Sealed with a kiss

Dropping by with a quick one for ya all - longtime readers might remember the name Magna - an alias of Jake Decoteau that he has since retired. I've posted about what he's up to these days, he's now making web 2.0 as hell things under the name Thorne which brings us to our tale today. About a week ago he posted a series of videos all to do with tracking down a 'mystery' house song', not entirely out of the realms of possibility, previous site owner Jordan would occasionally put out requests for rare tunes back in the day after all.

If you watch the other videos it's actually pretty impressive, leading to a found discogs page where it just so happens that there is one solitary copy available for sale. If you haven't cottoned on by now, the videos are actually an elaborate announcement countdown - with the final video revealing that it's actually a new release from a duo consisting of Jake himself and Owen Hobson.

And what a release it is - as you might have guessed already from that initial video linked above that specifically namedropped Stardust, this is a love letter to that specific kind late 90's house sound - you know the kind, it's gone by many names over the years and about as many revivals. I don't mean that to sound too negative mind you, it should be obvious to anyone reading that I have a massive place in my heart for that style, the blog was practically founded on it and I wouldn't have discovered it (and of course end up here now) if it weren't for it. Per the bandcamp description, the two are trying to recapture "that summer heat from the mid-2000s", which I think they've done admirably (at least for those in the northern hemisphere who are entering Summer that is!) I think it's a good time to drop something like this, after a bleak couple of years, I think we could all do to cut loose to some throwback house.



There's only one thing that I do hope, and that's that this duo doesn't end up too closely emulating that era of house and only putting out one release! Rest assured I'll be keeping tabs on any future developments out of that camp, and you'll hear as soon as I do. That'll be all for today, I'll be back soon enough with more but until next time - as always - stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Happy(?) Valentine's

Remember how I was supposed to schedule out a couple posts for both mine and your convenience? Yeah, well life has a funny way of turning things around on you, so some IRL things have gotten in the way. But I ain't here to mope, I've been keeping notes for a little while about the semi-annual Valentine's post and now is the time to deploy them. This year, I've chosen to fully embrace the kitsch - we have a cross section of throwback French Touch, some Italo Disco and of course, a little Eurobeat to finish.

Burhan Doğançay - Sweet Hearts (1972)

If you're in need of a little pep in your step, this here post will do it for you. Kicking off with a refreshed relic of a time long past, long time readers of the blog will maybe remember Power Glove Records, headed by former writer Boba (who is still active, now under the name LUIN). I've been meaning to do a sort of recap post on the releases of PGR for a while - they're not hard too hard to find as you might expect given their age and netlabel status, but embedding them can be a little tricky. Luckily I've found (what I presume is) a reconstruction using the same samples over on Bandcamp. Subtly different from the original, but a prime piece of that 'French Touch' revival era.



Speaking of retro relics, Italian label Goody Music Records and its eventual offshoots and sub-labels have been doing a fantastic job of making tons of their catalogue available over on Bandcamp. Originally from 1982, Capricorn's I Need Love got the re-release/re-master treatment in 2019 - actually Claudio Simonetti of Goblin fame indulging in his disco side. It's quite a bit different from other 'Italo' stuff I've posted before, there's definitely more of an Electro thing going on here, which actually does wonders to make it feel pretty fresh. Behind the skeletal electronics there's some real funky bassline work going on which is a joy to listen to.



And of course, we can't have a loved-up post without some Eurobeat. It's almost cheating really, you can pick pretty much any Eurobeat release and find a tune with the word in the title - I actually put this to the test with the Eurokudos series below, I think of all of them that I opened there were only 1 or 2 without a single track containing the word 'love', and that's not counting the lyrical content. Eurobeat really does wear its heart on its sleeve: it has but one purpose - to be supremely catchy and invite you to dance, as you might expect from a genre evolved from Disco. And it succeeds a lot of the time, good luck getting the main vocal hook from this one out of your head anytime soon. Granted it can sometimes be a little too bubblegum sweet, but I think this one hits a nice balance between the two.



And that'll be all for today, a little shorter than I originally intended but I'm pretty happy with the selections, and I'm trying to get this one down ASAP before something else unexpected comes my way again. Still, I'll be back when I get a minute, even if it's just to share one single track. Hope you all have a lovely love day, especially with these tunes to accompany you. Until next time, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

The Final(?) Friday - Part One

Hasui Kawase - Starlit Night, Miyajima (1928)

Hey there, it's been a while - apologies ofr the slight delay, the first half of this week got a little chaotic. But I am here now, and I bring the results of what may be the last ever Bandcamp Friday - it's hard to tell, the statement from the start of this year only lists them happening until May, but I suppose time will reveal all. I've had an exceptional run with them since they started running them though, and it's been a nice nudge to pick up some music once a month or so. We'll save that talk for later though, there is a lot of stuff to go through this time so I am going to split it into a couple (or more) parts. So, let's get stuck right in.

Some Garoad first off - you might have seen me talk at length about my love of their soundtracks for VA-11 Hall-a, the two were a match made in heaven and complimented each other nigh perfectly. From My Star To Yours is cut from the same cloth, if you were at all a fan of those OSTs you will immediately find common ground here. I have a lot of love for the sound here, it's retro 80's infused electronic without getting too deep into Synthwave territory, Garoad's inspirations lie elsewhere if the artwork didn't tip you off already - From My Star To Yours is very cinematic in its execution, like it's an insert song from an 80's Space Opera OVA (hence the artwork!), lavished with synth noodling and power chords and the mandatory of-the-era guitar riffs, and even an extended outro reprising the main motif on piano - all that's missing is the vocal accompaniment to complete that vibe. It's been a long time since Garoad released anything, I'm more than happy to hear more from them and am hoping there is more in the pipeline, as someone who is a big fan of the soundtrack of Bubblegum Crisis, I welcome any and all artists bringing back this style.



We're sticking in that same vein for the time being though, both the retro and Japanese influences. Enter Macross 82-99, who is still going strong all these years later. 82-99 first caught my ear with their unique blend of the kind of House that brought me here to this site in the first place, with a hearty helping of anime fandom for good measure (if the name Macross and the title of this release didn't make that obvious enough already). On the early mixtape releases this was twinned with vaporwave so it was a perfect macth for me circa 2012 when I was getting deep into that kind of thing.

I can understand it feeling gimmicky to some, (hell, I even thought as much when I was first exploring their work, chalk it up to my expeirnece with a ton of one-off vaporwave acts) but Macross is still going strong to this day, with Sailorwave III releasing just a couple months ago. Despite the name this isn't a Sailor Moon bootleg remix album, but the latest in a string of sequels to the albums that made Macross so popular in the first place. I've chosen That Music thing time around, purely because it transported me back to that time in my life when I first met Macross - cast your mind back to the Summers of the early 2010s, and think of the French Touch stuff that we used to post around that time - that's That Music, a little nostalgic sprinkle of sunshine. I don't dip my feet into the world of Future Funk often anymore, but I can always count on 82-99 for tracks like this.



Speaking of nostalgia, some Au Revior Simone next (and also another case of me misplacing something so picking it up again). The Bird Of Music is another record steeped in memories for me, again from around that same era. Not to get too sentimental or anything - I was heading off to University and my go-to convo starter for those first few awkward weeks was to get talking music. There was a bit of crossover with some (after all I think students are legally required to listen to Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada when entering University!), and acts like Au Revior Simone were there to bridge the gap where there wasn't, so both this album and Still Night, Still Light were instrumental in that.

I tended to lean a little more towards this one for suggestions at the time as it's a little more folky in parts which I thought made it more accessible for some - Fallen Snow was one that I remember suggesting a lot, I think it balances that folk style with the electronics quite well. I liked Still Night more at the time, but coming back to this one after all this time I've gained new appreciation for it, somehow I always end up remembering the slower tracks more and completely forgetting that the album also has tracks like Dark Halls on it as well which has been a welcome return to my library. Its been a while since I've had some good energetic electropop, even if it's not techically 'new'.



As mentioned in the opener, this is only a portion of my pickups for this month, so stay tuned for part 2 and maybe more after that too. This one managed to be fairly sonically consistent, the next one(s) might get a little bit more eclectic but should prove very interesting as well, one I might even spin off into my first new 'review' in who knows how long. Things have quieted down again so shouldn't be too long until the next one, until then, as alawys - stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

Back To The Punk

Going to get wistful for a bit here if you'll indulge me. It's been about a year since Daft Punk announced their split, and I figured they'd just slip back into the background as they always did anyway, and they sort of have - but recently their YT channel has been updating pretty regularly with some interesting stuff, more on that in a minute.

So what have we missed in the last year or so? Well, The Daft Club, the fan-site that I used to be on as a tween shut down upon the news. Sort of sad really as it could have still carried on I feel, they sure as hell managed fine without any news at all between the release of Random Access Memories and the split - but then again I was really only ever lurker anyway. The real reason it hurts a bit is that TDC was actually how I found this site, with a promo post by former owner Jordan - and if I hadn't then you probably wouldn't have been reading this right now.

A 25th anniversary edition of Homework was released which features a ton of remixes including previously super rare mixes of Around The World, though disappointingly the Armand Van Helden rework of Da Funk isn't included - but that was the B-side to the Musique EP I suppose so not part of Homework technically. Nice to see, but if you've been a longtime fan you either have or have heard all those mixes already.

Anyway, the focus of today is going to be the recent influx of 'from the archives' footage and content that's making an appearance. The archivist in me loves seeing stuff like this, it's a great resource and seeing it like this, freed from the old probably VHS/DVD sources of yore is fantastic. It's all to do with Around The World today, and we kick off with the video itself with audio commentary by director Michel Gondry. The late 90's to early 00's were a wild time with superstar directors putting out weird and wonderful music videos of all kinds - Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham and of course Gondry himself being but a few. Around The World is one of those iconic videos - the kind that gives everyone an 'oooooooh' moment when you realise that each group of dancers represents an element of the song (A concept which Gondry would re-use for the Chemical Brothers' Star Guitar), super interesting to hear this commentary.



Expanding on that even further we have a ton of behind the scenes footage from the set as well - which really highlights some of the things Gondry mentions in the commentary such as the computer setup for the lighting. As someone who works in a similar sphere, its humbling and a bit quaint to see the monstrosity of a setup needed to do something like triggering lights. The editing feels a little fast, sometimes too fast IMO - no idea if that was how it was originally or it's been re-edited for the 2020 world of social media. Either way, a very interesting look into the process, one that the archivist in me again really appreciates.

One last one to complete the archive, a very animated Gondry discussing the video and process. Another interesting slice from the archives, albeit one that kind of covers the same ground as the initial commentary. Not too sure about the weird filter on it but that is apparently how it is on the DVD anyway. Here's hoping that the rest of D.A.F.T is next, the videos for Revolution 909, Da Funk and Fresh are all equally iconic in their own right (and also boast Spike Jonze among others on the directing front) and I'd love to see the BTS footage and content for them again. That goes double for Interstella 5555, the duo's collaboration with Leiji Matsumoto that is essentially one giant music video for the whole of Discovery!



Having a flip through and reading the descriptions I actually think these were all just DVD extras from D.A.F.T but I don't mind too much because in the grand scheme of Daft Punk stuff I feel like it's a little unknown. And besides, as I've said many times in this post: the more sources there are for these things there are, the better. The Daft Punk superfan version of myself circa 2007/8 would have loved all of this content being so easily accessible and would have no doubt made an appearance and influence on my brief dip into the world of Filmmaking.

I realise now that there hasn't really been any 'music' in this post as of yet, so I leave you all with one final mix - the 'official video' for the KenLou (Kenny Gonzalez & Louie Vega of Masters At Work fame) mix. It's made up of clips from the above so there's not a lot of new content - likewise for the mix, the two take a fairly hands off approach, injecting Around The World with a little bit of funk but keeping most of the main body. I do wonder if they'll do similar for other mixes and behind the scenes footage, it'll be interesting to see which mixes get picked for the official treatment - Around The World has tons of mixes by itself after all. Well that'll about do it for this time around, I'll be back soon with more but until next time - as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.



-CVF

Ilictromix: Caius (2020 Post)

NOTE: Hi there! This is an archive/re-post of an old series of Mixes that Adam used to get artists to make for us. This post is originally by Adam and is from February 2015. I am going to try and archive all these posts he did in future. I still have all the MP3s so it's just a case of re-doing the HTML and putting them on Mixcloud!

Enjoy,
-CVF

Our popular Ilictromix series is back and I'm excited for you guys to hear what we have in store. This week we travel to Copenhagen Denmark, and learn about an artist who couldn't have put together a better mix to start us off with again.

Todays mix comes from a 19 year old funky powerhouse that goes by the name Caius. I came across him because of his stellar track "Love You Right" and I knew we had to have more. This is the first track he put out and I can't wait to hear what else he has up his sleeves.



This Ilictromix is topnotch and reminds us why we love Disco-House so much. Caius has only been making music since 14, after bedroom raping to Big Seans Finally Famous Mixtapes (Yes we all feel old now). I think after hearing this Ilictromix we can all be glad he shifted gears into his current production style.  Tracklist after the jump.






Tracklist: 

FKJ - The Twins
MAM - Crushed Ice
Star Slinger - I/IV
Le Nonsense - Kaer
Xtrafunk (Feat. Loumar & Nas) - Deep Down
Cherokee - Take Care of You
Myth Syzer - Bonbon a la menthe (Stwo Remix)
Kido Yoji - Won’t You Come Again
Breakbot - Easy Fraction
Touch Sensitive - Show Me
Irfane (feat. Outlines) - Just A Lil’ Lovin’
Kartell - It’s You
Alexkid - Love We Have
Alina Baraz & Galimatias - Fantasy
Bondax - All I See (Darius Remix)
The Swiss - In The City (Luke Million Remix)
Caius - Love You Right
Exmag - Somethin’ Bout Your Love


Find more of Caius on his Facebook, Soundcloud, or Twitter 


-Adam Tucker

Spotify (And Bonus Soundcloud) Selections December

As I was prepping this December's playlist, I almost fell into the trap I set for myself every year of going down a downtempo rabbit hole. So, this year I decided nah let's swap hemispheres for a change and inject a little bit of warmth into our end of year selections. Starting with a little something I've had sitting in my inbox for a long time now (apologies to the artist!), it unfortunately came to us during the time where I had to take the site down for a little while to sort some stuff out. Regardless it stayed on my radar and I've been trying to find a spot for it and now seems as good a time as any to deploy it and now seems as good a time as any.

Jean Sean is someone we've covered before here a couple times in the past, and the remix fiend didn't disappoint this time. As much as I like to abuse this analogy, this rework took me straight back to the blog house days, more specifically to the like of Crookers (crikey, remember when Fidget House was a thing?) and of course more specifically Major Lazer, who thanks to this remix I found out are still active and making stuff too so I owe Jean Sean thanks for that too. It's not all going to be this bombastically dancehall-esque sound unfortunately, but I think it sets up the anti-downtempo selections I have n mind quite nicely indeed.



Starting off, we're keeping the "They're still around?" theme going, with a two-for-one from Mylo AND Louis La Roche. Mylo was a big deal in the mid 00's, he did a real good house album called Destroy Rock & Roll that had some quality singles on it; Paris Four Hundred, In My Arms and Doctor Pressure and then just kinda dropped off the face of the earth. Only on checking out Spotify was I informed that he'd done another EP this year! and with former 'French Touch' blog house darling Louis La Roche to boot. To be fair to Louis, I don't think he ever went away or stopped making tunes, I just didn't keep up with anything he did post 2010 or so. and it seems that he's left the side-chaining sample laden production of his past behind, at least the blatantly late 90's french house type. There's some samples and the like on here that make me questio nwhether they're chasing the 'tropical house' trend but still, it's nice to hear from 'em.



Naturally, I couldn't just leave it at that, so for the next couple tunes I went back into my memories and dug out some house from days gone by. Starting withprobably my first non-Talking Heads exposure to David Byrne in the gorgeously smooth Lazy from X-Press 2 (that's only a little bit depressing with it's lyrical content). Followed that up with the delightfully funky bonus track Fit Your Heart from Benjamin Diamond. I had to restrain myself from going all out with the funky stuff at this point, so I limited myself to just a couple more in this style. Modjo was a natural choice here, and hipster me wasn't just going to go with the shoo-in of Lady, instead I opted for Music Takes You Back, which I've had several people confuse for Jamiroquai when it's appeared on playlists. The last quarter when it all comes together is where it really shines. What would a dive into funky stuff be without a dash of Chromeo? I thought about putting on a bit from Business Casual here as I recently talked about it on the Podcast, but man Fancy Footwork is just so damn good, here we are 11 years after release, and I'm still madly in love with all the little synth hits and twinkles on the title track.

Ok, so I might've lied about keeping it totally upbeat, but we managed halfway! Besides, it's fast becoming winter at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere. We're keeping things a little bit funky tho, with the original Electric Counterpoint from Steve Reich. I talked about the Royksopp edits of this one that they did as freebies some time ago, and as much as I like them I've grown a real fondness for the original. It's a funny clash of electronic style composition with more traditional instrumentation. I'd hesitate to call it drone but if you swapped out the guitar for some lush synth pads it'd probably fit right in. Speaking of, when I was throwing around ideas in my head for this playlist I was running some errands in the rain when my shuffle decided to serve this one up to me. I do't think any of these playlists has had Tangerine Dream on as of yet, they've enjoyed a recent bump in popularity after working on the OST for Grand Theft Auto V of all things, (I'd love to get my hands on the limited edition CD they made from the OST, songs like Mission Possible are just gorgeous). Some questionable album art choices aside, I firmly believe they're a must have in any electronic fan's lists.

On a similar vein, Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack should be familiar to any electronic music fan, if only for Blade Runner Blues alone (though again I am biased because I absolutley could listen to that brassy analogue synth sound all day). Spotify doesn't have the expanded re-release of the Blade Runner OST, and I didn't feel like dropping the 8-minute synth Jam of Blade Runner Blues on you so I went with Wait For Me instead. Though a little more dated in terms of sound than Blues, especially with those MIDI horns, Wait For Me remains an evocative piece and one of my favourites from the OST. Rounding out my suddenly vintage selections is Kraftwerk, of course. They hold a special place in my heart as I've mentioned several times in the past, partly nostalgia and partly my weakness for techy sounds in general. Computer World 2 is a tune I've been meaning to talk about for a while now, I think its by far and away the most obvious tune to point to when it comes to the evolution of electro, and eventually techno. It's almost too easy to draw the line between the Underground Resistance and similar productions myself and Adam have been talking about and Computer Love 2.

And finishing this week, I've included Koshkina from Dispak that I included on last week but one's podcast. I've been doing some menial file management on-and-off all week and the lush sounds of the EP have been making it not as much of a slog as it could have been. Coming hot off the heels of me finding new appreciation for songs like Akira Takemoto's Island In Video Casset as well, it's been an interesting change up of sounds for me. I've just realised that the code to link to their bandcamp was broken in the original post too so I've not only fixed that, but will be including it again here. If you likewhat you hear you can stream it on Spotify (obviously), but if you like what you hear and want to pick it up, head on over to Their Bandcamp, the page has a full description of the process behind th eEP#s recording as well which makes for an interesting read and an insight into the inner workings of the EP. If you enjoyed the sounds of Koshkina I highly recommend the full thing out.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: Out In The Garage, A Trip Down Memory Lane

Claude and Adam discuss different topics and share their favorite tracks. This week Claude shares a selection of UK Garage and Dub cuts while Adam brings some house tracks. Both go into detail about their music libraries and discuss youtube rips.

The ilictronix podcast for this week continues the running theme we've had for the past couple, I talk a bit about some garage tunes from my days of yoof, and how they eventually morphed into early Dubstep. Adam talks about one of the cornerstones of ilictronix with a rundown of all things house including one of the all time smashers from Crydamoure, The Eternals' Wrath Of Zeus. As mentioned above we get into the nitty gritty of our respective collections and a whole lot of other technicalities; it's also another really long one due to our choices of tunes as well. I know that's probably not for everyone but sometimes it can't be helped, a whopping 9 minutes of it is soley dedicated to Armand's mix of Spin Spin Sugar and frankly, it deserves it! Full tracklist follows:

Tracklist:
Intro:
The Streets - Has It Come To This?

Claude’s picks:
Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar (Armand's Dark Garage Mix)
Artful Dodger - Movin' Too Fast
Skream - Summer Dreams
D1 - Chocolate Orange
Pangaea - Router


Adam’s Picks
The Eternals - Wrath Of Zeus
Sweely - My Devotion To You
DJ Romain - All Day All Night
Ian Pooley - Feel It
Champagne Bubbler - Give You (Real Love)

Outro:
Jeanie Tracy - Picture This (Club Remix)


Show Notes:
The Streets video with the dartboard I mentioned was actually recently uploaded to their official channel! so you can enjoy a decent quality look into the life and aesthetic of a northern English working class lad circa the early 2000's. Bad haircuts and questionable jewellery choices intact. This tune is actually a side of The Streets I failed to mention, in addition to tunes like Let's Push Things Forward and Has It Come To This? they have tunes like the above which are more tongue in cheek that I remembered when I mentioned that Prodigy sample but didn't want to jump back to the start with topics.
A more true to life one would be the video for Has It Come To This, there's so many hallmarks of the era that does a great job of placing it. That focus on the Nike trainers around 40 seconds in for starters, fairly sure I had that exact pair. Even though I was much younger than the demographic Mike Skinner's representing in the video, a lot of it is exactly the stuff we did as kids (minus going to the pub, naturally.), hanging out in naff café's and playing PS2 at the one friend's place who had one at the time. To abuse the phrase once again, a real time capsule.

The vintage dubstep forum thread Adam talked about can be seen here. As someone who occasionally stumbles into old forum threads about music, games and more I always like seeing them still up. It's nice to see with hindsight the thoughts of the time, both good and bad. I know that there's posts from a 14-ish year old me on some Daft Punk fan forums out there that I do not care to go find. I find it hard enough to read my old blog posts from when I was 16 as it is never mind that.

And that *should* be that for this week. As I've learned doing these, there may be one or two things I've missed or otherwise forgotten to put in the show notes. If so just stay tuned, I give the episodes a quick run through after the posts go up, and I'll edit this post with updates should I have missed any! That's it until next week, join us once again where Me and Adam will be back with more hot takes and even hotter selections. As always, stay safe and enjoy the music. We'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Throwin' Back

Here's a little something that was meant to go up around the blog's birthday back in August, so only about 2 months late then. Anyway, I was looking back over the history of the blog and just generally reminiscin' and decided to go over what is one of our founding blocks (if not arguably the most important one), of House. I owe an obscure local house tune for securing my initial writing position for on, so here's a rundown of a few of my all time fave house tunes.

Keith Haring - Best Buddies (1990)

Starting with Mushrooms, which is one of the few tunes that make me put the 'but' in "I usually don't like minimal, but...". I love the format of it for a start, as an audio driven cautionary tale, it might not be perfect for dancefloor consumption but it's an interesting listen nonetheless. I love how it builds with the progression of the story too, especially when most of the elements come together at 1:33 or so.



As I mentioned on the last podcast, A:xus has been a long stay in my music collection since being introduced to me via Midnight Club II. This one actually came to be my favourite remix of the song that did introduce me (which would be (When I Fall (Stryke's Acid Dub Techsture) ). I love A:xus' vocal house stuff anyway, but Stryke's almost deep house treatment is a welcome addition to the mix.



And I can't go being all nostalgic about discovering house and this blog without giving honourable mentions to Crydamoure and Roulé. Each label being one half of Daft Punk was a dream come true for a young house addict like I was. And they still remain top quality examples to this day, with Thomas Bangalter responsible for a whole lot of favourite tunes, His particularly funky breed of house pesent on the Trax On Da Rocks EPs especially so.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Ravey Spice’s Top 5 Underrated French House Classics

Somethin a little different today, last night long time bud of the blog and ex-writer Joe, now making things & curating his netlabel HexMania under Ravey Spice reached out to us with a list of some less than known French House stuff from the turn of the 2000's. Naturally as lictronix was founded on a love of french house I jumped at the chance. And now I'm gonna let them take it away!

Nicholas - Goldelectric [20000st, 2000]

Nicolas Lemercier, under the alias "Heartbreaker", was one of the men responsible for the stone-cold classic that is "You Are My High" (along with Jeremie Mondon aka Demon). He also released a handful of solo EPs on Demon's 20000st label under the mononym Nicholas. "Goldelectric", from 2000's Haberdasher EP, is absolute genius. That little reggae break gets me every time.

Wuz - Wuz [Disques Solid, 2002]

Speaking of Demon, remember the time he and Alex Gopher joined forces and made an incredible album as "Wuz"? The title track is pretty much perfect. If I had to explain the French house sound to an alien, I'd just play them this.

Kojak - Stupid Jack (Trouble Men Remix) [Pro-Zak Trax, 1999]

In my opinion one of the most underrated outfits of the "French touch" explosion, Trouble Men had some real bangers. Their remix of Kojak's "Stupid Jack" remains an all time fave of mine. Big-ass kick drums and an irresistible groove. I still drop this one whenever I do a house set.

Mike 303 - Supervixens [Blackjack, 2000]

Mike 303 is probably best known as one half of Superfunk (who had a minor hit with "Lucky Star" alongside Ron Carroll), but he also put out some brilliant solo material. "Supervixens", from his Boogie Starz EP on the excellent Blackjack label, is an absolute blinder.

Nekbath - Think Twice [Grand Prix, 2001]

Not much to say about this one except that loop is fucking gorgeous.

Easter Jams

Took the weekend off thanks to the magic of scheduled posts, and now I'm back home and refreshed I thought I'd draw up another selection for you because why not. So without further ado let's get stuck in for some fine holiday jams.

Freddy Reitz - Berlin

Simon Viklund is fast becoming my favourite Swedish export ever since my long time loves The Knife parted ways, every single addition he makes for the Payday soundtrack is golden and one of the latest ones added for spring break, Backstab, continues that trend.



Bit of a rarity I've recovered from the depths of my Daft Punk folder, an 8 minute version of Musique taken from a French compilation circa 1996. Come to think of it I think I may have picked it up on here before I came onto the staff. Nevertheless, enjoy.



And as well over the weekend I dug out my old Vitalic and holy hell it's been a while. I put them away long ago because I had listened to them to death, but now they're almost like new again. And I don't see a legendary tune like La Rock 01 leaving my rotation anytime soon, originally released in 2001 and it still holds proud in my hall of favourite electronic stuff. I needed the energy it brings to the table like yesterday.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictromix: Caius

Our popular Ilictromix series is back and I'm excited for you guys to hear what we have in store. This week we travel to Copenhagen Denmark, and learn about an artist who couldn't have put together a better mix to start us off with again.

Todays mix comes from a 19 year old funky powerhouse that goes by the name Caius. I came across him because of his stellar track "Love You Right" and I knew we had to have more. This is the first track he put out and I can't wait to hear what else he has up his sleeves.



This Ilictromix is topnotch and reminds us why we love Disco-House so much. Caius has only been making music since 14, after bedroom raping to Big Seans Finally Famous Mixtapes (Yes we all feel old now). I think after hearing this Ilictromix we can all be glad he shifted gears into his current production style.  Tracklist after the jump.






Tracklist: 

FKJ - The Twins
MAM - Crushed Ice
Star Slinger - I/IV
Le Nonsense - Kaer
Xtrafunk (Feat. Loumar & Nas) - Deep Down
Cherokee - Take Care of You
Myth Syzer - Bonbon a la menthe (Stwo Remix)
Kido Yoji - Won’t You Come Again
Breakbot - Easy Fraction
Touch Sensitive - Show Me
Irfane (feat. Outlines) - Just A Lil’ Lovin’
Kartell - It’s You
Alexkid - Love We Have
Alina Baraz & Galimatias - Fantasy
Bondax - All I See (Darius Remix)
The Swiss - In The City (Luke Million Remix)
Caius - Love You Right
Exmag - Somethin’ Bout Your Love


Find more of Caius on his Facebook, Soundcloud, or Twitter 


-Adam Tucker

With A Bang 3: Revelations

That time again, where CVF lays down some ammo for your prospective new year's get togethers or whatever you lot are planning. The one time of year (one day late this time) where I ration the words for this one and instead just hand out some ammo to blast on NYE to make sure yours is the best sounding night on the block. So without further ado here we go!

Takashi Murakami - Tan Tan Bo (2001)

You go on out and have yourselves a awesome night with this lot and as always stay safe, enjoy the music and have yourselves a very nice New Year from all of us here at ilictronix! We'll see you on the other side in 2015!

Philestine · GENIUS IN A BOTTLE

Have A House-y Xmas

Dropping by with an even quicker pot as your early Christmas pressie. From the lovely folks at Crydamoure records, making sure your holdiays are filled with lovely house goodness. Keep wrapped up while you unwrap your gifts, and I'll be back with my annual NYE track dump very soon!

Workin' Workin'

Hello I have been working all day on videos and PDFs here is some music that has seen me through those tasks and also some art for your eyeballs.

Syd Mead - Costume Concept for Yori (Tron)

Roulé remains a top quality source of house for y'all to enjoy. Especially when it's got one half of Daft Punk behind it. Here's Together again, best put to use in the encore for Alive 2007. Still a solid track on it's own tho.



Jazz is always good. Who doesn't like smooth jazz? Here's some from Squarepusher. Not much like this on the album sadly, but what there is a joy to listen to. 'Pusher is very flexible when it comes to sound, and tracks like this only make that more apparent.



Along that same line, nobody can hate Ambivalence Avenue, the LP is just so well done that I still have it in regular rotation since I got in in '10. Here's a solid exhibit of a Bibio instrumental, if you did it go and listen to the full LP, you won't be disappointed.



-Claude Van Foxbat

Desert Island Tracks: Nite

Hey guys, Nite here. Sorry for the late post, I had to do a really asinine mid-term that ended up taking hours upon hours to finish. Anywho, I noticed that Claude posted a challenge about being stranded on a Desert Island, and you could only bring one CD's worth of Music with you. Given that I listen to a lot of different artists, this was actually pretty challenging narrowing it down to 70 minutes worth of music. Still, I think I put together a good list, but I'll let you be the judge of that. So, without further ado, I introduce to you my personal desert island playlist!


Update: Grooveshark is long dead, thankfully Nite walked us through each of their track choices, so while the playlist is dead you can still look up these tracks individually if you would like. Apologies for the inconvenience. -CVF.

   


1. Planet Funk - Ora il Mundo e Perfetto
This track is just italian electronic perfection. The tune itself is pretty chill, adding nice, relaxed synths on top of a soft beat, coupled with italian lyrics by Giuliano Sangiorgi. Definitely one of my favorite tracks from Planet Funk for sure.

 2. Le Knight Club - Palm Beat
Ah yes, Le Knight Club. Anyone who knows their Daft Punk history would know of Guy-Man's side project with Eric Chedville. Le Knight Club has had such a profound impact on my musical tastes, it would be downright wrong of me not to include them on my list. This track always helped me groove out whenever I needed something to lighten the mood.

 3. Active Child feat. Mikky Ekko - Subtle
 Active Child is a wonderful synthesized electronic group I discovered back in 2011, when Adult Swim was just beginning to do the Summer Singles Program. I listened to their track, Hanging On, and immediately got addicted to it. The rest,as they say, is history. Anywho, they recently released an EP within the last few months, and this track managed to shine out above all of the rest (not that the others were bad whatsoever). Definitely worth a listen for sure.

 4. Frou Frou- Let Go (Mt. Eden Remix)
Now I'm sure most people here know Frou Frou. The original Let Go track is absolutely beautiful and one of my personal favorite tracks from them. This Remix from Mt. Eden, however, absolutely blew my mind out of the water. Yes, it is a bit dubsteppy, but not really like the warbled junk you'd expect from Skrillex. It simply takes the original track, and vamps it up with rough electronic vibes and drum beats, making it amazing to play on the dance floor.  

5. Roosevelt - Around You
This track has a wonderfully faded feel to it that is reminiscent of Washed Out. It's laidback,yet groovy. If you like Washed Out, you'll love this.  

6. Starlit Everglades - Taiko Lover
Man this track is just... I can't really describe it in any other way than "ethereally beautiful". It's the kind of track I like to listen to at Night, when I can look up and see the stars. I don't say this often, but this track is utterly gorgeous. This is easily one of the best tracks I've listened to in a very long time.  

7. Cassius- How Do You See Me Now? (Le Knight Club Remix)
Again with the Le Knight Club stuff, I know. This track, however, is just downright funky. Fun fact: This track was put on the Japanese version of Waves II as a separate, unmixed tune. Why do Japanese releases get all the good stuff? Grr...

 8. Modjo- On Fire (Modjo's DYRT Edit)
It's Modjo. Not only that, it's a great Modjo track that was remixed by Modjo themselves. Do I need to say any more?

9. The Wings- Invisible (Floating Points Remix)
While I find the opening of this track to be a bit awkward, this tune as whole is absolutely wonderful. I discovered this gem on Bonobo's Late Night Tales album, and just fell in love with it immediately. One of the better downtempo tracks out there for sure.

10. DJ Koze- Amygdala (feat. Milosh)
Dj Koze has always been on and off for me. Some of his tracks I really like, whilst some of them are just...meh. This one, however, definitely clicked with me. The eerieness of the vocals and the track itself somehow had a rather beautifully chill tone to it.  I think I've listened to this track around 200 times now, it's that good.
 
11. Boards of Canada - New Seeds
 Not gonna lie, I fucking LOVE BoC. They're absolutely brilliant, and I'm still kicking myself for not discovering them and Royksopp before last year.  It should come to no surprise then, that I have a BoC track on here. To me, this was their best track off their latest album, which is definitely worth a listen if you haven't heard it already.

12. H-Foundation - Slayin' the Dragon (Klartraum Remix)
Gotta thank Soma's 20 years compilation release for this one, otherwise I'd never would have listened to this piece of chill techno bliss. clocking in at an impressive 11 and a half minutes, it's obviously the longest track I have on the list, and also the last. This tune takes you on a journey of sounds, and makes you want for more when it's all done. I felt that this would be a great way to end the little list I had going.

Overall, this list hits around 69 minutes, so you can totally burn it on a CD and have it on you, should you ever get stuck on an island and whatnot.

Feel free to let me know what you think about the selection I put up here. I'd love to hear your input!

Peace,

Nite

Desert Tracks: Earl

Sup everybody, Earl here after days of complicated decision making with a(by no means definitive) list of tracks that i would take with me should i find myself stranded in a desert with a CD player. And since my collection of music is quite vast, much like my fellow writers, picking out just 70 minutes proved to be a task, but without further ado, i present to you "Earl Greys 15 Essential Tracks To Listen To Should You Ever Be Stuck In A Desert For A While" (With Blurbs!)




M- Flo ft. Monday Michiru - A.D.D.P. - The first time i heard this song was long ago when i was only a reader on this blog, but it introduced me to a side of Japanese music  that i wasnt even aware of, its been a couple years now and i still listen to A.D.D.P. religiously

Raw Man - Beautiful - One of the most accurate titles of all time, Raw man has been a huge inspiration on me musically and is definitely my favorite solo act to come out of the late 90s/early 2000s french house movement

Theophilus London ft Dev Hynes and Solange - Flying Overseas - I bought this track on amazon a couple years ago before a trip to Jamaica, it always brings back great memories, not to mention Solange Knowles amazing vocals.

Pharrell ft. Jay-Z - Frontin - Modern classic, Frontin is one of those songs that never gets old for me because Pharrell is a genius.

We In Music - Grandlife - Earlier i mentioned Raw Man was my favorite french house artist and this is a large part of the reason why. Grandlife is my favorite house track of ALL TIME (insert kanye here) and Raw Man, along with Play Paul  created this masterpiece of a tune, i own this on vinyl, it sounds great.

Nujabes - Imaginary Folkore - I was introduced to the music of Nujabes through the series Samurai Champloo back when it debuted on Adult Swim in 2005 and from the moment i heard "battlecry" my life changed, Nujabes is a large part of the reason i got into producing hip hop music and the way he flips a sample is legendary. This particular song is my favorite from him for reasons i cant explain, its more of a feeling. RIP

Bonobo - Kiara - One of the best songs from one of the best albums i have ever heard, to get the full experience you have to listen to the intro before it however.

High Contrast - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang -  Originally i was going to use "made it last night" but it was too long(thatswhatshesaid) The music of High Contrast started my love affair with drum and bass music and the intro to this song is one of the best.

Erykah Badu - Didnt Cha Know - According to my mother, i came out the womb with an appreciaton for the music of Erykah Badu, and while i do love all of her material, this is my favorite from her by far for one reason. J Dilla killed this beat, its basically a two for one

The Smashing Pumpkins - Rocket - I Love this band. I Love this album. I love this song. Enough said.

Megadeth - Tornado of Souls - Dave Mustaine inspired me to pick up a guitar when i first heard this band years ago. He Shreds. SHREDS.

Daft Punk - Voyager - My musical idols and my favorite song off of Discovery.

Azari and III - Into the Night - this song encapsulates a lot of the things i enjoy about house music, a groovy beat, great vocals, and the words "gotta get up" in repetition. whats not to love?

Flying Lotus - Tea Leaf Dancers - Like the Nujabes example above, i was introduced to Flylo by Adult Swim because "Massage Situation" was a song used in the earlier bumps, this song, off the same EP(Reset) has become a favorite of mine because its vibe is unmatched

Toro Y Moi - Minors - It was hard to pick which toro song i was going to use for this, in the end i chose minors because it was short. Yup. thats what im ending with.



- Earl

Like a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes...

I have returned! What's up everyone? This is NiteShade speaking to you all. I've been away for quite sometime, due to the stress of college and life at home. Because of this, I had to drift away from the blog, having no real time or energy to make a decent post on here. Thankfully, I've managed to balance out my life enough to where I can return here, and bring you, the viewers, some excellent music to dance to! For those of you who do not know me, let me introduce myself...

My name is Gavin (aka Nite). I am 21 years old, and I have been a writer here since 2009. I am an avid lover of electronic music, ranging from hard techno to jazz/downtempo and house music. Oh, and bowties are cool. Just saying. Anywho, I've taken enough of your time with my words. Here's some music to give you an idea as to what'll be bringing in the future.











Stay tuned for more music coming your way!

Peace and Love,

Nite

Gunpowder, Treason & House

It's the 5th of November, which means over in the UK we all get together and make some stonking great fires and let off a few fireworks in celebration of some bloke named Guy Fawkes failing to blow up parliament in 1605. Which is just a little bit ironic.

It's a good time, especially if you can stand stinking of smoke for the next couple days. Now I could list some tunes about fireworks or whatever, but instead here's some house stuff I'm enjoying right now, starting off with a slow building number from Simian Mobile Disco. (Apologies for the crap video thumbnail - it's the only upload I could find)



Thins take a more downtempo turn here, featuring some lovely synth work throughout and even some Knife/Fever Ray style vocal contributions toward the end it's a great showcase of Rex's production, check it out in prep for his new releases!

MuteSong · Rex The Dog - Heartsong

New addition to the writing team Earl has a few tricks of his own, I dug out his Selectizm. comp for another listen not too long ago and fell in love all over again, He kills it in both the house and hip hop department. This track is no different, the breakdown with the cheeky Blade Runner sample is an early highlight.

Deadbeat Demon - Orion Hi

And finally, an often overlooked remix from Daft Club. The album gets a lot of flak but I dig the most of the tracks on it, and it features a pre-Get Lucky collab between the Punk and Pharrell! Here's the seven minute rework of Face To Face from Demon.



-Claude Van Foxbat

AT / AA 20

Lee Bazen - SqueejieMan

Taking a moment away from student housing headaches to share some more tune with you, Daft Punk's relationship with Italian producer extraordinaire Giorgio Moroder goes back further than Random Access Memories, here's a cheeky cover they did to close a live set at the Rex Club in Paris way back in '97.

AT / AA 8

David Firth - Coffeeshop Confidential (2009)

Sad news on Monday, as house mogul and defining voice behind Daft Punk's cult hit One More Time Romanthony passed away. And I feel like giving him just one song would be a disservice, so instead enjoy three of my choice cuts from Romanthony.