Arsenal Plays Melvin

Despite being named after a London football team of exception quality, Arsenal are actually electronic producers from across the channel in Belgium. While not necessarily known too well outside of their native home, their latest single Melvin should go a long way to changing that.

Melvin is a lush, chilled, deep house inflected pop tune that features soulful vocals, euphoric synths, and an absolutely inescapable hook. The single is simply staggering and the vocals of Pigeonhead’s Shawn Smith take the tune over the top. The main original mix is then complimented with a series of remixes that come from Compuphonic, Bok Bok, and Diskjokke. Compuphonic does something to the song that essentially robs it of its seductiveness and instead makes the tune a haunting sparse nearly Tron-like piece. I'm not too sure of that remix, but the Bok Bok is a bit better and makes the tune all downtempo, dark, and awesome. It's still chilled but it's as if a dark cloud moved over the tunes euphoric rises. Perhaps the best remix of the bunch is Diskjokke’s who turns the thing into a disco anthem of epic proportions and keeps all the best elements of the original while slathering it in a glam overwrap that will set the dance floor alight.

Melvin is perfect introduction to Arsenal for everyone outside of Belgium and the remixes here only ram home the point further that these guys are good. That all being said, it's only a matter of time before the world knows who Arsenal is and this is where the recognition begins!

Apollo Ghosts Find A Landmark

Canada's Apollo Ghosts are far to chipper to be members of the undead or be disembodied and on their third album Landmark you can hear why. Armed with jangly guitars, jumpy pop songs, and Saccharine-ish vocals these guys are a ray of summer sunshine in the Great White North. The band claims that Landmark is the most domestic and personal album they have ever recorded and I guess that's to be expected when you lock yourself away in a cabin. Isolation aside the question remains is the album any good?

Landmark is good stuff and it's packed with so much effervescence and spunk that it can barely contain itself. And yet despite all the joy and fun, the band find time to occasionally restrain themselves from jumping out of the picture and slow things down with atmospheric tracks and near ballads. For what it’s worth, it's those tracks that give Landmark extra added depth and prevent the whole record from being fifteen minutes long. For the most part, however, Apollo Ghosts speed their way through Landmark with most songs clocking in at under 2:30 and go by so fast that the band seemingly reach the end the record out of breath. This is pop music in a hurry and it's quite good, energetic stuff that's almost too hard to keep up with.

With vocals that hark back to 80's Britpop legends, jangly and fizzy guitars everywhere, a sense of urgency and sharp pop hooks Landmark makes an impact rather quickly. It's short, sticky, and sweet and it's the kind of thing you want repeat servings of. So go ahead take another taste and I guarantee you, you won't forget this Landmark.

The Darcys Do Aja

In a strange twist of musicality, The Darcys have pulled one out of their collective hat and done something not usually done; they've taken an album, totally reinterpreted it, and essentially made it something different and unique to them. So what album did they do this to? Why no less than one of the most famous classic rock albums of all time...Aja. I know what you're thinking. "How could they? Why would they?" Well as it turns out the band had kind of hit a wall while trying to record their sophomore album and that's when the idea sprung to mind. As the band says it, "We did it because we could and because we thought we couldn't."

So while this might be sacrilegious to some Aja is about as far away from the Steely Dan version as possible. It's so far away in fact that Aja is about the closest thing to a dream that I've ever heard. The Darcys have reshaped the entire record as if they were drifting on willowy riffs seemingly created in a cloud and with vocals that seem as they were sung under hypnosis. If ever a record was strung out in heaven this would be it.

Fusing math rock technicality, dream post shoegazing ideals, and versions that seem to meander without any real similarity to the originals about them this whole thing sounds like a tolerable Radiohead album. The Darcys truly have made Aja their own here and while they may have been unsure that they could pull it off, I think by about the fourth or fifth song it becomes clear that they have. Sure the stuff is atmospheric and lost in a sea of post-rock but the melodies are still the same even if they’re lost amongst the swirls of guitar interplay. This is a mesmerizing effort that had someone not told you this was an entire album of covers you may never have known.

The Darcys are brave. The Darcys are good. When you combine those two factors with a legendary record something magical or tragic is going to happen. Thankfully, magic occurred and they renewed Aja's legendary status for another generation. One can't help but listen to this record and it's re-interpretation's and wonder if Steely Dan has hear them and if they have what they think of them?

King Tuff Gets Tough

Despite looking like the old Alternative Tentacles Records logo, King Tuff do not play extremely heavy post everything. Rather this cleverly disguised band sound like an amalgamation of the Apples In Stereo and a tipsy garage rock band in love with twangy guitar. Their self titled album is a throwback to the days of Elephant Six records and indie pop with a tarnished edge. It's rambunctiously good stuff that's a bit simple but so darn catchy it's impossible to forget.

With fizzy guitars, childlike vocals, and lo-fi hooks that claw their way into your sub consciousness King Tuff is the sort of record that would have made Olivia Tremor Control blush. This is twee-ish, sugary sweet stuff that's extremely danceable, stupidly fun, and so in love with being young that you can't help but look at the cover and think, "Well played King Tuff. Well played." There's simply nothing tuff about this record...unless you try to not be swayed by its indie pop powers. If you can imagine your favorite twee pop band with a bunch of Big Muff guitar pedals and amps turned up to 11 you know exactly where King Tuff are coming from. Fuzzy and fizzy pop doesn't get much better than this and King Tuff is a blindingly good blast of sunshine and fun.

Clearly a book, or a record, you can't judge by its cover I'd love to see the faces on people who bought this thinking it was going to be heavy only to uncover this pop treat. King Tuff are awesome at what they do, they're songs aren't overly complicated, they're sweetly addictive and a whole heck of a lot of fun to listen to. This is the perfect indie pop cap to the summer as it's packed with enough sunshine to blind a man. King Tuff may not be tough...but they are very good.

We Were Evergreen Love The Baby Blues

We Were Evergreen are not a group of conifers but rather a power trio who love electronics, indie pop, and frivolity. The band’s latest single Baby Blue could very well be the feel good hit of the summer as both the a-side and b-side are jolly jaunts through jangly, fun, and playful territory.

Baby Blue is a whimsical record that utilizes the power of electronics, the gentle nature of guitars, and enough sugary sweet boy/girl vocals to melt your heart and win you over. The single is an indie pop gem that much like an Evergreen will live forever. These guys are the kind of band that you suspect Stephin Merritt listens to when he's not playing with his own electronic box of toys and if it’s good enough for him...it’s most certainly good enough for us.

Thoroughly enjoyable, but depressingly short, Baby Blue is a very, very good single and is the sort of thing that’s well worth looking for.

Moby Gets Remixed

At this point in his career, I'm pretty sure that even your grandmother even knows who Moby is. The guy went from being an underground sensation to being the first proper techno superstar. He's seen it all, played it all, and done it all. He was among the first to realize that licensing songs was a quick and easy way to get material out to people who wouldn't normally hear it and make money of top of it all. Remember Play? Everybody does. While his worldwide fame has simmered down his productions have not. If you follow him at all you might remember that Destroyed was a return to form and as if by magic he's recently assembled Destroyed Remixed.

Ok, let’s just get this out of the way very quickly. If you like Moby then you most definitely need Destroyed Remixed. This thing is HUGE in the very truest sense of the word. There's so much material on this set that it's impossible to keep up with. If you were to try and burn it all to disc, you'd need no fewer than FIVE cd's to contain it all. How's that for a remix album? Exactly. Album filler this is not. This is a massive project that contains so much dance music so much earth shattering beat pounding that your feet will fall off. Everyone from Ferry Corsten to your mom makes an appearance here and does a heck of a job while they’re at it. Techno, house, trance, it's all here and in stock and it's almost too much to handle.

Destroyed Remixed is essential it's like a week of night outs all under one roof. If you like to dance, like Moby, or just like massive records then this is the collection for you. The phrase all killer and no filler seems a bit underwhelming when it comes to describing Destroyed Remixed but it would seem to apply. Go get this thing now.

Ladyhawke Has No Anxiety

It’s been a while since Ladyhawke released her rather impressive debut record. The world has changed a lot since 2008 back when she was princess of the scene. Ladyhawke (AKA Pip) seems to have changed a bit too. While her debut album was firmly rooted in 80’s revivalism (weren’t they all in 2008?) Anxiety, her latest, take a leap forward in time and ends up sounding like something from the mid-90’s in that Lilith Fair with a beat kind of way.

Don’t get me wrong Anxiety will not give you its namesake. This is far from a bad record, in fact I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that it might just be better than her debut. The songs here are huge, the choruses are gigantic and mind numbing and the songs are so laser sharp that they could slice to diamond. If you had to make a comparison imagine Garbage in a mix up with Goldfrapp and an FM Radio program director and you have what Anxiety is all about. It’s a bit aggressive, loaded with sugary sweet choruses that repeat into infinity, and a vocal style that would make Alison Goldfrapp blush. While there’s no, “Paris Is Burning,” to light the dance floor on fire, she doesn’t really need that this time around as every song is solidly written and instantly memorable. Pip has grown here quite a bit and you can hear her maturing into a beast of a songwriter on every song here and that’s impressive.

Ladyhawke is slowly becoming a monster of an artist. From electro pop to classic alternative and everything in between Pip embraces it all and is able to write anything around any of it. She’s blossomed into something more than a one trick pony and while diehard scenesters might have some Anxiety in the direction she’s headed the rest of us can thoroughly enjoy her journey.