Au Revoir Simone

Au Revoir Simone is three pretty New York girls, Erika Forster, Annie Hart & Heather D’Angelo, who create beautiful innocent sounding electro-indie music. The majority of their songs are created on vintage keyboards, drum machines and various different percussion instruments combined in a way which gives a very childlike playful vibe-musically like a cool breeze on a warm day. Another perfect artist to play when having a backyard tea party. With every new album they release, they have stayed true to their original and unique style however it is clear that they have progressed and developed as artists.

They have released three albums:
Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation – 2005
The Bird of Music – 2007
Still Night, Still Light – 2009

If you enjoy female vocals similar to Ladytron, I would highly suggest giving these girls a listen.

Links:
Au Revoir Simone Official Site
Au Revoir Simone MySpace
Au Revoir Simone Facebook

You Love Her Because She’s Dead

This very well-known British duo has created some eclectic crazy fun music that has pretty much shot them up in their underground alternative/8-bit music scene. As said in the interview- they had a very progressive rise in popularity which was helped by their Live Bristol show being featured in Skins (all you skins fan would definitely know about this)! Enjoy their very informative and interesting interview:

How did you come up with the name?
YOU LOVE HER COZ SHE’S DEAD was just a random name given to the project when it was just a one man project in 2005/2006, when I was still mainly concentrating on hardcore, but until the end of 2007 when there were other people involved the idea to gig anything hadn’t really been considered but the name just stuck when we did. YOU LOVE HER COZ SHE’S DEAD sort of (i admit, awkwardly) suggests the idea of loving people more while they’re still around, and prods the concept that people are idolized in death more than in life, usually because of death. Thats the bullshit explanation, but really it doesn’t mean a thing.

Tell me a little about yourselves?
Elle (Vocals/Synth) is 22 and I, Jay (Programming/Sampling/Bass/Synth) am 27. We’re both from the UK, Bristol/London/Brighton.

What did you guys do before the group started?
I’m not sure what Elle did before the band, I just met her through a friend in a bar and her past is all a bit hazy. I put out a couple of records out 2006/2007 with my old hardcore band which I started back in 2002 in London, which is also when my dabbling in electronic music started, because i used to demo everything for the band using some programs on my PC, which were more suited to electronic music anyway.

How did you start out/ was it hard?
Well to be dead honest the things that have happened for YLHCSD have happened very naturally & easily since we put out our first ‘official’ record with Kitsune, which was the ‘Inner City Angst’ EP. Being invited to appear in SKINS is a good example of what I mean when I say things went smoothly for a debut release. We had been in Paris with Gildas, Jean & Constance from the label at the time when that happened, spending some time in the city, just after a German stint, before playing the Kitsune Maison 6 release party at ‘The Maroquinerie’ with autoKratz and Cazals, so it all felt like things were happening very fast for YLHCSD, and we filmed for SKINS just a week later (episode7/series3). I had a fever, it was not fun. The road crew and our manager we have worked with since the very start have all become close friends and that makes everything more enjoyable from the get-go, especially when you’re in a foreign country a long way from home – it’s relaxing to be with folks you can trust.

Any big plans for the near future?
Yeah well we just did a recent limited white vinyl self-release of ‘Me Versus You’ which was something we just wanted to do ourselves (includes CD copy if don’t have a record player, and a few copies still left available from http://www.ylhcsd.bigcartel.com), we’ve decided to do another DIY release for the track ‘Young Tender Hearts Beat Fast’; re-recorded and with a brand new video promo featuring a unicorn – The song is about being young, the innocence of first love, and we like the way the film ‘Legend’ from the 1980’s portrays that, being born in ’82 that film is engrained into my psyche, so we hope you’ll enjoy the video (Produced by Elliot Dear who also did our ‘Dead End’ video).

Pre-order for ‘Young Tender Hearts Beat Fast’ is now up, i think there will only be 200 copies, and the official release looks like 2nd November.

Aside from those releases we have been writing new material which may be teamed up with re-masters of older tracks for a mini-album or perhaps even full length. For that we would like to work with a label again, and we’ve been talking to a few.

**Random questions**
What song have you been listening to most in the past few weeks?
Unfortunately the truth is ‘Young Tender Hearts Beat Fast’ on loop as I’ve been remixing it for the release. If it hadn’t been then I think Florence The Machine would be on – Reminds me of Jefferson Airplane. Awesome. Elle’s not stopped listening to Booty Luv’s dubstep remix of ‘Say It’.

What one materialistic thing can you not live without?
Laptop, sadly.

Do you have a secret name for your favourite inanimate object?
My Akai MPC 1000 is ‘The Millennium Falcon’, and the reason I call it that is because to make it work you have to whack it just right.

Does being in a band help in picking up girls/boys?
I’m pretty sure that being in a band isn’t exactly the most attractive thing for a person to do haha. Everyone’s in a fucking band! I’d much rather be able to say I’m a butcher, or an explorer and not be lying – because being good with an axe, or a lot of rope, is surely far sexier.

Has anything crazy or embarrassing ever happened during a live gig?
Apart from the usual equipment getting trashed or tipped over, once there was a random old sofa on the stage at a show we did in Munster (Germany) and someone decided to come and sit on it, facing the crowd, and gaze at people blankly while we were playing.. weirdly, that was surprisingly uncomfortable for everyone involved.

Now if you enjoy the Canadian duo Crystal Castles, enjoy this crazy-melodic music!
Ps- I do love the Star Wars reference to the inanimate object!

Links:
YLHBSD Merch
YLHBSD MySpace
YLHBSD Official Site
YLHBSD Facebook
YLHBSD Twitter
YLHBSD Youtube

Joystixx

Hellooo again after a very long absence!

First up Joystixx! The music these guys create remind me of a harder/heavier version of Crystal Castles minus the 8-bit, I think it’s because of the distorted female vocals – which is quite enticing.
Now this duo from Sydney loves to get into character like no other- check it out for yourself from their interview:

How did you come up with the name?

We were born controllers of our destiny. We are Joystixx.

Tell me a little about yourselves: name age where you’re from?

Joystixx iz D-Bot-0 64 (Player Zero. The Video) + Nuke 3D (Player One. The Cassette).
Age is timeless and we are the Infinite.
We come from the Arcade, where exists a parallel society designed by DreaMega Virtuality Systems.

What did you guys do before the group started?

We did not exist.

How did you start out/ was it hard?

We pressed “start” and the game of Lives n’ Deaths begun… its all just Snakes & Platforms really… hmmm… Was what hard?!

Any big plans for the near future?

To Eject Ourselves.

—Random questions—
What song have you been listening to most in the past few weeks?

Joystixx Music – its the only music that exists in the Arcade. Without our music there is only the sound of static.

What one materialistic thing can you not live without?

Our Twin Console.

What important lesson have you learnt from being in a group?

Trust Yourself & the Beyond.

Do you have a secret name for your favourite inanimate object?

X-Marx-the-Box.

Does being in a band help in picking up girls/boys?

Yes. It helped us find each other.

Has anything crazy or embarrassing ever happened during a live gig?

Us.

Links:
Joystixx MySpace

Crookers

Now this is another Italian electro team from Milan that make some amazing remixes- one of the many is the popular Kid Cudi “Day’N’Nite”. These guys are not new at all, starting in 2003 and now have pretty much performed EVERYWHERE- they’re also a huge favourite in Cite Carousel and constantly played. DJ Bot and DJ Phra play around with their bass but just as creative with their melodies and they truly vary up their tracks.

By the WAAAAY- their first album is on track to being release so I suggest you definitely keep an eye out for it!

Links:
Crookers MySpace
Crookers Facebook

Digital Mind

These talented 16 year old Perthians have come up with their own successful DJ company type thing. If you’re ever after decent party music- just contact these guys!! They have good dance-able song choices, smooth skills and and easy-going personalities =oD

How did you come up with the name?
There’s no big story behind it really. We just knew it had to be simple, represent what music we play & our style as well as being easy to remember. I just came about by playing around with words until Digital Mind was finally born!

Tell me a little about yourselves:
Well, Absolute’s real name is Simon Willsher, he’s 16 & born and bred in Melbourne. After that he moved around the globe, even living up in Canada, before settling down in Perth in 1998. Equipt’s real name is Jack Burton, he’s 16 as well and was born in Perth and has lived here ever since. We both used to go to the same primary school, but back then we didn’t know each other. It wasn’t until we hit high school that we met and started making music, influenced by hip hop, graffiti and the local happening’s.

What did you guys do before the group started?
About 10 months ago, Absolute was already playing gigs, and just getting Equipt into DJing. We both started off heading down the ‘battle dj’ kinda of path. We still cut & beat juggle from time to time and those skills really helped with the mixing and party side of Djing.

–Random questions–
What song have you been listening to most in the past few weeks?
To name just one would be impossible! We listen to TONNES of tracks every week. Just to name a few;

Tear The Club Up – Tittsworth
Infinity 2008 (Klaas Remix) – Guru Josh Project
Day ‘N’ Nite (Crookers Remix) – Kid Cudi
Bounce – MSTRKRFT (Feat. N.O.R.E)

What one materialistic thing can you not live without?
The MacBook 🙂

What important lesson have you learnt from being in a group?
Teamwork is king.

Does being in a music group help in picking up girls/boys?
It definitely does.

Has anything crazy or embarrassing ever happened during a set?
Hmmm… to name just one?? aha.. Well with everything these days in music being digital, there’s bound to always be some technical glitches. One party we played at, we we’re mixing two songs, and all of the sudden, the music cuts and this crazyily high pitched noise comes out of nowhere! It almost blew the speakers and definately left some people with their ears ringing. Luckily it stopped after a few seconds and the show went on.

Have a listen to the type of stuff they play and if it’s exactly what you’re after- all their details are available on MySpace.
Keep a look out for these guys- I’ll be putting up a mix from them in the near future! But for the meantime you can stream “Everybody’s Infinity” from their MySpace site.

Links:
Digital Mind MySpace
Email- digitalmindperth@gmail.com

Spank Rock

This post has been written by the lovely Leroy aka. Justin Smith (Check Hot Generation’s MySpace for his profile)- cuz I was too lazy to write it =oD

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Spank Rock is a group from Philadelphia, consisting primarily of MC Spankrock (Naeem Juwan) and a host of other collabs, with affilliations to the Baltimore Bass Connection (BBC). Their music is in line with the Baltimore style mash of hip-hop and electronica sounds. Spank Rock’s 2006 debut YoYoYoYoYo has traces of 8-bit which isn’t usually sounds associated with hiphop.

Benny Blanco’s D.A.N.C.E mashes Justice’s electo/dance/pop anthem with Mos’ Def and Spank Rock (his 2007 EP ‘bangers and cash’ is actually a collaboration with blanco)
I’m personally a bit of an electrohead, and have lately been starting to get into my hiphop- So this has been a pretty cool progression. If you like your Hip Hop, Baltimore or Electro, Spank Rock is a winner, or at the least an interesting listen.

Remixes/Collabs:
“Back it Up” in Ed Banger Rec 3 by Feadz 2008
“D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice (Benny Blanco mix feat. Spank Rock & Mos Def) 2007
“Keep My Composure” from Brotherhood by The Chemical Brothers (2008)
“Shove It” from Santogold by Santogold (2008)
“Ultraviolence” (Remix featuring Spank Rock) by Heartsrevolution (2009)
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Spank Rock’s 2006 album ‘YoYoYoYoYo’ proved to be very popular in the underground Baltimore scene in the US and caught more music listener’s attention as the famous Ed Banger Records worked it into Vol. 3 with “Back It Up”. They also have a second album released in 2007 – Benny Blanco & Spank Rock Present: “Bangers and Cash”
I’ve put up links to “Back It Up” as well as the “D.A.N.C.E Remix” which I HIHGLY suggest you take a look at as you will not be disappointedd! mmkay?!

Links:
Spank Rock MySpace
Spank Rock Facebook (Yes – The time has come to put up facebook links as myspace is dying)

Plastic Little

This is all about Baltimore group Plastic Little:
Shit… okay…. so we’ve been making music since the summer of 2000… or was it 2001? I can’t really remember.
For a bunch of smooth rappers- they are very very articulate in their writing! =oP

It’s a tad hard to get any info on these rappers except for the information on their MySpace! But from what I gather- this bunch is all up for having fun while doing what they do best. Plastic Little is made up of:
Jayson Musson aka PackofRats
Michael Stern aka SQUID
Kurt Hunte aka No Body’s Child(NBC)
Jon Folmar aka Jon Thousand
Si Young Lee aka DJ Si Young

Here’s a link to a place where you can stream “La La Land” which I suggest you have a listen to right nowwww…

Since the release of She’s Mature, Plastic Little has been able to tour in the US as well as England (the rest of Europe will see our feet on their precious old world soil pretty soon. Prepare the lambskin condoms and proper sacrifices.), and we’ve entered Phase 1 of working on our next album. What’s ‘Phase 1’ like you ask, dear myspace lurker? Well, it involves alot of drinking and sitting around, then calling up the other members in Plastic Little and being like “Yo Jon, check out this new rap line i thought of: My penis is like a monsoon in your poom-poom! Pretty soon I’ll have another half a bar! I love rapping!” Yep. We’ll be done in about five years.

Check it out !
do. it. right. now.

Links:
Plastic Little MySpace

Glass I Ghost

It seems to be harder and harder now to find some actually decent listenable electro music because to be honest, most are starting to sound the same as each other! These guys provide something that stems off mixing the best parts of every electro group. They’ve got the deep heavy bass, quirky melodies and decent vocals that sounds different enough while untouched by synths. If you like the electro music of Boys Noize but the alternative vocal sounds of The Rapture– this here is nice fresh combination/variation of what possibly could be your favourites. Oh- And it’s totaly danceable.

How did you come up with the name?
Phil and I were throwing around names, looking for something with a little alliteration, something that would embody the essence of our music and evoke strong imagery. Glass I Ghost just stuck with us.

Tell me a little about yourselves?
I’m James and I’m 99 years old, or at least that’s what my MySpace says. Phil is about 11,300 days old. We’ve been haunting California for all our lives, currently in Sacramento.

What did you guys do before the group started?
We had other bands. Phil was particularly ambitions in that regard. He’s been in tons of cool bands. I was more shy than him and mostly made music that no one got to listen to. And then there were the solo projects and other asides.

How did you start out/ was it hard?
Phil and I had immediate musical chemistry. I don’t think either of us have had such good luck with that before. When we meet we were both feeling a little disillusioned with our past projects and bands and we were really looking to do something that was just for us. Something that, even if no one else liked it, we would still love playing it.

Any big plans for the near future?
Ya, we are almost finished recording our EP. Soon it will be up for sale. And at some point after that, we would like to put together a tour so, if there are any other bands, managers or event coordinators out there who are interested, message us.

–Random questions–
What song have you been listening to most in the past few weeks?
I just rediscovered the song “That’s All” by Genesis and of coarse, “Machine in the Ghost” by the Faint.

What one materialistic thing can you not live without?
Oh, that’s a good question! Got to be my computer. Maybe my Micro Korg… no. The computer. I live online.

What important lesson have you learnt from being in a group?
Unquestionably, compromise has been the most valuable lesson I‘ve learned. When you’re a kid and you’re looking for advise on making music or making art you get all these misleading messages from ‘successful’ artists saying, “Don’t ever compromise, be yourself.” That’s great, but if you want to do something bigger than yourself, you’ll need to recognize that you don’t know everything and inevitably you’ll want to compromise.

Do you have a secret name for your favorite inanimate object?
Yes. Wooly. I won’t tell you what it is. You’ll make fun of me.

Does being in a band help in picking up girls/boys?
Yes. And sometimes they can be aggressive and scary but it always makes me laugh.

Has anything crazy or embarrassing ever happened during a live gig?
Nothing crazy yet, just embarrassing. We played one show during a ‘Super Hero’ night at a club and we were the only ones dressed up. We felt really silly.

Now this here is a free download of their song Perfect Strangers– it’s laid out there too easy for you guys to click and take sooo come on now!

Links:
Glass I Ghost MySpace

Binärpilot

Binärpilot is a Norwegian experimental-electrosynth artist and his stuff is just funky as hell. It’s got great beats and fun melodies which varies throughout the songs and it’s highly usable for DJs as it’s very easy to mix in with music.

You know what else- you guys are pretty lucky because here is another artist who has put ALL of his tracks and REMIXES on the site available for free download.

“You can download all my songs for free. All I ask in return is that you share them with friends, send them to strangers, link this site, leave burned CDs at parties, or anything else that would help them get heard. Greedy industry is killing music with their popollution. Don’t let them. Download and dance like nobody is watching.”

His website basically promotes the downloading of his music- so go get in there cuz you have no excuse to not start enjoying his music right now!

Links:
Binärpilot Official Site
Binärpilot MySpace

We Are Enfant Terrible

This sexy trio called We Are Enfant Terrible very very quickly became one of the most listened to music for me this month! According to their music page the trio consists of:
P.Clo= keyboards/ sing/ laugh
E.Pol= guitar / keyboards/ bubble
F.Fingers= drums / 8bit / joke

Already you can get an idea of their kooky quirky personality. It shows through in their music very very much and they combine my two loves: Interesting Guitar Riffs and Odd Synths. They’ve got great 8-Bit synths in the background and over the top Clotilde has a great voice that complements the sound made by the Guitars and Beats. It’s got a very fun vibe that’s pretty awesome to dance to – it’s definitely not angry music, it’ll make you smile =o)!

I hope you enjoy their interview as much as I did- It’s possible the most entertaining one yet!

How did you come up with the name?
Clotilde : I was reading a book from Warwik Collins and find the expression ENFANT TERRIBLE, it was in french in an english text. I liked it and thought it could be a perfect name for a band. So I ask thomas to do the band with me, then we met Cyril and the band was there.

Cyril : Whoua, Clotilde reads books ! That’s great, i didn’t know she was able to do that > she’s incredible ! she’s the best !

Tell me a little about yourselves?
Clotilde : I’m Clotilde, singer and 2 fingers keyboards player, I’m 12 for 15 years now, I’m the french girl ideal from the countryside

Cyril : I’m Cyril, the drummer. I’m drumming since i’m 7 years old. I started at the Wattignies School music ! And i’m 15 for 11 years. But when i’ll get 29, i’ll be 3 years older than i’m now. So in 1999, how old was i ? answer a.b.c. or d. ?

What did you guys do before the group started?
Clotilde : I was a dj. But I saved nobody’s life last night.

Cyril : i was in the Bathroom (playing with my Gameboy alone !)

Thomas : i used to play the guitar in bands

How did you start out/ was it hard?
Clotilde : We are lucky bastards. We put our tracks on myspace and a few weeks later, the manager of peaches ROBYN MITCHELL asked us to play for PEACHES opening in Paris. So we can’t really say it was hard.

Cyril : the hardest thing is to spend the most my life with people like Clotilde and Thomas > but i’ve no choice ! 😉

Any big plans for the near future?
Clotilde : To buy a new hairdryer this week end, it’s a huge plan cause I have a lot of hair

Cyril : We would love to say “hello” to Uncle Sam in september.

–Random questions–
What song have you been listening to most in the past few weeks?
Clotilde : Heartbreaker from METRONOMY

Cyril : “Piece of us” from ORCO (a good friend of us)

Thomas : “if you want me to stay” Sly and the family stone

What one materialistic thing can you not live without?
Clotilde : My mini harmonica necklace

Cyril : My drum sticks,! if i live without, the gigs get too complicated !

Thomas : my nintendo ds, or my psp

What important lesson have you learnt from being in a group?
Clotilde : Be the first at catering or they won’t leave you a crumb

Cyril : Don’t share the room with the one who’s snoring !

Thomas : don’t share the room with the one who can’t stand snoring people

Do you have a secret name for your favourite inanimate object?
Clotilde : Tigre moche

Cyril : Clotilde

Thomas : machin rouge bleu

Does being in a band help in picking up girls/boys?
Clotilde : Not at all for me. I’m so disappointed caus’,you know, it seems like guys are afraid of girls on stage, they prefer groupies.

Cyril : My Mom doesn’t want me to kiss unknown people…

Thomas : i don’t know any other way to pick up girls

Has anything crazy or embarrassing ever happened during a live gig?
Clotilde : Always happening crazy thing in a waet live gig: cyril broke drums 5 times, a china guy felt on me during the shanghai gig, I jumped on the ceiling and felt on the keyboards and finished the night with ice on my head, thomas is always dancing a weird chicken dance… etc etc

Cyril : After each song, people are applauding ! isn’t weird ? One really crazy thing for us was to do a China Tour after only few gigs in Paris. It was a really weird, amazing, incredible time.
Take a look

I very much support these guys so I hope you guys will take a minute to click on the link and enjoy them too!

Links:
Downloadable Music Goodness
We Are Enfant Terrible MySpace