me anyway. They were amazing! Afterwards Mike Simonetti turned the place into a grimey studio 54, laying down the disco nuggets to an appreciative crowd.
It was so good that i'm going back again tomorrow (Tuesday) night, where despite the fact I can't find many details online, i'm assured they're doing the whole thing again. Cafe 1001 on Dray Walk (off Brick Lane) if you're in the vicinity.
I've not managed to give it a listen yet, but you can grab a Mike Simonetti DJ mix from the Warm Music website...
If you're into Chromatics, you'll definitely enjoy a couple of great new tracks on the underappreciated Eskimo Recordings label. Over the course of three singles, Aeroplane have emerged as one of the absolute finest exponents of Balearic Disco, and new single 'Whispers' even surpasses their self-titled debut. The euphoric music is married beautifully to Kathy Diamond's vocal. I could listen to this forever. It's backed with a remix from Love Affair (i'm not sure what happened to Hercules), but it's the original that does it for me.
Also forthcoming are two 12"s by Low Motion Disco - with a set of remixes by Aeroplane and DFA's Still Going amongst others. Aeroplane's version is naturally amazing, but i'm most into the Still Going mix.. an overwhelming assault of modulated synths eventually leads to some opulent guitar wanking, before being topped off with some piano stabs. LOW MOTION DISCO - LOVE LOVE LOVE (STILL GOING REMIX)
I got this email from someone called Pixel Kid asking me to check out his shit. So check it out I did, and lo it was good.
I know nothing about him, but the tunes bleep and rave in a delightfully lo-fi fashion. I can't imagine them dominating the fuck out of the Fabric soundsystem, but they certainly make me move my butt.
James Pants may not be a name you're familiar with, but probably not for long if this great new single on Peanut Butter Wolf's 'Stones Throw' label is any indication.
According to the press it's been bigged up by Busy P (Ed Banger), but it's much slower & funkier than anything that's come out on that label. Squelching electro-soul with some great cowbell.
I thought maybe I should start posting little and often, rather than a medium amount and never. Hmm, we'll see how it goes. Maybe one track at a time I won't get put off so much.
This one is a cover of the Robyn single by Grovesnor, who I wrote about a long while ago after seeing him support Hot Chip. Since then he's become a bit better known, mainly since his track 'Night Moves' opened up Hot Chip's DJ Kicks album. And now he's got a single (Drive My Car) out on Hot Chip's 'Greco-Roman' label. Look, he knows Hot Chip OK.
Like footballers, bearded pop stars seem to be a dying breed. Mostly I suspect because you tend to be on the pop scrapheap by the age of 20 these days. Bearded pop stars who look like accountants and sing like Marvin Gaye are rarer still, so that's why we must hold Grovesnor close to our collective bosoms and let him suckle on our love.
Wiley's new single has 'massive hit' written all over it, and has apparently already spawned a dance craze (look, I didn't say it was a GOOD dance craze...). Well anyway, the track is killer, and fortunately someone has seen the comedy value of teaming it with recent events. Class! The sooner they ditch the official effort the better!
On a rather more serious note are Warp's new signings Pivot, who hail from Australia and are cut from the same math-rock cloth as Battles (who they recently supported on tour). Excellent first single 'In The Blood' seems to build up numerous layers of scratching guitars, syncopated drums & analog synths into a mesmerising whole. This is the second track on the single (which also has remixes from Rustie & Clark), and sounds something like a commodore 64 tape load noise fed through a succession of echo chambers. In a good way.
PIVOT - DIDN'T I FURIOUS **** (REMOVED BY REQUST)
I also have here an EXCLUSIVE track from the forthcoming Radioactive Man album. And it's pretty lush. Keith Tenniswood is of course a long time collaborator with Andy Weatherall, but has long forged his own electro-lined path. The album is called 'Growl', of which this track has a little. But it also has some nice melodies going on. It's more Sex Panther than rabid dog.
Top listening for the last few days has been a self-produced album by Hedluv. To be honest it nearly didn't make my stereo due to the terrible name, but I ended up slipping the CD in my car stereo & was immediately hooked!
It's some endearingly amateurish casio hip-hop, with plenty of funny lines.... the kind of unpretentious stuff it's very easy to fall in love with.
Pick up the album, 'Cosmic Sounds', from their website for only 6 quid. Here's his myspace. He seems to have scored a gig supporting The Young Knives sometime soon, and has another in Camden on April 26th.
Operating on a slightly bigger budget, i've also been blown away by this new remix of Radiohead by Holy Fuck. I've not spent too much time listening to 'In Rainbows', but it seems to me that this mix stays very sympathetic to the original while improving it enormously. It draws more drama out of Thom's vocal, while pairing it with a glitching psychedelic backing track. Awesome stuff...
If you're in Camden this Friday night you'll find me DJing at ACTH. I seem to be uncredited on the flyer... for what I can only assume are crowd control reasons!
