Barcelona

This jam from the Plasticines has been turned into a french disco synthpop piece of magic by old favorite Lifelike. To tell the truth we were wondering what the next lifelike banger was going to be. The last few remixes were a bit lacking but Lifelike brings the fire back with this one, all the staples: cowbell, dreamy synths, and some laid back female vocals. Turn it up.

"Barcelona (Lifelike Remix)" - Plasticines

No One Sleeps When I'm Awake

It's been quiet recently. This needs to change. Just heard La Dolce Vita's remix of "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" by the Sounds... UNREAL. Listen now. Dance. Dance.

"No One Sleeps When I'm Awake (La Dolce Vita Remix)" - The Sounds

Waves of melodic synth wash over layered, chopped vocals with an inkling of the end of summer sprinkled for good measure. This has been on repeat today for good reason. Get lost in it.

Diogenes Club

Don't know too much about these guys, but would love to find out more. Just opened up the inbox to this gem from the Diogenes Club. The song, a remix of "Sometimes" by Kimouts is absolutely epic. The synth work on the chorus makes us believe that it is still cool to drive top town on a neon lined highway at night. The vocoder kicks in not like an electro banger but rather like a summer night, danceable yet laid back and absolutely cool.

"Sometimes (Diogenes Club Remix)" - Kimouts

Marchand

Holy shit. Not sure how this guy slipped under the radar. Marchand is a dutch electro house genius who sounds like the bastard child of Lifelike, Justin Faust, and a good serving of dancefloor fire. "Supernova" kicks off sounding like your average Lifelike jam but then kicks things up a notch with some spaced out dreamy synths and the vocal sample from "Send Me an Angel." We did not know things got this good.

"Supernova" - Marchand

"Starlove" is equally good, with a combination of funky french house, hard electro and dreamy production this could be the jam that you have been searching for.

"Starlove" - Marchand

Vega

You may know him from GhostHustler or Neon Indian but Alan Palomo's other project is what has been turning heads lately. It seems everything this man touches turns to bits of italo-disco neon candy. His latest project Vega is no different, the remixes and originals are as close to perfect as we have heard in a long long time. The vocals are smooth, so is the production. Nothing is cheesy or over the top. Everything is perfect. Vega's remix of Nightwaves "She's Electric" is his most recent effort and it does not fail to impress. The opening bassline builds into a laid back yet danceable little track that screams perfection. Listen now.

"She's Electric (Vega's Italo Dub)" -Nightwaves

We've also included a few of Vega's originals, the distinct vocals set these above and beyond the remixes.

"Well Known Pleasures" - Vega

"All Too Vivid" - Vega

"No Reasons" - Vega

Indian Summer

We've been away for a minute, this whole having responsibilities thing tends to take away from the music. The summer feeling hasn't escaped us yet though and with indian summer halcyon days fading into perfect evenings, the summer time jams still feel special. Vega recently put out a remix of MIMO's track "Running Out," and in typical Vega fashion it does not fail to impress. With an opening loop that screams summer and could have come from Miami Sound Machine in the Gloria Estefan days the song kicks off with a bang. The vocals tend to take away from Vega's dreamy production work but the song still bumps.

"Running Out (Vega's Italo Dub Mix)" - MIMO

Not sure how this next jam didn't warrant a post a few weeks ago, it's a pure dreamwave gem from old favorite Keenhouse. Anoraak put out this remix of his song "Civic Transit" that speaks for itself. Sleep better close to the clouds indeed.

"Civic Transit (Anoraak LAX Remix)" - Keenhouse

Memory Tapes

Weird Tapes. Memory Cassette. These are both side projects of ex Hail Social frontman Dayve Hawk. But recently it seems he has combined the two, putting out music under the alias Memory Tapes. This is some of the best shit we've heard recently, hands down. The tracks are danceable, yet different. Hawk combines dreamy live instrumentation with laid back beats and echoing vocals for a completely dazzling final product that will certainly find a place in the "Recently Played" of those with good taste. The second half of "Bicycle" is like the second coming when the guitar lead kicks in, it is perfection. The dreamy group vocals echoing behind the layered piano, bass and guitar make you wish it could go on forever.

 

"Bicycle" - Memory Tapes

"Plain Material" takes a different approach, starting with a basic guitar line and building over the course of the song into a sunshine disco gem. 

"Plain Material" - Memory Tapes

Feel It All Around

It's the end of summer, almost time to go back to responsibilities and the real world, but not quite. A blip came onto our music radar today, a thick and dreamy beach pop laid back blip. South Carolina producer Washed Out churns out blissed out lo-fi electronic pop that he calls "No-Fi." Sounding like a dubbed out offshoot of dreamwave, we can DEFINITELY dig it. His song "Feel It All Around" is certainly his crowning achievement. No pretensions at being anything that it's not, no played out dirty synths; just pure pop magic. The reverb heavy looped vocals in the background of "Feel It All Around" wash over you as the track slowly builds and breaks like waves.  We've included two more songs from his aptly titled "Life of Leisure" EP; "Hold Out" and "You'll See It." You definitely want these in your end of summer rotation.

"Feel It All Around"- Washed Out

"Hold Out" -Washed Out

"You'll See It" - Washed Out

GhostWaves

We are about to toot our own horn it's true, but check out the latest GhostWaves track "Takin' Me" for to fulfill all of your neon candy latenight fist pump 80s house synth drenched needs.

Enough said.

"Takin' Me" - Ghostwaves

Justin Faust

Justin Faust came onto our radar last fall when Russ Chimes dropped his remix of Faust's single "Revenge." It was a dark and funky piece of electro/filter house that could have given Braxe or Falke a run for their money. Faust is a German producer whose remixes and originals all seem to sparkle. "Capri Spinoff" could be the soundtrack to your latenight drive on the autobahnn circa 1989-but with a distinct house feel. 

"Capri Spinoff" - Justin Faust

"Revenge" follows the same pattern, building slowly and never stopping in all its instrumental glory.

"Revenge" - Justin Faust

"Revenge (Russ Chimes Remix) - Justin Faust

Lifelike Lifelike Lifelike

Us GhostWaves have been down with Lifelike for a few years, ever since hearing his jams "So Electric," "The Adventure," and "Soul of My Love" as well as all of the solid remixes he has churned out over the years. La Roux, Chromeo, Treasure Fingers, and Sneaky Sound System are just a few whose songs have gotten the official Lifelike treatment. In general a Lifelike remix is like a seal of approval for a song, and they are usually much better than the original. Earlier this month, Empire of the Sun were added to that list. Their song "Standing on the Shore" is a fairly decent piece of pop, but with the Lifelike touch it is a gem. A glittering, echoing, dreamscape to get lost in. And clocking in at just over 8 minutes, it makes for quite a listen.

BONUS: Some favorite Lifelike songs of the past.....

"Sequencer" - Lifelike

"Kansas City (Lifelike Remix)" - Sneaky Sound System

"Follow Me feat. Annie (Lifelike Remix) - Ercola

Diamonds, Champagne and Les Duchesses de l'Ombre

Allure is a young Parisian producer making a name for himself with his completely magical instrumental pop songs. His is not the average take on the "electro pop" genre; his synth work is creative and fresh sounding and his songs have a distinctly polished feel to them. Allure seems to draw on myriad influences, from Seinfeld theme/Fred Falke style bass lines, to heavy synth drenched choruses, this kid has the production chops to make it big. His songs "Champagne" and "Diamonds" are weekend ready jams that perfectly meld funk, electro, pop and downtempo to create something close to perfection. The third song "Les Duchesses de l'Ombre" takes longer to build, but it is all worth it as Allure drops in layer after of heavy synths.

"Champagne" -Allure

"Diamonds" -Allure

"Les Duchesses de l'Ombre" - Allure

Blood and Sun

In the world of house influenced, repetitive electro pop with abundant layered synth parts and a distinct absence of vocals ; Lifelike is the producer that generally comes to mind. But Super Mal's latest effort "Blood and Sun" is giving Lifelike a run for his money in the "recently played" section of my iTunes. "Blood and Sun" starts off simple, building into a filtered, sweeping synthscape that just screams analog bliss.

"Blood and Sun" -Super Mal

Super Mal Also teamed up with Phonat, another producer who has been tearing it up recently (see posts from Aug, 16) Together they cranked out the song "Pixelated." You can hear both of their influences in the track, from the chopped up vocals to the aggressive bassline.

"Pixelated (Super Mal Vocal Re-Edit)" - Super Mal and Phonat

Super Mal first came to our attention through a Lifelike remix of their song "Bigger than Big" which came out a few years ago. "Bigger than Big" featured Luciana, famous for her appearance on the Bodyrox track "Yeah Yeah." The vocals have mostly been omitted in the Lifelike remix, except for a chopped up, robot like vocoder part at the end. But it's still a jam in true Lifelike fashion, guaranteed to make your speakers bump.

"Bigger than Big (Lifelike Remix)" -Super Mal

But going in a slightly different direction; I was digging around in my nightly blog creep last night and found myself looking through Vulture Music's back catalogue. Vulture is the label that Alan Braxe started, and released many of his songs with the mighty Fred Falke on it. (They also released songs by Kris Menace, Lifelike, etc.) Last year I picked up one of their singles "Sunrise/Genesis" by Sedat The Turkish Avenger, and it was solid although fairly by the books stuff. Sedat started producing house tracks in the 1990s, and released a few songs through Vulture in the last few years. "Sunrise" was a good track, "Genesis" did not move me to get weird the way Vulture Music tracks generally do. So I dug a little deeper and found this french ass jam "Take Me (Ce Soir)" that Sedat put out back in 2003.

"Take Me Ce Soir" -Sedat The Turkish Avenger

The Good Times

Here's a track off of Calvin Harris' new album "Ready For The Weekend" called "The Rain".

Calvin Harris - "The Rain"

The lyrics are a bit cheesy but the beat demands full volume. It may take a few listens to really get used to the track but I promise it will not disappoint. Be sure to also check out how Calvin put together the first Humanthesizer.

Humanthesizer (a youtube link)

Bonus:

Fisherspooner - "We Are Electric" (Classix Remix)

Bombay Bicycle Club

Bombay bicycle club are a band out of England that plays an attitude laden brand of brash indie rock that is a nice change in this day and age where everyone and their mother are in an electro band. Not that this is a bad thinguy (i have been known to play a mean synth...) but it's a nice change to hear a great 4 piece band rocking it out. Here's the video for their latest "Magnet" the third single off of their upcoming album "I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose." Favorite band of the moment award goes to Bombay Bicycle Club hands down.


BONUS:
Tanlines also released a remix of BBC's track "Dust On the Ground" is a banger that sounds like it features Phil Collins on percussion. When the bass drops in and the chorus soars, all is right with the world.

"Dust On The Ground (Tanlines Remix)" -Bombay Bicycle Club"

SUPER BONUS:

"Always Like This (James Rutledge Remix)" - Bombay Bicycle Club