Tuesday, February 14, 2012

RxGibbs - Lumiere


RxGibbs lets some light in on 'Lumiere'. Lumiere is a delicate, expertly paced, soft record. It follows a hushed backbeat, and what this listener likes to imagine as a layer of light rainfall and white noise combined. Better yet, the instrumental is adjoined with abstract vocals that enliven the ear rather than merely soothe. It is Cocteau Twins meets Girls, with a sprinkling of Dead Can Dance. We look forward to hearing more from RxGibbs.

UNKLE - Another Night Out (Video)


UNKLE's 'Another Night' comes through with a somber visual meditation on guts and (little) glory. A narrative told through stark black and white, it follows an aging boxer who must fight to accept and make the most out of what his body has left(and by nature, his soul). What will become of the boxer, we don't know. Because no eye is on the sparrow. Now close his glassy eyes, will you?

Lancelot - We Can Dance (Goldroom Remix)


Lancelot's 'We Can Dance' gets the spin-around courtesy of Goldroom. A 'mellow and tripnotic' mix. A friendly cousin to the original, Goldroom's remixes substitutes the 5 P.M fading sun set vibes of the original into vibes of a 5 A.M, cold and bright sunrise. The track is available for free download today! (just click on the highlighted Goldroom name above!) Look out for Lancelot's full 'We Can Dance' EP to be released February 20th on Binary Records.

Disturbia X Owl Vision - Beware the Night


Disturbia and Owl Vision link up for 'Beware the Night'. Disturbia is on the guitar & bass, Owl Vision on everything else. Beware the Night is an appropriately menacing track. Buzzsaw guitar, punching drums, and a uppercut for a groove. If it's going to be in any way associated with a love fest like today, it's firmly in the 'Bloody Valentine' camp. The track is available for free download off Comorbid Records.

PLASTiC PLATES - More Than Love


Plastic Plates pitches 'More Than Love' (quite a title for Valentines Day, right?). More Than Love is an infectious, bloop friendly track. It's a track that you may come to, dare I say it, love. Keep an ear out for a slick breakdown and buildup around the 2:23 mark. Even on Valentine's Day, there remains more than love (or perhaps an essential adjoining part of love): Music to unabashedly dance to, whether alone together, together alone, alone, or together.

Childish Gambino - Heartbeat (Justin Faust Remix)


Childish Gambino's 'Heartbeat' gets a kick from Justin FaustFaust provides Gambino's standout track with some prime-Mayfield-level strings running alongside a relentlessly upbeat drum package. The remix exhibits a level of fun that can only come from when one has reached the final hurdle of a breakup, and can look back comfortably, smiling(gritting teeth a little, but still). Valentine's Day is a day to love the one you're with, but it's also a day to celebrate the ones you're without. And it's worth wondering if Faust made a deal with the devil to create a remix this fun.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Selebrities - Night Heat (Video)


A late night video offering from Selebrities and their track 'Night Heat'. The video is decidedly late night, basement haze trippy(and directed by band member Jer Robert Paulin). The track itself is like if you put a boombox in the bottom of a lava lamp, and the video is a fitting rival in fidelity. It's an altogether fun, cerebral video. If celebrity is the withholding of contempt, this Selebrities video is the outpouring of affection.

We Have Band - Where Are Your People? (Remix EP)



We Have Band, a Scotch & Murder favorite, offers up one alternate version of their stellar single 'Where Are Your People' and five remixes. It is always fascinating, in a remix series, to see which parts artists emphasize. Ternion Aside opts to highlight the originals ethereal vocals, and make it into a jolting dance record. Walls chooses a decidedly slower and sinister direction, with a low baritone rolling in. Aashton & Swift put the vocals seemingly miles behind their nu disco backbeat, the vocals only coming through in the audio quality tin soup can telephone games. These are inspired remixes with ingenuity worthy of the band they remix.


Sun Glitters - High (Video)


Sun Glitters offers up a sparkling(you'll see) video for High. When considering the quick flashes of heat, of light, in the track, the music video is near perfect. The track almost seems to mimic the design. A high-pitched, explosive vocal rest upon a sturdy beat, much like the ephemeral sparklers depend upon the support of their base to ever come to life. Check out Sun Glitters' High EP, and see what other visuals you can conjure up while listening.

School of Seven Bells - Lafaye (Scissor Sisters Remix)


Scissor Sisters remixes School of Seven Bells 's Lafaye. (How's that for alliteration?) A lilting 'Oooohhhhh' voice glides over the intro, only to then be morphed into a twisted auto tune. A cut worthy of the Scissor Sisters. The new album, 'Ghostory' will be available February 28th, off of Vagrant Records.

Miike Snow - Paddling Out (Jacques La Cont Remix) + (Original Video)


Miike Snow's Paddling Out gets the remix treatment from Jacques La Cont. The playfulness of the originals is combined with Lu Cont's ascendant, almost baroque synths. Lu Cont goes on extensive, fascinating digressions with the original. Check out the cacophonous turn taken around the 3:55 mark. These are but a few things to unpack from this full but never overstuffed remix. Miike Snow's 'Happy to You' will release in March.



Miike Snow gets a genuinely fun and surreal video for 'Paddling Out'. Magic shoes atop Grecian stools, ax murderers, spaceship captains, women in 16th century wigs, middle aged men trying to discover rhythm, break dancers in leather pants, houses on top of said spaceships with captains, Jeremy Lin, the Perfect Human, 30 clones. Only one of those things is not actually in this video (you should check just to be sure, though). This video for 'Paddling Out' is so gleefully ambitious, and unconcerned to seem cool. So real its surreal.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Scotch and Murder The Playlists: Le Disco Love

Oxford Fixer - Iron Deer Dream (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix)


Keep Shelly in Athens remixes Oxford Fixer's Iron Deer Dream. Oxford Fixer describe 'Iron Deer Dream’ as featuring 'chiming guitars, soaring melodies, five part harmonies and lush production.' Keep Shelly in Athens' genius is maintaining this joyful house of cards vibe, while artfully plucking away the synthesizers and vocal cards for emphasis. It's less a mix-er, and far more of a re-mix. Oxford Fixer's debut album, We'll Be Moon, will be released on May 14th.

The Young Professionals- DISCO (Yusek Remix)


Yuksek remixes The Young Professional's 'DISCO'. Yuksek creates an incantatory track, both lyrically and sonically. The song begins with a bewitching backbeat, and, at about 2 minutes, a voice breaks out to join the flux, singing words even less clear than the elusive beat. The all-caps is in reference to the sound, not the lyrics; there is an interplay of capital S sonics and lower case l lyrics. Sometimes the most affecting lyrics are the most indirect: I wrote some letters on the paper in your house/it had a meaning no one else could figure out.

Jay-Z & Kanye West- Niggas in Paris (Official Video)


Jay-Z & Kanye West (there's a Facebook link, but I'll guess you've heard of these guys) unleash the long awaited video to the massive hit single 'Niggas in Paris', off of their Watch the Throne LP. It's well known that, on their tour, Jay-Z & Kanye West have taken to performing 'Paris' multiple times at one concert (17 times in Chicago and 19 in LA). A mix of sheer daring and (we now know) calculated effect was the reason. The 'Niggas in Paris' video is a fish-eyed collage of concert performances of the very track. It's a video that's deliciously surreal, a compendium of bizarre influences, much like the record. We'll always have Paris, anyway.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Kronicles of Krychek Part Trois


Krychek makes a major return with part three of his Kronicles. Trois is an appropriate term in more ways than one-the mix hits the trifecta, the triad of head, heart, and body. Highlights include a wonderful interpolation into a mix of the late Arthur Russell's That's US/Wild Combination, and a cold come-down from a Quinten 909 & Livian remix of Cassette Club's 4 Me to Jacque le Cont's Church, to name but a few. You're sure to find your own favorites along the way. On the soundcloud page for this mixtape, one user commented that it has inspired them to get back to mixing/dj: Though some listeners may not be mixers or dj's, almost anyone can understand what he means. 

Hearing this mix, your own mental music connections begin to fire, and you realize that they have come back to you in this mix in some kind of alien majesty (that feeling when someone articulates a feeling you are intensely familiar with, but could not have represented nearly as well). And, finally, to answer a question posed by a woman in this greatly rewarding mix: She asks, around the 8 minute mark, 'Someday, somewhere?' The answer is: right here, right now.





Track List:
Mark Ronson & The Business INTL - Record Collection (Plastic Plates Remix)
Moullinex - Modular Jame (Justin Faust remix)
Shapeshifters - Pusher (Lifelike Remix)
Michael Cassette - Pangea (Envotion Remix)
Grandtheft - Let Me out (U-Tern REmix)
AutoReverse - Martine Hilton
Lemaitre - The End
Arthur Russell - That's US/Wild Combination (Estate Remix)
Jay Lamar & Jesse Oliver - 22
Seya - Blacklight
Grum - Runaway (Nightriders remix)
Oliver - Dirty Talk
Chromeo - Needy Girl (Lifelike Remix)
Montauk - Holiday (Justin Faust Remix)
Odahl - Just be Easy
Volta Cab - We are Martians
Para one & Tacteel - Rome
Mute Box - Chain My Brain
Childish Gambino - Heartbeat (Oliver Remix)
Plastic Plates - Toys
Lexicon Don - Student Body (Bit Funk Remix)
Only Children - Be the One
Moon Boots - Off my mind (Le youth remix)
Chris Malinchak - Deal 'Em
Mystery Track
ODahl - Dance Mama (Alfa remix)
Arnaud Rebotini - Another Time Another Place (JBag Remix)
Demon - Dont' Make Me Cry (Lifelike Remix)
The Scientists of Modern Music - Girl on Top (Vanguard Remix)
Strange Talk - Sexual LifeStyle (Vanguard Remix)
Daft Punk- Fresh (Patchwork Remix)
Cassette Club - 4 Me (Quinten 909 & Livian Remix)
Jacques lu Cont - Church

Gesaffelstein - Remix EP + Viol (Brodinksi Remix)


Gesaffelstein gives us a remix EP studded with stellar work from artists like The Hacker, David Carretta, and Glass Figure. This six track EP is at turns menacing (check the ferocity with which Milano remixes 'Opr') and merciful (look toward Brodinki's graciously hedonistic 'Viol'). With such a diverse array of names, it is a wonder that the EP holds together (magnificently, we might add). Of course, that is the nature of a conspiracy (one of the track names on this EP, remixed by The Hacker): everything falls exactly into place. We leave you a little taste below.




Gesaffelstein - Viol (Brodinksi Remix)

Grimes - Circumambient (Unofficial Video)


David Dean Burkhart's unofficial video for Grimes' Circumambient is a marvelous testament to ingenuity. Using clips entirely from the 1968 film La Prisonniere, the video perfectly matches the sense of the track while disorienting the viewer with pre-existing visuals. The video is a masterpiece in editing. The director uses a infinite amount of jump cuts, flashes, 70's honeycomb lenses, and more. Add fragmented faces, bondage, cascading waves, purple and red fun houses, and you've got quite a video worthy of the artist it aims to represent. Circumambient is from Grimes' album Visions, out on Artubus/4AD.

St. Lucia - We Got It Wrong (Starsmith Remix)


Starsmith creates a vicious remix of St. Lucia's We Got It Wrong. The song is a dynamic triad: It begins with cutting synths and a woman lamenting 'Broken-n-n Apart-t-t-t', then shifts into an ascending uptempo with a man yelling 'Go! Go! Go go away!', and then a taut breakdown reminds that 'you can't remember how-w-w-w in the morning sun'. It is a true cacophony of voices, unable to discern who is really at fault, and perhaps even what was wrong in the first place. All that is known is that something is lost. Order the We Got It Wrong 12" Remix EP directly from Neon Gold Records or iTunes

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Keenhouse - Better Days EP


Keenhouse was kind enough to give us a sneak peek at his upcoming electric EP, Better Days. The track is a new style for Keenhouse: An ever evolving artist whose every EP and album sound different. Better Days finds Keenhouse in a nimble and vocal mood(no surprise for an artist who has a way with both words and sonics). He once wrote "Artificial intelligence will come from the Internet. Next generation Clouds will bring just one step closer at a time. If this happens soon enough I want to play a live concert in there. But then I'm thinking what a waste of the body." What a waste, indeed. Dance to Better Days past, and, hopefully, if Keenhouse has anything to say about it, ahead. Better Days is set for release March 5th on Beatport and March 12th worldwide.

Simian Ghost-Wolf Girl(Torkelsen Remix)


Simian Ghost's Wolf Girl gets a re-imagining by 22 year old Norwegian crate-digger Torkelsen. The Wolf Girl Remixes are available for free download on Simian Ghosts' page, and Torkelsen's work is a definite highlight. Torkelsen slows it down, adding some well-placed keys and spaces. This track is the gentler sequel to the original. You can consider it a welcome tribute to the peaceful moments after Wolf Girl has agreed to stay a while. Torkelsen's self titled debut album will be released March 6th on SellOut! Music.

St. Vincent - Cheerleader (Video)


St. Vincent gives a video to Cheerleader, the most ferocious song off of her highly acclaimed 2011 Strange Mercy release. Visuals have never been a problem for St. Vincent (she wrote her previous release, 2009's Actor, while watching innumerable movies and imagining a song for a given scene) and this video maintains that consistency. Cheerleader finds a gargantuan (but still statuesque) Annie Clark on a exhibit-like display for art goers. Similar to a possible reading of the song, the St. Vincent in the Cheerleader video is tired of being on display while also being the only well of encouragement. The statue memorably breaks to pieces in the end, and the St. Vincent statue is free of her binds: Cheerleaders never fall apart.

Johan Agebjörn & CFCF - Memories Of Satie


SMM favorites Johan Agebjörn and CFCF come together to pay a house tribute to Erik Satie. It is as if Dead Can Dance met Erik Satie and they decided to due a electronic album, and this was the lovely result. Their mix of deep drums and Eastern aesthetics is a fitting, somber to the warm melancholia that so defined Satie's work. The only vocals on 'Memories of Satie' are simple, hymnal ones: ba-dum,ba-dum, ba-dum,ba-dee-dum.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

2 Hearts and Chemicals-Coming Home(The New Division Remix)


New Division blows us away yet again. This time the Riverside natives remix 2 Hearts & Chemicals' Coming Home. You might never be able to go home again, but if this is what passes for the new home you must get used to, it is a welcome one. Download New Divisions' remix of 2 Hearts & ChemicalsComing Home for free right off the player. The grass is overgrown/and you have come to take me home. 


Active Child - Johnny Belinda(White Arrows remix)


Active Child serves up Johnny Belinda (White Arrows remix), a stuttering and lively mix. The singer often mentions the word 'chain', and 'chain' is the perfect word to describe what is happening with the jutting instrumental behind the voice: If one link is out of place, one more beat or effect added or removed, the song would not be the compact, concise fun that it is. Rarely has stuttering sounded so smooth.

Pick up Active Child-Johnny Belinda (White Arrows remix) directly from iTunes.

Lancelot - We Can Dance (Frames Remix)


Lancelot drops in with We Can Dance (Frames Remix). Frames brings a bright mix that fits any way you choose to move your bones. Perfect for a summer day in February, and a winter day in August.

RΠЯ - Hydra


RΠЯ aka RPR, releases Hydra, a glittering electronic track befitting of its name. Of course RΠЯ is probably better known for his work with Keep Shelly in Athens. KSiA-4-Life. However, we are very much in love with his solo project as well. OK, back to the Hydra.  The hydra is actually an organism that does not undergo senescence(also known as aging). RΠЯ's 'Hydra' sounds like music for the (literally) eternally young. Wait, that's us (and you). 

Citizens! - Reptile (Goldroom Remix)


Goldroom remixes Citizens!' 'Reptile'. It is always interesting to note what artists use as their soundcloud labels, and Goldroom provides one: Blue. As for what kind of blue, take a listen to the building swell and eventual come down of this nu-disco track, and one blue may come to mind: The ephemeral, light blue of that meets your eyes when you open them after a long nap on the beach, on a blisteringly sunny day. Don't let your blood run cold. 

Monday, February 6, 2012

James Blake - Lindisfarne (Antler Remix)


The wondrous Antler remixes the wunderkind James Blake's 'Lindisfarne'. Antler succeeds in creating an aesthetic even more spacious and abstract than the original. Blake's distinct falsetto gets minutely fragmented into deep, computerized vocals pushed up against a lovely down-tempo beat. Antler writes that the song is for 'getting deep in the winter', and we know exactly what he means: It is a song that warms you like a layer of 7 blankets, and still chills you down to the marrow. 

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Paradisco (Joakim's Paradisco Garage Remix)



Joakim offers up his Garage remix of Charlotte Gainsbourg's 'Paradisco' remix. The song makes it difficult to imagine that the words 'paradise' and 'disco' are not synonymous. Charlotte Gainsbourg's disaffectedly cool (much like the vocals of her father) vocals are set behind a jumping boogie disco beat. It is quite a turn for a musician who was recently in movies with titles like 'Melancholia' and 'Antichrist'. Joakim's 'Paradisco' remix is intended as a tribute to Larry Levan, and will be released very soon on Because.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Zimmer - Back To My Roots (January MixTape)



A mixtape for those Dreamers of the Golden Dream. Says Zimmer: "Here's a mixtape to celebrate my signing with Vitalic Noise for North American bookings. Back to my Californian roots!" In this mix, you'll find elements of classic California G-Funk, Disco, House, and much more. 



Track List: 
1. Moon Boots - Aretha (Zimmer Remix)
2. Perseus - Running Back To You
3. Honom - Bedcat
4. Odyssey - Going Back To My Roots (Slow Hands Edit)
5. Luke Million - Sun Splash
6. Chilly - For Your Love (Psychemagik Edit)
7. Max Sedgley feat. Tasita D Mour - Superstrong (Faze Action Remix)
8. Only Children - Be The One
9. Jay Lamar & Jesse Oliver - Diamonda (Xinobi Remix)
10. Chris Malinchak - At Night
11. Debonair - Shuffle
12. Soft House Company - What You Need
13. Friendly Fires - Hurting (Tensnake Remix)
14. Todd Terje - Swing Star Pt. 1
15. Lou Teti - Shake (Drop Out Orchestra Remix)
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Zee Avi - Concrete Wall (RAC Mix)

RAC presents a remix of Zee Avi's 'Concrete Wall', a poppy breakup song with Fiona Apple-esque vocals and Lilly Allen-like production. Her voice has the solemn serenity of someone who mentally exited a long time ago but is just now getting around to letting you know. She probably wasn't going to bother anyway, but what the hell.

LUST - Room Sixteen


LUST creates a haunting, elegiac tribute to the number sixteen with his latest track Room Sixteen. Sixteen is, for some reason for other, a sacred number and also not. We celebrate sweet sixteens as a particularly special age, while we also lament a certain loss of innocence. Nabokov's nymphets would never be 16, and Molly Ringwald seems to have never been anything other than 16. The number will continue to have some immeasurable aura, and LUST gives it its own room.

New Navy - Zimbabwe (RüFüS Remix)


RüFüS remixes(complete with whistles!) New Navy's 'Zimbabwe' . It is a breezy track that's Friday-at-5 o'clock-warm and hopeful about the coming days off. We need a holiday-y-y/away from here.

(Fun game: Name all the movies in this video for RüFüS' remix of New Navy's 'Zimbabwe'). Is there any medium more visceral and pleasing to all the senses(like the best vacations and holidays) than film? Massive film montage is an wonderful choice to mirror the   joyful, global trek the track celebrates.


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Keep Shelly in Athens - Just Like Honey


Keep Shelly in Athens presents a pared down cover of Jesus & The Mary Chains' "Just Like Honey". The shoe gaze and wooze from the original is gone, and the vocals are the central focus in this new vision. When the singer says 'I'll be your plastic toy" it is perhaps even more startling than in the original, for this voice is all too human and all too vulnerable.

All proceeds go to Breast Cancer Care (more info).  

Teen Daze - Brooklyn Sunburn


"Brooklyn Sunburn", the latest from Teen Daze, is a synth-full, mid-tempo song perfect for a delayed summer. All of Us, Together, the full LP from Teen Daze, is out on May 22nd, but with New Yorkers experiencing multiple 60 degree days in January(!) perhaps the sunburn is closer in Brooklyn than imagined.

Aeroplane January 2012 Mix


Lend your ears to Aeroplane's January mix, featuring artists like Lula Circus, Classixx, and the impeccably named Harmonious Thelonious . A standout (at least for this writer) is C2's remix of the  Friendly Fires' deceptively titled "Hurting". Aeroplane's mix brims with energy and optimism, a mix lovingly arranged to reflect the promise each January brings.




Track List:
1. Pop & Eye - Give me a fight 
2. Friendly Fires - Hurting ( C2 Instrumental Mix ) 
3. Great Weekend - That's the thing ( to do ) 
4. Chemistry - Funky People 
5. Parallel Dance Ensemble - Shopping Cart ( Maxxi Soundsystem Remix ) 
6. Ruf Kutz #4 - 4 Ron 
7. Miguel Migs - Close Your Eyes ( Deetron Dub ) 
8. Art Department - Tell me Why ( Brennan Green Remix ) 
9. Lula Circus - Fake Blood, True Wound 
10. Classixx - A Fax From The Beach 
11. Harmonious Thelonious - Trans Harmonic System

Boys Noize & Erol Alkan - Lemonade (Gesaffelstein Remix)


You know we love us some Gesaffelstein over here at SMM. The Frenchman lays down a notty mix on  Boys Noize & Erol Alkan's, "Lemonade EP". The re-work is full of itchy guitar and heavy bass. The track and it's combinations might even give you that yellowed fruit face; the expression of bunched eyeballs and disappearing lips. Get a copy of "Lemonade EP" from beatport, released just yesterday, on Phantasy.

Monday, January 30, 2012

ELENAKI + DARK INC. + FJAZZ Live at Cake Shop


Tomorrow night at Cake Shop, you'll get more than one kind of layering. Past the layer cakes and backroom hang-outs, you'll find three acts who have sonic fusion and exploration as their jump-off. e l e n a k i starts things off at 9. The picture on their website features a woman balancing a blow up space shuttle on her heel, and that is how the music feels: A deceptively sweet sound that could pop at any moment. Next, at 10 PM, is Dark Inc., a band that blends jazz, classic, and electronic experimental, making, as Dark Inc. themselves say, 'the cross genre THE genre."  Last up, at 11:30, is FJazza saxophone player, multi-instrumentalist (flute, clarinet, piano, guitar, EWI4000s) and music producer who mergers live acoustic playing with heavily produced electronic music.  


Entrance to the show is a mere $5; a figure that pales in comparison to the number of sonic darts those well spent $5 will make Tuesday night at the Cake shop.



FJazz:

FJazz - Still Time To Trance
Friday, January 27, 2012

An Interview With We Have Band


By now you've realized our love for everything We Have Band. Well Scotch and Murder was lucky enough to catch up with WHB and get some of our questions answered. Topics of discussion include the release of their sophomore album Ternion, buzz, producer Luke Smith, video blogging, and eggs. Special thanks to We Have Band and our dear friends at Tell All Your Friends. Now get ready to blow up. 

*How did you deal with the initial wave of ‘buzz’ when you first began, and do you feel more stable and confident now that your newest album will probably elicit even greater buzz?

To be honest when it comes to buzz we're really happy when people are into what we're doing and talking about us but its still something that we take very lightly and don't get too focused on it. We do feel very lucky though that we're still here making a new record and that people want to listen to it because there is so much good music coming all the time and its an honour to feel that we fit into that somehow.

  * How did you come to choose ‘Ternion’ as the album title?

Ternion is a latin word for a group or set of three and its also the cardinal sum of 1 and 1 and 1 so we really felt it was perfect for what this album represents. The album is all about what the three of us have been through both as a group and as individuals in the last few years and how the two are so closely linked. Also, its a word thats rarely used and sounds nice so we felt like it was a special one.

  * What was the most challenging thing to overcome in the making of ‘Ternion’?

There were moments particularly in the final stages when we were in the studio with Luke Smith and we were making big directional decisions about the tracks and that was hard to commit to taking a particular road. We get so used to working on tracks over a long period of time and revisiting them and slowly shaping them so when the moment comes to make the piece final it can be tricky.

   * How have these tracks been translating to the stage (in comparison to your previous release?) I saw ‘What’s Mine, What’s Yours’ online and it was gorgeous.

We're so pleased with the reaction we're getting to that version of the track but thats it in a very raw acoustic composition which we probably wont do on tour. We've done a few gigs so far and everything is working nicely, the record is still very danceable so we're expecting things to still be as crazy and wild as they were before. The trick will be working out where and which songs from the first record can feel at home with the new ones that will definitely be taking priority.

    *How was it to work with Luke Smith? And any clues about the video for ‘Where Are Your People’(directed by Alex Turvey)? 

Luke was wonderful, he's such a nice and talented guy and he's really one of the most dedicated people we've ever worked with. He totally gives everything when he's working on a record. We'd be having breakfast, lunch and dinner in the studio and doing really long days so we got very close. We still see him for dinner and drinks regularly.

Well the WAYP video is out there already now but we can say that we're really happy with it. Alex really managed to make it exciting but without screaming at the audience,  its one that the more you watch it the more fun it is.

   *  Approximately how many eggs did Darren eat during the making of “Ternion”? We hear he is addicted.

Ha! Thats a funny question. Lots. Its always lots. Eggs are just great and so versatile and good for any time of the day.

   * How was the songwriting process this time around? I know earlier you’ve spoken about equal songwriting duties, and many feel this album is more personal than your last. How did you manage three distinct voices? Speaking of writing, were there any particular books you found yourself gravitating to during the recording?

We had to give each other quite a lot of space to blossom on this record and to get out what we really wanted to say. It was nice though because we would regularly sit down and write out and explain the lyrics we'd been writing to each other to make sure we fully understood and could all feel ownership on the songs. Books wise we all read quite a bit but there wasn't so much a theme connecting to the album.

     *Tell us more about ‘Pressure On’. I find it such a marvelous record.

Its a track that Dede led the writing on because its about how she struggled with insomnia as a result of touring. And its also about how its so important to have comfort and support from Thomas at those times. It was nice to be able to turn something that was a real personal struggle into something beautiful to share with people. We always knew that it had be the album closer and musically we wanted it to have the feeling of calm confusion that you have when you cant sleep.

   *  You are going on an extensive European tour. Will you be video blogging on your website, wehaveband.com

We sure will be. We love doing them and we sometimes look back at ones we'd forgotten and laugh a lot. Its a nice visual diary in a world that moves so fast.

   * Any resolutions for 2012?

Work hard, play hard.

We Have Band - Visionary


We Have Band - Watertight


Thieves Like Us - Marie Marie


So some how news of Thieves Like Us' latest release Marie Marie slipped by us. Thankfully not for too long. The band keeps with the dark under tones and stellar album artwork. TLU can do no wrong in our eyes, and Marie Marie is further proof of that. Marie Marie is off the trio's upcoming BLEED BLEED BLEED album due out March 20th (Captured Tracks).  

Thieves Like Us - Marie Marie by thieveslikeus

Blondes - Wine (Video)


Just in case you missed Blondes latest video for Wine from Wine / Water 12" on RVNG Intl.

Miike Snow – Black Tin Box (feat. Lykke Li)


Miike Snow offers another cut of off his promising sophomore album Happy to You (out 3/27) . ‘Black Tin Box’ features indie darling Lykke Li (fresh off her stellar 2011 with the release of Wounded Rhymes). This Miike Snow track is darker than ‘Paddling Out’, the sunny single we covered not long ago.  ‘Black Tin Box’ sounds inspired by gothic 808’s, gutter synths,  and theremins alike.  ‘Black Sheep black sheep leave me aftershocks’, or ‘Take my down the hillside/show me where they used to play/your sisters and you running through the orange light of the afterday’. Bleak stuff, but infectious, and far from tinny    


Miike Snow – Black Tin Box (feat. Lykke Li)