DFA
The new track from The Juan Maclean's forthcoming In A Dream, out in September. Like getting lost in the collective mind-sphere of everyone you know and love. Bring on the prog-house revolution.
It's Friday. Let's be fucking better. Whatever it is you do - take some time today and try and do it much better.
This cut from Dedication is their debut release for DFA and has actually been knocking around for a couple of months. Dedication is a collaboration of Japanese musicians and Western singers led by producer and DJ Felix Dickinson and Japanese designer Mikey Yamada.
I can't really figure out how much of this is new, and how much is just sampled from old disco records but if even the vocal is original then frankly this record is a testament to doing something fucking better. I wish there were artists out there with the same passion and attention to detail as the groups that made all those amazing old disco records.
Today: Don't phone it in... Let's make something amazing.
Museum of Love is the new collaborative project from LCD Soundsystem's Pat Mahoney and Juan Maclean member Dennis McNany, who also produces as Jee Day and runs Run-Roc Records. Dennis writes most of the music and Pat's on the vocals and the album, which features friends (are you excited? I'm excited!), is due in early 2014.
"Monotronic" is one of the most bewilderingly uplifting and record that has come out from the DFA stable in some time. It's a gently bubbling track - a little Krautrock, a little techno - with vocals of unexpected happiness that feels ever so slightly malevolent.
Angelic vocal choruses provide melodic lightness and Mahoney's falsetto is slightly delirious sounding and, frankly, it's kind of glorious... And then it suddenly stops. In its tracks. And you start wondering what the hell an album of this would sound like...
Monotronic is out now on DFA, you can grab it on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link] or high quality MP3 or WAV from DFA. Listen via Soundcloud below:
This fantastic new split single from DFA showcases some inspirational new stuff from label stalwarts The Juan Maclean and Shit Robot. Neither song significantly changes the sound each artist has been pushing recently but both feel like they've been honed to close to perfection.
The Juan Maclean's "Feel Like Movin'" features vocals from regular collaborator and (technically ex-) LCD Soundsystem member Nancy Whang, who delivers the kind of semi-deadpan, semi-loved up vocal she used on The Juan Maclean's "Happy House". The track is an upbeat twisted piano-house track full of uplifting and optimistic vibes. Whang's vocals plead you to dance and the track has a weird parallel to The Juan Maclean's beautiful "Dance With Me". Where the latter was aloof but touching, robotics trying to break through into humanity, this is the opposite: sweaty and familiar and up-close. "So let your heart get crazy / and let your head get dizzy / let yourself get busy, it's easy" calls Whang, probably as she disappears into the throng of the dancefloor. It's the rushing intimacy that only comes from lost evenings with lost boundaries.
Shit Robot's "We Got A Love" features comedian and musician Reggie Watts and comes from a similar place but it is a little more understated. Deep throbbing drums and a dubby bass create a momentum whilst the piano loop recaptures early-90s urban distance. Watts' vocal is scattershot and adlibbed, flipping from falsetto to baritone and back within the same verse. It feels like one of Shit Robot's most fully realised tracks since the excellent "Simple Things (Work It Out)".
Both The Juan Maclean and Shit Robot are due full releases in 2014. Feel Like Movin’ / We Got A Love is out now through DFA and is limited to 500 stamped and numbered copies. Grab the digital release of "Feel Like Movin'" and "We Got A Love" from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate links].
Holy Ghost's new release picks up where their somewhat brilliant last release, 'Dumb Disco Ideas', left off.
This is similarly dumb and fun disco inspired pop but where 'Dumb Disco Ideas' was sassy with its excessively punky synths and Arthur Russell-style moog 'Teenagers In Heat' is far less aloof. There is an intensely melodic nature to this track - listening to it is like mainlining Wham! bars whilst listening to Yellow Magic Orchestra.
The pitch-adjusted synths zip along atop a chugging drum beat and ridiculously rapid hi-hats whilst a series of bells ring out a melody that grants the track a Japanese feel. It's ridiculously over the top but it is precisely this fact that makes it as enjoyable as it is - and the instrumental version only emphasises how extreme the track is. It might not have quite the long-lasting appeal of Holy Ghost!'s best work, but it's pretty likeable all the same.
The new album from Holy Ghost!, Dynamics, is out on DFA on 10 September. Check out the video for 'Teenagers In Heat' below or download the track for free from Soundcloud.Holy Ghost! drop a new single.
