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]

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”

Warning! Coolness alert! We’ve already posted about GRUM a couple times but I think we haven’t mentioned Le Castle Vania yet. I first heard about Dylan Eiland when he remixed Kill the Noise’s Hey You and that was some amazing gasoline on the fire. Umm…he was remixed by The Toxic Avanger and LA Riots so the hipness-o-meter is just rising and rising exponentially. And of course, opening for Steve Aoki can never hurt for a successful dj-career. Dj Dylan remixed Snowden, 120 Days and the newest stuff is this GRUM song. Thanks to DiscoDust.

GRUM - Go Back (Le Castle Vania remix) (zshare) // GRUM - Go Back (Le Castle Vania remix) (y. s. i.)

This tune bangs and everything. Not better than the original, maybe it’s just fitted for a bit more dancefloor-madness. The sad thing is that I can’t not like it. Why wouldn’t I want to? Take a look at this photo:

Now take a look at this one:

Am I the only one who thinks that there’s something wrong with the universe? First I thought this is a joke. I mean WHAT THE FUCK? And it’s not just about looks. Or it is only about that. I must say that I would choose darkness. The whole thing is so artificially cheesy, it gives me the creeps to think about the future celebrity events, by then everyone will have a button on his hand to trigger a electronic orgasm…Burroughs-style. BiBaBiDi was so right: “Hack DJs clutter out clubs pretending to be the voices of a generation, but have no idea what the hell their generation is, who don’t give a rat’s, and haven’t an iota of a clue as to how to become relevant. Let’s just mosh in the meantime, right? Next time you consider checking out Le Castle Vania or Steve Aoki or Guns ‘n Bombs, resolve to staying home and watching Jeopardy at 3 AM. It’s better than walking into a club, immersing yourself in the noise and confusion, and fooling yourself into thinking it’s music.”

So yeah, you can download this one and bang it with superbass (which is okay, I do it sometimes) or jump a post backwards for the Hammer of Gods track.

Slow, dirty and heavy and recalling a different era that isn’t too removed from today but I can’t exactly place my finger on it, Tronik Youth’s new single shows how to keep a modest pace while not losing any hottness. Already there are several remixes of Laugh Cry Live Die floating around and undoubtedly there will be countless more — but I’m holding out and sticking to the original — in part because he deserves the credit on the back of the many deft remixes he’s put under his belt to date (Goose, The Gossip, and MGMT among other standouts).

Things are only on the up and up for Tronik so check him out live in London-town or on the festival circuit this summer.

Tronik Youth - Laugh Cry Live Die [zshare] // Tronik Youth - Laugh Cry Live Die [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.)

Any boy born in the 1970s has fond recollections of that blonde girl with the hyphenated name traipsing around with gay muscly-bodied dudes in a gym. Apparently we can count the Black Ghosts as part of that club as they laid down an awesome cover of Olivia Newton-John’s early 1980s opus, Let’s Get Physical. You always thought that song had some darker avenues to explore I’m sure, and so do the Kunkers.

The Black Ghosts throw it down with their usual bouncing-on-a-bubble-forged-in-hell backbeat — enough so that I’m imagining that the iconic original video should totally be remade to include a grazing devil goat when she does the “let’s get animal” bit.

The Black Ghosts - Let’s Get Physical [zshare] //The Black Ghosts - Let’s Get Physical [ysi]

We should post more Valerie crew, woot! Holding up the English side of the channel is dj/remixer/track producer, Russ Chimes. His work is not quite as ethereal as Chimes’ Gallic crew-mates — rather more on the happy electro dance tip — but is still tinged with that 80s dreaminess we Kunkers adore. If you’re a fan of Falke, Braxe, et al, then his works will be right up your alley.

Mulsanne is a straightforward lowkey assualt which successfully elicits the vibe of taking one’s Lotus out for a twilight South Beach cruise, either 20 years ago, or 100 years in the future… take your pick. It oozes summer.

Speaking of the Valerie crew, Kunk will have Anoraak out in Budapest next month, so stay tuned for flyer and all that jazz in the coming weeks.

Russ Chimes - Mulsanne [yousendit]

The new single from Cazals gets heavy attention. Kitsuné did a really nice job getting artists to work on this one. On the single there’ll be remixes from many Kunk favourites: from Blamma! Blamma! and LIFELIKE till Moulinex. What an awesome release! Go and buy it.

I’m gonna post the Moulinex remix because we’ve been posting about the others recently.

Moulinex is Louis, an awesome dj guy originally from Portugal but he lives in Munich, Germany now. He grew up on great music not like idiot oldschool house or techno. He was listening to Pink Floyd, Moroder, Kraftwerk, Sun Ra. Of course he’s influenced by French stuff like Daft Punk as well. However, he is way ahead of anything Boys Noize ever made. He remixed kap10kurt, SymbolOne, Cut Copy, Xinobi and Cryptonites, lot of the bands that Kunk are fond of. Seems like they are gonna tour Austrialia with Xinobi. I suppose they are gonna have a big fanbase there. He must be huge this year.

If you wanna get into it start with the Cut Copy thing, continue with Xinobi remix, listen to the Cazals one and then move to his own songs, first Break Chops and then everything else.

Cazals - Somebody, Somewhere (Moulinex remix) (zshare)

Cazals - Somebody, Somewhere (Moulinex remix) (y. s. i.)

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.)

We’ve posted about both of these acts. One is Does It Offend You, Yeah? (post), the other is LIFELIKE (post1, post2). The Epic Last Song, the last song of DIOYYs’ album got remixed by the French guy Laurent Ash. This remix sounds so great…i can compare it to CFCF (like i did with his Presets remix). It’s a laid back summer love song for hot nights, when you can run on green fields, watch stars, etc, when everything feels nice and easy and only the air is heavy. It has a discoish angle like the slower songs of The Teenagers or whatever.

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Epic Last Song (LIFELIKE remix) (zshare)

Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Epic Last Song (LIFELIKE remix) (y. s. i.)