Sorry guys for being out of it lately, your Kunkers have a lot of stuff on their minds with the party this saturday and other shit. But we’re gonna make up for it with a couple of awesome posts, allright?

Redial is from Sydney and maybe kinda closely-tied with our friends, the kids at Trashbags. He has a nice sound and we’ve already blogged him but this time he’s done something to up the level: reworked a classic from 1985 (he had a track titled 1985 didn’t he?), Shout by Tears for Fears. The original is (of course) like Depeche Mode, synth-pop but Tears take a more anthem-like approach and the song prays for a stadium. That’s the reason why the remix fits so well: the space-y synth-work of Redial and the heavy drums after the intro just capture the essence and transform it into an impressive disco-monster. You know, if Redial ever plays at Budapest that should be a Kunk party. Watch out for his new tracks and second EP coming out next year.

Tears for Fears - Shout (Redial remix) [zshare] // [ysi]

Maybe not so new because it’s officially from the Kitsuné Maison 6 compilation. Seems like one of the coolest Parisian labels realized the post-banger era and the importance of smooth synths. Lo-Fi-Fnk is amazing since their debut LP Boylife and the City single. They are actually from Sweden. They were disappeared until now but I guess we can expect plenty of remixes and hype soon. This new song Want U is a great atmospheric disco song kinda reminds me of the new Cut Copy. I feel like it makes the air lighter around you, your heart beats less fast, you can close your eyes and fast forward the time to a nice Sunday afternoon where every difficulty that makes your soul heavy just floats up to the clouds and rains down to get lost in the city.

Lo-Fi-Fnk - Want U [zshare] // [ysi]

Haha, witty title! NighWaves who are responsible for the Valerie-like Binary collective (with ALFA and Fabian) are organizing an event to celebrate the dreamwaves, themselves and the Binary artists. October 6th in Hollywood. Since we’re couple thousand miles away, rotting in Hungary, we can’t be there, we can just urge everyone who has the option to attend. Not far from our very own Kunk-aims, they’ve set out to open a new space for electronic music and djing. Usually we don’t advertise LA parties because of obvious reasons but with this one we can make an exception: we really like Binary, we seem to share some common motives, it’s a kickoff party and we’re just starting our own proper season so it’s sympathy all around. And they’ve sent us songs! Dreamwave, their own genre, meaning 80s, synths and smooth disco. Take a look at the (small) flyer on the right and here’s some listening material from NightWaves.

NightWaves - She’s Electric [zshare] // [mediafire] // [ysi]

NightWaves - Even Money [zshare] // [mediafire] // [ysi]

Okay, here’s an older one. I couldn’t find it anywhere so I had to ask Maethelvin to send it to us and he was so nice that we have a 320kbps track.

We’ve already posted about Maethelvin (here) and of course, we are still fanboys of the Valerie sound. This song with the title and the atmosphere could be a hymn for these west-coasters of France. That’s why it’s so relevant just now. Such a perfect soundtrack song. Could be the background music for Solaris or the more lsd-d parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not instead of Strauss haha. I don’t think it can be categorized as 80s retro. Of course it has the synth thing and the feeling to it but somehow I think that it’s more universal. Haha wordpay, not just universal but Universal. In the bigger picture, there are humanity’s dreams and hopes connected with stars and other worlds and galaxies contained in it, in a form of background tension just crawling and bubbleing up from the collective unconscious. That’s why it’s a perfect soundtrack for any sci-fi because it originates from the same source as the need for science-fiction. “Car-chase disco” as it says on myspace but those cars are riding the galactic highways of the Milky Way for sure. In a way back to chilldhood cause stars and stuff is so fascinating when one’s young and 80s star-y nights carry an interesting significance with all this glam-y space-popculture around. Really, this song is a short movie about a creepy night of a boy and girl who are watching stars and subtle but unsettling events happen both with their emotions and with never-to-be-found-out secrets in the outer world.

Make friendship on myspace, write nice comments and watch out for Maethelvin in the future.

Maethelvin - Night Love [zshare] // Maethelvin - Night Love [ysi]

ps. artwork above by The Zonders who are up to a lot of awesome stuff. check their space!

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]