Quite enjoying the latest remix from Fear of Tigers emerging from the Neon Gold camp. It’s an energetic and happy romp across plateaus of layered electro and surges of tidal thumping beats. It will build you up, it will push you forward, and it will keyboard cat (keyboard tiger?) you into sublime submission. The track will be released as part of a Yes Giantess remix package that marks a departure from their “bro-pop” debut single and takes a darker and thoughtful-er direction. The retro-power-synth/ex-bro-pop combo works well here. I’d even think it might serve as a basis for some future original work by FoT.
Fear of Tigers is now starting to venture out for some Western Europe club dates. Those in France, UK, or Sweden: do not miss! Previous Kunk posts on Fear of Tigers here.
Music making is in Justin Faust’s blood, so it’s no surprise that he’s been busting out fresh tunes since he was an lil’ apple in his daddy’s eye. Speaking of lil’, we made a pint-sized interview with the man himself in advance of our long anticipated party, this Saturday in Mappa Club. The flyer basically tells the story.
I’m sure you’ve also gotten wind of the tasty morsel which was just released by the stellar DiscoTexas guys, of Faust’s Holdin’ On single, with accompanying remixes by Moulinex, and Nightriders. So, after the jump, get a taste of what’s on that single, and if you like what you hear (which of course you will), buy buy buy!
So in a couple days Kunk’s next edition is coming up, where we’ll have the brilliant Justin Faust aus München als Gast. Please be sure to RSVP at our Facebook event if you haven’t already done so and if you’re in Hungary. Of course, who’d be better to support the elegant disco-energy of Mr. Faust than Kunk’s favourite and chosen protegé, We Plants Are Happy Plants. WPAHP is our resident support guest for many many reasons. Everyone should probably have noticed by now that we are hardcore suckers for nu-sentimental synth originality and epic electronic creations. WPAHP delivers just that, every track tries to tell a tale, swimming on the synth sounds that evoke an ocean on another planet far far away. As many Kunk nights are witnesses, his live sets are perfect applications of his producing aesthetics to the dancefloor. Epic nu-disco night coming up, folks, epic. Just check out this CRJ remix, the tension escalates towards the stars, and in the end it breaks down in a fitting manner. Also, he has an official video and he donated a track to Buffet Libre’s & Amnesty International’s PEACE project. Check it out. Moreover, he has a compilation on Amazon/Itunes, popular tracks, unreleased stuff and new edits. Definetly worth your money and time.
The Big Pink has gone quite far since we’ve written about them. They are now a 2k9-2k10 indie sensation. The really confusing and weird situation of pop and underground music is perfectly manifest in the song I choose to blog now: The Big Pink covered Beyoncé a while ago for Radio 1 Live Lounge. Of course, it’s nothing new and Radio 1 has a history of paying attention and encouraging awesome covers, some of which include underground acts covering mainstream pop stuff. What does it all mean? It means, for one, that the elitist “the real pop is the underground pop” is just as wrong an opinion as the unawareness of mainstream ignorance. For two, The Big Pink takes the song not in order to make us laugh, actually they take it more seriously than anyone would ever have taken the original. I mean, the lyrics now make sense. Anyone ever thought how great the lyrics were in Beyoncé’s song? I guess not, I mean they were just lipdancing turned to audio or something. Lo-fi psychedelia and dry, undramatic emotionality are what make the original pop song into a haunting, ghastly piece. Stripped down to the bone, it is hard to differentiate original and cover, mainstream and underground… The fact remains that the original song is one I always hated, and I will always hate Beyoncé, but there has to be something in the original for The Big Pink to take and transform into their own world. Thanks for the track to PMA.
We know it wasn’t long ago that we showed some love to Monsieur Adi — but — hell, let’s do it again. Just received a pretty energizing remix of his soon to be released We Are the Romans single by a Swedish newcomer called Wolfchild. As they state on their soundcloud page, the mix turns somewhat happy but then quickly turns apocalyptic with hard synths, chopping, and choir. It might be a bit freaky for your tastes… it even is somewhat for ours, however we definitely have enough moments of insanity in our day to day life when this type of electro-stabbing is appreciated.
Look out for the EP, which will be released in March by Technofavrik, together with remixes by Flashworx, Overthrill, Freak You, and Renegade.
Undoubtedly (har har) you already know the modernistic alt-pop sensation out of the north of england, Delphic. Now that they’ve been snatched up for many rounds of touring and some version of superstardom, the remixes have followed in droves. To our ears, a pair of Doubt edits stand out. First up, I don’t think our boys from Swissland Cryptonites could’ve knocked this out of the park to any less degree. They maintain, or perhaps even accentuate the central theme/energy of track while simultaneously propping it up from quality pop song, to dancefloor shaker. It’s been a staple in Kunk sets of late.
Not too far behind the above, and taking a different route is the Build remix. Build first slipped into our consciousness after his stellar edit of the Teenagers’ Feeling Better, some time ago. Since that time he’s emerged to be quite the purveyor of the mellow electro remake. Build is best appreciated in a state of semi-, but not total, contemplation. Hit him up on myspace and appreciate.
I was never a huge fan of either The Shins or Danger Mouse, but Mercer’s and Burton’s collaborative side-project, under the name of Broken Bells grew on me. As far as I can remember, I didn’t like it at the first time. It was totally by accident that I listened to it again, like a month later. So now I see it as an awesome debut album full of experimental indie pop and songwriting brilliance. Actually what first came to my mind as a possible influence was The Beach Boys. It is really an interesting combination of dreamy stuff and the soulfulness of Burton that was so characteristically cacthed in Gnarls Barkley. The rhythm section seems pretty creative as well as the synths and keys throughout the album. Sometimes the acoustic guitar goes into spaced-out psych-pop, sometimes marching pop substitutes atmospheric experiment with strings. My favourite track is “The Ghost Inside”, grab it below. LP out in March, pre-oder it on Insound.
Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside [mediafire] // [ysi]
Not sure whether or not it’s due to a longing inside for warmer climes, but Tensnake has been grooving things here casa de kunk for quite a while. He’s a German producer out of Hamburg, making some tropical/hazy/house stuff, kinda downtempo, but upbeat enough for the live party circuit. I can imagine him gazing across the north sea coast from germany, squinting his eyes, and instead painting a south pacific island with warm colors and temperatures — at least, that’s what his tracks do for us.
Tensnake is steadily booking live gigs across western and norther europe, so you’ll have ample opportunity to catch him if you’re in those areas, to get a piece of that pacific island reverie in person.
I know it’s nothing new, but I wanted to pay respects to the blog-scene so decided to hype Bigstereo’s first release a bit: Baby Monster. Of course, this is not the act’s only hypeable aspect. The Oregonian band dives into the super-fashionable mix of electronica and indie, creating a nice dreamy soundscape that I could describe as inbetween Cut Copy and The Big Pink. They have a pretty great sound that taps right into the vein of the era. Melancholy and half-smiling happiness, MGMT-esque innocence and experience of many frustrations characterise their sound. “She Comes Alive” is gonna be a huge summer hit and their remix of Ellie Goulding’s “Under the Sheets” is gonna make it to my top remixes which is a huge thing since she’s super-remixed (just rewind a couple posts). I’m really curious to hear an EP or an LP, my prognosis is that it’s gonna be great. Support them!
A pair from pair-ee, Schaatz is stepping into the chill-dream fray, but are not content to play within the sandbox allotted to the genre thus far. They’re smushing its boundaries into conformance with their own idendity, much like Ronnie did to that chick at jersey shore last summer. Listening to Schaatz, you’ll encounter brief flashes of sounds that may entered your consciousness over the past 20 years — in Terminus, for example, i get a hazy and pleasant association with Hooverphonic. In Esterel Halliday (streamable from their myspace), the connection feels rather to that lovely album by Darkel which fell under the radar.
The guys definitely seem totally comfortable production-wise and we’re pretty sure — with 6 months to go until the height of summer — they’re gonna be able to plant their flag on a little piece of the Antibes when the time comes. There’s not a weak track from them yet.
Searching my email today, I realized that it’s been almost one full year (!) since we got a kind introductory mail from Schaatz. Alors, better late, than never!
MP3s on this site are shared for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artist and buy their albums. If you are an artist (or represent an artist) featured on this blog and want us to take down a song, let us know and thy will be done.
Yes Giantess - The Ruins (Fear of Tigers Remix) [mediafire] // [ysi]
month later. So now I see it as an awesome debut album full of experimental indie pop and songwriting brilliance. Actually what first came to my mind as a possible influence was The Beach Boys. It is really an interesting combination of dreamy stuff and the soulfulness of Burton that was so characteristically cacthed in Gnarls Barkley. The rhythm section seems pretty creative as well as the synths and keys throughout the album. Sometimes the acoustic guitar goes into spaced-out psych-pop, sometimes marching pop substitutes atmospheric experiment with strings. My favourite track is “The Ghost Inside”, grab it below. LP out in March, 
