Sexy in black, scary in black, synths in black, sedated in black… The Black Ghosts are Prince with the hair of Robert Smith in a giant disco on the other side of heaven and the river Styx. The duo from London are one of the most entertaining electro acts nowadays. With a lot of diversity and a tasteful combination of influences they are getting ready for the July 8 release date of their debut LP. Pre-order from the label.

I won’t write a lot, everyone has posted about them and clearly it’ll be hard to live up to the expectations and the hype but I have a strong feeling that they won’t dissappoint. The vocals of ex-Simian singer, Simon Lord is like the best relaxing massage which rejuvenates the body and the soul so you wanna jump back to the tranquilized dancefloor made up of stars which have sexual desires. Watch out, darkness lurks in the shadows…umm…yeah, so the depths of human soul are scary, even in the most calm situations. Neurotic stuff and the unconscious haunts in easy listening. With the music supporting the whole thing, it will dominate upcoming Valentine’s Days’ twisted mixtapes…if you know what I mean haha…pfff… Seriously, watch the lyrics, brilliant.

The Black Ghosts - I Don’t Know (zshare) // The Black Ghosts - I Don’t Know (y. s. i.)

“i don’t know what she did

but she did it to my head”

Bigstereo just came up with a new Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya track! It sounds really great. Vocals remind me of French singer-songwriter girl SoKo. This artificial cuteness. Fuck Friend (video) was a somehow like this though I can’t explain how. This song is heavy on drums and rhytm and the whole thing is quite clean. Makes me feel claustrophobia like in a hospital room or whatever. The sound is darkish disco. We await the debut on Kitsuné. Singer girl must be awesome live.

Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya - Love Beauty #1 (zshare)

Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya - Love Beauty #1 (y. s. i.)

The Presets‘ album Apocalypso is out really soon now, exactly on the 12th of April. (How awesome is this cover below?) Greatly anticipated follow-up. Remixes are already floating around. Lifelike, D.I.M., Juri Hulkkonen are working on their songs. They had a remix album out in 2006 featuring Digitalism, The Juan Maclean, Simian Mobile Disco, etc. I’m gonna post my favourite of the songs I heard so far. Might not be the most user-friendly one (that’s probably Talk Like That) but who cares

The Presets - Kicking and Screaming (zshare)

The Presets - Kicking and Screaming (y. s. i.)

Apocalypse as a theme seems to work well with the band. The expression of ‘haunting vocals’ is like instantly appliable for Julian Hamilton’s voice. They had this ‘dark side of the 80s’ image from the start and they are great adding disco sounds to this concept. Extravagance & decadence.

Of course, you’re surely aware that they are from Sydney. The French scene seems to have their eye on the aussies cause Lifelike (from Paris) grabbed This Boy’s In Love and added some nice dream new-wave base to it. Feels like CFCF. Alan Braxe picked up one of their tracks (Discopolis with Kris Menace) and he’s gonna release it with remixes, etc. In the meantime they did stuff for Cazals and Chromeo so they are pretty cool.

The Presets - This Boy’s In Love (Lifelike remix) (zshare)

The Presets - This Boy’s In Love (Lifelike remix) (y. s. i.)

Remember PNAU from Sydney? Bigstereo says they’ll be huge in 2008. Does Ladyhawke (pictured) ring a bell? The girl from New Zealand moved to Europe named their favourite by The Teenagers. Basically, both of them are predetermined for a great amount of hype during this year. PNAU is one of the next generation of the Cut Copy dinasty and Ladyhawke is like a more original+rocking 80s version of Uffie. So, they did a track together together and it sounds quite cool. It was blogged a couple times and both artists will be a lot more in the future. (Thanks to Hipster Runoff for this one.) Everyone says it’s 80s disco, then it must be 80s disco, I guess. The verses remind me of electroclash without the feeling of being outdated and the chorus amazingly expresses a bit darkish tragical mood. Modular, again.

PNAU - Embrace (feat. Ladyhawke) (zshare)

PNAU - Embrace (feat. Ladyhawke) (y. s. i.)

The Black Ghosts are greatly admired by us here at Kunk HQ. They’re a duo from London and one of their members was in Simian (you might have heard about the ancestor of Simian Mobile Disco). They already have some pretty cool remix treatment from the likes of The Whip, Kissy Sell Out, Switch, Fake Blood, etc. Now you think you’re able to guess the music but that’s not the case. The Black Ghosts have quite a unique sound. The vocals are monumental and the whole danciness gets a twist because of the postpunkish gothic attitude borrowed from the 80s, the funky stuff and the symphonic parts.

Seems like they’re gonna have a new release out. ‘I Want Nothing’ was on the ‘Any Way…’ single (video). Now they have a couple remixes and an extended mix for it. Personally, I’m into the extended mix but Sinden’s has something to it as well. I don’t really like Sinden though I know this Count & Sinden thing is hugely hyped. Btw the Count looks a bit like Ashton Kutcher.

“I want nothing but to dissolve in the night and to feel direction no more”

The Black Ghosts - I Want Nothing (Extended Mix) (zshare)

The Black Ghosts - I Want Nothing (Extended Mix) (y. s. i.)

The Black Ghosts - I Want Nothing (Sinden remix) (zshare)

The Black Ghosts - I Want Nothing (Sinden remix) (y. s. i.)