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Album art from Parov Stelar's 2009 album, Coco

Parov Stelar, who is actually an Austrian named Marcus Füreder, takes 30’s jazz and swing samples (among many other things) and stitches them up into electrifying electronic music. While equally adept at making chilled-out tracks as well as more danceable up-tempo tunes, the line between them is, rather excitingly, not always very clear.

Sometimes, Parov Stelar’s electroswing runs the risk of degenerating into inoffensive Buddha Bar-like background music that everyone hears but no one listens to. But there is enough variety, detail and flourish to prick your ears even on repeated listens. I’ve had the double disc Coco album on repeat mode for several weeks now – stand-out tracks include Libella Swing, The Flame and the fabulously danceable Matilda. This album was my first introduction to the sophistication and invention of Parov Stelar and it has only made me search out for his older work.

Tags:
  • austria, electronic, electroswing, jazz, parov stelar, sample

 
Album art from Stanton Warriors’ Stanton Sessions Volume 3

What can you say about the Stanton Warriors that hasn’t been said before? They’re technically brilliant, make excellent genre-spanning track selections and know how to work that bass. The third installation of their esteemed Stanton Sessions series carries on the fine floor-busting, hyperactive break beat sounds that only the Stanton Warriors can carve out. The bonus beat infused remix of Timebox’s 1968 chart hit Beggin’ has to be one the best remixes I’ve heard in a really long time. This is an absolute must-buy for break beat fans.

Tags:
  • breakbeat, dance, electronic, stanton warriors, timebox

 
Album art from Moderat's self-titled 2009 album

Combine Modeselektor’s grimy, pirate radio sounding music with Apparat’s elegant minimalism and you get a slightly schizophrenic line-up called Moderat. Easily one of the best albums of 2009, Moderat is a nice fusion of seemingly opposing aural aesthetics. And you really have to give it more than one listen to appreciate the dark layers and graceful subtlety in the background.

Tags:
  • ambient, apparat, electronic, glitch, minimal

 

Promising band, beautiful song and a very nice video.

Tags:
  • art direction, british, electronic, music video

 

Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre. Absolutely bizarre. I mean, seriously WTF?

Tags:
  • electronic, music video, tiga, weird

 
Cover art of Underworld's King of Snake single from 1999

Coming off Underworld’s 1999 Beaucoup Fish album, King of Snake is such a strong track that no remix could ever make it bad. The single spawned some sparkling remixes (and a quirky video), the pick of which for me is the Barking Mix.

I actually bought the boxed set a couple of years ago, which contains the King of Snake, Push Upstairs and Jumbo singles (Jedis Sugar Hit mix is pure genius). It’s a great collection, though not complete, as there are some weird omissions like Ashley Beedle’s Save Our Discos Re-Edit. All said, it all still sounds refreshingly wicked ten years on and miles better than some of Underworld’s recent output.

Tags:
  • 90s, dance, dj, electronic, idm, remix

 

I really do wonder how they disposed of the ‘trillions of bean bag balls’ that went into this video.

Tags:
  • electronic, english, friendly fires, music video

 
Bland, boring cover art of SOS's Balance013 compilation

The SOS collective of Desyn Masiello, DJ Demi and Omid 16B took on the 13th installment of the Balance compilation series and ended up with a quite hefty 3 CD set.

And what a piece of work it is. Featuring beautiful mixes of tracks from the likes of Aphex Twin, Speedy J, Aeroplane, Cocteau Twins and a whole bunch more of surprising and refreshing selections, all three discs contain a wide selection of music and finely crafted mixes.

I am usually very apprehensive about remixes of old classics but SOS’s rework of The Cure’s Lullaby is just beautiful. This compilation, my friends, is the noughties’ answer to the pretty awesome 90s Northern Exposure series.

Tags:
  • compilation, dj, eclectic, electronic, techno, various artists

 

Vote for your favourite Warp tracks to create The Definitive Warp Album

Warp Records are asking fans to vote for the tracks they want to see in the upcoming 20th anniversary Warp compilation. I’ve already voted for Aphex Twin’s Alberto Balsam and Squarepusher’s Port Rhombus

Tags:
  • album, ambient, aphex twin, compilation, eclectic, electronic, record

 

Wrong is the first single from Depeche Mode’s new album, Sounds Of The Universe, due out next month. I already like the the dark, dark look of things to come.

Tags:
  • electronic, english, martin gore, music video, pop, synth

 

Nice new single from Röyksopp’s upcoming new album, Junior. The Space Invaders thing is sure to get the nerds all hot and sweaty

Tags:
  • electronic, game, music video, norway, space invaders

 
Cover art of Squarepusher's 1999 mini-album, Budakhan Mindphone

Iambic 5 Poetry is the standout track from this 1999 mini masterpiece from Tom Jenkinson. This record is also from his jazzy, saccharine sweet phase, complete with soft pianos and tinkling ting-tings. The whacky and the weird rhythms and the pointless, insular ramblings are still there, they’re just eveloped by a nicer, newer combination of digital and organic music.

Tags:
  • drum-n-bass, electronic, english, idm, jazz, musician, weird

 
Cover art of Simian Mobile Disco’s 2007 album, Attack Sustain Release Decay

Realising their miserable failure as indie rockers, the now defunct Simian branched out sideways into the dance side of the indie spectrum as Simian Mobile Disco. Their 2007 release Attack Decay Sustain Release is a collection of mostly punchy, light and hook-laden dance tracks. Given their rock roots, this is admittedly rather effete dance music fare but you won’t really care or notice once you get into it.

Simian Mobile Disco are actually in town and will be playing at Zouk tonight. It’s probably going to be an awesome set and, unless you are pregnant or otherwise limited in mobility, you really have no excuse not to be there tonight.

Tags:
  • british, dance, electronic, indie, klaxons, rock, sampling, zouk

 
Cover art of lemonjelly.ky from 2001

Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin (aka Lemon Jelly) released their full debut album, LemonJelly.ky in 2001. It was both a commercial and critical success, and if you listened to the album, you’d know why. With the warm, organic beats and weird, psychedelic synths, this album will just make you happy. Very happy and quite bouncy all day long; go give it a listen it if you haven’t yet!

Tags:
  • beats, british, chill, electronic, funny, illustration, psychedelic

 
Cover art of David Holmes' Let's Get Killed

When Let’s Get Killed came out in the late 90s, Irishman David Holmes never got the fanfare and radio play that his contemporaries, like Fatboy Slim, garnered. His quality and talent (especially evident in This Film’s Crap, Let’s Slash The Seats and his Essential Mix compilation) was/is far superior to some of the electronic music that was all the rage back in the day.

Every track on this album opens with sampled sounds and conversations from New York and segues into the music, much like a soundtrack for an imagined movie about the city. All in all, it is a very groovy, eclectic, if disjointed, mix of music. Radio 7 is a standout track and should have really been used in some way in some Bond movie (or parody).

A testament to Holmes’ enduring quality, my friends, must be the fact that he is still producing quality stuff while his contemporaries of the past decade have, to put it mildly, faded.

Tags:
  • 90s, dance, david holmes, eclectic, electronic, funk, new york, theme music

 

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