Canadian electro-pop outfit Dragonette have been doing the rounds since 2005 and have previously delighted my eardrums with the Ratcliffe remix of "I Get Around" late 2007/early 2008 time. It was pretty slick.
Now JOCKS (1/4 of th now defunct Good Books) have taken out "Fixin' To Frill" with Misters Deep and Disco and fused them into something altogether larger than the sum of its parts. A pleasurably deep piece that builds into a pulsing electro beast before calming and drifting away quietly, making room for a delightful song to replace it. I rather love it.
Allez Allez. Can't say i know a huge deal about these chaps, other than that Aeroplane remixed a single of theirs a few months back now and, obviously, turned it into a deliciously groove piece of Disco house. But then, don't Aeroplane do that to everything, regardless of what they were working with in the first place? Well... yes but fret not, as Allez Allez are more than capable of doing things for themselves.
In fact, i might even go so far as to say that Allez Allez could quite easily develop into the UK's very own Aeroplane or Holy Ghost! Big words I know, but i think this marvelous remix of Simian Mobile Disco's fairly ridiculous "Audacity Of Huge" speaks for itself. They even make the vocal sound less laughable. It's all quite deep and, i suspect, is going to fit nicely alongside a track i'll put up later that i have, defintiely, stolen straight from my good friends at 88 Days In My Veins who, coincidentally, are much better bloggers than me and should definitely be on your radar.
Yep, those tasty boys (well, one of them) from Kraftwerk have taken their hands to working with emerging artists from, of all places, Ireland!
Empire State Human hail from Dublin and produce electro with elements of big beat within it. Not shabby stuff but, then, what would one expect from a band working with THE legends of electronic music? Nothing less.
Offered up on a platter for us is the Rob Kiraly remix which takes it into pulsating electro territory and keeps much of the vocal in place for sing along convenience. Though I have to confess to the "I Love My Techno" vocals in a Rammestein-esque accent are a bit OTT for me.
Pony Pony Run Run. Not a band who have a gift for names, i have to admit. That aside though, they are a band who have a knack for a beautiful pop melody and hook laden vocals. And around here that generally means one thing; that someone has taken their gleeful music and done something rather magical with it.
This time, Mondkopf have stepped up and risen to the challenge. Treating us to mix that shimmers in its beauty. In fact, it makes me want to book my plane ticket to Ibiza right now purely to hear it at sunrise on a beach after one of those nights you will never forget, regardless of how much remember. Honestly, this is one of my favourite things i have heard in quite some time.
So, time for a few big tunes that you will inevitably end up hearing all summer whether it be by choice or the simple fact that will no doubt get every-bloody-where.
First up, a collaboration between A-Track and Armand Van Helden which harks more back to Armand's earlier days and is probably going to alienate fans of his more recent works or A-Track's material in general. Having been dropped by the likes of Aeroplan, however, the disco house crowd are sure to love this one.
Next up is the new piece from Switch. Again, no mp3s yet (unless you happen to be a part of or good friends with some the grindin network). This time Switch as, surprisingly... stuck with his trend of indie based remixes and has chosen Florence And The Machine for this round. It isn't up there with his Hideaway remix but it is quite light hearted and summery.
Also sounding pretty big and on the rise at the moment is The Aspirins For My Children. Having been awarded the position of No. 2 track you most need to hear this week in NME a week or two ago 9for the Marina & The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot remix). Here we have a remix of Lost Valentinos "Common Thief" which gets the usual loving makeover featuring swirling, ethereal synth stabs and builds with the vocals chopped yet still set out a relatively similar pattern. I've said it before, and I will definitely say it again, keep your eyes on this chap, he will go faaaaaar!
After an incredibly successful first year in 2008, which saw a sell out crowd enjoying the sunshine and some of most exciting young bands around, Festibelly returns in 2009, on 29th August. Once again featuring some of the biggest up and coming names on the circuit at the moment, Festibelly is setting itself up for another cracking year. This time round capacity has doubled to one thousand, after last years more than sold out, and features a lot to get excited about.
Firstly, there is the beautiful setting, out in the Hampshire countryside, but not far from civilisation either, the perfect combination one might argue! Then there are the acts which include exciting talent James Yuill, the set to be massive this year Micachu & The Shapes, Man Like Me, who are on the precipice of dropping their long awaited debut album, upcoming indie rockers The Operators, colouringIN, the incredible new disco orientated project of label boss Tom Neville and collaborator Henry Bennet.
Also on site providing their unstoppable brand of party entertainment are the reggae-Roast crew who, as anyone that frequents their events in London will know, always prove that they really know how to kick start a party. On top of that, you will also be able to see the delights on offer from The Laurel Collective, The Pepys, Rob Cowen & The Dissidents, Jazica, Tarrbaby, RWD, Sombrero Sound System, Fear Of Theydon, Itchy Feet DJs and Alex Parsons over the course of the day.
Along side this will be a new addition for Festibelly, the Secret Wars crew will be providing their brand of street art battles throughout the day for anyone who needs a break from the forward thinking sounds of the music and simply wants to max out in front of some worldwide drawing talent. More info on this talented group of artists can be found here; http://www.secretwars.co.uk/
Camping is thrown in completely free of charge, and one will be able to find all the usual festival likely suspects around the site, from local food & drink stalls to tepees in which to relax and, if you’re lucky, the opportunity to make your own one of a kind t-shirts. And with all of this for £25 pounds, it is setting itself up to be one of the finest days of the summer.
Fore more info & to buy tickets see, http://www.festibelly.com
Picked this up of my favourite new internet implement, Twitter, recently and have decided it was definitely worth posting.
Screendeath has taken Melting Wing's "Kingdom Nineteen" and re-molded it into a rather lovely of dark disco infused electronica. with beutiful use of "horns" and a nice jumpy little beat that seem perfert for after hours maxing.
Here at Plastic Cowboys all mp3s are for promotional use only and in the aid of helping you to find new and exciting artists and to give them the exposure they deserve. So if you like anything you hear, please go to a show, buy a t-shirt etc, or visit one of the listed sites where oyu can purchase mp3s, CDs, records and such.
If you are, or represent, an artist written about about and woulod like anything removed, please e-mail us at chuckdjs@googlemail.com and we will oblige immediately.
Conversely, if you like our blog and would like to send us any of your music for us to listen to and write about, or if you'd like to write to us for any reason, again, hit us up at chuckdjs@googlemail.com
