Indietronic
Swedish Summer
Submitted by vodka ed on July 28, 2008 - 9:33pm.
Most people already know that the Swedes are world-famous for their blondes, meatballs and stores of consumer-assembled furniture. What they might not realize however, is that Sweden continues to be a major player in the pop world. Yes, the music of ABBA continues to be a worldwide juggernaut, with countless hundreds of millions of records sold, along with the success of Mamma Mia! on the theater scene and now on the big screen. But post-ABBA Swedish pop music has spawned plenty of other internationally successful bands - A-Teens (ABBA for kids), The Cardigans and Roxette to name but a few (not to mention the fact that chances are pretty good that the hot US chart-toppers you hear were likely penned by a Swede). So, on my recent jaunt through the Scandinavian wonderland, I familiarized myself with the next New Wave of Swedish Pop.
Now, on to the smörgåsbord of...Summer Breeze. Though not all of these songs originate from Sweden, they still keep with the overall warm, breezy theme.
01 Cloetta Paris - Did We Collide
This will appeal to fans of fellow Swede Sally Shapiro. For a more Italo Disco selection, check out the lead single Secret Eyes of Cloetta's debut album of the same name.
02 Annie - Songs Remind Me Of You
Due out in October, here's another one that has the same amped up Stacey Q feel as #1. Pop heaven.
03 Blank + Jones - The Night Starts Here (feat. Stars)
One of the rare occasions you'll hear a Trance artist on RobotSound, this number is off of Blank + Jones' new release, The Logic of Pleasure. Bernard Sumner also sings a track on the LP.
04 Bon Voyage - Monster
Bon Voyage is the new project from Starflyer 59 (Christian alt-rock) frontman Jason Martin and his wife. You might be familiar with Jason's brother, Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric (Christian synthpop). Praise!
05 Zeigeist - Black Milk
More Swedes here. The girl vocalist, Princess, sounds a lot like Karin from The Knife.
06 The Kid - Transient Dance
You can hear the New Order influence in this track from these fresh-faced goth-poptarts straight outta Gothenburg, SE.
07 Grafton Primary - Relativity
The debut LP from these Aussie Indietronica rockers will be out soon-ish. I hear some retro-futurism here [Human League, Gary Numan, New Romantix-era DMX Krew].
08 Morgan Geist - Most Of All
One of the less recent selections, this 2006 track features Jeremy Greenspan of synthpoppers Junior Boys. Disco-tastic!
09 Kuryakin - Still Here
The sunshine pop keeps shining on with this track from Kuryakin's soon-to-be-released EP.
10 Aprilsrain - Left Alone
Representing the Bay Area, Aprilsrain allow for some splendid indie pop enjoyment.
11 The Sound of Arrows - Danger!
All the Swedish Indie record stores had these guys playing on their stereos. Watch out for this hot debut!
12 Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning
This Kiwi girl is sure to keep you cool this summer. Some of her songs remind me of Luscious Jackson's disco-y stuff. Check the video here.
13 Air France - June Evenings
Some people are referring to this as Balearic Beat (what Ibiza Eurobots listen to after the drugs have worn off). To me, it's kinda like clubby Xymox from their later years.
14 Gentle Touch - Once You Used To
Easy, breezy, beautiful, Covergirl.
15 The Daysleepers - Release The Kraken
Venturing into Nu-Gaze territory, The Daysleepers hail from New York City. Luscious, ethereal indie rock.
16 Errors - Salut! France
Changing gears once again, these Glaswegian instrumentalists on Mogwai's label straddle the fence between indie and synthpop. Rest assured though. You'll still get your fix of Melodramatic Popular Song.
17 Jesu - Hard To Reach
Godflesh turned Nu-Gaze. Taking the name from the final track on Godflesh's 2007 swansong, Hymns, Justin Broadrick and friends have shifted into entirely new directions.
Jingle Bots
Submitted by dr™ on December 25, 2007 - 12:44pm.
While there's still a few hours left of Christmas (at least here in California), I thought I'd post a few more festive tracks to keep you feeling that holiday spirit. Some of these are from the Christmasasaurus Vol. 2 comp, so I apologize for giving you the same presents twice.
Tracks:
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Bit Shifter - Winter Wonderland
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Cold White Christmas
Saint Etienne - I Was Born On Christmas Day
Cocteau Twins - Frosty the Snowman
Au Revoir Simone - The Winter Song
Temp Sound Solutions - Dance of the Sugarplum Faeries
Me First and The Gimme Gimmes - Hava Nagilah (Gotta have at least one token Jewish song)
The Sonics - Santa Claus
The Crystals - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Cristina - Things Fall Apart (My pick for best Christmas song ever)
Sally Shapiro - Anorak Christmas
Signaldrift - Dripping Angels
Hai Robotto - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen First Noel
Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe (SMD Space Dub)
Seefeel - Spangle
Forged Prescriptions
Submitted by dr™ on July 8, 2007 - 9:49pm.Avoid Excessive Listening
Use Only In Moderation
Use With Caution: May Be Habit-Forming
May Cause Sleeplessness
Energy Drinks/Caffeine May Intesify This Effect
Coco Electrik - Sex Shooter
(We Are) Performance - Free Fallin'
Datashat - Don't You Want SID + How Does It Feel
Boys of Scandinavia - Bela Lugosi's Dead
Overproof Soundsystem - The Model
Busy P - It's More Fun To Compute
I, MySpace
Submitted by dr™ on May 12, 2007 - 3:00am.Discopunk Will Never Die
Submitted by dr™ on March 14, 2007 - 9:05pm.Today's mini-mix comes to us from Robotsound™ devotee Max, The Magical Sexual Mule [courtesy of Freqtronik]. More pop-alicious than what I usually serve up, it will please most Disco Punk constituencies [DFA-holes, Daft Punkers, Neu-Ravers, 3-letter band name aficionados, fans of "Pony" or "Club" groups], and should have you bouncing around in no time.
Black Leotard Front - Casual Friday
Dondolo - Dragon (Shit Robot Fire Breathing Mix)
Moving Units - Anyone
New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
The Sounds - Tony The Beat
MSTRKRFT - Easy Love
CSS - Alala
The Juan MacLean - By the Time I Get to Venus
Soulwax - NY Lipps (Kawazaki Dub)
ESG - Dance
MySpace Exploration
Submitted by dr™ on December 23, 2006 - 4:43pm.Late Models
Submitted by dr™ on November 22, 2006 - 12:26am.Now that I've presented material from one of, if not THE premiere electronic band of the last 25+ years, I think it's a good time to showcase some of the new(ish) talent on the scene. In all likelihood, some of you will already be familiar with a number of these artists; but if you're familiar with all of them, I'll know that there is someone out there who is more of an electrofreak than I am. In any event, take some time out of your hectic schedule and investigate these fine machine musicians:
Digitaria [Is that sort of like a Digital Cafeteria?]
Dcast Dynamics [new project from Shad T. Scott aka Gosub]
Mediengruppe Telekommander [For those who like their Electro punk-ified, German und Fukengruven]
Microthol [No, it's not a miniature menthol cigarette]
The Consumer [Aren't we all?]
Bitstream [Like Robotsound™, keeping the bits streaming your way]
Franck Kartell [This list's first French person]
Para One [This list's second French person]
The PEneLOpe[s] [A Finnish French band]
Electrosexual [Best.Name.Ever]
Millimetric [French dude + EBM = Hellyes]
Goudron [THIS is machine music. Proper.]
Jun-X [Fuck, another French person?! Okay, next list won't be so Francophilic, I promise]
Limbertimbre [Mad rockin' glitched-up industrial electrofunk]
DJ Zimbardo [Shout out to Qwiki for the heads up on what he calls glitchyacidelectrotechhouse]
New Young Pony Club [Not quite Robot music, but worth the mention nonetheless]
Chromatics [Technically, another "proper" band, but these guys fit well into the Robotsound™ aesthetic]
Mirage [Nu-Italo from Jersey City, NJ [?!] - Cool blog here]
Le Mans [Gotta represent at least one local LA act]
Black Replica [from the universe of H. Mueller. Anyone care for some Electro-goth?]
