Danger! Danger!

Ka So Re

Ka So Re, Juuso Malin, is a Finnish producer and now a real multi-instrumental live-band with the new addition Henri Seger joining the band.

Their musical approach used to go under the name “Skweee”, it was exclusive for the Nordic countries, which was a pretty much a cooler word for electronic funk/soul. The genres and name-tagging aside, this was a really  interesting phenomenon and offered a fresh style to the club-scene. It might even have played a big part in influencing what we now refer to as “blog-house”,  but I’m just snow-balling here.
This in turned spawned a lot of producers on the Finnish electro-scene like Eero Johannes, Lax Röda (this guy might be afk), Hannulelauri (these guys might be a bit more to the retro-scene though) and Mesak (They all might even hang out together as far as I know). Anyway, a lot of good shit started popping up like mushrooms on the scene.

The influences range from French house to 80′s New-wave, so we know this is right up our alley. Think of them as a Finnish Breakbot if you will.

As summer is almost hear in the Nordics there ain’t nothing better than some funky tunes to ring in the heat. Ka So Re is about to release their sophomore drop after Petite entitled Bunnies on the 9th of June through Gaea Records, you can get it, and you should, from Juno and with every Skwee release there’s also a vinyl to accompany it, you can get that one from Record Shop X.

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KA SO RE – Bunnies

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KA SO RE – Bunnies (Helsinki 78-82 Remix)

Anoraak

A new track from Anoraak, where to begin? In my opinion Anoraak was The King of the 80′s revival and the Valerie scene, actually he still is. From all the tracks in the key of Valerie-esque and the style that it produced, Anoraak always stood out as a voice of reason and individuality both in the sense of musical approach and visual. Ehemm.. Like a lighthouse in the wast sea of mimics and the ones who admire it, this light would never be changed by the monolithic waves crashing on the shores, trying to break it’s purpose and reason.

I’m sorry, it’s easy to get lyrical when it’s Anoraak.

This is the French producers latest creation, and it is amazing. It’s easy-going, it’s romantic and honest. Let the remixing commence/blog-wars begin.

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Anoraak – Above Your Head(via Anoraak newsletter)

Cassette Club

Oh, I first thought that was a Kitsuné single, silly me.

Cassette Club have been one of my favourites (yeah yeah I know I have a lot of favourites) lately, they have that special touch of soul and electro that just melts in my ears. Hard to resist really. It’s elegant, dancy and, the tag that the critics use for them, electrosexy. It’s a pretty accurate description I may add.

So, this is NOT a Kitsuné release, even though the graphics indicate something similar, it is in fact a production dropped under Eye Industries. And it features, as above lists, remixes by Quinten 909, Livian, Algeronics, Beaumont and Bestrack. I believe the readers of this blog are familiar with the latter two in the remix-line. And we know we love them both equally. Genius stuff as always.

You can listen to the original by Cassette Club here, which is a track worthy of buying this release already, and buy the full EP from Beatport.

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Cassette Club – 4 Me (Bestrack Remix)

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Cassette Club – 4 Me (Beaumont Remix)

Microclinic

GianLuca is a man of many faces and projects, but I’m not mentioning any of the others ’cause I want us to keep our eyes on the price.

Microclinic is the newest project that have spawned from the creative mind of GianLuca, and this music stands well on it’s own. His new Shield EP is packed with genres left from right, but keeps the professionalism and your interest in it intact, it doesn’t get dull is what I’m getting at. It jumps from deep-house and drum n’ bass to chill-wave.

But the song that immediately caught my attention was the title-track Shield which was leaning towards the more chill-wave genre, which is a melancholic and hauling track, it has a pulsating rhythm that it close to hypnotic with a layer of grainy soft distortion. The desperate vocals in the background just makes its characteristics shine more through and make it fresher than a strawberry ice cream on a hot summers day. But I want to stress that this isn’t happy music, it’s mysterious and cunning.

You can listen to the full EP at Soundcloud.

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Microclinic – Shield

Futurecop!

It’s been a while since we heard anything from Futurecop!, over at this camp anyway, might be the heavy touring and stuff. I just felt like they had a new remix or original every week some time ago.

This track, the original by The Whip, was actually featured on the 2007 compilation of Kitsuné, so it’s quite old in the blogosphere. But nonetheless, it was a catchy tune and still works well.

The remix by Futurecop! is what you’d expect from these pioneers of the 80′s revival, it’s blasting and the feeling of retro is all over you. They will be releasing a EP called Baby, I Can Dance<3 in July and, lord answered, a full-length later this year. Keep the flag high Futurecop!.

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The Whip – Divebomb (Futurecop Remix)

Sunvisor

The summer has arrived in Finland and what better to celebrate the warm and lovely weather than by putting on some chill-wave!?

You may say what you want about this genre, but I’ve come to enjoy it, if not for the homage of sampling old classic tracks but then for the dreamy and grainy soundscapes that they paint up. Now, this wasn’t completely what I came here to say, but nonetheless let’s get to it, Sunvisor is a New Yorkian band consisting of Matt and Anthony and they have created the next big chill-wave band in my opinion.

But how did this genre start? Was it a reaction to the ever-so stale indie-scene? Was it a lack of depth in the electro-scene? What I do know is that they all use imagery that look like your moms photographs from when she was young, I like that.

Back to the music, as you might expect, it’s dreamy and flowing like a river of soundbeds. It’s beautiful and relaxing, it’s a perfect soundtrack for this summer. And if I may give an analogy to this musicstyle, if you combine Stand by Me, indie music and a polaroid, I think you have summed up chill-wave right there.

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sunvisor – sky dive

Muffin

Yesss, I’ve been waiting for this, more Muffin tracks. And I’ll begin by saying that I LOVED his previous material, and there’s no question that our audience did so as well judging by the response. People that follow this blog have good taste, I do declare.

Anyway, I got really exited about listening to his new stuff and if I may declare my appreciation by saying: ZOMGMYLORD!!!! At first I was hesitant to tooting the horn, but damn son, this tops the older stuff by a godamn landslide. The dreamy new-new wave just shoots out like a spaceship and blasts every star on the sky in bright neon lights. And I believe a lot of people will be as happy as me about downloading these to tracks, ’cause they are awesome. Enjoy.

And just a thing, I’m part of the Vice (magazine) blogging network, which is my favourite mag ever. And they teamed up with Intel for a creative platform called Creators Project and they have some epic cool stuff there, go check it out.

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Muffin – Astronaut Candy

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Muffin – Sunkissed

Alan Wilkis

What’s a music-bloggers purpose? Is it just self-validation and vanity? Or is it a true form of altruistic compassion of sharing music that otherwise wouldn’t see the light of day? I’m actually writing on my pre-thesis concerning the importance of mp3-blogs and the sub-culture around them, and touching a lot of these topics. Should we lie when we encounter a bad track or just post it and forget about it? I try to stick with honesty, as close as I can anyway.

So, let’s be honest and not just write some bullshit to stroke the egos of the artist and myself for getting the praise, that’s not really my role here. At least it shouldn’t be. (Sorry, been writing a lot lately about this issue). Alan Wilkis was like a single star on a dark sky, his music actually made me want to jump up and dance. It had that “kick” in it, that extra ingredient that grabs you. But as the many greats, there can be episodes of.. Not so great, and that’s a little how I felt about Alan‘s newer remixes. And I honestly believe he just had too much work on his hands, as in he did to many remixes in a short amount of time and that might have effected the class of them.

But in all fairness, I rarely write anything bad about the music I post, but this is different. This is of vital importance to me, this might sound cheesy but I need the magic of Alan‘s music. I need that music that always surprise you, that’s genuine and fresh.

And now with this Phantogram remix I feel as if Alan is back, it has the epic pop hooks,and creeps up on you like a 80′s synth hit. It’s fun and playful, and it makes you dance. Pure brilliance.

And to the guy who requested the LASERDANS Mixtape, 80′s Cop were kind enough to give it to me. It’s HERE.

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Phantogram – Mouthful of Diamonds (Alan Wilkis Remix)

Polygon Palace + Human Life

Human Life and Polygon Palace both one my favs, and here we have Polygon Palace remixing In It Together by Human Life. Would be cool to see Human Life remixing Polygon Palace after this, like a back-to-back thing.. ehemm.

This remix is thumping and thick, with the awesome vox intact which gives it that great melodic touch. You can even here some bit-pop stuff in here, or should I say C64 sounds. It’s fresh, it’s cool, it’s sexy.

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Human Life – In It Together (Polygon Palace Remixx)

Columbus – Lovemachine (Video)

This video was made by a Brit called Alex as a part of his MA degree, this is the reason I post this, ’cause the video is bloody brilliant. The name of the game is called Crystal Beach. I’m gonna hire this guy to do my video when I finally make a awesome track.. Some day..