Music

Listen Up - Bands to Watch Vol.2

By tim ⋅ March 29, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Portishead
This was the band that created and dominated the trip-hop scene alongside Massive Attack and others and they haven’t forgotten what made them great. The new album is more aggressive than previous releases with sirens and machine gun drums sounding like they could be from Prodigy’s repertoire, but Beth Gibbons’ haunting vocals still dominate and other tracks, such as Deep Water, would not have sounded out of place in 1930 folk America. Portishead have moved the trip-hop scene forward, taking the rhythm to forefront and making it relevant in today’s music backdrop.

Listen: Portishead - We Carry On [Stream via MOG]
http://www.portishead.co.uk | http://www.myspace.com/portisheadalbum3

MGMT
This project by Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngarden take inspiration from sources as diverse as Joy Division to Muse in their sound which has been described as “electro-psych.” The variation of their tracks is impressive, with ‘Kids’ offering soothing synths and restrained beats that could be from a children’s TV show, whilst Electric Feel is a belter that sounds like Cold War Kids would do if they had heard some porn soundtracks from the 1970s. Their sound spans the electric musical landscape of the past three decades and brings it all together in a modern pop coating.

Listen: MGMT - Electric Feel [MP3 via LeTouch]
http://www.myspace.com/mgmt

The Shoes
This French duo offers and sublime concoction of electro and rock with ‘Knock Out’, their first single, sounding like they have created the soundtrack for Rocky had the original been made in 2008 rather than the poorer sequel that cursed the cinema recently, which was then turned into a dance floor slammer by Tom Deluxx. They recently played cabaret Voltaire and have done remixing duties for Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and turned his laid back feel sound like a pre-clubbing warm up, and Primary 1 whose track, Hold Me Down, they have transformed into the catchiest bit of disco perfection I’ve heard for a while.

Listen: The Shoes - Knock Out [MP3 via Pinglewood]
http://www.myspace.com/theshoesmusik

Primary 1
I couldn’t mention The Shoes’ remix of Primary 1’s track without adding some info on this Londoner who has had been compared to Calvin Harris. The difference lies in the consistent quality of Primary 1’s pure pop disco tunes that would sound good coming from the stereo at any party and is going to get massive once it warms up outside and the summer happiness kicks in to people’s playlists.

Listen: Primary 1 - Love Letter to Metronomy (Heart Rate Rapid) [MP3 via Fucking Dance]
http://www.myspace.com/primary1

Boys Noize
Alex Ridha from Hamburg (aka Boys Noize) cut his teeth remixing everyone from Feist to Bloc Party, but also creates fantastic growling electro tracks of his own. Some of his work can sound a little hectic to some, but that just adds to the excitement his climaxes build. The lairy and aggressive qualities of some tracks aren’t for all occasions and audiences, but when he gets it write like on Feel Good (TV Off) its hard to find better to dance to.

Listen: Boys Noize - Feel Good (TV Off) [MP3 via The Blue Walrus]
http://www.boysnoize.com | http://www.myspace.com/boysnoize

Rogerseventytwo
This 22 year old Dutch producer is starting to spit out remixes of a quality that others are struggling to match at the moment, throwing his talents at those as varied as the Jackson 5 and Yelle making both into dance floor classics. He even managed to turn Daft Punk’s ‘Technologic’ into some aggressive electro from beautiful French elctro-pop of the orginal. You’ll be finding this guy on the b-sides of singles everywhere from now.

Listen: Yelle – Ce Jeu (Rogersevetytwo Remix) [MP3 via Trash Menagerie]
http://www.rogeseventytwo.com | http://www.myspace.com/rogerseventytwo