after a little break in proceedings, the blog is back on the regular mp3 hunt. this week – a trio with a german electronic flavour, rounded off with great rock n roll, japanese style. all of these artists appeared on today’s fat planet radio show – click here for playlist.
SEX IN DALLAS [FRANCE]
berlin rocks (manix remix) mp3
sex in dallas are a three piece from france who, according to their bio, set out to make music that avoided the by-now over familiar french sound of bands like daft punk, air and super discount‘s brand of french house. strangely, in the search for this sound, they’re sounding more german than many of their berlin-based counterparts. it’s a screwed up world, for sure… i’ve featured sex in dallas on the blog before, with the stomping track ‘everyone deserves to be fucked’. so with a title like that, it was something a revealation to find a little downtempo gem lurking inside their new album ‘around the war’. the track in question (played on today’s show) is called ‘five o’clock’ and you can listen to a stream of that and the rest of the album at their kitty yo page. this mp3 is a very different proposition again, a guitar-driven 4-4 electro journey – with random chunks of dialogue strewn throughout.
PHONIQUE [GERMANY]
work together mp3
berlin-based house producer phonique has just dropped his new debut album and it’s an interesting blend of electronic music from deep house to minimal electro with flashes of disco. it’s generally easy on the ear, which might usually be a curse – but there’s enough of an engagement with both classic detriot and berlin sounds to keep it interesting. man-about-town, erlend oye from the kings of convenience lends some vocals, as does paris the black fu from detriot grand pubahs. to stream the album tracks, go here.
APPARAT [GERMANY] (pictured)
live in barcelona mp3
i’m sensing a theme on today’s post and it seems to have something to do with germany and electronica …mmm … well, here’s the top dog for today anyway, a great discovery nestling away on berlin’s shitkatapult label. if you downloaded the recent giani nannini mp3, you’ll have some of idea of what to expect from apparat. this is a large file, a full 50-minute live dj set from ‘burn and consume’ in barcelona, recorded in december 2003. apparat seems to be generally falling into the lusher end of electronica, but it’s also married with some hard beats in places too. for ease of description, it’s boards of canada with balls. there’s heaps more to investigate – two albums for starters and what looks like an an amazing remix package too.
ELECTRIC EEL SHOCK [JAPAN]
rock’n’roll can rescue the world mp3
so let’s end with something very different from the above – straight ahead, legs apart, solid rock’n’roll from japan. as you might know already, i have a deep, deep love for japanese music. they produce some of the finest music in the world. and when they turn their attention to rock’n’roll, it’s generally incredible (guitar wolf being a great example). here, we have a japanese trio showing the west how to make great r’n’r, it’s like they’ve swallowed every possible rock notion and are filtering it back to us through eastern amps. top quality. and, if that’s not enough, they’re just about to do a japanese tour with the wonderful shonen knife. god bless ’em. [site]