Music lover, video maker, and Texas native Tommy Boy put together a lengthy mixtape based around his admiration for what he calls the “love triangle” between Houston, Dallas, and Austin. The tunes were initially mixed at the behest of Vice UK. Tommy Boy’s Texas Love Triangle mix features the kind of awesomely weird synth-based tunes by the likes of Indian Jewelry and a huge number of the band’s esoteric southern peers, and is available to stream and download at 20 Jazz Funk Greats.
Montreal-New York funky R&B duo Chromeo is set to bring its special style of intricate synth work and club-ready dance beats on a tour of North America this summer. The 23-date stint will take Chromeo, with fellow NYC dance tune duo Holy Ghost!, along the coasts and through the midsection of the US, plus a couple dates in Canada. The Business Casual Tour kicks off less than a month before the release of Chromeo’s forthcoming third album, Business Casual, which will be released August 17 via Atlantic. Check out that album’s first single, “Night By Night,” here, and peep the stretch of tour dates below.
FRI 6/11 MANCHESTER, TN Bonnaroo (full set with Daryl Hall) *
MON 7/26 WASHINGTON DC 9:30 Club
TUE 7/27 PHILADELPHIA, PA Trocadero
THU 7/29 NEW YORK, NY Bowery Ballroom
FRI 7/30 BOSTON, MA House of Blues *
SAT 7/31 MONTREAL, QC Metropolis *
MON 8/2 OTTAWA, ON Capital Music Hall
TUE 8/3 TORONTO, ON Phoenix
THU 8/5 DETROIT, MI Majestic
FRI 8/6 CHICAGO, IL Lollapalooza *
SAT 8/7 MINNEAPOLIS, MN First Avenue
TUE 8/10 CALGARY, AB Flames Central
WED 8/11 VANCOUVER, BC Commodore
THU 8/12 SEATTLE, WA Showbox Market
FRI 8/13 PORTLAND, OR Roseland
MON 8/16 SAN DIEGO, CA House of Blues
THU 8/19 SALT LAKE CITY, UT Twilight Concert Series *
FRI 8/20 DENVER, CO Ogden
TUE 8/24 AUSTIN, TX Stubb’s
WED 8/25 DALLAS, TX Palladium
THU 8/26 NASHVILLE, TN Cannery Ballroom
FRI 8/27 ATLANTA, GA Masquerade
SUN 8/29 LOS ANGELES, CA Hollywood Bowl (w/ The Chemical Brothers) *
* No Holy Ghost!
Though you may know Londoners Mock & Toof better for their nu-disco remixes, “Suppress Your Feelings” throws those funky sounds out the window with grace and aplomb. Like a low-key Morgan Geist track, the piece features lush synths, distorted guitar bits, and a plodding beat that rides behind plaintive vocals somewhat reminiscent of the Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan. Though the lyrical content is rather depressing, “Suppress Your Feelings” has a regal flair made for gray days walking around Camden Town. Taken from the duo’s debut full-length, Tuning Echoes, which comes out this week.
It’s true: We’re not the only electronic-music pub that’s diggin’ Ariel Pink’s new record. Our friends at FACT have also jumped on the weirdo train and put up this mix by Ariel Pink’s band Haunted Graffiti. And it features a bevvy of wonderful obscurities, from Aarow to Warfield Spillers, so grab it here!
Brett Johnson might be from Dallas, Texas, but his latest EP, Things That Go Bump In the Night (Part 1) shows that he isn’t your typical southern gentleman. Nimble beats, wonky bass, and a lot of attitude are evident on the record’s four tracks, and with endorsements from Mark Henning, Ernesto Ferreyra, and Lauhaus rolling in, Johnson’s sounds will be brought to many more ears in the coming months.
Things That Go Bump In the Night (Part 1) is out now on Cynosure.
Tracklisting:
1. Southern Dandy
2. Southern Dandy (Dub Mix)
3. Sensual Summations
4. Sunny Dispositions
Mix a bit of Jamie Principle with some Shalamar-style ’80s synth-funk and you might have the first single from Jimmy Edgar‘s upcoming album, XXX. “Hot, Raw, Sex” features a nice main melodic loop, cutting synth stabs, and a bass that’s funky and deep enough to really get asses shaking. The vocoded vocal line is somewhat cheesy, but in the way that makes the listener smile, and with a killer synth break in the middle of the track, this small sin is easily forgiven. XXX will be released digitally on July 27, with physical copies due to appear on September 14.
If you happen to be in Europe, it would probably be a smart idea to head to Barcelona next weekend for the Primavera Sound festival. Along with big names like The Pixies and Lee “Scratch” Perry, the festival is also hosting some XLR8R favorites like Beach House, Moderat, Major Lazer, Tortoise, The Field, Delorean, Boy 8-Bit, Ganglians, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Liquid Liquid, and many others. To purchase tickets and check out the full line-up, which is staggeringly large, go to the event site.
Parisian synth-pop newcomers Chateau Marmont will see their second EP, Nibiru, come out on Institubes at the end of May. After a busy year remixing everyone from Ladyhawke to La Roux, the quartet toughened their sound to create a slightly darker, more dancefloor-friendly record. And with remixes from Gavin Russom and Oneohtrix Point Never on the way, it’s certain that the group will be heard in the club this summer. Check the tracklisting and the first single after the jump!
Nibiru comes out May 31 on Institubes.
Tracklisting:
01. Nibiru
02. One Hundred Realities
03. Monodrama
03. Heliochrome
The killer combo of Gudrun Gut and AGF, known together as Greie Gut Fraktion, do a fascinating rework of Palais Schaumberg’s 1981 classic, replacing angular bass and guitars with dubbed-out synths and high-frequency meanders. What’s most interesting about the duo’s work, though, is that they keep the original’s death-disco beat almost intact, and the vocal phrasings are equally similar to those of the original. There is only one major departure from Thomas Fehlmann and Holger Hiller’s masterwork, and that is the inclusion of bizarre and menacing English lyrics towards the piece’s end. It is safe to say, though, that this alteration does not taint the end product, which is a lovely updating of what should be a better-known song.
Canadian music maker Teen Daze took a stab at this song by fellow hazy pop outfit Twin Sister, from the NY band’s recently released Color Your Life EP. The young producer has been lumped in with the rest of that whole “chillwave” scene, and it’s easy to see why; his remix of “All Around and Away We Go” smothers singer Andrea’s nuanced vocal performance with blankets of squishy synth sounds, but not before he soaks it in a pool of reverb and places it atop of a muffled dance beat. (via Gorilla vs. Bear)
