Can ‘Digitalism remix’ stand for Digitalism remixed or just for Digitalism remixing someone? Nevermind. The German boys were violated by Luvtek and Stelladrv, known as LAZRtag. Not to say that they weren’t violent enough…they were. I’m just constantly trying to avoid using the word ‘interpretation’ for a remix. What the fuck? ‘We are intelligent and we listen to electro so we say that an artist interprets another artist when they play with the tracks for a while in Ableton.’ Strange stuff. However, LAZRtag is awesome. I think I emphasized a couple times how much I like guys who have a great taste in choosing who to remix. Now LAZRtag did American Boy, Crystal Castles (our post), HEARTSREVOLUTION and Britney. How cool is this list? The latest stuff is I Want I Want from the-album-which-is-better-than-Cross, Idealism. The remix is heavy and seems like it would fit more into Idealism in this form cause it’s less post-punk now and more electro. Thanks to FYOF for the track.

Digitalism - I Want I Want (LAZRtag remix) [zshare] // Digitalism - I Want I Want (LAZRtag remix) [ysi]

I think we haven’t posted about Australia’s BMX yet although we were both into the Theme which is really cool mix of Aussie electro sound + CSS-like powergirl-y attitude. And one of them is a blogger! Yeah, what an interesting world where musicians blog about music that djs play and this is only one combination, you could try and reverse the order! ie. djs blog about music that musicians play…WOW, right? So, guy from the band called Jad is blogging at Bigstereo. Credit goes there for these tracks. Download & listen cause they rule. Not sure if it’s gonna be the next big thing from Australia cause a lot is going on there right now as you know so from this chaotic mess of remixes and sounds it’s hard to tell who’s gonna emerge… Nevermind, the tracks are awesome. Hear the sweet 80s and remember the scene from Karate Kid when Mr. Miyagi fixes the broken bike. Totally that kind of feeling: Cruel Summer 2008. The remix below by High School Prom is made by an Aussie blogger who’s responsible for the cool Hyperbole.

BMX - Theme to BMX [zshare] // BMX - Theme to BMX [ysi]

BMX - War [zshare] // BMX - War [ysi]

BMX - Refero Beach [zshare] // BMX - Refero Beach [ysi]

BMX - Theme to BMX (High School Prom mix) [zshare] // BMX - Theme to BMX (High School Prom mix) [ysi]

So Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man. is a typical new British indie band from London. They formed after the split of Les Incompétents. Umm…now probably no one knows what I’m on about except for a few skinny-jeaned west-londoners. Nevertheless, Les Incompétents was an underground-hero band of British indie, especially after the attack on the singer which resulted in a coma. OELM is on the same track. Of course, now the breeding grounds for bands in London with young kids who play decadent bar-punk-indie is getting much less attention than a few years ago after The Libertines. On the other hand, there are still a few bands who deserve some fans, even when it’s not cool to read NME. Who knows, maybe someday we can witness the rise of a new style called ‘blogrock’. OELM is singed to Transgressive Records which is one of the coolest indie labels around in London and the band’s already released two singles and an EP (in a series of ‘opuses’, first one is The Lay of the Land; The Turn of the Tide). Here’s their latest (June 08) single:

Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man - The Drowned and The Saved (radio edit) [zshare] // Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man - The Drowned and The Saved (radio edit) [ysi]

Hailing from Brighton, Kidda slides into that narrow slice of genre that i’m a sucka for, namely happy-summery-for-some-reason-always-coming-out-of-the-uk-vaguely-jackson-five-ish jams. (Sonny Jim’s Can’t Stop Movin is another example.) Under the Sun,  a simple catchy loop stewing in a fresh Northern Soul marinate, heads up his new album, “Going Up”.

Kidda appears to be lining up the tour dates around Europe for the latter half of 2008. Check him out for a change of pace, and/or hit em up on myspace to listen to some more samplers, including a remix Hervé did for the track we’re dropping on ya. 

In an interview with Kidda, he describes how the animated Kidda character you see to the right makes his way around their website — in a setting inspired by the Michael Jackson video for Billie Jean. It’s kinda cute.

Kidda - Under the Sun [zshare] // Kidda - Under the Sun [ysi]

The Canyons have been getting a lot of love since the release of their Ladyhawke remix (bigstereo, HERE and HERE; electrorash, HERE) , but what raised my robot ear was the accompanying mix — Linus Loves seems to be back in the game after being silent (at least to me) for the past two years. Is this a return of sorts? I hope so. It’s strange cos I had a big boner for this guy in the mid 2-double-0s… but just as quick as he seemed to be everywhere, poof, gone. In a similar sound/vein: I think Mylo sorta did the same although he is still lining up gigs these days.

It’s funny know how the tracks feel so lightweight in comparison to electro-bangerville which emerged only a short time later. Not necessarily lightweight in a bad way, mind you, just lightweight. Juxtaposing Linus Loves with Sebastian, for example, is like comparing a butterfly to a monster truck… both beautiful in their own way but in totally different weight classes.

Have a listen to the recent work on Miss ‘hawke and i’ve laid it down with a couple of my faves from a few years back, VH1 and Rock Chk (with that brilliant Siouxsie Sioux riff…).

Ladyhawke - Dusk Till Dawn (Linus Loves Remix) [zshare] // Ladyhawke - Dusk Till Dawn (Linus Loves Remix) [ysi]

Linus Loves -VH1 [zshare] // Linus Loves - VH1 [ysi]

Linus Loves -Rock Chk [zshare] // Linus Loves - Rock Chk [ysi]

This Et Al was a band from Leeds, UK. They split this June which is a shame cause I really liked them. They are somewhere between noise-y indie and At The Drive-In-esque ‘emo’. Maybe this latter is only in my head. Check their influences on their myspace, really cool bands from Sonic Youth to Interpol. So because of the breaking down of some internal relationships in the band they disbanded. You can still keep an eye out for their latest EP and an upcoming B-sides and Rarities compilation. I share a song from the EP and the single I loved the most: Sabbatical which of course appeared on their LP Baby Machine.

This Et Al - Sabbatical [zshare] // This Et Al - Sabbatical [ysi]

This Et Al - Figure Eight [zshare] // This Et Al - Figure Eight [ysi]

A few nights ago I stumbled on the BBC-produced bio of Marc Bolan, which was originally aired on the 30th anniversary of his death, last year. Interesting bloke he was, basically wanting to be famous for the sake of being famous. Though most with so transparent a motive fail horribly — Bolan actually pulled it off: T.Rex essentially built the bridge between the Beatles and punk in the UK and beyond.

I know this post is apropos of nothing and I should be writing about Isaac Hayes or something, but no matter. Enjoy the break from the usual space disco & smart electro, and love some 70s glam. (I’m a particular fan of Metal Guru, myself) There’s a little Bolan in us all, me thinks.

T.Rex - 20th Century Boy [zshare] // T.Rex - 20th Century Boy [ysi]

T.Rex - Children of the Revolution [zshare] // T.Rex - Children of the Revolution [ysi]

T.Rex - Metal Guru [zshare] // T.Rex - Metal Guru [ysi]

The duo known as DVAS has been synth-rocking Canada for the past couple of years and are probably best known over here Europe-side for their tasty Valerie-flavored mixtape work; their Passion Communication mix from a few months back hit all the right notes, including the likes of Moroder and Jan Hammer from days of yore, right up to the present day with Adeyhawke and a few of their own originals, natch.

Deserving of more accolades and making the quick rounds these days is the super hot Symbol One remix of Ambient Room, which is serving as an excellent follow up to their Daft Punk-esque Forever.

The pair are serving as a nice echo chamber of the whatever-you-wanna-call-it-disco these days while keeping still their own angle on things. If they can increase that ‘angle’, so to speak, I’m expecting great things from these guys.

DVAS - Ambient Room (Symbol One Remix) [zshare] // DVAS - Ambient Room (Symbol One Remix) [ysi]

DVAS - Passion Communication mix [zshare] // DVAS - Passion Communication mix [ysi]

DVAS - Forever [zshare] // DVAS - Forever [ysi]

Actually, a few dudes and a chick from New York, but hey, what do we care? I always associate the Brazilian Girls with CSS and Panico, as Jique popped into our radar around the same time — and of course — the whole sorta sounding similar thing. But in our humble opinion the trio/quartet can hold their own, a statement bolstered by the strength of the tracks on their new album, interestingly titled, New York City. I say interestingly because the opening track is called St. Petersburg and a later one goes by Berlin. You can’t accuse these kids of not giving shout outs to world-renowned cities.

The tracks run the gamut of styles in polyglot fashion, as lead singer Sabina Sciubba can belt them out in a variety of languages. Expect the gang to be touring soon if they aren’t already, though should we really expect a date in St. Petersburg.

Brazilian Girls - St. Petersburg [zshare] // Brazilian Girls - St. Petersburg [ysi]

Brazilian Girls - Jique [zshare] // Brazilian Girls - Jique [ysi]

Mozart was totally prescient when he named that number, wasn’t he? I mean, a little night music… isn’t that all we wanna hear when we go out? The names and faces tend to blur, as well do the songs and their titles. Just give me a little night music until the night is no more. I sense a good club night name just waiting to get picked up. Anyhow, I digress…

Eine Kleine Nacht Musik (no affiliation to Mozart) is freshly popped-out from Modular’s oven, and they produce a chilled out ‘kraut rock’ vibe*, complete with strings! What intrigued me the most was their take on Rondo Veneziano’s early 80s wonderfuly stringy-synth-o-rama: La Serenissima, which we touched upon before when the Bloody Beetroots hit it up with a remix. As for the EKNM version, it’s a hit — I like their take — it’s definitely grabbable.

And, considering that these days it seems Modular could use a few record sales, they would be more than grateful!

* Must everything out of Germany be labeled Kraut rock? In this case I would surely say no.

Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - La Serenissima [zshare] // Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - La Serenissima [ysi]

Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - Ertrinken [zshare] // Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - Ertrinken [ysi]

Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - Finster [zshare] // Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - Finster [ysi]