Muke is the project of Madeline Liebowitz and Luke Kuzava who met in the dorms their freshman year at the University of Oregon. Out of boredom one day they decided to record a song into an iBook and lo and behold, something fresh and new was born out of the disparate influences of each member. Their sound is something like if Lykke Li was backed with acoustic guitar with the “shoegaze rock filter” on high accompanied by toy store percussion. With a sound this cute and strange, it’s only a matter of time before they get some love from Pitchfork.
January 18, 2009
Muke’s "Shutterspeed Lullabies" are an Otherworldly Bedtime Hymn!
October 10, 2008
Hearts of Palm UK, sensitive all girl synthpop FOR LIFE!
Hearts of Palm UK, is that girl that introduces herself to you under the wrong name at a party, but through perseverance, wit and charm you will find out on the third or fourth date. I say this because their name itself is something of a red herring, they are from Echo Park, California. That’s pretty far from the UK. Either way, the female electro-pop brandishing trio fires off some touching and danceable tracks on their debut album “For Life”.
Songwriter Erica Elektra originally wrote the album on her acoustic guitar, and fantasized about remixing it in
to a more electro style. So she did, and the results are gorgeous. These are three girls after my own heart, incorporating sweeping keyboard melodies, emotional bass, glitchy beats and even vocoder over their lovely voices. Another contributing factor in the sublime sound featured on this album is sure to be that it was mastered in Sweden by Henrik Jonsson who has mastered the likes of Peter Bjorn and John, Robyn, The Knife, and Lykke Li. I’m telling you, those Swedes know where it’s at. All this and they have a Brian Ferry cover. What are you waiting for! Sample tracks below!
Hearts of Palm UK – More Than This (Bryan Ferry Cover)
August 7, 2008
Ratatat’s LP3
Ratatat return with the most to the point album title I’ve ever read, “LP3″. This being their third album, Mike Stroud and Evan Mast have decided to branch out their style in two directions. On one hand they have their classical sound involving intricate melodies and sweeping strings (sometimes even without beats!)and on the other they are branching out their beat fueled grooves employing some of the most upbeat drum tracks they’ve ever used and some tracks built entirely on acoustic sounding hand claps. The results are pretty spectacular. Don’t expect any animal sound effects, but do expect virtually every other trick a keyboard, bass, guitar, and drum machine can provide. From their trademark slide guitar, Crystal Castles-like garbled 8-bit video game blasts, to an occasional voice box over the guitar and you’ve got the basic ingredients of “LP3″ but only Stroud and Mast could season them so deliciously. Even though their previous album was entitled “Classics”, it might be “LP3″ that goes down as their timeless classic.
July 18, 2008
Klumpfisk remixes Magnetic Field’s Three-way
Electro/Dance DJ Klumpfisk has transformed the swirly 60′s psychedelic pop-tune “Three-way” by the Magnetic Fields into a zany club thumper. If this was played in front of 300 frat brothers their hands would be in the air.
June 17, 2008
AZLTRON’s Dance Antidote Mix
On the cusp of summer and my full-time employment, I impart to you, my faithful readers this creation of mine, the dance mix antidote. But wait? Don’t I largely support dance music? Yes, but dance music is largely loud energetic and entices you to move. Which are all great things that I will continue to revel in at almost every opportunity, but you know what? Sometimes I get tired. I bet you do too. So why not bask in a collection of healing and soothing songs that will re-energize you for another synth/punk/indie/electro dance party? After all, we are not robots, no matter how much some of us might like to be.
Sebastien Tellier – La Ritournelle (Jim Noir Mix)
Stereolab – Cosmic Country Noir
Alaska in Winter – Balkan Low Rider
Au Revoir Simone – Don’t See The Sorrow
The Bird and the Bee – I’m a Broken Heart
World Leader Pretend – Lovey Dovey
Midlake – We Gathered In Spring
The Notwist – Gone Gone Gone
Daft Punk – Make Love
Kings of Convenience – Misread
The Octopus Project – Snow Tip Cap Mountain
Jens Lekman – Jen’s Lekman’s Farewell Song to Rock Dennis
Jon Sonnenburg – Yesterday
Goldfrapp – Clowns
Moby – Mothers of the Night
June 21, 2007
Sportsday Thursday
Sportsday Megaphone is a one-man radical 8-bit pop party monster, driven by Hugh Frost, hailing from London, England. The sound of Sportsday Megaphone is an elixir of addictive Nintendo blips and squeals and matter of fact Streets style vocals. Just because the music is heavy on keyboards doesn’t mean that it’s all synthetic, there is an almost ever present guitar latent in the mix that drives each song. Like on the fantastic “Less and Less”, the gliding riffs kick off a number that sounds like Ratatat on coke inside a giant tiger costume. “One More Page” explodes with youthful vigor that’s equal parts heartfelt as it is completely nuts on keyboards. There’s a new 7 inch single due out in a few weeks, but until then here’s a new remix that Hugh did for UK band The Rumblestrips.
MP3 – Alarm Clock (Sportsday Megaphone’s Stereo Adventure Remix)
