Back On (Sound)Cloud 9

My usual soundcloud ventures dried up a while ago, simply because my feed was getting pretty scarce, an most artists I went looking for had all the premium shenanigans I don't like to faff with. Now it seems like SC is going to be with us for a little while longer (hopefully) I thought I'd take another crack at it for old times sake.





This one comes to us from Twitter (the submissions system is still a mess I'm afraid, so in the meantime I've opened my DMs), I was a little hesitant at first because sampling/reworking of real old tunes can be a little bit pants in hindsight, see that obnoxious dubstep treatment of The Marvelettes I posted circa 2010 or so. This ain't old blue eyes though for one, and for two does a decent job of working with the production unlike The Marvelettes example. A little more mainstream than my usual affair, but I dig it, has a slight Rustie feel to it methinks and that main lead is pretty bombastic too. I do think that the change up in sound at 1:45 doesn't really work, the combination of tempo and just overall atmosphere change just feels too extreme, going from this summery upbeat style to some slightly sinister bass feels like two completely different songs. It does only come up twice briefly throughout though so it doesn't drag the experience too much. Keep an eye out for this one coming up on your local indie electronic youtube channel twinned with some Evangelion footage and some AfterEffects VHS & CRT presets overlaid.



With that in mind I thought I'd pop back to see what Macross 82-99'd been up to, last I saw was a tweet of their soundcloud stats when it was still in fairly uncertain times. Well good news is that the platform hasn't been abandoned, and there's a couple new pieces of that unique house/future funk and the like to get stuck into. Artists like Macross are the reason why I wanna see SoundCloud stick around, I wouldn't have ever come across tunes like this these, and Macross has gone on to carve a nice little niche in my library. So here's to many more years of digital crate digging on the cloud, I'll be sure to share all I find with you.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Checking In

Please mind the mess in the in-between period where I figure out how exactly I'm going to take submissions as a one man band without being swamped. That't not deterring some of you mind, here's a recent one that came into my inbox after a bit of a runaround with contact info (again, my bad and I apologise!). I Don't Do Crowds (you and me both brother) got in touch with a little remix for me. I always find it kinda hard to be too critical in cases like this, a remix being your first exposure can be a bit of a boon, you never know if it's a one off style for the remix or whether parts you like or dislike are from the original or the mix but I digress and I'll do my best. It seems to hail from the sweet sounding school of Celadon City and co. which is never a bad thing especially with summer round the bend, always takes me back to the summer of 09's fantastic selection of tunes. Gripes are small; I almost want a hazier Washed Out treatment applied to the whole thing but that's a personal thing, on a similar note The lyrical content gets a little cliche at times but I guess that goes with the territory and isn't a mark on the remix so much as it is the source material.



After last posts 90's anime streak and the above, I went out to see what my favourite future funk fiend Macross 82-99 was up to, and the answer was slightly surprising in the best way. As the genre tag says, Victoria Harbour At Night is a far cry from the disco influenced sweetness of Macross past, and scratches a very specific itch that rarely gets hit; the two examples I can come up with off the top of my head fro reference are the (coincidentally also Japanese) Bran-New Lovesong by The Pillows and Akira Yamaoka's End Of Small Sanctuary. The soundcloud description says Macross is looking for a vocalist for this one, but I think it's near perfect as-is.



And a quickie revisit for those that missed the last time I mentioned Macross, here's the kinda thing I was used to hearing coming out of that camp. As you can hear from the get go, the retro influence is very apparent. Get a load of them drums and machine gun high hats. Although in hindsight even this is pretty far from the more Disco influenced stuff that pointed me in that direction to begin with, I'd recommend checking out the likes of Fun Tonight for that, doubly so if you'd like a fast track back to the days of French Touch and Bloghouse.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Let's Go Swimmin'

Remember how like two posts ago I was saying that I love the vibe that Celadon and the company he keeps put out? Well they musta been listening because his collective project/netlabel Galaxy Swim Team just dropped another compilation dealio that is filling my super cute audio needs for today. It's also accompanied by a lovely message:

This album is dedicated to all of our family and friends who have supported Galaxy Swim Team thus far. We could not be more thrilled to finally be putting out this comp! Galaxy Swim Team at its core, is just a bunch of friends creating together. We all feel extremely lucky that from beginning to end, that's all this project ever was. Friends creating together.

So from the bottom of our hearts,
We hope you enjoy. <3

It doesn't mess around, from the get go you're immersed in that Glass Swords-esque sound that I indulge in every now and then. I will not be short of people to look up for future soundcloud roundups for a while to boot. Check it out, and find more from the Swim Team at Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook and buy their releases on Bandcamp

-Claude Van Foxbat

While I was out.....

Oh hey, it's good to be back! Finals are done, I'm all caught up with my listening list and down to clown. Wow the ending to this year has been absolutely stacked with great releases and our end of the year lists are gong to be so hard to make. Until then, here are some of my favorite tracks I've been listening to.

With the re-release of GTA V its been fun to go back and listen to Flying Lotus station FLYLOFM and the remastered version has some new unreleased tracks. One of my favorites from this mix was an exclusive from Clams Casino - Crystals. This is one of the busiest bangers I've come across especially from someone like Clams.



I am really hit and miss on Acid but this newest release from Daniel Avery's titled Drone Logic was really close in changing my mind. One of the best and danceable cuts form this album was All I Need, I love the juxtaposition of the kick drum and the synth thats just slathered in reverb. The vocals are deliciously sexy especially mid track when a voice demands that you "taste it"

Daniel.Avery · Daniel Avery - All I Need

Jon Hopkins absolutely blew me away with his album Immunity so I'm thrilled that he is in Japan recording a new album. In the mean time he dropped a stellar essential mix along with this small EP that feature "Asleep Version" remixes on some of immunities best tracks. The standout is Form By Firelight and it features vocals from Raphaelle Standell.




This next one was tough, I want to hate Ariel Pink and write him off as blog fodder but ill be dammed his newest album Pom Pom had some pretty interesting ideas that kept me coming back.

smileforme_ · Ariel Pink - Lipstick

Worlds Fair is a rap collective from Brooklyn and their work so far has been pretty solid and sounds almost like something the Pro-Era crew would put out if they weren't stuck up their on asses. Anyways this is from their mixtape B.o.t.p.


I'm sure you all have seen a decent amount of hype for Andy Stott's new album faith in strangers and honestly its all true. I actually first heard of Andy fairly recently on Matthew Prain's mix he did a couple of months ago. I was absolutely lost in this album and after I heard this track I was instantly hooked. There is a lot to love with this one, the brooding baseline and a post apocalyptic synth line and those eerie vocals make this one of the best of the year.
-Adam 

Ilictronix: wingman edition

Winter is here, and I hope you all found your snow bunnies to snuggle up with. Play these around your special someone and I guarantee things will get hotter than a Mexican summer. Like any good wingman I want to get all of you some action, so here are some songs to add to your sexytime playlists.

The first track is from Canadian Cyril Hahn. Not to be out grooved by fellow Canadian The Weeknd, Hahn has been putting out some stellar remix's and building buzz. His mixes for the bbc are responsible for creating a European baby boom. He dropped the Perfect Form EP this year and it's a great mood setter. The title track is an sexy piece of future r&b that sounds like something Jamie xx could conceive a child to. It also has Shy Girls singing the vocals.

Speaking of shy girls, he also dropped an EP this year titled Timeshare. It's a pretty decent album but the first track off it is "must listen". It's a slower groove that still bumps hard enough to break the ice with the coldest of partners. 

Be safe and use protection everyone!
-Adam