Tuesday 21 February 2017

We Were Always Coming Back

Decided on a whim to see if I could find some more obscure things on soundcloud, hoping to find more meticulous archives a la Miss Kittin (more on that later). Instead I checked up on Felix Da Housecat and it seems in the time gone by he's put out another full length, and you can actually get this one without having to buy a copy of Mixmag unlike the one before, though saying that there isn't a proper *physical* release, which is a bit of a shame but that's the way things are going these days and the thing itself is on 256kbp/s too. But enough negatives, have at it and I'll join you again after the embed.



The title's quite fitting actually, after falling out of contact with Felix (like I do far too often in real life too), it's nice to hear him again.
On Is Everything OK? here it seems Felix has fully embraced the 'Nu-Disco' synthwave style stuff, it's always been kinda hinted at in his previous works and done it well. It's a bit of a departure from his usual sound in comparison actually but well made regardless. I do always appreciate treated vocals as you all know, and this is feeling a lot like Moviedisco 2 to me right now. I did always think that Felix could have done more vocal electroclash on his own a bit like Mount Sims, but then again he did make some of the scenes iconic tunes and introduce me to Miss Kittin, speaking of....



Shamelessly re-posting one of my favourite reworks of Rippin Kittin. I adore the tune in all it's forms and as mentioned above I owe it to Felix for introducign me to Kittin early on in my electronic music inductions. But another thing I appreciate a hell of a lot is Kittin's treatment of her Soundcloud as an archive of practically everything she's ever done. Obscure one-off electroclash tunes with The Hacker that only appeared on a compilation relased only it Italy? It's there, along with just about every remix you could ever want.

And that's why this one is so important to me, I can't find this remix anywhere; legit or ill, digital or physical. I understand it's not always possible to be this organised with archiving, hell if most artists are anything like me a lot of the original copies of remixes and releases have been misplaced along the way (and not to mention running a soundcloud archive one must cost more than a few pennies). So I'd just like to thank Kittin once again for the effort and allowing me to essentially go digital crate digging, now to listen to Rippin Kittin one more time...

-Claude Van Foxbat

Wednesday 15 February 2017

A Belated Valentine's Show

Hey all, dropping by with another round of the ilictronix show. I couldn't be on this one but I still sent over my selections. As the theme would suggest, we got a whole heap of lovin' tunes to get yourself and your other half down to. Tracks and all after the embed. If for some reason the embed isn't working for you, click here to go to the show page.



Tracklist:
Sheek & Big Pun - Piña Colada (Arca Edit)
Caspa - Lon-Don City
Massive Attack - One Love
Chase & Status - Take U There
Vitalic - Poision Lips (Extended Mix)
Louis La Roche - Love
Together - So Much Love To Give
Sébastien Tellier - Kilometer (Arpanet Remix)
DJ Assault - Sex On The Beach
Fingers Inc. – Feeling Sleazy
Smerz – Blessed
Lloyd – Get it Shawty
Miguel – The Valley
Jocelyn Brown - Somebody Else's Guy
Delroy Edwards – Get The Nut

Sunday 12 February 2017

Snowy Synthwave Sundays

Just swinging by with some synthwave goodness on this unusually snowy afternoon. Wasting no time lets get down to brass tacks. Just like Carpenter Brut does on the short and furious Turbo Killer, which seems to have spiked again in popularity as of late. While it's nice to have the spotlight taken off of Roller Mobster once in a while I do urge you check out his other work, the man has his style down pat, and you'll certainly be seeing more of him in future.



And to cap off something I finally remembered the title of after seeing it on a stream, which I originally found years ago as one of those real low effort 80's/90's anime set to synthwave deals. It was Riding Bean if you're curious. Anyway, Lazerhawk's Overdrive takes a while to get going but it all pays off around the halfway mark with a glorious pitch bent riddled synth solo that sounds like it's ready to start leaking out your speakers any minute.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Monday 6 February 2017

Double Cyberpunk Feature

After weeks if not months of not paying off, I finally found a couple things on soundcloud that grabbed my attention. Wasting no time let's get stuck in, some more Ghost In The Shell action, normally I'm a bit cynical with anything billing itself as a remix because they normally miss the point or are just plain naff, I imagine in part due to Deadamau5 dropping a bit of the main choral theme a few years back in his live sets (which while a nic touch, was a bit low effort). Ghostgate manages to strike a nice balance between the two, the subtle cues of the chorus in the first minute or so are nicely done and manages to capture the dark ambient vibe of the OST well. It could do with a bit more variety once it gets going but overall not too shabby.



And finally just because it's been rinign in my ears for the past week or so, more from the VA-11 HALL-A OST, the game that had my interest as soon as I saw the tagline "Cyberpunk Bartender Action". I'd have much appreciated it if this was the kinda stuff playing when I was working in a bar but hey ho. Most of the OST is a kinda synthwavy deal, but this one's been sticking out to me as of late because it's got a 90's techno thing to it, that might just be the synth piano stabs but who knows. Definitley check the two volumes out if you're in need of more like this.



-Claude Van Foxbat