Cassius - Toop Toop

Clip officiel !!!

Cassius - 15 Again

You may remember French band Cassius because of their imaginatively titled 1999 dancefloor hit, ‘Cassius 1999’. Since then the duo, Zdar (Phillipe) and Boom-Bass (Hubert) have been busily beavering away at various solo and group projects, but ’15 Again’ will hopefully return to them some of the limelight which they have been avoiding since their clubbing success seven years ago.

It is apparent from the opening track on ’15 Aagin’ that Cassius are not a band who can easily be ignored. ‘Toop Toop’ screams for attention, with its disco beats and funky bass-line (played by Sebastian Tellier) twanging in harmony to the vocals being shouted into a megaphone.

As the album progresses on, it is easy to spot which tracks will be the next singles and hot club tunes and which ones are merely filler. The fast paced electronic beats and jazz beats of the more commercial-sounding songs sit awkwardly next to the slower, more mellow offerings such as ‘See Me Now and ‘La Note’ which, more likely than not, won't be heard off the record. It’s a shame that there is this inconsistency, as taken individually each song is absolutely fantastic, with the distinctive sharp, edgy beats that make up the distinctive Cassius sound.

Apparat - Walls

Shitkatapult co-owner and Berliner Sascha Ring insists that ‘Walls’, the title of his first solo studio album since 2003’s ‘Duplex’ does not imply dividing lines, but protective spaces. Too much so, perhaps. ‘Walls’ is pop “by any other means” with an overall current of well-being and good intentions that never seems to escape Sascha Ring’s carefully marked middle ground, sonically or thematically. There are no dangerous, passionate or precious emotions, despite all the best intentions. Musically as well, there is a frustrating absence of dynamism or depth to the sound design – everything sticks to the middle. Even with the added vocals, strings and the hands of Telefon Tel Aviv’s Josh Eustis, who did the final mixdown, ‘Walls’ seems wedged in the centre. It’s not quite a wall of sound as much as a picket fence at times. Take the opening track ‘Not a Number’. Its clever modernist percussive and marimba-like patterns fade away suggestively beneath the strings, but instead of dropping the intensity or opening up space to kick-start the album, they simply return and, well, nothing really happens. Similarly, Apparat’s previous collaborators Kathrin Pfänder and Lisa Verena Stepf’s maudlin strings fail to weave any real magic on the almost-exotic sounding ‘Useless Information’ and ‘You Don’t Know Me’. Instead, they end up sounding too simple, as if trying to imitate an authentic atmosphere of grand emotions rather than really feeling it. Crocodile tears, as it were.

Indeed, much of the album has trouble escaping this sentiment. The single ‘Hold On’, featuring R&B flavoured vocals from Raz Ohara, who worked with Apparat on his 2005 EP ‘Sizilium’, wants to be anthemic and uplifting, but seems almost too anodyne and clean to express a full-blooded emotion. Similarly, the album closes with ‘Over and Over’, also featuring Ohara’s smoky vocals, but the effect is too touching for its own good. Apparat’s Thom Yorke or Sigur Rós-inspired vocal debut on ‘Birds’, and particularly on ‘Arcadia’, reaches for but misses the heartstrings, despite the overall quality of his voice. It’s not all disappointment, though. Ohara brings to life ‘Hailin From the Edge’, the album’s best track, while ‘Fractales Pt. 1’ disintegrates into a messy, concrete noise called ‘Fractales Pt. 2’. The latter would offer more of an important contrast to the happy/hopeful emotions of the album if the sentimental piano melody would go away for long enough. Other passages shine briefly as lively pop hymns, while some splashes of live drumming add a bit of needed strength.

Overall, ‘Walls’ is a good album in the moral sense more than the musical sense. The listening experience is somewhat unexciting although aesthetically wholesome, making it a disappointing follow-up to ‘Orchestra of Bubbles’, last year’s more authentic collaboration with Ellen Allien.

Joy Electric - Monosynth

Nice Video from Joy Electric woth Monosynth but The sound echos a bit, sorry for that.

Joy Electric - The Otherly Opus

After a year and a half of intense hard work, Ronnie Martin has emerged once again with yet another Joy Electric classic "The Otherly Opus", the fifth and final installement of his long-running "Legacy" concept album series. In this case, "The Otherly Opus" is a double-concept album with the first five tracks carrying one theme and the latter five tracks displaying another.
Like previous Joy Electric releases, "The Otherly Opus" showcases Ronnie's relentless talents for fusing catchy melodies with a wealth of experimentation. Unlike previous albums, Ronnie has put a larger emphasis on vocal arrangements here than on any other Joy Electric album. In addition to his trademark lead vocals, Ronnie also provides some very unique layered backing vocals on many of the tracks including "Colours In Dutch", "The Memory of Alpha", "The Ushering In of The Magical Era" and "Red Will Dye These Snows Of Silver".
Musically, the album is quite experimental but not in the most avant-garde extreme. The songs are still very tuneful and have a semi-industrial feel to them (especially in the latter half of the album). There's even one track, "Write Your Last Paragraph", that echoes the sound of Joy Electric's earlier material (ie: Melody, We Are The Music Makers, Old Wives Tales).
Overall, "The Otherly Opus" is another fine collection from Joy Electric and is continued proof that Ronnie keeps getting better with each album he releases. With the "Legacy" series now officially finished, I cannot help but be curious as to which musical direction Ronnie Martin is going to take next. One thing is definitely for sure, it will be aw

Free Music Avatars:

The following are 40 unedited shots of music gear and musicians. All are royalty free and cost nothing to download. At the bottom of the images is a .zip file containing all of the images. Just unzip this into your forum's avatar gallery and enjoy.

Download all 40 free avatars in .zip file

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Vid)

Sounds Great

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork

get the joke, but it's just not funny anymore. Chromeo was never meant to be considered a "serious" musical act, skating that fine line between witty kitsch and cheese-filled retro grooves. They succeeded somewhat admirably at the former on their debut album She's In Control; tracks like "You're So Gangsta" and "Needy Girl" seemed just fresh and smart enough as to not be confused with the mid-'80s breakdance tracks they were referencing. Their sophomore effort, Fancy Footwork, mines the same territory but suffers greatly from the law of diminishing returns. Make no mistake, "Tenderoni" and "Momma's Boy" are sung with tongue firmly in cheek, but the melodies and production are so tired and weak that the elements that would make them humorous or clever are simply lost in a muddy sea of synthesizers and dated beats. A brief moment of clarity, "Waiting For You" is propped up by a brisk and upbeat mélange of handclaps and chord progressions, but even this is unfortunately reheated later in the album for "Call Me Up" (is that a retro-recycling statement in itself?). The title track is the only true success story: a killer sawline, finger snaps, and a deliciously relaxed and confident chorus separates it from what ultimately sounds like a batch of Grand Theft Auto soundtrack throwaways. It poignantly proves what Chromeo is capable of: mining past '80s electronic glory and turning out fun, tasty dance-pop with a wink.

Action Action - The Game

First video from Action Action's album "An Army Of Shapes Between Wars" for the song "The Game

Action Action : An Army of Shapes Between Wars

Saddled with the tagline "Get ready for the next New Wave masterpiece" on its pre-release marketing materials, the latest album from Action Action pretty effortlessly pigeonholes itself. And that is unfortunate, because while there's moody, arty neo-New Wave music on at least half of this album, the other half is full of classic melodies, within which the baby steps of mid-period Beatles and early Elvis Costello can be heard.

The band's knack for catchy melodies in a classic vein, first displayed in the chorus to track two, "Chemical Frustration," pops up throughout the album, particularly on the Armed Forcessong structures with the quirky hook of a front-and-center retro keyboard.

As is so often the case in this genre, singer (and songwriter) Thomas Kluepfel's vocals are so affected that listeners unfamiliar with the band may think he has a British accent. It's a telling sign that Action Action is still a little too caught up on the dramatic trappings of new wave for its own good. -- Cory O'Malley sounds of "Don't Shoot the Messenger" and the bald "Strawberry Fields" reference at the start of "What Temperature Does Air Freeze At?" But the band's major shortcoming, on "Chemical Frustration" and elsewhere, is a heavy reliance upon undercooked keyboard lines. A nearly two-minute interlude at the end of "Sleep Paralysis" offers a basic electronic drumbeat with a noodling keyboard over it. It's a throwaway track, and it's kind of fun. But it unfortunately speaks to much of what's heard on this album -- uninspired

Stefy - Chelsea (Vid)

Stefy's video "Chelsea" from The Orange Album

Stefy - The Orange Album

Stefy made their splash with the song "Chelsea", both featured in the movie John Tucker Must Die and in clubs across America with a bevy of hot remixes. Their debut effort, "The Orange Album", continues in the trend of 80's synth-pop in the vein of The Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams".
Singer Stefy Rae has a strong voice (a nice contrast to a lot of the breathy female vocalists who have been popping up everywhere) and she showcases it well across the 11-track album.
The tracks are typical pop fare, dealing with love, loss, and acceptance. "Orange County" is about a young couple that deal with pregnancy and the real world a little too early.
Luckily if you like grrl rock (like Le Tigre) or mainstream pop (like Pink) this album should do wonders for you. It may not be the best thing to be pressed onto metal and plastic, but it is definitely a cut above the rest.

Henrik Schwarz DJ-Kicks Interview

Interview feature of Henrik Schwarz for his new DJ-Kicks on !K7 Records

Hot Chip - DJ Kicks

Hot Chip has the requisite characteristics of a rock band -- fuzzy guitars, ennui-laden indie vocals -- but such swinging up-tempo grooves as "Over and Over" or the bubbly "Boy from School" show these guys listen to plenty of electronic music as well. And let's not forget the group's remixes of artist like Amy Winehouse, the Junior Boys, and minimal house outfit Booka Shade. So it's not surprising that the quintet would be recruited by !K7's to contribute to its increasingly adventurous DJ Kicks series.

As with many of the deejay scene's genre-hopping selectors, there is much potential for inconsistency and uneven flow. The group missteps at the mix's beginning when Positive K's early-'90s hip-hop classic "I Got a Man" comes out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly as a radio dial flipping back and forth. But Hot Chip redeems itself pretty quickly. The next track, Gramme's percussion-heavy vocal-led "Like You," gives way effortlessly to the emotive electronic synths of Subway's "Persuasion" and Soundhack's "B1," and it marks the first of some brilliant transitions that show up here.

As with all recent DJ Kicks mixes, the Hot Chip boys sneak in a brand new original track: "My Piano" is a sublime tune that sounds a bit like a more melancholy "Over and Over." It's broken up awkwardly by New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle," but Young Leek's playfully blinged-out "Jiggle It" flows perfectly with Etta James and her knee-slapping journey "Into the Basement" with Sugar Pie DeSanto. The rest of the mix works pretty well, including such sounds as Wookie's dubstep-flavored breaks and Audion's peak-time techno. "Steppin' Out," an uplifting '80s anthem from Joe Jackson, precedes a Ray Charles tune to fill out the disc.

Those precious moments of musical mash-up show that these guys have the knack for it -- and, because two of the quintet's members are in fact working deejays, I would certainly hope so. Like recent DJ Kicks entries (particularly Four Tet's), the focus here is more on an eclectic selection than technical wizardry. But Hot Chip manages to inject a bit of both into this fun little mix.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E (Vid)

Nice video from justice

Air - Pocket Symphony

Sound familiar? If so then you probably know the Air that has lead up to this point. The previously mentioned "haiku" approach to songwriting combined with cool atmospheres have been a formula for success so far for the band. One trick ponies? Not quite, for every "Remember" there is always a perfectly balanced pop song in the form of a "Cherry Blossom Girl" to give the band depth, but this is all in the past, and we're here to focus on the present and the new. Following Air's golden rule of "one full length release every three years", 2007 would be the year the band expanded on their instrument usage all the way to the East (Japan to be exact) and put the title of last years mix tape album, Late Night Tales into practice. Most of these songs are melancholy and soft, waiting for a darkened sky to play to; but its not that simple as without the pop structures and radio-ready format that previous releases had spun into gold, this was without most of that. What is left are 12 tracks featuring guest vocalists, instruments from Japan, not enough pop songs but a peaceful atmospheric work that should please any casual or hardcore fan. The heart and soul of this work can be found in the usual musical approach taken by the band, but is enhanced with the lungs and spleen of the Koto (http://home.san.rr.com/koto/images/koto.gif) and the Shamisen (http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t025/T025128C.jpg). The setup is different and the band can put this new found experience (it did take Goodin a year to learn how to play these instruments after all) to making something new and yet travel back to make a release more like Moon Safari. While it does recollect of their debut disc more than their previous Astralwerks release, the band is much more diverse and experienced than nine years ago.

It begins with covering familiar ground, an instrumental opener with the name of "Space Maker", a rather spacey, stream of consciousness but it still follows general rules of structure which benefits the track. Though it seems lengthy at four minutes it holds up well as a track on its own as opposed to just the introduction. What helps it stand up on its own is what follows it, that being the lead single "Once Upon a Time" which may be no all time classic but is our first chance to hear Jean Benoit Dunckel's voice since the previous year's solo project Darkel. The song is written in the haiku form that has vaulted and made their songs on the past, in this case with the line "I'm a little boy/you're a little girl/once upon a time". Here piano leads the charge in loop form with an actual drummer (in the video at least) and a Shamisen over the interlude section. The new Air has shown its colors but the massive shock changes don't come until the next song which features a guest vocalist and the beginning of what makes this work a grower, one that takes time to get into.

It plays at a slower rate, displays more Shamisen and more significantly the ex front man of Pulp, Jarvis Cocker, these reasons are what make "One Hell of a Party" the stop drop and reexamine moment of Pocket Symphony, isn't there only one conductor in this miniature music machine? Mainly yes, but this one was picked up while producing another work and the more the merrier. This turns out to be true as the slow paced low tone voice of Cocker goes along greatly with the somber sounding night after the party. Guest vocalists turn tricks for the group again later in the album with Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon with "Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping" which plays out like it sounds. The major bulk of the album is a division of sprawling calm piano lead tunes and guitar drenched faster songs with Dunckel on the mic. The exception is "Mer du Japon" which features a suprising awakening of the synth, making the backdrop on this fast paced song. The album ends on "Night Sight" which is one of those things that is predictable but still enjoyable. It does play out like the title states, employing the synth to play notes in the key of Night Sight, if thats at all possible.

It may take some getting used to it, but proper exposure and realizing the continued growth of Air will still lead to the road of musical satisfaction. They may be in their 12th year of existence but this is still a young and growing musical project, one that has seen different days and shows it in the changes of their music. This is recommended if you are a fan of chill out electronica, late night drives or walks, or if you want to hear the newest thing from Air.

Recommended Tracks: Once Upon a Time, Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping, Napalm Love, Left Bank

Gotan Project - Lunático

Good for Gotan Project. This is the right time for tango music to be unleashed upon the world in all its forms, particularly a form in which electronic backbeats reign supreme. This is a time when Dancing With the Stars can command American audiences of 30 million, most of whom wouldn’t be able to tell the tango from the cha cha except that the former is usually “sexier”—a time when a band can test the curiosity of an inordinately large target audience without the constraint of necessary authenticity.

As its name would imply, Gotan Project takes tango music and flips it on its ear by introducing contemporary and electronic instrumentation into the mix, but they don’t do this in the near-disrespectful way that such a description might imply. A typical electronic DJ looking to dabble in tango music might just sample some already existing tango music and put a four-on-the-floor beat on top of it, or create an entirely electronic composition and add some of the instruments common to tango—guitars, violins, or even the bandoneón (a variation on the accordion) might sound nice on top of a techno beat, right? The three Parisian producers behind Gotan Project are far more respectful than this—they are out to create true tango, going so far as to record in Buenos Aires with actual tango musicians (as well as a few contemporary non-tango cohorts), ultimately creating the closest approximation to true tango through the filter of 21st century pop-electronic production that can be found on the market today.

Lunático is Gotan Project’s second proper album, and it manages this melding of styles even more gracefully than Gotan Project’s first album La Revancha del Tango. Part of the reason for this album’s closeness to the true tango sound might just be that Gotan Project is less bound to “electronics” than it ever has been. Opening track “Amor Porteño” features the ever-interesting Calexico, providing slide guitars and spooky ambiance to a slow-burn of a track that runs entirely counter to the perception that tango music is only for dancing. The drums are organic, the bandoneón is the predominant melodic instrument, and the singing is sultry and utterly exquisite. It’s a curveball of an opener, an exhortation from Gotan Project to leave our expectations at the door. Celos is a similarly-paced track, with more beautiful vocals to boot, and album closer “Paris, Texas” follows a fantastic bandoneón melody nearly from start to finish, until a solo piano quietly, sublimely ends the album. Each of the slower tracks on Lunático is a wonder to listen to and absorb.

Still, dancing is clearly the focus, as it probably should be. “Diferente” is a fantastic track that follows a one-note bassline through more atmosphere than most so-called “ambient” artists can muster for an entire album—all while following a brilliantly syncopated, highly danceable beat. “Notas” features the speaking of Tango master Juan Carlos Caceres over an arpeggiated bassline and a distinctively ordinary electronic beat, while “Criminal” actually manages to formulate a dance song with almost no percussion at all—the “beat” is created via an octave-jumping bassline and a jumpy melody from that ever-present bandoneón. The dance tracks are collectively less distinctive than the slower, more calculated pieces, but still well enough constructed to stay interesting throughout for the sake of dancing or listening.

Lunático‘s most inspired moment, however, comes in its most audacious move, the pairing of tango with hip-hop. “Mi Confesión” features the hip-hop stylings of Koxmoz, a collective straight outta Buenos Aires. It’s just as edgy, dance-worthy, and utterly enjoyable as its creators could have hoped, and it doesn’t even matter if you don’t know what they’re saying when their flow is this tight.

Gotan Project certainly isn’t the first group to attempt the update of a style steeped in tradition using electronic methodology. What sets them apart, however, is their obvious reverence for the style that they happen to be updating. They pull a trick of the ear in putting together a sound that could easily be mistaken for typical electronic dance music, even as they incorporate all of the elements of more traditional tango. The result is a surprisingly “authentic” tango album that Joe and Jane Dancing-With-the-Stars-Fan might actually be able to enjoy, rather than merely appreciate.

The Clientele - God Save the Clientele

Did anyone ever have any money riding on if and when the Clientele would crack a joke?

After a singles collection (Suburban Light) and a follow-up album (Strange Geometry) stuffed to the gills with gossamer, wistful fuzz guitar and wax paper vocal verses, the Clientele had chiseled out a concise little niche. They psyche without pills, they mourn without booze, and you get the feeling they keep little more than Thomas Hardy and Ian McEwan on their collective bookshelf.

Or so we Americans thought.

On God Save the Clientele (could that be…a tongue-in-cheek album title!), the Clientele take their frown and flip it, if not totally upside down, to the blessedly optimistic side of things, tossing in pedal and steel guitar, recording in Tennessee and poking fun an their own, occasionally heavy-handed bookishness on “Bookshop Cassanova” and “Carnival on 7th Street.”

Where Strange Geometry stripped away the band’s earlier over-reliance on shimmering guitar pedals and the silk-screened vocal filters that turner lead singer Alisdair MacLean’s voice into a dangerously vocoder-like flutter, God Save the Clientele shocks the long-time listener with naked, brassy sonics. “I Hope I Know You” may have the same lyrical schoolboy doubt, but the guitar lines ripple like wires, and the drums actually have a crash and pulse.

Loyalists shouldn’t fear, however. The band’s lyrics still handle gardens (“The Garden at Night”), women who make “time whisper back again” (“The Queen of Seville”), tons of ghosts, and just how to endure heartbreak, loneliness, and all those other tropes that would make Philip Larkin proud (“These Days Nothing But Sunshine”—a throwback to earlier Clientele tissue-and-black-framed-glasses resolution). They just get to deliver their little pills with a cleaner, stronger punch.

In about half the album’s songs, a chorus of indiscernible whispers lurk beneath the main vocal track. You listen for a word, a phrase, an allusion, but it remains a pile of meaningless whispers. And that’s good. For a band who has struggled to make themselves heard and understood, God Save the Clientele may just be the Clientele casting some burdens to the wind, channeling all their adoration for Love and the Television Personalities with clear eyes, clear minds, and louder voices than they ever have before.

Think Wilco’s Summerteeth rerecorded with heavy doses of Hull and East London, afternoons turning into evening mist, and the corners of a mouth pulling into a ready smile. And when the first chorus on record (“Here Comes the Phantom”) dives into “My heart is playing like a violin!” you’re actually ready to believe it.