You’d never think from their cheeky faces how busy these two have been. BeatauCue are Alexis and Mederic from Caen, who met at school when they were 15.
Now they’ve reworked the best track (in my opinion) on the excellent Tourist History album from Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work. The Tourist History album is released 1 March on Kitsuné and this track will also be released on the label as an official remix some time in the near future. Watch this space.
Their remix of Boy 8-Bit’sBaltic Pine had us hooked, and now the Run Hide Survive boys from Sheffield have kindly added a new mix to Soundcloud for your pleasure.
“Boy-girl harmonies, jangly guitars and wistful lyrics, which all combine to create a dreamlike soundscape” Young And Lost Club on Photobooth/Weightless, March 2009.
Pete, Laurel, Chris, Brooke and Danny are The ExLovers, and they’re about to embark on a UK tour, their first as headliners.
If you haven’t seen them live (which you might well have done, they’ve had a pretty gruelling touring schedule since they began in 2008) you should; Pete and Laurel’s voices produce an ethereal harmony and the band’s acoustic, stripped-down performance makes you feel like you’re part of something secret and intimate. Here’s a pretty stunning example of their work: ExLovers – Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)
We had a word with singer Laurel Sills after their superb gig at The Old Queens Head in Angel last month. Congratulations on a brilliant set on Wednesday – we loved it! Great atmosphere too, have you played there before? What’s your favourite venue you’ve played?
Thank you! We hadn’t played there before but we all really liked it, the sound there is really good and the crowd were lovely.
I think my favourite ever was Shepherds Bush Empire when we were supporting Pete Doherty. It is such an amazing venue, with the different levels rising up in front of you. It makes it feel quite intimate actually, I thought it would feel all huge and scary. Not like Barrowlands, which actually is very big and scary!
You got together in 2008 I think – how did the five of you start playing together?
We all knew each other through mutual friends. Pete had a load of songs and suddenly a tour booked. He was like, “I need a band!” So we got together and in less than a month we were on tour. It was pretty full on.
What was your favourite track of your set this week?
I really like our two new songs, Moth Eaten Memories and Starlight. The opener and the closer actually!
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Personally, I can’t stop listening to Bat for Lashes.
Would you consider other covers, now that Wicked Game has been such a success?
We have so much fun playing Wicked Game, I love singing it. I don’t think we have another one planned, Wicked Game would be pretty hard to beat but who knows?
What are your plans after the next tour?
Just get writing and recording I think. We just recorded some demos over Christmas and it got us all a bit excited about our new songs.
What is your next release?
Not sure at the moment, it will hopefully be quite soon…
Bertie Blackman first arrived on our radar towards the end of last summer. Having tackled another rather hefty clubbing weekend, a friend played us the superbly beautiful Mike Newman remix of her track Town of Sorrow. Here Newman has created a powerful introduction to both her musical talent and excellent remixability, as the soothing vocal breakdown sends you floating away before it returns with a simple, friendly house beat bringing you safely back down to earth.
Town of Sorrow comes from the 2009 release of Bertie Blackman’s third album Secrets and Lies (released in May 2009 on Forum 5 Recordings) which follows her 2004 folk-infused debut Headway and her ‘sexier’, ‘grittier’ 2006 album, Black.
Off the back of Secret and Lies Bertie Blackman secured a nomination for a J award for Best 2009 Album (through Triple J radio back in her homeland of Australia), sell-out tour dates in Sydney and Melbourne and festival appearances alongside UK pop sensations La Roux and Little Boots.
London now plays host to an imminent series of intimate gigs which begin tonight at one of my favourite small venues in the capital, Monto Water Rats:
As well as Town of Sorrow, album track Black Cats has been getting around on the remix roster. You can find the Shazam remix for free download on the Bertie Blackman website or the Calling in Sick mix right here.
Secrets and Lies is available to buy from all the usual places (iTunes/Amazon).
I generally enjoy Chromeo remixes, but find that they fall a little shy of the original. I mean, we all know Chromeo records are a lot to live up to. I was stopped in my tracks by the Midnight Conspiracy remix of Night by Night, with its stealthy bass and climactic crescendos.
When they met in 2008, trio Louis Kha, Mikul Wing and Graham Cody were already heavily involved with Chicago’s party scene; Graham was one half of production duo La Dolce Vita, and Louis and Mikul were co-founders of underground party collective Members Only AV. They met at legendary Thursday night indie-electro party Disappear Here (where they are still residents), and joined forces to begin production work, flexing their remix muscles first on the mighty Chromeo. Midnight Conspiracy, and the Delorean Nites monthly party was thus born.
I’m really excited to see forthcoming remixes of Esser – Headlock, MSTRKRFT – Breakaway and Crystal Castles – Crimewave.
Download their Delorean Nites mix here (Headlock remix 28 minutes in).
Since Kissy Sell Out made Quinten 909 and Mayhem’sCloser to Me his ‘Young Blood’ in August 2009 I’ve not been able to get this song out of my head. Vocoder: check. Chromeo bass: check. Disco synths: check. What more could you possibly want? A release, it seems.
Well the time has finally come. 20-year-old Quinten has been signed to Amsterdam’s GirlsLoveDJs and the record is scheduled for release in mid March. We caught up with Quinten 909 and asked a few questions.
What was the first record you made?
I started producing about 2 years ago. One of the first things I ever made was a track that sampled Joe Dassin’s Les Champs Elysees. Was pretty cool really… I should get back to that!
I always had a thing for the French house and disco sound. It’s so loud and funky, there’s no music like it.
I made the track Closer To Me with Mayhem – the American talkbox genius. He’s in the same league as Roger Troutman was so I feel really honoured to work with him. Then after about half a year we signed it to GirlsLoveDJs Records. They are pretty big in Holland, well-known mostly for throwing parties. They’ve just started the record label so it’s really cool to be a part of this. Tom Trago is remixing the track right now…
How did you end up making the Heartbreaker EP with the producer Leonardus?
I got an email from Leonardus one day that he liked my music and wanted to make some music together, so we tried some stuff out and very soon we both got an email from a Russian promoter that he was throwing a party on the Seychelles Islands and wanted to book us both. We flew in and spent a week relaxing and playing music on the island (also with Poka, the greek disco producer. Check him out). Those were the good times! So we kept touch and made this EP together.
What is your next project?
Before Closer To Me I have another release on GLDJs Records: the Sophia EP, with a remix from the Amsterdam DJ/Producer duo Homework and another remix by me. I also made a remix of Call Me for Silver Disco. This is coming out on Patrick Alavi’s label RoXour. Looking forward to this one as well!!
