Empire of the Sun

The world is collapsing around my ears.

Everything NIck Littlemore touches overflows with genius and leaves my ever-present pessimism to instantly melt away.

My first taste came in his union with Pip Brown (Mademoiselle Ladyhawke) to form the astounding duo Teenager. Their debut 'thirteen' didn't have much international acclaim but I strongly urge a purchase of the delightfully innocent and heart-warming album. Buy it here.

Nick Littlemore is also part of the remarkable duo PNAU (together with Peter Mayes)

I don’t know where to start with these guys. They have forever dominated my listening habits. I’ve been crazy infatuated with so many of their tracks.

The longing lyrics and vocals of 'With You Forever' and 'Embrace' just kill me. I seemed to have previously overlooked 'Follow Me' but please don't repeat my mistake... it is so divine and uplifting and has a wonderfully calming effect.

I have to admit I am really enjoying Sam La More's remix! It definitely measures up to the work of beloved bloghouse celebrities Fred Falke & Miami Horror. Also a sidenote... Sam La More= Sam Littlemore= Nick Littlemore's brother. But nothing really surprises me anymore in terms of music interconnectedness.

Empire Of The Sun is on everybody's lips at the moment... and of course Nick Littlemore is behind it! This time in a collaboration with the gorgeous vocalist Luke Steele from The Sleepy Jackson.

Enjoy these huge and dramatic splashes of colour... Here

Ladyhawke

I’ve been temporarily seduced by Ladyhawke’s new album

Let’s be honest here… it doesn’t have a lot of depth and she’s not the best lyricist in the world… but sometimes I just want to shrug off my stupid pretentious music elitism and fall victim to her cute simple melodies and that charming voice.

Track listing looks something like this

“My Delerium” is one of the best tracks I’ve heard in forever. Honestly, I had to cut myself off because I was just wandering around aimlessly listening to it for like 6 hours in a row. It’s imaginative, exhilarating, a whirl of passion,

I never really liked ‘Paris is Burning’ but the Cut Copy remix makes it so much better. It might have been the first Cut Copy remix that didn't instantly grab me but just give it a few listens. It's definitely a grower. And a million times better than the original.

The Van She Tech remix of ‘Back of the Van’ is still one of my favourite remixes to date. Van She intensifies all the right parts of the song and preserves the best elements of the original. I was actually really hoping more of the album would follow that Back of the Van/Stevie Nicks vibe but they sound way less retro. More like contemporary songs made to be remixed for the dance floor.

I guess I rate ‘Love Don’t Live Here’ & ‘Better Than Sunday’ slightly above the rest.

'Magic' is pretty catchy also… well its perfectly produced (thanks Modular) but the cheesy lyrics make me cringe a little… how about we get some good remixes going to solve this problem?

I am completely against ‘My Delerium’ remixes/covers/reworks/mashups/bootlets though. The track is perfect as it is. If I could I would impose some sort of ban. And I will be really really really angry at the producer that ruins this song for me.

Overall though, the album is accessible, easy to listen to and enjoyable. Actually it’s extremely enjoyable. And I’m sure she will have mainstream success in the future. But it’s not a great album. Sorry Ladyhawke.

Cry Baby

Wordpress is hating on me so bad you guys

This is the second time this week posting has been disabled because I infringed on some copyright law...which makes no sense because the 'piracy- hazardous' posts they picked up were ones where I directly interviewed the artist about the tracks of theirs I was posting.

Doesn't that kind of imply I have consent?

Anyways just thought I should share the hatred and confusion

Here is a fantastic song I sulked to following my forced post deletions. In fact, it’s so fantastic that I’ve had it on repeat for the last few hours… so comforting and makes my heart sink a little. Royksopp remixes are so rare... and this one is really old. But i'm still spinning it as it is perfect & timeless.

So who isn’t familiar with Röyksopp? i.e. Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge from Norway. Norway is kind of unknown territory for me so I automatically group it with the surreal and escapist Iceland.

Actually Royksopp are probably sitting in an ice bath in the middle of nowhere with Sigur Ros & Bjork right about now.

I really do miss Royksopp though. It’s been 3 years since The Understanding. How long do I have to wait for another ‘What Else Is There’!!! And what if there are no Trentemoller remixes of the nonexistent single! What am I going to do then!?

I don't think anything could ever measure up to ‘What Else Is There' Though. Ever.
Everything about the song just sends shivers down my spine. The lyrics are genius. It's manipulative. It's difficult to solve.

The video clip is breathtaking, eerie, captivating and insanely memorable. Definitely one of the most sensational music clips I’ve ever seen. Directed by Martin De Thurah (of course)

Why can't I post embedded video clips?

Soulwax Do Everything

They even make movies now.

I saw Part Of The Weekend Never Dies last week. You know, that SOULWAX documentary.

I actually thought it was going to be a real documentary with all the hype surrounding it… about the state of music or the outrageousness of drug use in our electro-crazed society...well....something along those lines.

Instead it was more of a tour journal. A collection of amusing memoirs explaining all their different projects and glorifying them.

Not that Soulwax don’t deserve to be glorified…. But it definitely wasn’t a ground-breaking, innovative, expectation-shattering documentary that is going to be remembered in history.

Anyway It really made me start craving some new Soulwax productions

I think they should stop touring and filming barely legal/barely clothed teenagers and produce some new music already.

Soulwax- Miserable Girl

Soulwax- KracK

Apparently they just remixed ‘kids’ by MGMT.

Wonder why no one is blogging it.

(but seriously… I am not going to prostitute my blog with that fake version)

Aeroplane

One day Stephen Fasano & Vito De Luca were producing a song called “Aeroplane” and decided it would be a more suitable band name. From that point on most articles about the Belgian duo begin with a steady comparison of their name & music. Actually most of the articles you will read equate them to ‘flying’ or ‘clouds’. Writers are really intuitive that way.

I downloaded some stuff by the guys and sat back expecting to be transported to some cloud-filled paradise like most bloggers promised I would be. Instead I remained firmly grounded. I definitely didn’t find their music to be ‘airy’ or ‘dreamy’… especially when you compare tracks like “whispers” to the romantic pastel colours embodying most Valerie productions.

Nevertheless I was quite enchanted with the delightfully catchy disco beats and their remixes strike up a nice symphony of bright colours.

Also I’m on a huuuuuuuuge Hercules & Love Affair Kick at the moment (following my post) and I love them even more now for remixing Aeroplane!

Enjoy the tracks

my favourite remix is the ‘allez allez’ one!

Your Heart Feels

When I first heard the name “Thieves like Us' floating around music blogs I was like “hold on a second... isn't that a New Order song!” and got a little excited about the potential influences and hastily went to download that ‘Drugs in your body’ track everyone was posting & (for some reason) remixing to death

I didn't get it at first. But then what do you do when you are signed to Kitsune and you produce a mediocre track?
Well naturally you start a remix competition and shake whatever you can out of thing.

Anyway the remixes weren't bad at all but the original was a little amateur. Nothing really encouraged me to keep listening and it's definitely not a track I would bother writing about

I did, however, download “Your Heart Feels” a few weeks ago which turned out to be absolutely astounding.I couldn’t believe that I was listening to some electro blog duo with the music that was hitting my ears!

And yes... to my extreme happiness it was saturated with those worshiped sound elements you would expect to hear in your Joy Division/New Order-esque listening session. Also the lyrics are incredibly adorable.

love love love at first listen

Album set to release October-ish

Ted & Francis

My beloved Rhys & David slash Like Woah slash Ted & Francis slash the most wonderful talented lovely boys in the world have just released 2 new songs

Ok so 'I wish I was a Polar Bear' is something I would expect to hear from their quirky electro 'Like Woah' project but you know...still catchy and fantastic and the "I wouldn't have to cry anymore" breakdown is intensely enjoyable

But I seriously can't stop playing 'Heart Shake'...I've been grabbed by this narcotic listening desire.
It just hooked right into me and I can't imagine listening to anything else for the rest of my life. And i love the 3:05 mark... those miniscule musical tricks always work wonders for me.

Oh and Rhys... your singing is sooooo beautiful and genuine. I can sense the heartbreak and torture in your voice... or maybe you are just a fine vocal actor.

Ted & Francis- Heart Shake

Ted & Francis- I Wish I Was a Polar Bear