English band, Friendly Fires is like Foals for me. They are like the 2007 NME favourites with a couple really cool singles (video for Paris and On Board) and with a lot of people anticipating the album. Even musically they are a bit similar: the progressive indie rock injected with disco and electronica. The difference is that Foals are more on the heavier post-punk end of the scale and Friendly Fires are more elegant and relaxed like Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem. The Foals album is awesome and totally lives up to the high expectations. The full-lenght of Friendly Fires is gonna arrive on the 1st of September this year. You could’ve already heard Jump in the Pool at Bigstereo which is such a cool song, it sounds like reaching out for the stars but being stuck in the stratosphere between scary chemical processes and stuff. Here’s another track from the upcoming album and it proves that its worth to wait for it. It’s gonna come out on XL Recordings (besides Vampire Weekend, Ratatat, etc).

Friendly Fires - White Diamonds [zshare]  // Friendly Fires - White Diamonds [ysi]  // Friendly Fires - White Diamonds [fileden]

The kind Buffet Libre fellas passed on their new mixtape to us, containing a great selection of their Volume 1 tracks, many of which i’m sure you are familiar with by now, plus a few originals, as well a pair which will feature on their Volume 2 set: by CFCF and Hostage (of Fleetwood Mac, and Mr. Mister, respectively).

The full Volume 2 set will be released in January, and will yet again comprise a who’s who of bloggaland artists, to wit: Bonde Do Role, 1990s, Whitey, Headlights, Sohodolls, Cobra Dukes, The Shoes, CFCF, Miami Horror, Revolte, These United States, Division Day, Boy 8-bit, The Young Punx, Tender Forever, Little Boots, Say Hi, Grum, The Glass, G.L.O.V.E.S., Starfucker, 80 Kidz, The Requesters, Bikini, Flou, Frankmusik, Robbers On High Street, The Botticellis, Love Motel, Russ Chimes, Grafton Primary, Electric Valentine, Delorean, AC Slater, Little Pictures, Beau Jennings, Mojib, Yann Destal, Telonius, The Sound Of Arrows, Malente, The Procession, The Mocks, Mendetz, Setting Sun, Matt Keating, The Phantom Revenge, Elias & The Wizzkids, The Amplid, Radiocontrol, Josh & Anand, Division Kent, 1984, La Chansons, Mat Payne, Hostage, Fisk, Dolby Anol, Chin Chin, Bling Crosby, Schnitzer, Sportsday Megaphone, Hidrogenesse, Diamond Cut, Fight Bite, Canadians, Facteur, The Old Believers, Evarial, Giko, Sick Boy.

Tracklist:

1. Buffetlibre Theme
2. Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters
3. CFCF - Big Love (Fleetwood Mac cover) (Rewind new song)
4. Animotion - Obsession
5. Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place On Earth (Hidden Cat remix) (Rewind)
6. Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind
7. Mr. Mister - Broken Wings (Hostage remix) (Rewind new song)
8. Communards - Don’t Leave Me This Way
9. Anoraak - Talking In Your Sleep (The Romantics cover) (Rewind)
10. Camouflage - Love Is A Shield
11. Madonna - Into The Groove (Sidechains remix) (Rewind)
12. No Name - Fashion
13. A Ha - Hunting High And Low (Louis La Roche remix) (Rewind)
14. New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
15. Moulinex - Come On Closer (Pineapples cover) (Rewind)
16. Mr. Flagio - Take A Chance
17. Marietta - Destination Unknown (CSK OK remix) (Rewind)
18. Klapto - Queen Of The Night
19. Roger Troutman - Do It Roger (Xinobi remix)  (Rewind)
20. Secret Services - Flash In The Night

Go get that shit:

Buffet Libre DJs - Rewinded Mixtape [ysi] // Buffet Libre DJs - Rewinded Mixtape [fileden]

I sometimes think that love and disco are two words that compete for ruling the titles and artist names in the electropop world. For now, love’s gonna be the winner. First heard Lovelock at the Valerie blog, then it started to appear at a couple of influential places. No one seems to know more about the act that it’s a guy called Steve who’s from NYC and a girl named Barbara on the vocals. It’s a bit suspicious that there’s this guy Steve Moore in Lovelock-myspace top friends who makes ambient music, horror movie soundtracks, plays bass in a progressive rock band, etc so he’s like a reneissance multi-talent. He’s the mastermind behind Lovelock as well.

This project sounds like 80s porn music + 80s one hit wonder pop gems + 2080s disco. Love Reaction is the soon-to-be-hit song. It’s like a dream with the synths and the guitar is just so funny like AC/DC or something in a dance song and when the drums kick in blood starts to boil. Not sure about the connection with the Valerie crew but it fits really well into their image.

Lovelock - Love Reaction [ysi] // Lovelock - Love Reaction [fileden]

I really loved DFA1979 and so I was excited to hear Sebastien Grainger ex-drummer and singer doing the vocals for a Does It Offend You, Yeah? track cause I adore his voice. Since then I discovered that he’s been doing a lot of stuff alone. The old name is The Rhythm Method, new name is Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains. The Mountains is basically an imaginary band. With the other half of DFA in MSTRKRFT you could expect something dancey but it’s not. Grainger signed to Saddle Creek as their second Canadian artist and the label used to be indie-folk. So the sound is like…umm…ok, this might be weird but reminds me of the second album of The Killers. Bruce Springsteen connection both sides. It has the same sort of arena rock feel to it where everything is amazingly monumental and American. Highways, big cars, huge distances measured in miles. I don’t mean this in a negative way, the songs are cool, these are just the images that came to my mind about them. Grainger’s voice actually fits to these quite well with the tragedy in it and the power. You can buy the digitally released EP here and a full-lenght will follow in October this year.

Sebastien Grainger - American Names [zshare] // Sebastien Grainger - American Names [ysi]

New Adeyhawke material. Yay! Well, maybe not so new but I’ve been out of it for a couple days but here we are with the latest of the latest Valerie act.

Adeyhawke is a representative of the Valerie sound from the UK like Futurecop! He’s from Dublin. You might know him from our previous posts. Remixed Anoraak and Hail Social (we haven’t yet posted this latter one so I’ll make up for the mistake).

I guess you can imagine the sound by now. 80s of course, synths of course, sci-fi romance of course. New song Gigavolt Angel is like a troubadour robot singing its courtly love to a muse, an angel made of the heaviest lightning. Thanks to DiscoDust.

Adeyhawke - Gigavolt Angel [zshare] // Adeyhawke - Gigavolt Angel [ysi]

Hail Social - No Paradise (Adeyhawke remix) [zshare] // Hail Social - No Paradise (Adeyhawke remix) [ysi]

Normally known for his keen remixing catalog, DatA’s upcoming original EP is gonna rock, full stop if the initial single is any indication. I don’t think it’s a stretch to speculate that this ends up on all those ’super duper tracks of ‘08 blabla’ toplists and turns the corner for the Frenchman. As if we needed another Frenchman occupying that space. Well, it’s okay, really.

For those familiar with previous work, like the awesome remix of Aerious Light, you’ll recognize the inclusion of those lovely building synths that’s by now a DatA trademark. Extra bonus points for having a guitar solo! How many songs these days have a guitar solo!?

“We could never be friends, I love you until the end”… the refrain seems to get straight to the heart of so many matters of the heart.

DatA - Rapture [zshare] //DatA - Rapture [ysi] //DatA - Rapture [fileden]

I’ve been thinking in the past weeks/months about origins… about why the whole outer space - tron - 80s sci fi aesthetic has taken hold lately. Both in terms of visual and in sound. I think like most trends it’s rooted in some sort of nostalgia — which begs the question: nostalgia for whom? Given the fact that one needs at least a few years in the rear view mirror to fully appreciate nostalgia (i.e. tough for a 17 year old to properly grasp the idea of reminiscing); while at the same time, given that the 50-something and above crowd is not exactly at the center of the internet-based creative classes — it suggests to me that its those in roughly their late 20s and early 30s are driving aesthetic trends.

Now, this would mean we’d have a entire demographic slice who grew up watching either the first run, or many follow up runs, of Carl Sagan’s epic, Cosmos, originally aired in 1980 — who currently dominate musical taste (at least in blogga land). To be fair, i’m not sure how many out there were budding nerdlings as i was, with a mother who would let me stay up one night a week, specifically to watch that program… however i have a sneaking suspicion that its soundtrack, produced by Vangelis, is now at the root of so much of what we see today. All hail the epic laid back yet dancy space synths! I, for one, couldn’t be happier to see this period come, short as it ultimatel

Vangelis - Pulstar [zshare] // Vangelis - Pulstar [ysi] // Vangelis - Pulstar [fileden]

The new Cansei de Ser Sexy, CSS for you coder types, has been whipping around and it’s allright, especially considering how poppy friendly and ubiquitous the previous album was. The tracks might not make many club waves to begin with but as background to the ‘easy listening soundtrack to your lives mid-2008′ it should fit just nicely. I’m curious to see if any emerging Brazilian talents like The Twelves or Database will have a patriotic go at re-edits.

Probably what strikes me the most about the new tracks is how similar some sound (especially Left Behind, in melody, and vocal) to that the Sounds album from two years ago. Threw one of them down below for comparison.

And it should be noted our all time fave CSS track (remixes and otherwise) remains the stellar Kill the Noise edit we blawgged about a while back HERE.

Cansei de Ser Sexy - CSS - Believe Achieve [zshare] // Cansei de Ser Sexy - CSS - Believe Achieve [ysi]

Cansei de Ser Sexy - CSS - Left Behind [zshare]  //Cansei de Ser Sexy - CSS - Left Behind [ysi]

The Sounds - Queen of Apology [zshare]  // The Sounds - Queen of Apology [ysi]

A few mixes of the Midnight Juggernauts Into the Galaxy have surfaced on the back of its upcoming release as a single in a few weeks via Institubes — both on 12″ and via Itunes. It’s nice to see the attention thrown upon what was for me, the ‘thinking person’s dancy alternative to D.A.N.C.E.’ — oh so long ago in summer ‘07.

The Metronomy and Grandmaster Flash edits are nice though not blowing me away… I’m very curious to have a listen to some of the others, especialy French mystery man Danger, and Shy Child. Chateau Marmont and the always fun Architecture in Helsinki also contribute.

Such an epic original is always a challenge to improve upon, though, and i’ll always cast a wary eye at any new edit of the Juggs or Cut Copy.

Thanks to KidsBy and Rash on the hookups.

Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy (Metronomy Remix) [zshare] // Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy (Metronomy Remix) [ysi]

Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy (Grandmaster Flash Remix) [zshare] // Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy (Grandmaster Flash Remix) [ysi]

Over the past few seasons, Streetkiss, the French culture website, has been compiling sounds of the winter, spring, summer etc. in the format of a playlist, comprising selections from across music blogga land. For the latest summer hits compilation, Kunk was asked to chime in, alongside others including IHEART, PalmsOut, Trash Menagerie, et. al. Who did we choose? Could you believe it was a French band? I know, me neither.

Without further suspense, have a look HERE to see our pick along with the others. That is, if you’re too lazy too look at the above graphic — where we are cutely referred to as ‘my kunk.’ Since we’ve already posted that track here earlier on, we’ll offer IHEART’s pick, another awesome Miami Horror remix….

Totally Michael - Winona (Miami Horror Remix) [zshare] // Totally Michael - Winona (Miami Horror Remix) [ysi]