Best Coast is a sexy lo-fi garage pop band from LA. Lo-fi effectively means lazy as shit production, but it is dead catchy. I really like it.
BC is the 98% solo project of LA obsessed Indie lass Bethany Cosentino who likes ranga cats. The debut LP Crazy For You is set for release on July 27th on Mexican Summer. Boyfriend is the opening track from the record so you can get your free sample on.
You can pre-order Crazy For You along with a cute tote bag and matching t-shirt pack here.
Filed under Indie, New Releases, Rock
Electro funk-pop geniuses Chromeo are back with their third tasty studio album Business Casual, set for release in early September. The most successful Arab/Israeli collaboration in history leaked the first single for the new record Night By Night a few months ago and have recently followed up by announcing the second track Don’t Turn The Lights On at their blog a few days ago.
The new track is smooth, sexy and simply classic Chromeo. The more suave, ambient sound falls in the “dim the lights and try your best seductive move” category, similar to 100% off Fancy Footwork. It contrasts nicely with the galloping electro-rock (not the cheesy kind) in Night By Night.
Cannot wait for the full album release, definitely worth pre-ordering. Keep an eye out for an impending tour announcement, this show will be unmissable.
You can pre-order Business Casual at Amazon here.
Filed under Electro, New Releases, Pop
Superb US hip hop group The Roots have a new album entitled How I Got Over. Released only a few days ago this stands to be one of the premier hip hop releases this year.
The record sees a balanced mix of raw lyrical delivery with simple beats and up-tempo grooves reminiscent of 70’s funk and soul. An optimistic tone is more prevalent throughout the record compared to preceding releases Rising Down (2008) and Game Theory (2006, top album).
Filed under Hip Hop, New Releases
Faux Pas is a talented music producer from Melbourne. Refined ambient bedroom electro. My first taste was this remix of Paul Dempsey‘s track Ramona Was A Waitress, the creative genius from one of my favorite Aussie bands Something For Kate. I really dig it. When the synths come in it reminds me very much of The Knife (which is a very good thing).
Faux Pas recently released Noiseworks which you can purchase at that link. There are also other free downloads at his site, so get on it.
Filed under Alternative, Australian, Electro, New Releases
Wavves are a noise pop band, whatever that means. I quite like this song. It reminds me of Nirvana‘s early tracks off Bleach for the distorted guitars and wailing vocals mixed with The Presidents Of The United States Of America for the melody and light-heartedness. Do you like it also?
Wavves’ third record, King of the Beach, is out in August.
Filed under Alternative, Rock
Sugar Army are a very exciting young Australian band from Perth, the centre of all good Australian rock music these days. I don’t usually get that excited about rock music anymore but these guys nail it each time and make for very satisfying listening.
The 4-piece outfit combine crunching guitar riffs with driving drum beats to create a controlled aggressive sound. Impressively insightful lyrics fused with creative melodies over the top soften the tone adding a unique richness to their music. Their guitar solos are skillful without being pretentious (yay!).
Overall the product is really tight, gutsy rock music with some intelligence and skilled composition behind it. Refreshing output in the modern era of mediocre pop-rock bands, over-simplified folk, and synth-obsessed electro bands (as much as I love the synth).
They released their debut record Parallels Amongst Ourselves last year (yes a little slow on this one, I know) on Shock Records. Good listening.
Filed under Alternative, Australian, Rock
Sleigh Bells are a cool little (only 2 of them) band from Brooklyn, NY. Their sound is quite unique, hence they are interesting, but they are also very good, thus worth listening to.
For only two people and 20 fingers they sure make a lot of noise. Their sound fuses electro, grunge, soul, pop and rock in a remarkably coherent fashion. Some tracks are pretty intense and might be too much for some people but the quality is clearly there. Check em out.
Their debut record Treats was released last month.
Filed under Alternative, Electro, New Releases
The good people at Fuzzy recently announced the Parklife 2010 line up! Quality abounds throughout the field and we are surely set for some quality synths and beats yet again at this year’s festival.
Numerous quality artists appear on the bill including: Holy Ghost, New Young Pony Club, Groove Armada, Darwin Deez, Cut Copy and Soulwax, along with plenty of premier acts recently featured on Happymusic such as Bag Raiders, Midnight Juggernaughts, Clasixx, D-Cup and finally GRUM! Needless to say this is a must-attend event for any dance-minded music enthusiast.
The P-life tour hits most major cities across Aus culminating in the Sydney edition on Sunday the 3rd of October. Tickets go on sale at Midday on July the first. Better start saving as they have the hefty price tag of $145 attached.
Parklife must-sees below.
Filed under Australian, Electro, General, Live
It seems some of the best electronic music going around this year is French (see Kavinsky and Breakbot). Producer/Singer/Songwriter and all round music genius Anoraak has been slowly forcing his way into my musical consciousness and now that he has I am all the richer for it. His original brand of soothing romantic electro oozes quality and is a joy to listen to.
I first opened my ears to Anoraak when I noticed Grum had put out a banging remix of Nightdrive With You, Anoraak’s breakthrough single from late 2008. I later heard a Fear Of Tigers remix of Nightdrive that confirmed the excellence of the track. When my stubbornness finally relented I check out the original track from Anoraak and have been hooked ever since. This guy earns great praise across the blogs and it is easy to see why.
Anoraak’s beautiful synth-laden pop electro is pure magic. He lays his own vocals on his original tracks (yes he can sing) and composes some genuinely charming pop ballads. His latest release Above Your Head is a perfect example of this. The track is the leading single and preview for Anoraak’s debut EP due out on the 30th of August.
Of course he also turns out a mean remix. Check out his mix of Keenhouse below. The sequencer sound has flashes of New Order‘s Perfect Kiss. Favorite track of the week.
You can purchase Nightdrive With You and other Anoraak tracks here. Above Your Head is available from his myspace as a free download. Awesome!
Filed under Electro, New Releases, Pop, Remixes
The most famous (and perhaps narcissistic) man in hip-hop is back, yet again, with a new release. Kanye West returns with a Hip-Hop release (ie no auto-tune, thank fuck). The first single off Kanye West‘s upcoming album release was leaked late last week and quickly picked up swiftly by yours truly and a large portion of the music community.
Power has a decent beat and features samples from King Crimson giving the track a heavy rock swagger compared to West’s usual style. The vocal delivery is standard Kanye and almost feels lazy at times. It lacks conviction and, ironically, the power of his earlier work.
The track is just a little underwhelming coming from an extremely talented artist. Power just sounds like a diluted version of Stronger and perhaps should have been included on the Graduation EP as a b-side. The production is tight but there is really nothing new going on here. Symptomatic perhaps of a man torn between the quality hip hop he produced early in his career and the regretful transition to his auto-tune saturated “singing” from the previous record that almost singlehandedly reformed the sound of pop music for the next two years. He has put out 5 albums in 6 years, so maybe Kanye is running out of ideas?
Maybe he should just stick to production?
What do you think?
Kanye’s 5th EP Good Ass Job is due out in the next few months with no precise release date specified.
Filed under Hip Hop, New Releases
Happy Music 