U.K. indie-pop duo (and couple) Summer Camp return with their self-titled sophomore album. I enjoyed the band's debut Welcome to Condale, and this album pushes them into even more pop/electronic area. The guitars are still there, but their sound has definitely evolved. I really love singer Elizabeth Sankey's voice, it reminds me of someone elses that I can't quite place. It's a bit like Tigs from Chew Lips, and a little Lily Allen.
The debut had more high's but this album seems a bit more consistent. Check it out.
I'm just discovering this Washington State-born duo who named themselves after an LCD Soundsystem song and write catchy electronic-fueled indie rock. Their debut album The Palace Garden came out in June of last year, and is a solid effort for fans of Cut Copy, STRFKR, Hot Chip, and Foster the People.
The Palace Garden is sweeping with breezy melodies and slight experimental touches, it shows a lot of promise for the band, who also have an EP called Surf Noir that I haven't listened to yet.
Title track and second in the tracklist after a short intro is a good intro for what to expect. I discovered this via Spotify when a friend and reader Renato was listening to it. Now you should to...
Here's a perfect jam to blow the roof off your Halloween dance party.
Don Rimini is a French DJ/Producer/Remixer. I highlighted another of his remixes back in '09. I'm guilty of not knowing much of his work, but these two left-of-center song choices are remix gold.
Check out some of his work in the following playlist:
I only recently discovered Bonnie McKee this Summer when she released the single "American Girl," the first from her forthcoming and as-yet untitled sophomore album. The girl has written nine number one songs, is basically why Katy Perry is huge, and someone you should know.
Just in time for Halloween is an "inbetween-gle" called "Sleepwalker" complete with "Thriller-esque" music video. The song is super catchy and lyrically pretty astute.
"I watched The Hills. I felt nothing."
The album is due in the Spring next year, probably after Katy's third album calms down a bit.
Song: Love to Love You Baby (Giorgio Moroder feat. Chris Cox Remix)
Artist: Donna Summer
Album: Love to Love You Donna
New remix album just released of the recently departed disco legend Donna Summer; Love to Love You Donna brings together some masters of the medium (Frankie Knuckles, Afrojack, Laidback Luke) with some newcomers (Duke Dumont, Gigamesh, Chromeo & Oliver) as well as successful artists/bands in their own right (Hot Chip, Holy Ghost!, Boys Noize) for a frantic but none-the-less thrilling collection of reworked Summer classics.
Things start with a bang from a true legend of the dance music genre, Giorgio Moroder, taking a song he produced himself for the disco queen, "Love to Love You Baby" and re-working it (with frequent collaborator Chris Cox) into an of-the-moment banger. Moroder has had a recent resurgence from his work on the latest Daft Punk, some new music, and even his first DJ set.
There's a lot to digest here, and some of these scream out to be heard in a club setting... but I'm digging it.
Enjoy.
Love to Love You Baby (Giorgio Moroder feat. Chris Cox Remix)
Gaga's fourth album ARTPOP is set for release on November 11th and after the rather slow success of first single "Applause" promotion for the album is starting to ramp up with releasedsnippets, a listening party happening in Berlin tonight, performance on U.K.'s X-Factor, as well as promo singles...
Early this week Gaga released her duet with none other than R. Kelly, the R&B-tinged stomper "Do What U Want" as a promo single leading up to the release of "Venus," the planned second single, which comes next Monday. "Do What U Want" went #1 in iTunes in over 80 countries... so now it's been shifted to the official second single.
The song is absolutely fantastic and pretty straight-forward for Gaga. It shows a dipped toe back into R&B, something she hasn't since her debut The Fame. The inclusion of R. Kelly, initially a head-scratcher, proves rather inspired as he delivers a killer verse and their voices blend perfectly together. Gaga's vocals, something's she's often overlooked for, really shine here in a very Christina way.
Why? Because everybody needs to have "Pony." Everybody.
While the 90s House sound is getting a bit of resurgence from underground dance acts and even Katy Bloody Perry, the 90s behemoth that is R&B has yet to reclaim itself onto today's pop charts. But I have a feeling this is going to be a new trend over the next couple years... no real evidence to back this up, just a feeling. It's time.
So why not look back at one of the best tracks from that era, none-other than debut and still best known single "Pony" by Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, AKA Ginuwine. Ginuwine (I'm only now just getting the "joke" in his name) released his debut album Ginuwine... The Bachelor in 1996 just after the massive success of the Timbaland/Missy Elliot-produced Aaliyah sophomore album "One in a Million." "Pony" continued the Timbaland/Elliot winning streak, and solidified Timbaland's pop hip-hop production style.
Ginuwine has continued to release albums, act, etc. since his debut... but it's certainly arguable that he's never quite reached the highs of "Pony," a song so blatantly sexual yet so impossibly infectious it's spawned something as beautiful as a website called Dancing Alone to Pony. Dat impact.
Certainly a track that should be found in every 90s playlist and one you need to have in your collection.
Seattle Grunge heroes Pearl Jam return with their tenth album Lightning Bolt, producer by longtime collaborator Brendan O'Brien.
I can't say I've ever really been a huge fan of the band, outside of their debut album (the only one I own) but I very much like them, and it's nice to see and hear them continue to make great music together. Lightning Bolt isn't a new direction or anything that's necessarily headline grabbing, but I was sucked in immediately by it's energy and impeccable rock production.
Given I haven't really followed the band and wouldn't know a Yield track from a Binaural one from a No Code... I can't really tell you how this stacks up against their previous work, all I can really say is that I just really dug this straight out the gate. The start of the record is pretty flawless... I am loving opening track "Getaway," a new wave-ish burst of energy marked with Eddie's warm and familiar vocals and a killer groove. Next is the pummeling first single "Mind Your Manners" which recalls their rollicking heyday... by the end of the track you're on board completely.
Second single "Sirens" is a rather pretty track and one that probably would have been HUGE in the 90s. I love hearing the sound of an old band that knows how to keep it fresh.
If you've fallen off the Pearl Jam train but miss them... here's your chance. I dare you to listen to "Getaway" and not feel a rush of nostalgic joy.
Mazzy Star hit it big with some really quiet music back in the "alternative" music boom of the 90s. Probably still best known for their woozy, lush, hit single "Fade into You" from their 1993 album So Tonight That I Might See, the band released a follow-up, Among My Swan three years later only to go what was a perceived infinite hiatus.
Seventeen years later the band returns with a new album that's rumoured to actually be over twenty-five years in the making... with parts recorded when the band first formed in the early 90s. An important fact for the context of the record as Seasons of Your Day is no large departure from their two decades-old work, but also falls right in line in terms of quality from their glory days. This is Mazzy Star.
So Seasons is a quiet, pretty, affair that I've been playing most in the AM. It gets me through those minutes when the coffee is still brewing and I'm really just thinking about being back in bed. As it gets a bit colder out it's even more appropriate... like a warm blanket put over you. It's all comfort.
I see this as an overall mood piece, so no real standouts in terms of individual songs... I'm still absorbing it, but I don't really hear another "Fade into You" here... not that that is a bad thing. This is a great record, if you were a fan back in the day... you need to check this out.
Cazwell just keeps pumping out the jams... his latest, "No Selfie Control" is a throwback, "Get Lucky"-ish ode to taking pictures of yourself non-stop. I'm sure you have a few of these on your friends list, Instagram feed, etc.
It's not clear if this one is going to be on the new album, Hard 2B Fresh, which is still set to come out sometime this year. It's looking like the last single, "Guess What" with Luciana is not on the album... but who knows.
Not a new song, but English trio Mutya Keisha Siobhan are a re-formed original lineup of late 90s U.K. girl group Sugarbabes, who in 2006 were named the most successful female act of the 21st Century by British Hit Singles & Albums. Like Girls Aloud, I know nothing about them.
Thanks to reader Sean, I gave this track a chance and it finally clicked with me. (months later) "Flatline" is an odd, punchy, R&B/indie-pop fusion that soars with the ladies harmonizing. Great track. There is a forthcoming full-length album on the way that doesn't yet have a title or release date.
Any Sugarbabes fans reading this? Let me know where I should start if I wanted to go back and check them out. I have to say that after loving Girls Aloud's Nicola Roberts debut album, and digging their reunited single "Something New," I didn't connect with anything off their greatest hits. Just a bit too poppy.
"Flatline" deserves your time though. Love the big drums outro.
Fenech-Soler are a Kings Cliffe, Northhamptonshire, England-based band that formed in 2006. I liked a lot of their self-titled debut album, and the band just released their sophomore album Rituals last month.
First single "All I Know" was actually released last year, which I missed. Their sound is a bit Delphic/Cut Copy/Friendly Fires, punchy indie-pop with dance elements. I've been listening to Rituals a lot lately and while it's not full of big hooky songs, it's really consistent and very enjoyable if you relate to their sound.
Further singles "Last Forever" and "Magnetic" are worth checking out initially, but this is a good one from start to finish. Recommended.
American singer-songwriter based out of Louisiana best known for his duet with Rihanna, "Stay" from her last record Unapologetic.
After releasing a handful of singles and EP's, Ekko is gearing up to release his debut album, which currently doesn't have a title or release date. First single "Kids" had a video release back in July but was only just released officially as a single last month.
I first highlighted Californian female trio HAIM back in May, when I flipped for the Duke Dumont remix of their single "Forever." I'm still hooked on that track, but have been spending a LOT of time with their debut album, which was released earlier this week. Days Are Done is a notable debut, a spectacular blend of 70s-esque California melodies, guitar riffs, and slight electronic flourishes infused with a hipster-ish sass by the three ladies in the band, who are assured, strong, musicians. (and sisters)
There's also a 90s R&B streak within these songs, as if Stevie Nicks joined The Eagles and did a record with Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Babyface. It's really something.
I'm flipping for current single "The Wire" which has an oddly goofy music video (see below) and best highlights the girls uncanny harmonizing. In that way, HAIM also recalls The Roches... or at least a version that's been through the last twenty-five years of pop music.
Glasgow, Scotland's The Fratellis make a return to the music scene after a hiatus since 2009 with their third album, We Need Medicine, set for release next week.
After bursting onto the scene in 2007 with their corker of a debut, the band lost me a bit with their sophomore follow-up. After focusing on some side projects for each member the group re-formed last year for some charity shows, and soon announced the new album.
I've only gotten to listen to about half of We Need Medicine, but it sure is straight-up Fratellis. Wicked guitar-driven soulful pop-punkish "lad rock" that's best to drink pint after pint to. Am I hearing another "Chelsea Dagger" or "Henrietta?" Too soon to tell...
