this is like a flashback…

“I’m coming round and now my vision is so clear
If I could change my state of mind then I would disappear
The love I get from you is something I can’t chance
And I could let you slip away without a second glance“

Oh hai, Calvin! You’re back! Third time’s the charm, eh? Your new record Ready For The Weekend has been playing at Chez Billy for quite a spell now and I must commend you on this most solid choice of a third single. Continuing in the arena electro you’ve been on, Flashback does not deviate from that path one iota. One part kitchen-sink drama and two parts non-stop fist-pumping action and all fire. It’s hard to say which track is my personal favourite from the record but it’s safe to say that so far you’re coming up aces in what songs are being tapped for mass consumption and I do believe the masses are consuming! By the way, I better see some free tix coming my way when you come back to New York. These glowing words of praise don’t come cheap, ya know?

Your pal, Billy!

Calvin Harris on MySpace
Calvin Harris on Facebook
Calvin Harris on Twitter

“Flashback” by Calvin Harris, taken from the Ultra release, “Ready For The Weekend”

could you wanna take my picture?

Always nice to hear some new tunes from a band with a very bright future ahead of them. You may remember I first mentioned the delectable British electro-pop band Heads We Dance back in May and took quite a liking to their bouncy poptastic sound. The band is now back with what they surely hope will be a smash hit in the UK and beyond. This one is called Take My Picture. Take a little bit of dueling male/female vocals a la Don’t You Want Me?, add a foot-stomping chorus and you’ve got a song worthy of being called a single. I’m personally rooting for these guys to get their name out there and it goes without saying that you should do the same. The single is out 14 December via Gash Digital. Need I say more?

Heads We Dance on MySpace
Heads We Dance on Facebook
Heads We Dance on Twitter

“Take My Picture”, taken from the forthcoming Gash Digital release, “Take My Picture/After Dark”

whatever happened to the muslims?

I’ve recently made a revelation.

Most, if not all, of the music I’ve been covering in this here blog has been focused primarily on artists and bands who call New York or England their home. Naturally there have been some rare exceptions along the way but for the most part I’ve been kind of predictable. Allow me the opportunity to make a slight deviation from my tried and true formula. I’d like to present a pretty spiffy indie rock band that’s been making some waves for the past year but is about ready to drop their eponymous debut that will be sure to rattle the senses soon enough. The best part? They’re not from New York and they’re not from London or Manchester either!

Nope. The Soft Pack come to us from the sunny and very friendly confines of San Diego, California. When this band first started out, they were known as the Muslims. Personally I thought the Muslims was a great name and rather ballsy given the current climate we find ourselves in. Unfortunately since we tend to share our planet and on a more micro level, a music scene with bumbling and stumbling idiots, the Muslims thought it better to change their name. Luckily for us, the name change was not followed by a change in sound. This quartet brings their tightly wound and rapid fire assault on the nerves in the form of The Soft Pack, the self-titled debut via Kemado Records on 2 February.

If you’ve happened to catch these guys in concert in the last couple of years sharing the stage with the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, White Lies and Friendly Fires, you know that the songs are brief in length but simply blistering and full of panic. Just the way we like it. The lead-off single taken from the record entitled Answer To Yourself should serve as a more than acceptable introduction to the band for those previously unaware. Very accessible. Very poppy and oh so hummable. Is 2010 the year of the Pack? I dare say we are about to find out…

The Soft Pack on MySpace
The Soft Pack on Facebook
The Soft Pack on Twitter

“Answer To Yourself” by The Soft Pack, taken from the forthcoming Kemado release, “The Soft Pack”

there’s something in the water in manchester…

“Late at night, I’ll run through the streets and empty corridors.
I’ll find my counterpoint, inside a red room locked behind a door. Behind a door”

I mean, really. It simply is not fair. There must be more musical talent in Manchester, England than the whole US eastern seaboard. You know the names that have come out of that town from the past and the present so I won’t waste your time here. This post’s aim is to add another name to the Mancunian legend. Today I bring you Delphic! A talented quartet whose sound aims to bring back the point in trance music by bringing it back to basics. To be more specific, theirs is a sound that simply reduce the trance form down to its most basic element: a song. They take it from there with that mindset and create something very pure and very enticing to the listener.

This is quite evident here in the song featured here which is their debut single entited Counterpoint. It’s a song Paul Van Dyk could have written if he focused more on songwriting instead of his grandiose epic journeys. It really is a beautiful song to say the least. The production is right on. The arpeggios. The pristine drums… I could go on but you simply have to listen for yourself!

The band’s debut record Acolyte is due to hit stores in January via Polydor. It’s a safe bet this will be a early highlight of the year in music 2010.

Delphic on Facebook
Delphic on MySpace
Delphic on Twitter

“Counterpoint (Live in Amsterdam 19.02.2009) by Delphic. Original version featured on forthcoming Polydor release, “Acolyte”

la roux’s winter wonderland…

 

La Roux. Ben and Elly. Winter 2010. Tour.

Need I say more?

1/31/10 Boston,MA @ Paradise Rock Club

2/1/10 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
2/3/10 Quebec City, QC @ Imperial

2/5/10 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis

2/6/10 Ottawa, ON @ Capital

2/9/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Voyeurs

2/10/10 Washington, DC @ 930

2/11/10 New York, NY @ Webster Hall

I am so there at Webster Hall. Will you be there?

“Colourless Colour” by La Roux, taken from the Cherrytree/Interscope release, “La Roux”

xmas with neil and chris…

 

Sure to cap off what has been one of the best years in their storied history, the Pet Shop Boys are set to release a Christmas EP simply titled….Christmas. It’s due to be released on 14 December in the UK with no US date at the moment and includes five tracks. One of these tracks definitely should be interesting to fans who hadn’t had a chance to see the Boys perform it during the Pandemonium tour…

It Doesn’t Often Snow At Christmas (this one’s been around since 1997 but it’s been re-recorded for this EP)

My Girl (Madness cover)

All Over The World (new version)

*Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing (The former is the highlight here. A studio version of the Coldplay smash and produced by Stuart Price)

My Girl (Our House Mix)

Needless to say, this is a must buy.

who stole your heart in 2009?

Yes friends. The time is nearly upon us. 2009 definitely came and went pretty qucikly, wouldn’t you say? It began with such promise and I dare say to this point, it really has been the best year for music that I can remember in quite a while. That said, it’s about the time when all of us music geeks start looking over our I-Tunes libraries and cd collections and pick out the records that made our hair stand on end over the past year. I’ve got a few records that immediately come to mind and I’m sure those of you who have paid attention have a pretty good idea as to which ones those are.

I plan on doing a best of list very soon but I’m also interested in hearing from all of you, my dear friends. Let’s make things interesting, shall we? I’m interested in doing a readers’ best of. Go ahead and send me your top 20 records of the year between now and December 1st. I will tally up the submissions and post the final poll when I post mine. Do it up and it should be lots of fun.

A word to the wise. Any votes for Lady Gaga will immediately be disallowed as will the rest of your submission. There has to be some quality control here.

 

can you dance? yes…you can.

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? When two titans collide and a magic so organic and so perfect simply happens and you’re left to wonder what ever kept these forces apart in the first place? Don’t believe me? Grab a listen to U Can Dance, the blistering new single from two of the bigger gigolos we’ve come across in recent memory. On one side, we’ve got International Dee Jay Gigolos headman himself, DJ Hell and the incomparable ladies’ man of glam, Roxy Music icon Bryan Ferry. It’s fair to say the resumes of each artist is known to all of you so it really doesn’t bear repeating here. The single is release in January and will feature remixes from the likes of Carl Craig, Simian Mobile Disco and Tim Goldsworthy from the DFA crew. Heavyweights remixing heavyweights. It’s only right.

The song itself is a banger. A nine-minute mindbomb that dares you to be satisfied with a simple headbop. Oh no no…this one will get you out of your computer chair and into the club as you slither and sway to the groove. This track is hot.

DJ Hell on MySpace
DJ Hell on Facebook
Bryan Ferry on MySpace
Bryan Ferry on Facebook

“U Can Dance” by DJ Hell featuring Bryan Ferry

who are you and what have you done with julian casablancas?

First things first. I am a Strokes fan. Check that. I am a HUGE Strokes fan. Dating back to the first time playing at Arlene’s Grocery way back when then getting my filthy mitts on The Modern Age EP, I was smitten with this band who quickly became the pride of New York and the purveyors of what would be the return of new wave whether they liked it or not. With the ten year anniversary of the seminal debut record Is This It approaching, it’s about time we get an idea of what lurks in the mind of the face of the franchise so to speak in Julian Casablancas. I was never particularly taken by the Albert Hammond Jr. records and Fab’s Little Joy project left me cold but when the news came about Julian taking a dip into the solo pool, I was interested.

If you, like me, were bored to tears by that Converse-sponsored earache-inducing error-in-judgment involving Julian, Santigold and Pharrell called My Drivethru, I can say for certain it’s okay to place your faith back in the shaggy-haired one. It appears Julian has traded in his lo-fi sound for a cleaner, much more polished electronic pop sound that almost sounds like he’d been listening to the first Electronic record and been taking notes. Needless to say I am highly in favour of the first track taken from Julian’s solo debut record Phrazes For The Young called 11th Dimension. For most, this would be considered quite a change in direction in sound but here it seems to suit Julian just fine.

The record is due out 3 November via Cult/RCA and you can be sure there will be a review so before I waste more space waxing poetic over this track, let me simply say that it’s quite specatacular and you should play to your heart’s content over and over. By the way, New York City cops still aren’t too smart.

Julian Casablancas on MySpace
Julian Casablancas on Facebook

“11th Dimension” by Julian Casablancas, taken from the Cult/RCA release, “Phrazes For The Young”

these girls fall like dominos…

“As soon as I love her it’s been too long

And I really loved breaking your heart
These silver apples will shine on I was wrong
The hardest love has the coldest end”

From London with love comes The Big Pink. A brash duo consisting of Robbie Furze (vox, guitars) and Milo Cordell (keys) who’ve arrived with their recently released debut record A Brief History Of Love (4AD) to remind us all that nothing can summon up varying degrees of emotion than love.  With their booming drums combined with a love of dance music, this duo is blowing up in a big way in the UK and it’s only a matter of time before they invade the States. While it’s a safe bet the greater masses will probably pay them no mind, those of us with a pulse and a brain will find The Big Pink to be the first big band heading into 2010.

Dominos thus far would rate as my favourite of the three singles released to date.  I simply can;t enough of the deadly combination consisting of head-pounding drums and killer fist-raising chorus. This, friends, is what you call an anthem.

The Big Pink on MySpace
The Big Pink on Facebook

“Dominos” by The Big Pink, taken from the 4AD release, “A Brief History Of Love”