Speaking of A Touch of Class Records, they deserve some love too. Though they haven't been as prolific lately as their fellow NY nu-disco brethren DFA Records, they have been busy pleasing their wonderful lineup of artists, including The Ones, Scissor Sisters, Waldorf, and Services. If Waldorf, who up until now have been sort of a one-album wonder, release anything on par with "Your my Disco", they will blow Turbo or Modular out of the water. Just my 2 cents.
In the realm of modern trip-hop and ambient electronica, for lack of a better description, there seem to be a lot of imitators and very few genuine success's. The U.K's Matt Cutler, better known as Lone, is one of these success stories, and his recent release on Werkdisk Records, "Ecstasy and Friends", is a solid creative effort and a new direction for the genre. His marriage of old school funk and breakbeat samples, un-syncopated drums and stuttering, heavy bass breathe a new kind of deep house/funk that defies fair description. Best to just give it a listen.
French house producer and DJ Surkin recently released a new EP, "Silver Island", just out on Paris's Institubes Records. While not really comparable to his his first album, it is still a solid collection of tracks, with his signature tight vocal samples and sharp hi-hats, in the modern Parisian house style of fellow Institubes DJ's Para One or Bobmo. The standouts are probably the title track and "Easy Action", which are more akin to his earlier efforts. The single, "Fan Out", has some choice moments, but on the whole suffers from a bit too much compression and over-production. It really is amazing how much better a lot of electronic music sounds live, when the EQ is actually somewhere near correct, and not compressed into chopped off notes and stuttering bass. "Next of Kin" and "White Knight Two" are probably his best tracks to date, and when I saw him in Denver, he played a killer live set, based largely off these two singles. To those who doubt the artistic merits of knob-twiddling and record spinning, I would advise you to get plastered and see any of these fine DJ's at a venue near you. Surkin, who looks about 14 and hails from Southern France, is a force to be reckoned with behinds the tables.
Jonsi, of Sigur Rosa fame, recently released a solo album, "go", which, despite inconsistencies, is definitely worth a listen, as it run's the entire spectrum from warbling, surrealistic art-rock to more anthemic rock ballad's, all tied together by his unique vocal ability to sound both sincere and innocent. On XL Records, he will be touring the U.S this spring, and is actually slated to make a stop in Denver coming up on April 21st!!
Another band in the genre of ethereal, spacey nu-disco art-rock is Gothenburg, Sweden's 'Little Dragon', a four piece collective with a Japanese front woman, whose distinctive and beautiful vocals bring together an otherwise largely mediocre album.
Several newer artist's on European house labels Institubes and Boys Noize have caught me ear lately, the best being young Parisian producer Tacteel, who is on Institubes with his friend Benoit, better known as Surkin. Another DJ to watch is Boys Noize Records artist Strip Steve, whose new EP 'Delta Disco' is a superb foray into old-school sample based, clean house and tech. He has collaborated with German artist's including Siriusmo, David Rubato, and Boys Noize, and produced some really top notch material, great for live mixes or DJ set's.
Show Reviews:
Spoon and Deerhunter, Ogden, Denver Colorado, April 7th 2010: Let me start with saying I was pretty excited about this show. I mean, seriously, when do 2 great, widely acclaimed indie bands like this come to Denver, let alone tour together!? Judging from the buzz around the Ogden before this show, I could tell people were pretty stoked as well.
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