I was a huge fan of The Blood Brothers. Unfortunately they split last year. I still think that Johnny Whitney’s voice is one of the weirdest and best vocals for experimental hardcore stuff. Or anything.

In addition I really loved Pretty Girls Make Graves who like BB disbanded last year. From the emo-y start to the dark Elan Vital, they were a band to live up to the expectations a rock band has which is formed in Seattle.

On the ashes of glory, Jaguar Love was born. Johhny Whitney does the singing with Cody Volotato also from BB, is on the guitar and Jay Clark, frontman of PGMG is doing a lot of instrument stuff as well, he’s mainly on drums. In the beginning of 2008, they signed to the legendary Matador. First single and EP were out in June. A full lenght titled Take Me to the Sea is following this August. I think it’ll be awesome. Expect hardly digestable music with sweet melodies, weird screaming and experimental aesthetics. Continuing the BB tradition somehow the atmosphere suggests the end of the world. Give them myspace love and buy the record.

Jaguar Love - Jaguar Pirates [zshare] // Jaguar Love - Jaguar Pirates [ysi]

Jaguar Love - Vagabond Ballroom [zshare] // Jaguar Love - Vagabond Ballroom [ysi]

XX Teens is a five-piece band from London, UK. Like a proper band, you know. There was a lot of hype around them and though they have a new single out and the album will be released 28th of July. They were called Xerox Teens but Xerox photocopier, etc company made them change it. Yeah, well, it would’ve been hard to play on a Xerox machine-something on stage. This is so funny, I mean rockband vs photocopy company? Haha, people are really serious about names. Proper name, totally sacred stuff.

Nevertheless, the XX Teens made the album and it sounds cool. At the very least it’s much better than the overhyped psychobilly revival of The Horrors. Dancey, dirty, noisy art-punk. Seems like a much more honest follower of the tradition than many other recent post-punk acts.

XX Teens - B-54 [zshare] // XX Teens - B-54 [ysi]

Yeah, someone might remember, there was a band called The Subways with a big hit a few years ago. Its title was like Rock and Roll Queen and it appeared in an OC episode that made it an even bigger indie-hymn. Now, they should sign to Kitsuné change their name and a chorus like ‘be my tech-house queen’ would be awesome. Remixes would be on the way.

Nevertheless, here they are again with two new songs preceeding the album. The first one was Girls & Boys (video) which made some think about Blur but I don’t really get it. Who the fuck are Blur anyway? Actually I liked the previous single better, it had some really heavy guitars. Nevermind, the new single bears the fancy title Alright (video) and it sounds quite cool. I mean, yeah, obvious hooks like “aaahh-haaa” and the girl-boy duo vocals are sometimes cheesy but Nirvana-like guitars can be great and there’s some metal. Buy it when it comes out in June, the full-lenght will follow same month.

The Subways - Alright (zshare)

The Subways - Alright (y. s. i.)

Poni Hoax is a five piece band from Paris, France. Well, they are electro but they rock as well. Arty post-punk with catchy electronica. Their song Budapest made quite a buzz in 2005. It was remixed by Joakim. (I know him since the Hearts on Fire remix, seems now he co-produces their new LP and owns their label.) Now, with their second album entitled Images of Sigrid (TigerSushi records, 28th April) they are gonna triumph. Antibodies starts like a Blondie song and (video) was their previous single in 2007 and the next one is Pretty Tall Girls which is quite awesome. When the chorus hits in it kinda blows anyone’s head off.

Poni Hoax - Pretty Tall Girls (zshare)

Poni Hoax - Pretty Tall Girls (y. s. i.)

The Cyanide Valentine hail from the US, city of Boston. They create a blend of very strange acoustic sounds and experimental electro. The beauty and the beast, ha! The vocals are like from Radiohead or Spiritualized and the guy+girl together reminds me of Arcade Fire. They even go as far as Sufjan Stevens-like folkish stuff.

Their second record is downloadable from their site for free which is really nice: http://cyanidevalentine.com/ I chose two songs from the album, they are my favourites. The first one has an amazing title: Kate I’m Only Freaking/Amphetamina, the second catches them at their naively melancholic folk-pop side. But the whole album creates a very strong and uniquely dark atmosphere.

Btw these guys have a great taste - their favourites of 2007 include The National, Of Montreal, etc - which should be appriciated.

The Cyanide Valentine - Kate I’m Only Freaking/Amphetamina (y. s. i.)

The Cyanide Valentine - The Sweetest Season (y. s. i.)

So I don’t think our love, or most others’ love for le Castles de Crystal need to be expressed to any greater extent… that is until Lazrtag’s re-work of Crimewave hit bloggaland. Lazrtag hail from Hollywood and their taste for remixes originals shows it: Britney Spears and Rihanna among others have been given brushwork by the lads’ laptops. The Crimewave edit is tops — gives it just the punch it needs for another ciruit on the dancefloors — or you can be sure on our dancefloors at least.

The CC album as a whole is on sale at your favorite local record store and even more conveniently on itunes, so hit them up and give support. My favorite of the lot that hasn’t been given so much attention is Reckless. Worth a listen, and more.

Crystal Castles vs. Health - Crimewave (Lazrtag Remix) [zshare] // Crystal Castles vs. Health - Crimewave (Lazrtag Remix) [yousendit]

Crystal Castles - Reckless [zshare] // Crystal Castles - Reckless [yousendit]

The Pigeon Detectives are gonna deliver a second album on the 26th of May. They are an indie band from Leeds, UK. They have guitars and they probably don’t use laptops. Yeah, in spite of Ed Banger, these kinda things still exist. Hard to believe, huh? The Pigeon Detectives are a totally MTV2 compatible English band with nice post-Libertines songs. They are a perfect uk-indie act. In addition they are awesome live. Their new single This Is An Emergency is preceeding the LP Emergency on Dance to the Radio label (Label founded by guitarist of Forward, Russia and releasing stuff from iLiKETRAiNS, Sky Larkin, etc.) on the 12th May.

The Pigeon Detectives - This Is An Emergency (zshare)

The Pigeon Detectives - This Is An Emergency (y. s. i.)

New Poney Poney remix and MSTRKRFT single.

Neither requires to many words. First one is from Poney Poney (our post about them). New single Cross the Fader produced by Justice guy Xavier is out on an EP with two awesome remixes. One by Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya and one by Headman. I’m gonna post the latter cause I like it more. I think Headman catches the original more (against the fact that BBYYY already did a remix for the Poneys).

Poney Poney - Cross the Fader (Headman mix) (zshare)

Poney Poney - Cross the Fader (Headman mix) (y. s. i.)

Second song is from MSTRKRFT. Even less words are needed to explain. Their EP entitled Bounce is gonna come out on Dim Mak (awesome label) on the 1st of April. There’s a “b-side” on the EP, Vuvuvu, which actually sounds like its title. Reminds me of a SebastiAn thing I heard called Motor. Seems like new electro sounds these days take engeneering metaphors to define themselves. I’m gonna post the radio edit of the new track which took me 3-4 listens to like it but I think it grows on me. I’m not really into the rapping stuff (provided by N.O.R.E.) but whatever, I’m sure it’s gonna be sold out really fast and will be played in every club.

MSTRKRFT - Bounce (feat N.O.R.E. - radio version)*

*taken down according to request. you can buy it here: RCRD LBL

It wasn’t so long ago that we directed you to a fine pair of tracks put out by Hercules and Love Affair (DFA records). But we couldn’t pass up showing some love to Riton’s rub job on You Belong. The longtime London dj fave does a great job keeping the feeling of the original while injecting just the right level of energy. The result is a happy and bouncy tribute that is refreshingly mindless… in a good a way as that can be. H & LA have jumped the pond and are now playing some dates in the UK along with a selection of euro-festival dates. Could we see the sziget added to that? Hope.

Hercules and Love Affair - You Belong (Riton Remix) [zshare] // Hercules and Love Affair (Riton Remix) [yousendit]

It should be pointed out however that Kunk’s all time favorite Riton edit remains his stellar work on the Mystery Jets a couple years back.  Likewise we think it’s about time homeboy comes ’round Budapest for a guest set.

Mystery Jets - The Boy Who Ran Away (Riton Rerub) [zshare] // Mystery Jets - The Boy Who Ran Away (Riton Rerub) [yousendit]

Happy to report that despite the so-called riots which occurred on Saturday near our venue, the gig with the Blammas and Trash City Club was delicious. Antropos has some photos up over here, and a kind Frenchman by the name of Clément hit us up with an awesome b&w retrospective of the gig. You can download the set here, and his website is here: www.loeilregarde.com. Merci mister come and say hi next time!

A preview:

As you know we here at Kunk are mildly obsessed with the guy who should be running Boys Noize records because he knows so much about the topic. That is, Jacko. Remix Sunday over at Palms Out recently disseminated a super deliciously hot remix of the boy toucher’s classic by Marquis. Straight outta Washington, DC baby. Hear it and love it.

Michael Jackson - P.Y.T. (Marquis Remix) [zshare] // Michael Jackson - P.Y.T. (Marquis Remix) [yousendit]