video
Lush video for 'Ride The Prejudice', taken from Phonat's recent Identity Theft EP.
Phonat is Italian producer Michele Balduzzi and this EP follows up his 2008 debut. The video itself is a surreal but spectacular shape-shifting piece of modernism that really fits with the IDM / future 2-step sound of the song.
Check it out and go to Phonat's official website for more info.
Nudes have released this video ahead of their Tuesday night gig at The Old Blue Last Shoreditch. The duo are Owen Wallace Lasch and Tom Giddins and if this is anything to go by their tear-streaked psychedelic electronica could be about to blow up. The
This is actually a cover of the WestBam track 'Oldschool Baby', although it takes it's particular cue from the beautifully downtrodden yet epic Piano Mix. Check out both below via Spotify. Nudes' take feels like New Order at these most ecstasy influenced - there's a moodiness to the male vocals that isn't present in the WestBam original that sounds like the sort of thing Sumner would lay down. The video is also great - simple but effective.
Disappearer comes from Doorly and Shadow Child, who have formed a new partnership in Avec. Here they are joined by Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, who applies his trademark falsetto vocals to an upbeat house track.
Shears and Scissor Sisters have never been my bag but this EP feels like a natural home for his vocals. The track itself is sunny disco house and as a result the vocals sit quite naturally on the melodic piano riff that makes up the track's central riff. It is only really on the chorus that the identity of the singer is obvious, and the main vocal hook is just a little too much for my taste.
Thankfully a total of five remixes are included on this release and so there is plenty of scope for a little additional subtlety.
The Hauswerks mix starts with a deep looping groove before applying a large drop with some snappy garage drum beats - it's a lot more intense than the warm summery original. Martin Brodin does his trademark disco thing and really takes the track up a level, working the vocal into the track so that the final result has a much better flow. The People Get Real mix is another disco house mix, but this one builds to a climatic pace whilst a head-nodding bass line provides an infectious rhythm and a series of drum rolls and crashes give a tactile feel to the percussion.
The Sona Vabos Pitched Down Jackin Dub is deep, dubby and slowed right down to create a weird strung-out and techy vibe that bears little resemblance to the original. Finally the Maos mix is laid back and dubby with some warm bass chords and slow synth melodies.
Disappearer is out now through Southern Fried Records.
I used to associate Breakbot with the tired sounds of Justice and Ed Banger but he always manages to deliver the tunes and on this latest track it really feels like he's breaking out from that scene completely. We're still not in the league of organically produced disco that Daft Punk aspire to but 'Baby I'm Yours' is as close to that as it is to anything else...
The video is also glorious and must have taken an age. It is composed from around 2,000 watercolour images to created a beautiful moving image. Credit to Irina Dakeva who created it.
Stick this on and head out into the sun to get burnt. Oh, and when it finishes check out Breakbot's lush remix of Phoenix's 'Trying To Be Cool':
Holy Ghost!, source: Chart Attack
Yet more disco pouring into our ear holes and down our brain tubes like hot funky wax rivers in a month of seemingly endless disco pleasures. 'Dumb Disco Ideas' is the latest release from disco-influenced DFA house dons Holy Ghost, who achieved greatness with their modern classic 'Hold On'.
'Dumb Disco Ideas' actually sounds like a jovially mocking description of Daft Punk's latest album in a month when it seems to have been the only music people talked about but it's also a pretty descriptive title for this new track. This isn't the moody-yet-knowing house of Holy Ghost!'s breakthrough 'Hold On' but it feels like their most exciting track in some time. It is a chaotic and eccentric punk-funk record that manages to be catchy and yet cool, exactly the sort of thing DFA are known for.
Holy Ghost!'s debut album didn't quite deliver but it would be a shame if this gets overlooked as a result. 'Dumb Disco Ideas' makes me think that maybe they are just a decent singles band but this is one of those singles that is good enough you will want to keep coming back to it. Playing with vocal effects, cow bells and big synths the track's latter third slams into a drop that then re-builds as a crazy gospel soul acid house shakedown: a looped chant of the main hook, "Put it off and wait, and wait for another day... Put it off for another day", build like a mantra to how it feels to make a record. There's a bit of LCD in this record and it doesn't surprise me at all to note Nancy Whang's involvement.
The single has an instrumental on the flip and anyone that reads regularly will normally know that I'm an a-side kind of guy when it comes to dubs and instrumentals but this one is pretty special. There's just so much going on the space given to the instruments creates an equally strong track. I dare you to find an acapella that can ride it though...
Dumb Disco Ideas is out now through DFA, available on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link]. Check out the video below:
