APPARAT [GERMANY]
komponent mp3
been krazy in love with this track for the last few weeks and delighted to see mr. apparat has offered it as a free download on his site. i picked up apparat’s last album ‘duplex’ on shitkatapultafter hearing the superb dj mix set that’s also available from his site. the album took melodic glitch to new heights, pushing the envelope in both directions – some of it was gloriously unlistenable, and all the better for it. so it’s a beautiful surprise to find this track (a collaboration with danish vocalist raz ohara) – a perfect example of glitch-free electronic vocal pop in veins recently trodden by the likes of boom bip, lali puna and more. the rest of the e.p. – entitled ‘silizium’ – is also outstanding, complete with remixes from telefon tel aviv, rechenzentrum and bus.
PARK ATTACK [SCOTLAND]
tongue n groove MP3
i’ll say one thing for franz ferdinand – scotland’s under the radar once again (which as a glaswegian ex-pat makes me stupidly proud). and good to see that we’re still pissing people off as well. one review for glasgow’s park attack reads “this is a pile of shit designed to fuck you off and destroy your idea of a vibrant UK music scene”. top notch. it’s rambling no-wave junk – scattered and totally disfunctional. much like the new chicks on speed album (which comes from the same musical hinterland), you’ll either love it or loathe it. [site]
MOBIUS BAND [U.S.]
starts off with a bang mp3
i’ve come to associate the ghostly label (and particularly their stellar signing matthew dear) with consistent high-quality melodic electronica and didn’t feel that i needed to dig deeper in their catalogue for variation. so this new release from massachusetts trio mobius band, for me, reads like a departure into new regions (not dissimilar to warp’s recent tangent) – populated by guitar-driven alt.pop with only the lightest hint of electronic noddle. something inside it points me in the direction of late 80s creation records melodies, or some recent releases from the swelling ranks of similar artists from denmark or scandanavia. worth a sniff.
CHRISTIAN HARDER [GERMANY]
popland (what popland?) mp3
harder is a solo producer from germany – if you believe all that media releases will tell you, his debut live performance involved nailing a half-naked britney spears to a cross whilst wearing a ‘hitler uniform’. good to see the germans still have that legendary sense of humour. this mp3 from his site is a gloriously fucked up version of the original ‘popland’ track, forsaking its international deejay gigolo / fischerspooner sound and throwing up a harder, darker, guitar-squealing version that truly kicks. you can also find him parading under the name kid q (and scoring a german top 20 hit into the bargain) and scoring remix / production duties for the likes of swayzak and artists on mute records.
japanese mp3s: knowing how difficult it is to track down new japanese music, i’d recommend a couple of interesting options for those of you with some cash to spend. japanfiles.com hosts a diverse collection of new, independent japanese music (rock / alt.pop) all of which can be purchased as mp3s for download. on the site are two bands that have been featured here – limited express and guitar vader – but the rest are all new to me and worth some investigation. also have a look at sonic360.com who have released a couple of excellent compilations of country-specific beats from both japan and argentina. they’re also releasing some artists albums, check out the gorgeous glitch folktronica from london’s littl shyning man and german beats from granufunk.