MOUSE ON MARS [GERMANY]
mine is in yours mp3
if you’re following the free mp3 releases from better propaganda, then you’ll undoubtedly have this – a track from the new mouse on mars album ‘radical connector’. i haven’t followed the band that closely, but i’m assured that not only am i coming very late to the party, but that this track is also a departure from their trademark sound. this is mid-tempo vocal electro pop, retaining some of their experimentation and adding significant acoustic guitar into the mix. conversely, another track from the album – ‘wipe that sound’ – is much more dancefloor friendly, which instantly suggests that ‘radical connector’ is going to be a release to pay a great deal of attention to when it drops.
STEREONOVA [ITALY]
sometimes mp3
stereonova are two italian DJs who have moved into production, making some tidy progressive house in the vein of sacha, digweed, deep dish et al. they have residences on a couple of europeean radio stations too – rotationz.be and novaradio.de. i’m conscious that house doesn’t get much of a look-in on this blog, so this might go some way to redressing the balance… maybe? 🙂 [site]
THE REVEREND MANAGERIE [US: PENNSYLVANIA]
playtime relapse mp3
had an email from the strangely familiar audio-sault crew inviting us to check out their site – so i duly recommend you do. it’s a community of bootleg / mash-up artists, with some well known names on there and a great selection of tracks to download. many of them i haven’t come across elsewhere, so it’s worth deeper investigation. i’ve no idea what original sources the above track was taken from, but its lack of familiarity makes it even more striking. for more info on the artist, click here.
the city slang label (home to radio 4, calexico, album leaf and more) runs a monthly mp3 club – essentially a way of distributing free mp3s, with added data capture so they know who’s visiting. the selections are hit and miss, however this month they’ve chosen germany’s delightful tonetraeger – a dusseldorf folktronica duo who have roped in musicians from kreidler (to rococo rot offshoot) and tarwater to assist with the new album. sign up to download here.
following on from the recent bastard-pop version of the clash‘s ‘london calling’, various mash-up artists have had a crack at blur‘s ‘parklife’ with wildly varying results. the obligatory vocoder cover versions are there (have to say, getting a little bored of those now…) however there’s enough diversity to make most of us grin. check out the drum’n’bass rework of ‘end of a century’ or the splicing of blur and the beach boys on ‘godlife’. [site]
also a belated hello to kate from red lotus radio, a new addition to the blog community with posts from outside the usual locations, taking in japan, uzbekistan, italy, russia and more. kate was also the first blogger to alert me to the bjork teaser mp3 and for that i’ll be eternally grateful 🙂