06: HOT CHIP
‘ONE LIFE STAND’
(EMI / THE VINYL FACTORY 12″)

“A genius melody, robust but office disco-friendly ryhthm and guitars that remind us of Chris Rea’s ‘Josephine’ – Hot Chip’s latest isn’t going to win over their detractors, but those enchanted by music that’s universally accessible without being ball-shrinkingly boring will be be plenty impressed.” – full review here

07: VAMPIRE WEEKEND
‘CALIFORNIA ENGLISH’
(from CONTRA, XL RECORDINGS)

(Live)

We still can’t get over how little the world cared about the terrific debut album by Discovery, the AutoTune-happy side-project of Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmnglij. But we’re trying. The influence of that group weighs heavy on ‘California English’, for us Contra‘s most ravishing and uplifting track: Ezra Koenig’s vocal acrobatics subtly robotized and made to ride a galloping rhythm, sun-dried high-life guitars and swooping, scooping cello parts. All hail the new college pop. – Contra review here

08: SULLY
‘SOME PATTERN’
(KEYSOUND 12”)

Sully really is a talent. There’s no shortage of syrup-thick, synth-led dubstep about right now, but on this new single for Keysound the man they call the King of Swing sets foundations for those ubiquitous purple soundwaves with heavily swung (duh) garage beats that stack, scaffold-esque until the whole thing gives way to a 90s hardcore-recalling breakdown.

09: MR FINGERS
‘STARS’
(from SLAM DANCE EP, ALLEVIATED 12″)

One of Larry Heard – not to mention house music’s – crowning achievements, this heavenly, synthed-out number was produced in eighty-fucking-seven. Twenty-three years later it still sounds future-primed and unimprovable, maybe even more so thanks to a loving remaster and repress job by Clone Records.

10: THE XX
‘VCR’ (MATTHEW DEAR REMIX)
(THE VINYL FACTORY 12″)

The xx’s none-more-breathy ‘VCR’ is beefed up and butched out by Matthew Dear, with centre-stage given over to a sleazy, straight-to-video bassline and jabbing synthetic horn stabs (like those ones from MIA’s ‘Bucky Done Gun’, but way less lairy). Makes the Jamie and Romy sound surlier than we ever thought possible, and has us eagerly anticipating some new original material from Dear.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.