Julia Stone - It's All Okay (Active Child Remix)

Julia Stone's "It's All Okay" gets a loving remix from Active Child. Julia Stone's vocals are a mix of the spritely Joanna Newsom and the dark side of the Cocteau Twins. Active Child knows just what to do with the instrumental: Make it icy and ethereal. We hope these two meet up again in the future, and we know we will be hearing a lot more from Julia Stone very soon: her upcoming album, By the Horns, is out May 29th.

2:54 - Creeping

2:54 of creeping rarely sounded good, but don't let the title of 2:54's newest track skeeve you out. Creeping, an expertly realized mix of gutter rock and electronic, is everything inviting. The track recalls some of the best of 90's icons like Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, with a decidedly post-noughties cautious optimism. A highly recommended cut. Creeping is set to be released on June 18th off Fiction Records.

Kris Menace & the KiKi Twins-We Are (Ren Riz remix)

Ren Riz remixes Kris Menace & The KiKi Twins' We Are. The remix is a slow burner.  A heavy, beautiful piano threads through the track, from We Are's sparse elegiac opening notes to its funk house vocal breakouts. Whereas the vocals on the original were the climax, here perhaps they are the bottoming out. A lonely singer, the last one left in the club at 4:47 A.M, reels out her last lines behind the sober instrumental.

Duke Dumont - For Club Play Only Vol. 1

Duke Dumont releases his first EP for Turbo Recordings. The released song, Street Walker, is an infectious mix of soul and electronic. No surprise that it samples a neo soul classic, D'Angelo's "Devil's Pie". We eagerly await more from Duke Dumont. Fuck the slice, we want the pie.

Chris Malinchak-Ironbound EP

Chris Malinchak releases his Ironbound EP. The five song EP is tautly arranged and imaginative release. Ironbound is a work truly worth of 'Extended Play' label it bears. There's something here for everyone: Compare the sun funk of opener 'There I Was (Again)' to the dark house of 'Razor 2.0', for one example. Buy the set on Beatport.

Teen Daze - What You Feel

Teen Daze release What You Feel. The track is a b-side from "All of us, Together", and it's an A-plus cut. What You Feel is a breezy 'house-disco' track. It feels exceptionally refreshing in its accomplished joining of the two genres that grow increasingly distant from one another. This is a big step from an act that has proven that it can inhabit and celebrate nearly any sound.

Zombie Zombie - Rocket n 9 (Gesaffelstein Remix)

Take a listen to this rip of Gesaffelstein's remix of Zombie Zombie's ripping Rocket n9.  The track is a treat for zombies, zebras, and just about anything and everything else. Gesaffelstein's rich mix of electronic history and contemporary innovation should come as no surprise. He is 576 years old, after all, according to Brodinski. He's been doing this a while. The remix is out soon on Versatile.

Scotch and Murder The Playlists: A Supreme Set

Every now and then we put together a playlist of tracks that is so out of this world we feel obligated to share it with you. This is the latest of those playlists. A Supreme Set features some of our most recent favorite tracks (full track list below). To get the full set of MP3s e-mailed to you simply sign up to our mailing list. Get on their soon as the list will only be sent out at midnight tonight. We will only be use your your address to send you awesome playlists. Nothing more, nothing less. 

A SUPREME SET from Scotch_and_Murder on 8tracks.

TRACK LIST:

Purity Ring - Obedear 

Twin Shadow - Five Seconds 

Work Drugs - Coral Gables

Breakbot - Programme 

Moon Boots - Got Somebody 

Cadillac - Too Long (Daft Punk Cover)

Sébastien Tellier - Cochon Ville (The Magician Remix) 

Active Child - Hanging On (GRVRBBRS Remix) 

Tears For Fears - Shout (SIMØNE Remix) 

Alexander Holland - City Full of Lights (Gigamesh Remix) 

Foster The People - Don't Stop (Oliver Remix)

Final DJs - F.A.R.E.W.E.L.L 

Zambri - Hundered Hearts 

R.I.P Adam "MCA" Yauch

It is with a heavy heart we write about the passing of Adam Yauch, aka MCA, the founding member of the Beastie Boys. To say the head of the trio of brooklyn based hooligans was influential to our taste and hunger for music would be an understatement. Without out any reservation we can say the Beasties were one of the first bands we ever fell head over heels for. There was always something so supremely unique about their sound, charisma and charm. You couldnt help but love them. And it all wouldnt have been possible without the one and only MCA.

Read more about Adam Yauch on the Official Beastie Boys site.  

Get More: Beastie Boys, Make Some Noise, Music, More Music Videos

Aeroplane April 2012 Mix

Aeroplane's April mix is here. Never on schedule, but always on time. The tape includes killer tracks from artists like Punks Jump Up, Finnebassen, Attar, and more. It's fitting that the tape ends on a track with a title Past Present. The Mix Tape has the label of April, but it's timeless.

Indeep - Last Night DJ Saved (SIMØNE Remix)

Indeep gets a helping hand from SIMØNE in their Last Night Dj Saved.... cut. This remix is a marvel of deep funk/synth wave. Gladys Knight & The Pips in Studio 54. Compared to the original classic record, this mix has a more contemporary use of carefully crushed drums and electronic adeptness. A dj can still save your life, for a price.

Le Youth - Dance With Me

Le Youth releases Dance Sith Me. The track skillfully re-imagines 90's titans like TLC and Jermaine Dupri. It's fascinating that this electro-sun track takes samples from TLC's 'No Scrubs'. It is a song all about rejecting a scrub and, by extension, well, not dancing with them. But Dance With Me is so infectious that even scrubs will get some love on the dance floor in Le Youth's cut. If you love the track and could use a dub step version, as we did, head over to the Le You Facebook Page.

Ditt Inre - Manljus

Stockholm duo Ditt Inre release Manjilus. The track is a rush of sensations. It begins with a sounds like a swell of voices, all scurrying underneath the instrumental, before one baritone voice rises above the rest and mournfully guides the rest of the track. It's pop with power and powder, a deep joy that bends backward on itself and will leave you seeing redwop. Ditt Inre's En Varld I Brand EP is due out May 29th on Cascine.

The New Division-Violent (Future Unlimited Remix)

The New Division's Violent gets a remix from Future Unlimited. Despite it's title, the remix is unmistakably gorgeous. The synths swim to a backstroke pace, the vocals are far off and a comforting overseer. Everything is lovely. It may be Violent, but it's violence in violet.

Violens - True [Album Review] + All Night Low [Video]

As the Violens kick off their Spring Tour (dates below), we thought we'd give you a little look into their upcoming album True. Listening to Violens' True it may come as no surprise that much of it was recorded between gigs—that indeterminate haze between the bright, bus-size bulbs of showtime, and the small, faded night lights of tour bunk beds . 'Dreamy' is a word that gets thrown around a lot when discussing Violens, but it seems like a deferred word to use: Violens takes bands like Sonic Youth, Pale Saints, and Cocteau Twins as inspiration, but True finds them hitting their own groove, able to catch whatever hits their ear, take it in, and bring out a refreshing spin. True is more desaturated LP. The LP is still thoroughly 'dreamlike' for ardent Violens fans, but the LP is more urgent. If someone is dreaming to the menacing sounds on interlude 'Lavender Forces' and reverb rocker 'All Night Low', they are likely dreaming nothing you want to know about.

On 'Every Melting Degree', the singer intones "When did you switch accelerated states"? The listener feels the switches on True, the switches from light to dark, Beach Boys to Bauhaus, but the transitions are seamless. 'Lucent Caries', the other interlude, is a superb example: The track begins as a gothic folk kind of melody. The guitar plucks create a swirling, singular scene. But only moments later, the guitar plucks begin to recede, and we hear an incoming drone. Faint echoes at first, but then we drop into a complete drone textured treasure that is a fitting companion to 'Lavender Forces'. The connections between tracks feel intuitive and inspired. True is a true album: Each song has its own vitality, but none feel as if they could exist without the others, and without the exact order they were placed in.

In stretching their sonic and thematic outreach, Violens have come closer than ever to home. If life's arc is made up of the things that happen the most, and a dream life is made up of the most that can happen, Violens succeed in finding a rich space—and, dare I say, possibility of life—between the two. True is out May 15th on Slumberland Records. Go with the vinyl when you pick up True. Violens' own Jorge Elbrecht has heard the test version, and it is 'far superior'. Believe him.


Preorder Violens' True on directly from Sumberland Records.

 

Violens Spring Tour Dates: 

5/03/2012		Philadelphia, PA		Johnny Brenda's w/Lower Dens
5/04/2012		Washington, DC		Rock & Roll Hotel w/Lower Dens
5/05/2012		Baltimore, MD		Otto Bar w/ Lower Dens
5/16/2012		New York, NY		Le Poisson Rouge (Album Release Event)
5/31/2012		San Francisco, CA		Cal Academy of Science with Weekend *
6/03/2012		Los Angeles, CA		Part Time Punks at The Echo
6/14/2012		Toronto, ON		Horseshoe Tavern (NXNE)

Twin Shadow - Five Seconds

Twin Shadow releases a lean and deliciously splenetic cut from his upcoming album, Confess. In an interview with Stereogum, Twin Shadow states that the upcoming album will still focus on synthesizers, and the rhythm section will be the biggest difference. The sounds will depend less on drum machines, and more on sampled acoustic drums. Five Seconds finds Twin Shadow taking a strong next step from his last album Forget, and forging ahead with this frenetic New-Wavey track. We can't wait for Confess.

Blood Orange - Champagne Coast (Video)

Blood Orange release a video for Champagne Coast. The video takes a real dip into the uncanny valley. It looks like a fireworked combination of The Sims and the vortex of a Ryan Trecartin film. The song itself is a piece of energetic indie pop, plum full of influences from around the globe. Perhaps the only way to fully encapsulate them all was to visualize the song playing in an alternate reality.

Tennis - My Better Self (Official Music Video)

Tennis shows us their official music video for My Better Self. The song is a wondrous, poppy track typical of Tennis, and it's appropriate that the video finds the band performing in an maroon-tinged  bar worthy of a Twin Peaks set. Things get surreal: an old man, out for a late afternoon drink, sees visions of men run across his eyes. The serene lead singer of Tennis breaks into a b-girl dance routine (complete with back up dancers). Splendidly weird. Get their new album, Young and Old, over at iTunes.

Deadmau5 - Superliminal

Deadmau5 drops a 'superliminal' track. The title could be seen as a contradiction. How can something be super barely perceptible? But that's the strength of the track: power in restraint, balance in excess. The track is an intriguing rough draft---brimming with moments of dark, cascading electro brilliance that makes up eagerly await the final product. Deadmau5 comments that the track still 'needs some bells n whistles n edits and filterwork and some other crap. But, this should do the horde for now.

Tears for Fears - Head Over Heels (Virgin Magnetic Material Remix)

Virgin Magnetic Materials brings us a wonderfully contemporary remix of classic Tears for Fears cut, 'Head Over Heels'. The instrumental here is a nudisco flourish, of the 22nd century sort. From Virgin Magnetic Materials to 'Ye, Tears For Fears has proven a remarkable source material for some of the most interesting tracks we have today. This Head Over Heels may be the best re-imagining of the shining bunch. Enjoy.

Busy P Hard Miami 2012 Mix

Busy P releases a raucous, live mix tape recorded straight from Grand Central. Grand Central on the sunny side of Miami, not the streets of New York. Quite possibly our favorite set from our weekend at WMC. The mix includes live spins and remixes of cuts from titans like Justice,  Aphex Twin, and Kavinsky. Rarely is an hour long mix tape free from some lulls, but it's safe to say all the high high's are here and roll right into the next. Set aside at least hours for this tape.

Purity Ring - Obedear (Video)

Purity Ring releases a video for their lead single, Obedear. The video is an assemblage of images that slowly cohere into one. The visual piecemeal technique is refreshing, and splendidly in fitting with the intricately electro-bopping single. Things build up to a climax, and if the sight of blood makes you squeamish, end this one early. You'll be keeping the melody for a long time, anyway. Purity Ring's new album, Shrines, is out July 24th on 4AD.

A Meeting With Keep Shelly in Athens (Live at DC9)

Scotch and Murder took the trip down to DC to catch Keep Shelly in Athens at DC9. If you have been following SMM for a minute now, you know that KSiA is one of our absolute favorites. To make this even better, we were blessed with the opportunity to chop it up with RΠЯ and Shara P before the show.  After wrapping up their US tour the quartet heads back to Athens for a brief four-day break, only to start up their EU tour (dates below). Upon its completion, KSiA welcomes some time off to put together a full-length album. We also got news that Sarah P plans to sing on an upcoming project with The New Division (another SMM favorite). Oh, and for all of you who have been wondering about the story behind the lovely name “Keep Shelly in Athens” (we know this was on your mind): The name is a tribute to RΠЯ's hometown, the Athenian suburb of  Kypseli\. In a effect a pun on the outlying distric, Kypseli, Athens. Say it with the accent and you’ve got it. 

What impressed us most in our conversation with the members of Keep Shelly is their supreme commitment to crafting and sharing their own sound.  There is no infatuation with celebrity and fortune. Instead, the exposure is so much more about the exposure of a sonic ethos. It’s a mentality we would love to see from more artists. KSiA is creating something that is different, unique, and most of all their own.  If you enjoy it join them. Just as we did for their DC9 performance, and what a performance it was.

Where do we begin? The quiet confidence of KSiA shines. Front woman Sarah P has an alluring stage presence, almost like a smokescreen hiding something you’re not sure you want to find, but the vapors are slowly dissolving whether you like it or not. In spirit, she reminded us of the one and only baroque queen: Bjork. Sarah P has that same indefinable and ineffable spirit---one is never sure whether it is Cinderella or Cruella, a rose hip in the hand or a fist-full of blood. KSiA opened up with Hauntin' Me, an aptly named track that set enlivened the low level static in this listener and just about everyone else. The live rendition of Our Own Dreams was definitely a stand out in the set, with Ms. P singing her tender heart out over RΠЯ'Σ  very lethal beats. We were presently surprised to here KSiA dip into their Remix bag, performing their  reproduction of ABADABAD’s California Birds, something we rarely see any band do, especially live. It is a testament to KSiA’s fluid courage, and their inventiveness as the night went on. After playing our favorite KSiA track, Struggle With Your Self, we thought KSiA had done an extensively rich dive into their catalogue. But, we were elated to watch them gear up and offer another cut---and not only a stellar one, but a new one: Madman Love. We’ll let the tracks sound do the talking in time, but for now lets just say it’s one we’ll be remembering for quite a while. KSiA surprised us with their generosity and ingenuity, both on and off the stage. Cheers to Keep Shelly in Athens, and cheers to their post as the electric beacons in the unnavigable confines of listeners hearts and minds.  

Keep Shelly in Athens EU Tour Dates:

05/3 Paris, France Espace B

05/5 London, UK Camden Crawl

05/6 Manchester, Islington Mill

05/8 Glasgow, Nice n Sleazy

05/9 Dublin, Ireland Whelans

05/10 Cork, Pavilion

05/11 Brighton @ The Great Escape, The Guardian Showcase (venue tba)

05/12 Amsterdam, Netherlands De Nieuwe Anita

05/14 Gothenburg, Sweden Pustervik

05/15 Stockholm, Debaser

05/16 Malmo, Debaser

05/17 Copenhagen, Denmark Bakken

05/21 Prague, Czech Republic Club 007

05/22 Vienna, Austria Shelter

05/24 Luzern, Switzerland  Treibhaus *

05/25 Yverdon-Les-Bains, Switzerland  Amaigame *

Scissor Sisters-Only The Horses (Brodinski Remix)

Brodinski remixes Scissor Sisters' cool cut, Only The Horses. All the pretty horses are in a row here. A collage of chilled vocoders meld perfectly with a perfectly funky instrumental. Also one of our favorite album covers to date. The Scissor Sisters new album, "Magic Hour", will be out May 28th. Pre-order at  play.com.

Justice - On' N 'On (VIDEO VILLAGE Remix)

Video Village remixes Justice's "On'N'On". 

Foster The People-Don't Stop (Oliver Remix)

Get pumped up for Oliver's remix of Foster The People's Don't Stop. Oliver's trademark bounce adds some needed oomph to Foster The People. High energy, and more importantly, high-wire. The SoundCloud page cryptically reads 'Details coming soon!' We can only hope for more collaborations.

Theophilus London - Why Even Try (feat. Sara Quin) [Bloody Beetroots Remix]

Theophilus London's Why Even Try gets a new spin from Bloody Beetroots. Theophilus London often gets compared to Golden Age rapper Big Daddy Kane, and many have wondered when the disco vibes that were initially associated with hip hop would return. Bloody Beetroots brings the disco, and Theophilus brings the swag. The remix is an inspiring fusion of two genres that have distanced themselves from one another over the years. Welcome back.

 

Active Child - Hanging On (GRVRBBRS Remix)

Check out GRVRBBRS' ahgdcnwcasqvk (that means great) remix of Active Child's Hanging On. The remix boasts a splendidly warped and flashy instrumental that hugs the singers falsetto tight to its leather jacket. Active Child is currently on tour. For our New York readers, he is set to perform on May 10th and May 11th. Check out if he's coming to your area at the Active Child Website.

Simian Mobile Disco - Put Your Hands Together (Video)

Simian Mobile Disco and ISO-Studios produce a gorgeous geometric video for their track Please Put Your Hands Together. This is the second awe inspiring video the two have created with one another. The video is a tribute to the beauty of a clean shape. In this case, a immaculate triangle of form, function, and content. Round of applause. Pre-order their upcoming album, "Unpatterns", on Amazon.

Dear Europe, Love, Yacht

Dear Europe,

Hope this finds you well. If not, things are looking up. YACHT announces an extensive European tour--from Nates to Norwich, St. Gallen to Guimaraes. For info and tickets, please visit http://teamyacht.com/. 

Warmth & Love,

Scotch & Murder

 

Punks Jump Up - Mr. Overtime (Oliver Remix Instrumental)

Oliver releases an instrumental for Punks Jump Up's Mr. Overtime. The mix is punchy and heavy on the cuts. Let's say it does its work, and more. Chopped synths and serendipitously swirling effects are the game here, and their pumped up by a tracking bass that is as rapid as a rabbit hopping on a drum pedal. The track will be released by Moda Music on April 30th.

The Rapture - How Deep is Your Love (Video)

The Rapture unleash a video for their electric dance-hall cut, How Deep is Your Love. Strange, then, that the video greets you with three things unlikely to be found in any club: Tea, old women, church, and weird hats. Well, you might find weird hats in NYC clubs, but it's likely they aren't hats coiffed for Sunday Service and Saturday Derby's. Rarely have song and video treatment been so contrasted. This is The Rapture as Gospel and Savior.

Work Drugs-Coral Gables

From Work Drugs comes Coral Gables, a sexy and relaxed ode to the lively city southwest of Miami. Says Work Drugs: "This is a a document of events taking place between May 23rd through June 5th, 2007. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." Mysterious, and mellow.

Theme Park-Two Hours (RAC Mix)

Enjoy this bright, graceful RAC remix of Theme Park's Two Hours. The track breezes by on a circling, sunny instrumental. Spritely synths, a elated vocalist who stretches every ounce of 'feeeeeeeeel'. Words feel like a unnecessary shade over this pure of a track. A light, clean joy.

Jesse Ruins - Dream Analysis (White Wear Remix) (Video)

Raiding the drawers of the unconscious is dangerous business, especially when its as seductive as White Wear's remix of Jesse Ruins' Dream Analysis . The track follows the dream-haze route, until a twangy guitar joins mid party and takes us somewhere else. Later a celeste sounding effect layers, and a scratching synth is not far behind. The track is so extensively layered that it is perfect for both Oedipus cliff dives and for walking under Freud's umbrellas. At its finest, Dream Analysis really does resemble analysis at its finest: movingly fluid on so many different levels.

Jesse Ruins - Dream Analysis (White Wear Remix) from RGB Forever on Vimeo.

Purity Ring - Obedear

Purity Ring releases the ricocheting Obedear. The track boasts a minimal-inspired club beat, and it's replete with a hypnotizing bleep. The vocals are pixie--and pixilated. The top Youtube comments reads: 'I just licked my headphones.'  For once, a Youtube comment makes a weird kind of sense. Obedear is strange, and sour. Obedear is off of Purity Ring's debut album, Shrines, out off 4AD on July 24th.

The Magician - MagicTape Twenty-Two

The Magician releases the rhythm for the 22nd time. It still feels like the first. Highlights abound, but this listeners favorite has to be the power breakdown at the 32 minute mark. It is when electro gets electrified and the rare gets rarefied. Keep 'em coming, The Magician.

Zambri - Hundred Hearts (Video)

Zambri releases a video for their irresistible dream-trip pop hop song 'Hundred Hearts'. If that seems like a lot of genre tags, it's because this song is genuinely hard to pin down, in the best way. At times it takes the best of shoegaze without ever looking at their shoes too long. At other times, the drums sound like the best of hip-hop boom rap. And the vocals, the vocals recall the best of 1960's french sirens. Is it any wonder that the video is so concerned with being a nomad with materials? Zambri's 'Hundred Hearts' will reach the hearts and minds of many.

Jupiter - One O Six (Bantaam Remix)

Bantaam remixes Jupiter's One O Six. The result is a delightful mish-mash of jungle groove and galactic  gutter. The song moves along at a brisk pace, and is bolstered by layers of warped synths. Every once in a while, a nice ticking effect comes in and rolls you back around the ring. Techno in total control.

Ladyhawke - Sunday Drive (Gigamesh Remix)

Gigamesh rolls out a stunning remix of Ladyhawke's Sunday Drive. The mix is a speedy one, and the vocals sound in a breathless race to catch up. Things don't let up on this mix. If the previous remix of Sunday Drive that we featured was the soundtrack to a rainy Sunday afternoon drive with the windows up, this one is the soundtrack to a cloudless 80 degree day with the top down. Gigamesh's remix  of Ladyhawke is out May 22nd on Modular Records.

Starfucker - Jackalope (Julius) (Van Mix)

Starfucker's Jackalope (Julius) gets the remix treatment from Vans. The song is appropriately fantastical, in fitting with the mythical animal that makes its name. Over a synth glittering and altogether limning instrumental, the singer delivers the most beautiful indecipherable sounds this side of MBV and Cocteau Twins. Remember the phenomenon where you play the record backward and you supposedly hear secret messages? This is a record that can be played front, back, side-to-side and still maintain its incomprehensible charm. Spin this one.

Foe - A Handsome Stranger Called Death (Video)

FOE releases a trippy and teetering video for the Bad Dream Hotline cut 'A Handsome Stranger Called Death'. The video finds FOE superimposed across galaxies and time zones. She's in front of Disney princesses, she's moving on a glitzy strip, she's scratching her head in front of the atom bomb. I'm a kid full of history, she sings, and we believe it. It takes an artist of true charisma and sheer presence to not become overwhelmed by these kind of images in the background, and FOE shines white and bright and center. She'll make her own history, thank you very much.

We also left you the Com Trusie remix to the track. One of our personal favorites. 

Ladyhawke-Sunday Drive (Scissor Sisters Remix)

The Scissor Sisters remix a cut from Ladyhawke's sophomore album, Anxiety. Few things are as typically distant from anxiety than a 'Sunday Drive', and there are few better answers to your worries. Sunday Drive, bolstered by a pretty piano line and rain washed vibes, is a song for wistful longing. Longing to escape, longing to go home. Longing to be in solitude, longing to be with someone.

Tommy - Tuned in to the Future [EP]

Tommy releases a 5 song EP, Tuned in to the Future. If the title trips you up a bit, that's ok. It's a trip to think about passively watching,well, the future. But music is a shorter pathway to sensation than television is, and listening to the sonic inventiveness of Tommy's EP will take you places no HD TV could. This synth-wave EP is perfect for the drive to 2pac hologram concerts, post-apocalyptic landscapes, flying cars, teleportation, and more.

Devin - Masochist (Video)

Check out the video for Devin's Masochist. The video is shot in pristine black and white, and puts you front and center with the dapper dressed, gnarly guitar Devin. Think Frank Black in Fred Perry. Masochist is a steamrolling punk ditty. It at times recalls the best of 80's college rock, and other times the bravura of Buddy Holly in a Vegas diner. We might take an ecstatic pain in replaying it over and over at the expense of doing anything else. It hurts so good.

Jonquil - Run (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix)

Keep Shelly in Athens remixes a cut from their touring mate, Jonquil. The mix is the haute-haze we've come to expect and adore from Keep Shelly in Athens. This remix of run, with its submerged vocals and lightly hanging overcast, sounds like the perfect song for when one hits the 'runners high'. It is a whole different zone, one that feels free of constraint and limits of elevation. Maybe KSiA should score the remake of 'Chariots of Fire'?

Flashlights - Slow Down (Slow Magic Remix)

FLASHLIGHTS 'Slow Down' gets the remix treatment from Slow Magic. 'Slow Down' is off FLASHLIGHTS' recent EP, So Close to Midnight, and Slow Magic stays true to the vibe of the title. Things are stunningly slow, expectant, and bubbling toward a burst. It's tempting to make a remix that ups the ante, and it's often assumed that this necessitates that it be loud. But Slow Magic moves their 'Slow Down' at an expertly tuned pace, slipping within and without crescendos and come-downs.

PLASTiC PLATES - White Light 55

Plastic Plates does their part in the Neoteric mix series, White Light. The White Lights series is about two things: music, and----and here's something you might not find on most mix tapes---spacing. Tracks are sculpted around space, and are given their maximum attention. And a warning: No Dance Music Here. The tape includes cuts from the likes of Talk Talk, Miles Davis, Nick Drake, and more.

Track List:

Talk Talk – Myrrhman
Miles Davis – Guinnevere
Stevie Wonder – Visions
Air – Alone In Kyoto
Dick Annegarn – Coutances
Tortoise – Ten-Day Interval
Jamie Lidell – Rope Of Sand
Al Green – Simply Beautiful
Herbie Hancock – Vein Melter
Sly & The Family Stone – Just Like A Baby
Nick Drake – River Man
Bill Withers - Grandma's Hands
Curtis Mayfield – Billy Jack
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Concrete Jungle

Hot Chip-Night and Day

Listen to Hot Chip's 'Night and Day', the first official single off their forthcoming album, In Our Heads. The track opens with a bass line that is a rubbernecking-friendly joy, and the track gets no less fun from there. We read one comment that said this record sounds like 'if Prince grew up on the south side of Thames'.  We would argue it more has the surreal zap of vintage Morris Day and the Time, plus the attitude on the south side of Thames. We could argue about the tracks precedent all day, but one thing is for sure: This is the jam for today.

Beach House-Lazuli (Video)

Beach House's 'Lazuli' is shot through with blue. From its track name (short for Lapus Lazuli') to its Tuesday afternoon low tide atmospherics, the song is built to be absorbed. 'Lazuli' is characteristic of the honeycombed delicacy that has bought Beach House so many rewards. Cymbals drift in and out, drum machines never stay too long, or arrive too soon. Beach House have said that their upcoming album, Bloom, will be their darkest, and the run-up to the album has the vibe of the calm just before the bright blue light.