So yeah, one of the most anticipated albums of 2008 for the lovers of smart electro sounds was V of Australia’s and Modular’s Van She. This debut album is one of the bests this year. Not surprisingly beside Cut Copy’s second. I don’t think I can say anything new with fact-value. I think it’s beautiful and surprising.

The record manages to somehow combine club-feeling (LCD Soundsystem comes to my mind) with shoegaze aesthetics. My favourite is Memory Man with it’s grandeour and monumental structure. Not only shallow makes-you-dance stuff but real guitar-drum music with influences ranging from obvious ones like new wave and synth pop to strange stuff like singer-songwriter, acoustic and whirlwind-esque psychedelic sound like M83 or the now seemingly returning My Bloody Valentine. More indie pop than electro. I would say it’s spiritually closer to the aformentioned Of Montreal than to The Presets for example. It can move passions, mountains, get some tears in your eyes and shape a landscape for flying dreams. The reason I’m writing this now is that I got the Van She Tech remix of The Whip’s Frustration from Ohh! Crapp and it’s again a masterpiece. Have a listen and order V.

Van She - Memory Man [zshare] // Van She - Memory Man [ysi]

The Whip - Frustration (Van She Tech remix) [zshare] // The Whip - Frustration (Van She Tech remix) [ysi]

but it doesn’t. Yet again, Digitalism remixed. Now, the new song and by a talented German guy who goes by the name MMMatthias. Today after I posted the Crystal Castles thing I decided to do something relaxing, listened to the brilliant Walkmen album and read or stuff. Now MMMatthias was so kind to hit us Kunkers up with his latest remix that I thought I had to change my mind and go back to heavy electro with Digitalism. (Ok, the new song is light and nice like Hail Social or something.) Then I looked up what MMMatthias have been doing so far and I’m impressed. Actually Digitalism is the first banging electro he remixed. He’s done MGMT and Sigur Ros(!) Surprising stuff and great taste = can’t wait for more! The Digitalism remix has this strange atmosphere, perfect easy-disco for the end of the summer. Give MMMatthias myspace love and listen to the other tracks.

Digitalism - Taken Away (MMMatthias remix) [zshare] // Digitalism - Taken Away (MMMatthias remix) [ysi]

I know, I know who needs this song blogged for the 10th time… I can’t not post it. It was a long time ago since I’ve heard anything new by the Crystal Castles. Sadly, it’s only a remix now and I’m not particularly fond of White Lies who are just another band of the post-post-punk/Joy Division-esque/Interpol (good) - Editors (bad) heritage. Or if I want to be a bit cruel then… anyone has any memories about The Bravery? Yeah, right: “it was an honest mistake woo-huu” haha White Lies could easliy cover it or a Killers song.

On the other hand, the remix, done by the guy part of Crystal Castles, is much much better than the original! Nice work on the vocals and the synth makes it more interesting. The motor-sound reminds me of something, maybe SebastiAn. No, I know, Le Castle Vania remix of Kill the Noise’s Hey You. Nevertheless, a mediocre indie song became a cool, atmospheric disco-track.

White Lies - Death (Crystal Castles remix) [zshare] // White Lies - Death (Crystal Castles remix) [ysi]

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]

I’ll quickly do a second post. It’s gonna be about Late of the Pier who I’m crazy about since the first time I’ve heard Space and the Woods and stuff pre-release. Their album is one of the most anticipated LPs of the UK this year. Entitled Fantasy Black Channel it’s gonna come out on the 11th of August. You should definetly buy it.

All the singles have been brilliant. From Space and the Woods (video) until the latest, Heartbeat (video). The full-lenght is produced by Erol Alkan which is a good thing and helps with the experimental electro parts. The whole record is ambitious and the Liars-esqe edge is there, full of styles and complexity from the avantgarde pop of The Bears Are Coming to the synth-metal of Whitesnake (awesome title, I love band titles) and the post-punk of Bathroom Gurgle. The aesthetics and image is like inviting Dali to create a series of paitings about the 1980s. Late of the Pier belongs to the new UK-generation beside Foals and Friendly Fires who are mixing indie, electro, hardcore, synths and post-punk, etc in an interesting new-ish way to create a unique and really progressive atmosphere. I’m not sure that the album is a great listen as a whole, it’s not perfect, it doesn’t have a controlling concept but the variety is amazing. It’s just not a perfect pop record. Listen to one of my favourites the hurrican-like VW (why is there a reference to a German car brand?) and the awesome*10 remix of Heartbeat by Hot Chip.

Late of the Pier - VW [zshare] // Late of the Pier - VW [ysi]

Late of the Pier - Heartbeat (Hot Chip remix) [zshare] // Late of the Pier - Heartbeat (Hot Chip remix) [ysi]

HRO already beat me to it but I still wanna post the newest LIFELIKE remix. It is connected to the new single by Treasure Fingers, Cross the Dancefloor. Treasure Fingers is a guy from the US called Ashley Jones who’s somehow involved with drum n bass but I don’t want to know about that. The single is a very nice relaxed summer disco song with a daftpunkish mood, it just came out yesterday on Fool’s Gold Records (buy buy buy). Remixers include LIFELIKE, Curses! and Laidback Luke. I’m gonna post the first two cause LIFELIKE is awesome and we are totally into him and the Curses! thing is…umm…”interesting”? And it makes you appreciate LIFELIKE more…the light French-y “touch” is much more tasteful than the bass-masturbation edit.

Curses! is a side project of New York’s “Heavy Bass Champion” (omg) Drop the Lime. Why does he need a side project if it’s the same sound as the original? Whatever. I thought I like Curses! more than I hate Drop the Lime (mainly because Curses! remix great stuff like HEALTH and Midnight Juggernauts and DtL shit like Rex the Dog, Moby and the Cutting Crew remix was quite shameful) but now I’m all confused.

Treasure Fingers - Cross the Dancefloor (LIFELIKE remix) [zshare] // Treasure Fingers - Cross the Dancefloor (LIFELIKE remix) [ysi]

Treasure Fingers - Cross the Dancefloor (Curses! remix) [zshare] // Treasure Fingers - Cross the Dancefloor (Curses! remix) [ysi]

Although what i know of the Disco Villains is confined to one very short email and a few words on a myspace page, i have the feeling these guys would be a hoot to party with.  This may in part explain how the pair hailing from deepest Southwest US of A have lined up quite a few good looking gigs in the upcoming months.

Although all their tracks could be loosely categorized as ‘electro’, no two of them sound very much the same, which is quite appealing in this era of rubber stamp laptop edits. I’ve posted my faves below. 8-Bit Disaster in particular throws the listener straight into a Metroid dancefloor haze without sounding like a carbon copy of other ‘bleep bleep’ stuff you’ll hear. Refreshing.

Those in SoCal (and Mexico!) should continue to keep their eye out for these fellas.

Disco Villains - La Nuit Porte Conseil [zshare] // Disco Villains - La Nuit Porte Conseil [ysi]

Disco Villains - 8-Bit Disaster [zshare] // Disco Villains - 8-Bit Disaster [ysi]

Ultraviolet Sound - BABYZ (Disco Villains Remake) [zshare] // Ultraviolet Sound - BABYZ (Disco Villains Remake) [ysi]

Oh wow. I love The Kills album. So fucking amazing. I mean like it’s really like dirty old garage rock with some added freakiness and phobias. Still, it’s not only that it isn’t outdated, it feels perfectly relevant. Sexy and dark, Midnight Boom is exactly what its title says. They had made an average album in 2003 when this kind of stuff was popular. Now that it’s not so much, they made an awesome record.

There are many things I like about Ed Banger’s SebastiAn. Ok, he’s hyped and everyone knows the RATM re-edit and Motor and maybe the Fool for Love remix too. However, he’s a guy from the banger crew who is constantly pushing boundaries. Seems like blessed with a cool taste he chooses music to chop-chop that is good. Like rock music and stuff. Not remixing a remix of a remix of a cover. And Dog for example is one electro-grindcore noise that can piss off a lot of people who are waiting for another perfectly beatmixed techno track on the dancefloor. I like it and that’s why I adore this remix of Cheap and Cheerful very much. Compare it to the Nite Cells edit who are like ok but they fucked it up. Or The Bloody Beetroots? Although I’m into them this one sucks. The Mathematikal rerub or The Videoband re-distortion don’t even deserve to be mentioned. SebastiAn had the taste to keep the hot rocking side of the song and twist it with his own sick disco. The breakdown at the end is brilliant.

The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful (SebastiAn remix) [zshare] // The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful (SebastiAn remix) [fileden]

The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful (Nite Cells Bored Robot remix) [zshare] // The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful (Nite Cells Bored Robot remix) [fileden]

The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful (The Bloody Beetroots remix) [zshare] // The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful (The Bloody Beetroots remix) [fileden]

The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful [zshare] // The Kills - Cheap and Cheerful [fileden]

In 1999 Blank-Wave Arcade was a great underground hit. Not that I personally have this experience cause I was only 16 and listening to Nirvana back then. Same thing with Danse Macabre. In 2001 was huge and it was dominant in the club scene but who cared I was into Radiohead and Refused. I think I first heard The Faint around 2002-3 when disco-punk was popular here. Radio 4, House of Jealous Lovers, early !!! It was definetly fun. But as you know, it wasn’t supposed to last. The Rapture and !!! have made a successful career since then and after 4 years The Faint gives it a shot.

The Faint’s next album entitled Fasciinatiion is gonna come out on the 5th of August on their label: blank.wav (they left Saddle Creek). The first single The Geeks were Right is flying around on the internet for a couple weeks now and there are a some remixes for it. First the super-hip Boys Noize vs D.I.M. In my extermely humble opinion this remix sucks badly. Like the German guys just have a pattern named ‘how to make very cool and bass-driven weird-synth club-anthems’ and just forced it upon the song (okay, nice work on the vocals but that’s the least). On the other hand, the Does It Offend You, Yeah? one bangs like hell. It’s banger but a good, powerful one. The third song is another preview from the album Mirror Error. I haven’t decided about the album yet, it’s not nearly as good as the last Rapture or !!! but maybe it’s not that outdated.

The Faint - The Geeks Were Right (Boys Noize vs D.I.M remix) [zshare] // The Faint - The Geeks Were Right (Boys Noize vs D.I.M remix) [fileden]

The Faint - The Geeks Were Right (Does It Offend You, Yeah? remix) [zshare] // The Faint - The Geeks Were Right (Does It Offend You, Yeah? remix) [fileden]

The Faint - Mirror Error [zshare] // The Faint - Mirror Error [fileden]