Love this big dream pop track from Stockholm duo Cape Lion. Taking inspiration from everything from the Beach Boys to Tears For Fears, vocalist/producers Carl-Johan "Oa" Sevedag and Martin Wiklund delivery a massive tropical hit of summer joy on Called You Mine. I simply can't get enough of this, it's a great big bear hug of a record!
This Soft Machine cites both Yellow Magic Orchestra and the Ramones as influences, and they made their debut via a two hour mix for Nicholas Jaar's Other People label. On this double a-side debut release for Eskimo we have Nicholas Jaar's Darkside band mate Dave Harrington handling guitar work and Cut Copy's Dan Whitford providing synths.
With those influences and collaborations it would be difficult to know what to expect, but the resulting record is actually a relatively straight forward combination of the atmospherics and experimentation of an Other People release, the big pads of a Cut Copy track and a little bit of LCD Soundsystem style percussion. Throw in some deadpan Nancy Wang like vocals from Lorraine Nicholson for opening track On & On and it feels like you could be listening to a super group formed from some of the best bands of the past ten years.
Whether it borrows from contemporaries or just draws from the same inspiration is up for debate... What isn't is that the two tracks here provide a solid introduction to this Australian-born producer, now based in Berlin via Japan.
Check out On & On above, the full release will be available from Monday on Eskimo Recordings.
Needwant are back with the next entry in their long-running Future Disco series. Entitled Nighttime Networks, the eighth entry is a laid back, more minimal yet still groovy entry.
Andras Fox opens the mix with Your Life, a loose cut full of jazzy touches, sweeping string and and looping keys. It's a subtle and gentle starting point. Much of what remains follows on from that template - this is the least overtly soulful entry in the series yet, drawing more from deep house than the disco that has inspired most of the previous entries. Dippin' In from Ron Basejam and Danielle Moore plays a background of soft keys and shuffling drum beats beneath Moore's vocal.
Whilst the subtlety of much of the material means that Nighttime Networks lacks any real tent-pole moments there are still some standouts. The Chopstick and Johnjon remix of Zoot Woman's Don't Tear Yourself Apart is a refined slice of rhythmic electronic pop, full of autumnal hues. VIMES gorgeous track Celestial is given a make-over on a Gardens of God remix - falsetto vocals, strummed bass and plenty of manipulated effects giving the track a dreamy, spaced-out feeling.
James Zabiella gives Hot Chip's How Do You Do an electric body music makeover - tough drums and basslines reign supreme until the familiar chords kick in. It is another moment that says a lot about the direction this album has taken - stripped, meticulous and designed to make you move.
Future Disco albums often seem to end with a pair of vocal tracks that sit apart from the rest of the album and, in this regard at least, Nighttime Networks is no different. Portable's Surrender is a horizontal slice of electronic melancholy - loose electronic bass and flute provide a backing to a vocal describing giving in - you are left to you own mind what we are giving in to (battle? Love? Sleep?!). The album closes with the similarly downbeat Something by Weval, which sounds like Hot Chip with a hangover. In other words it is human, sad and glorious electronic music and a fitting if overtly dejected conclusion to the album.
Future Disco 8 is without doubt an unusual entry to the series, but the quality of the music and the pacing and fairly undeniably great. An album to dance to, but also one to make you happy think and feel.
Future Disco Vol. 8 - Nighttime Networks is released through Needwant on 20 April. Pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].
Big electro R&B track from LA musician SIVIK. His sound combines a beat-led production style with light, airy vocals as he portrays that initial emotional rush when you first meet someone you are into. In his words:
"High is about the beginning stages of attraction and lust when you first meet someone you're into ... The following songs that will be released in this collection will describe what happens next....so look for that!"
This has Been on my list to post for a few days - sadly sometimes life gets in the way! The new track from Glastonbury residents Dive In is way too good to sleep on though.
There are plenty of dream-like pop melodies to this track - sounding like Ben Gibbard fronting M83, it's all emotes, all the time. The band take inspiration from the epic PPP of classic bands like Genesis and the Police. Apparently they are both okay to cite as references now. The world has a funny way of catching you off guard like that.
In the words of frontman Matthew Guttridge, "Eighteen was born from a loop pedal jam in our old residence ... it was inspired by another day of watching the village's festival fences go up. It was the product of excitement and the, what some may call delusional idea that we could one day amount to the successes of the bands/aritsts that descend upon our village each year."
Check out Eighteen below and look out for the EP of the same name, mixed by Alan Moulder and due out on 25 May through Vagrant. It's a short but infectious rush of a release.