The French Kicks: "The Trial of the Century" Video
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The Kosheen sound has always been about integrating electronica with great song structures, and, locked down in the studio recording 'Damage', the band has created a subtly futuristic soundtrack for the 21st century. From the spacious titular track itself to the pop-driven forthcoming single 'Overkill' (about, says Sian, "personal or political frustration"); from the early 80s synth-stabbed 'Chances' to the epic hum of 'Under Fire', hefty beats jostle with acidic bleeps, Morricone guitars, plangent synths and haunting piano. Look out, too, for the rather swaggering majesty of closing track, ‘Your Life,’ which, says Markee, "grew from its opening chords – it stinks of flava!"
Check out the music video for "Love No" from the French indie pop band, The Teenagers. The past twelve months have seen few Europeans garner more fevered hype than these three Parisian dreamboats, proving once and for all that style and substance needn't be mutually exclusive. At a time when far too many seemed to be sat waiting for the next novelty bandwagon to jump onboard, this trio of hipper-than-thou ne'r-do-wells have reignited the imaginations of clued-up music lovers across the globe with a curve ball of pervy wit, classic synth-work, and sunshine strumming.
The Juliana Theory: "This Is A Lovesong...For The Loveless"
A broken-hearted rocker from emo darlings The Juliana Theory.
The Juan Maclean: "Give Me Every Little Thing"
"It's been a bit of a sore spot," laughs Juan Maclean, "sitting on this album and seeing this robot stuff pop up all over the place. I have serious robot credentials that go back years and years. Like, a decade! But Daft Punk beat me to the punch." He may be joking, but the man's right. If anyone's earned the right to call their debut album "Less Than Human" and imagine a love triangle consisting of a man, a woman and the man's gay robot friend (as in "Shining Skinned Friend"), it's Maclean. He was guitarist and synth player with acclaimed but obscure, gonzo electro-punk band Six Finger Satellite, who began formulating their blend of rigidly mechanised disco beats, oddly sumptuous synth melodies and razor-shredded guitar work in the early 90s. The brutish but groovy result suggested a cross between Devo, Kraftwerk and Big Black. Then, America was mired in grunge, the famous French robots were still in short pants and the "punk-funk revival" was in the unimaginable future. Six Finger Satellite were just too far ahead of their time and perished accordingly. With "Less Than Human" Maclean has created a precision-tuned rekindling of his love affair with everything from Kraftwerk to Juan Atkins and Derrick May, Funkadelic to Giorgio Moroder and Lipps Inc, DAF to Talking Heads and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. It's full of tics (sin drums, cow bells, Bootsy Collins bass lines, Moog Liberation motifs) borrowed from dance music history, but refuses to engage with retroism, nostalgia or any notion of "the classic." Opener "AD2003" tracks back to Kraftwerk via Orbital, buoyed up by bubbles of percolating glitch. "Give Me Every Little Thing" rewinds through Underworld and Talking Heads en route to Studio 54. "Tito's Way" contrasts acid-house synth squelches and rave whistles with clattering, tribal percussion. There's a constant, though. Even the LP's euphoric epic "Dance With Me," is poignantly subdued, touched by a melancholy that reflects Maclean's own world view. "It doesn't seem incongruous to me to have a lot of that stuff in there," he says of the album's sadness, "because I made a big effort to make an album, rather than a collection of tunes with just one good track that everybody knows. So I never really set out to say, "this is a song that will played for the dance floor," or whatever. "When I started on it, I don't think I had any pre-conceived notions at all, except that I knew I'd always be operating under the same aesthetic principles that I'd held in making music my whole life."
Tangerine Dream: "Backstreet Hero"
Lots of sweet synth patches and guitar shredding make this Tangerine Dream song delicious. From their DVD "Tangerine Dream: Live in America 92".
Para One is one of the leaders of the French new school. Known for his killer track "Dun Dun" (remixed from MSTRKRFT) and remixes of Agoria, Krazy Baldhead, Ellen Alien (with Tacteel) and Daft Punk, among others. His musics been played by a wide array of the dance floors elite from Feadz, Erol Alkan, Diplo, Modeselektor and Justice to Laurent Garnier, DJ/Rupture, Team Shadetek and Michael Mayer. "Dun Dun" is both the hardest, most ruthless and loveliest, most idyllic techno track in a long time. These tracks are tailor-made for the club, the dancefloor, the moment when the world dissolves into strobes, heat and sound, when the dancers move whether they like it or not, barely breathing machines operated by way of drugs, snares and synths.
Continuing a long-held DJ Kicks tradition, Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) has contributed a brand new Four Tet track, specially created for his forthcoming 'DJ Kicks' compilation. Entitled 'Pockets' and released as an exclusive 12? single on June 12th, this is the only new Four Tet material to appear this year.'Pockets' is trademark Four Tet: a bona-fide euphoric dancefloor filler?Although by now we all surely expect nothing less from an artist and producer so widely revered for consistent innovation and creativity. This exclusive DJ Kicks track is an infectious and expertly-mixed brew of layered, stabbing synths and dominant fussion jazz percussion (which seems to teeter on the brink of fully-fledged wig-out throughout), as well as a crescendo chorus of xylophones, chimes, and of course a host of distinctively 'Four Tet' electronic elements. A heady mix indeed.For a man known primarily for his home made excursions to the far reaches of the musical map, Kieran Hebden as a DJ is a different kind of trip, the gratifying results of which can be seen all over his exemplary 'DJ Kicks' compilation, due for release on June 26th.Four Tet's DJ Kicks is a mind blowing experience, taking in just about as many genres as there are tracks (which is 20). Old skool hip-hop, French prog, conscious electronic experimentation, minimal techno, early two-step, cosmic jazz, African thumb pianos and much more besides share space here, bound together by analogue synth interludes and of course, 'Pockets'.The pure soul genius of Curtis Mayfield sits alongside the likes of David Behman's 'Leap-day Night (Scene 1)', the squelchy and off-kilter techno of Model 500's 'Psychosomatic', Animal Collective, Akufen, the early 90's major label hip-hop of Showbiz & AG's 'Represent', 'Autechre's 'Flutter', Madvillain (a Four Tet favourite and longtime collaborator), Heiner Stadler, and the cosmic jazz of Julian Priester and Pepe Mtoto's 'Love, Love'. Even So Solid Crew's (the local Wandsworth lads who bedazzled the young Kieran with their fearless experimentation) 'Dilemma' finds a happy home on the diverse mix.
Treble and Timbre: "Synth Magic"
This funny duo sings about the magic sound of a synth.
Gnarls Barkley: "Smiley Faces"
?You are the best. You are the worst. You are average. Your love is a part of you. You try to give it away because you cannot bear its radiance, but you cannot separate it from yourself. To understand your fellow humans, you must understand why you give them your love. You must realize that hate is but a crime-ridden subdivision of love. You must reclaim what you never lost. You must take leave of your sanity, and yet be fully responsible for your actions.? -Gnarls Barkley, in a letter to the legendary rock critic Lester Bangs
So who is Gnarls Barkley? Diligent pen pal to Bangs, soul giant Isaac Hayes, and Violent Femmes ringleader Gordon Gano? Well-kept romantic consort to pop stars Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson? English teacher to synth-rock legends Kraftwerk? Croupier at a mysterious annual gathering in the Bay Area that allegedly draws members of the Wu-Tang Clan and Britian's Stuckist art collective? It seems that, in the music world, Gnarls Barkley is always nearby yet impossible to find. The membership rolls of both the Atlanta hip hop collective Dungeon Family and Athens, Georgia?s psychedelic enclave Elephant Six list Barkley as an affiliate, but mention him to either group and they?ll shoot each other frightened looks and start talking basketball. The rumors fly hard in every direction and remain defiantly unverifiable.
Clinton Jacks works as a cook in a Waffle House restaurant near the South Carolina coast. ?One night back in the year 2000,? he recollects, ?I saw Danger Mouse come in here. Cee-Lo was with him. And they had this other dude with them, dressed up like H.R. Pufnstuf. Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo ate big meals, but H.R. Pufnstuf only wanted hash browns. Then they left, Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo, but H.R. Pufnstuf stayed around for hours. He must?ve had twenty cups of coffee. I went in the bathroom, and when I came out, he was gone. But he left a $500 tip on the table. And he left a little note that said, ?Compliments to the chef. Gnarls Barkley.??
Danger Mouse, a/k/a Brian Burton, produced the infamous Grey Album, a full-length blend of the Beatles? music and Jay-Z?s raps that became a cult classic after it was suppressed by EMI. He recently garnered a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year for his work with the ?virtual band? Gorillaz. Having recorded with enigmatic rapper MF DOOM, not to mention a cast of voices from ?Adult Swim?, Danger Mouse is no stranger to outsized characters. He admits that he helped out with St. Elsewhere, the first album credited to Gnarls Barkley. ?A lot of people ask me about him,? says Danger Mouse when the topic arises. ?He found one of my Pelican City records, which was this downtempo experimental stuff I did in college, and I started getting letters from him. He?s not [Blur frontman and Gorillaz co-creator] Damon Albarn ? I can blow that myth out of the water for you. A lot of people think he lives in South Carolina. Personally, I think you?d be more likely to find him in Europe.?
From beneath his shroud, Burton's spiritual adviser, the usually silent ?Dr. President?, murmurs something unintelligible and then??Not that I know where he is.?
Cee-Lo Green, a/k/a Thomas Calloway, is a Dungeon Family alumnus, once-and-future member of Goodie Mob and a wildly eclectic solo artist. His music is steeped in the gospel and blues traditions of the Southeast, merging timeless soul with experimental funk and hip hop. He confirms reports that his dramatic voice and soul-rummaging lyrics appear on portions of St. Elsewhere. ?Yes, I believe that I sang on at least some of the Gnarls Barkley record,? he says. ?But we are not the same person. I am Cee-Lo. I am a humble trumpet, and the wind of God blows through me. You might consider Gnarls the spit valve on the trumpet, were you inclined to consider him at all.? As he walked away, Cee-Lo could be heard to mutter, ?You want to know who he is? He?s the dude who owes me thirty-five dollars, that?s who he is.?
Does St. Elsewhere shed light on this mysterious personage, or does it further obscure him? It?s a complex record, to be sure. It employs the full spectra of pop music and human emotion. The warm, breezy single ?Crazy? and the spry finger-snapper ?Smiley Faces? recall "Songs In The Key Of Life" and ?Good Vibrations? in equal measure. ?On Line,? a lament for the lonely and ambitious, could be a tricked-out G-funk holdover. Often dark and unpredictable, St. Elsewhere nevertheless retains its sense of joy throughout. Even Cee-Lo?s darker moments, his introspection on ?Necromancer?, and the chilling ?Just A Thought,? on which our hero fights off suicidal ideation, flourish in their lush, funky surroundings. It constantly shifts its shape and never sacrifices momentum. And it contains a mess of contradictory clues about just who Gnarls Barkley actually is.
?I?ve made him my life?s work,? says Milton Pawley, a Los Angeles music writer widely considered the world?s leading Barkley scholar. ?And even with all the evidence I?ve gathered, I?m still not sure he really exists. Maybe Gnarls Barkley isn?t a person. Maybe he?s out there in the wind. Maybe he?s inside of all of us. Like ?Bob? from Twin Peaks, only more funky and less evil.?
Perhaps Gnarls Barkley will never fully reveal himself. But if St. Elsewhere is any indication, his music bears Marvin Gaye?s depth of feeling, Jeff Buckley?s emotive theatrics, and wild courage not seen since Prince?s prime. Behold the most exciting debut of 2006. A psychedelic soul masterpiece. Gnarls Barkley may not be easily located, but he won?t be a stranger.
Enon is a band from Brooklyn and Philadelphia. John Schmersal (guitar, bass, synths, vocals), Toko Yasuda (bass, synths, vocals) and Matt Schulz (drums) have all been in a bunch of bands, and are still in a bunch of bands. But all that doesn't really matter, right? What does matter is that these three, together, are Enon, always, and they're always amazing.
