I'm Scared Of The Americans

R&B infused indie rock outfit The Americans will release their six-track, sophomore EP on November 16th as a follow up to their self-titled debut.

The album was produced by lead singer / guitarist Charlie Klarsfeld and Sean Lennon, who also lends vocals to the forlorn yet optimistically sweet "Requiem" (which he produced). Each of the EP's six tracks organically build upon The Americans' debut EP, trading well-mapped lyrics for a more vulnerable set and collaborating with musicians like Daniel Merriweather and Mr. Jpatt (of NYC production team, The Knocks) to round out their already robust lineup.

Download: Diamond
Download: The Antidote
Download: Requiem

He's a Billenaire

Sam Billen is a busy man. Between raising his baby daughter, working full time at the University of Kansas, and running his new business, BillenSounds, LLC, he somehow finds plenty of time to dedicate to his passion - making music that moves. Since joining The Record Machine last year, he's released a good amount of music: a digital EP entitled Tokyo Sessions, a full-length album called Headphones and Cellphones, a Christmas compilation (including songs by friends Half-Handed Cloud, The Paper Route, and Andrew Conner from Ghosty), a solo piano album called Death of a Saint, and his most recent project, Removers, a constantly growing collection of his remixes and covers of the music that influences him. The Removers project is one that may turn out to be more epic than he first envisioned. As time passes, Sam has been finding more and more songs to 're-move', which in turn is leading to a consistent release of about one new Remover every month.

This time tackling a song from Shugo Tokumaru. This time Sam goes back to his Japanese influences. The first Remover he did from Japan was the cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra. This time he goes after a more contemporary artist in Shugo Tokumaru and finds great results. The song crescendo's and crashes beauty all around you. There are only going to be a few more Removers left as Sam is going to draw the project to close soon to start work on his next full length.

Download: Rum Hee

Next Stop Elephant and Castle

Elephant and Castle is a kaleidoscope of sound; twisting and grooving to create music all it’s own. Based out of Oakland, California, it is the project of musician/sound engineer David Reep. Starting with a love of old vinyl and the endless digging through old thrift stores, Elephant and Castle was formed with the idea of making modern music out of mostly vintage material. Similar to new bands such as Flying Lotus, The Samps, Free the Robots and drawing from the legends such as Madlib, Juan Atkins, and Derrick May, Elephant and Castle attempts to bridge the gap between cheese and soul.

During time spent living overseas as a youth in London, England, David absorbed the early 90′s electronic scene as well as the explosion of Britpop. There he became obsessed with learning the guitar, eventually leading to him picking up bass, keys and drums. Upon returning to Houston, Texas for high school he was primed for the booming rave scene, seeing many of his heros spin vinyl in forgotten warehouses. After moving to California for college, he started the record label Third Culture Records and continues to dedicate his time and effort to support new artists.Elephant and Castle’s debut release, Analogue EP will be available August 31st via Third Culture Records.

Download: The Look

This Machine Eats Tapes

Super fun Eats Tapes are a duo that animate antiquated synthesizers and coax them into creating crazy bleepy bliss. The do this by taking things that were salvaged, fixed, fetishized and formerly fashionable machines and returning them to their past glories.

They're so good at their restoration work that they have become a household name in the San Francisco Bay Area. Eats Tapes bridge the gap between dance and video game pop-culture by redefining MIDI.

Dancing or playing your Intellivsion is irresistible when the beats and beeps come a poppin'. Eats Tapes are hyper glitchy goodness that's the best thing to come along since the Commodore 64.

Download: Live Snippet One

Download: Live Snippet Two

Download: Live Snippet Three

Wallpaper Hangs Another Roll

Wallpaper. just dropped their new video for "Gettin' Drip". With effects and backgrounds that look like something out of a video game from 1989, the video features drummer Arjun Singh and the frontman Ricky Reed strolling throughout various scenes as they try to get their party on.

"A lot of time and money was spent on this video," Singh says. "We had originally projected a budget of $0.00 but due to some unforeseen last minute expenses, we ended up paying $11.82 (and this came out of pocket, mind you)."

"In order to get the video textured just the right way, our director Todd Berger played the video from his computer, filmed it with his camera phone, imported it to his Facebook, had his mom download it as a .wav, recorded it over his Grandpa's 'Magic of David Copperfield III' VHS and then submitted the tape to the Internet," he adds. "That's some real magic."

These guys are one of my favorite bands at the moment, simply because they have their tongues firmly planted in cheek. They're hilarious (just watch the video) and they actually write some pretty decent tunes without even trying. These guys bring the party because they are the party!

Download: Get Drip
Watch:

Sebastian Davidson Loves His Pancakes

Sebastian Davidson has just unleashed his latest single on Cologne, Germany's Conya records and it's a lush, ethereal treat. Oddly titled, Swabian Pancakes the record is like a chilled out Sunday morning with just enough of a beat to get you going and enough motivation to get you out of bed. It's nice, slow building stuff that's perfect for a sunrise.

Collaborating with Dutch DJ Estroe, they've truly come up with something special here. It's not often you say the words beautiful when describing electronic music, but this is truly something that is. A four to the floor banger this is not. What this is, is more mature and refined if you will and if you dig things that burn slowly, than Swabian Pancakes will quench your thirst.

Download: Swabian Pancakes
Download: Swabian Pancakes (Estroes Raisins Remix)

Enter the Disco of Doooooooom

Rising up from the gurgling belly of the underworld comes Disco of Doom, the brand new project from production and DJ duo Tom Real & The Rogue Element.

The Disco Of Doom is a place of unspeakable depravity from whence Tom and Rogue deliver twisted, filthy productions. 'Warpig' and 'Spawn Again' follows their first EP which came out last year on Passenger Records to critical acclaim.

'Warpig' takes things deep, dark, heavy and churning with surprises at every turn just when you thought it was safe to get back on the dancefloor. The track has somewhat of a dirty feel to it and sort of reminds me of Boys Noize and Justice at times. 'Spawn Again' brings you back to the jack of old school Chicago acid madness while simultaneously slicing in the heavy duty rave sounds...and sounds like a pack of 909's and 808's went on a bloody rampage and killed everything in their paths.

Both tracks are nuts and will more than likely cause you a trip to the ear doctor afterwards.

Download: Warpig
Download: Spawn Again

Back to the Nite Club

Nite Club's My Tronic is a sixteen song exploration of synth pop that's influenced by a mish mash of sounds and experiences. This really shouldn't be a surprise as the band's main man Richard Spitzer has been shaped by everything from drum and bass, punk, and salsa to just about everything in between. This diversity has led Nite Club's to produce a record that is far more than just an ordinary synth pop record, but an album that crams every possible idea ever into some sort of song structure that will make your feet move.

Perhaps sounding something like Figurine meets Chromeo, Nite Club clearly have an idea how to write dance floor friendly material while still being unafraid to weave styles and influences into a heady stew of pop. As a result My Tronic is a brilliant sticky sweet album of lush beats and barely there vocals that sound like they've got secrets to tell. My Tronic jumps around influences more than kids on a hopscotch court and at any one time you could have a song that sounds like it belongs to Erasure running into a early 90's rave anthem. My Tronic is a series of sharp turns that never goes in any one direction for too long; this is a record that will keep you guessing and keep you entertained..

Nite Club are absolutely brilliant at taking everything they know and manipulating it all into some sort of formula that works on every level. Filled with effervescence, a variety of beats, and songs that you will never forget My Tronic is a diverse trip through synth pop wonderland that's almost better than a trip through It's A Small World.

Download: Nite Club - No Matter Which Way (Mold Remix)
Download: Ultrachorus - Words Kept Talking (Nite Club Remix)

Blood Shake: Oh So Delicious

What would happen if you took Bonde Do Role and gave them more toys to play with? Blood Shake might have the answer as they seem to be the living embodiment of that question.

This Brazilian duo take the mash up and mash it up with just about everything under the sun including the kitchen sink. It's a crazy combination of all their influences (ghetto-tech, maximal, hip-hop, b-more and rock), some lo-fi goodness, and hooks bigger than Carnivale. Is it good? Hell yeah.

Loaded with Portuguese ramblings, hyper beats, and an energy level that's second only to nuclear power, Blood Shake bring the party and whether they're doing Baile Funk or taking on Iggy, they let it all hang out.

Download: The Fire and Reason - Preste Atencao (Blood Shake Baile Funk Remix)
Download: The Stooges - I Wanna B Your Dog (Blood Shake and Pelussje Edit)
(both via Media Fire)

Franz Gets Dubbed.

Last week, Franz Ferdinand released Blood, an album of nine dub re-workings of tracks from their latest album, Tonight, by co-producer Dan Carey a.k.a. Mr. Dan, whose roots in dub mixing goes back to his time as an apprentice engineer for the likes of Mad Professor and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Originally released as part of the early deluxe editions of Tonight, this new separate version includes an addition track, the dubbed-up version of "Dream Again," entitled "Be Afraid."

The Itunes version of Blood includes three new remixes of their latest hit single, "No You Girls" from legend Vince Clarke (Yaz/Erasure/Depeche Mode), The Juan MacLean (DFA) and Trentemøller.

In addition to the release Franz Ferdinand will be returning to these shores in August as special guest of Green Day on the latter half of their Summer tour.

The dates...
8/08/09 Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
8/09/09 San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
8/11/09 St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
8/12/09 Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
8/13/09 Omaha, NE @ Qwest
8/15/09 Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
8/16/09 Salt Lake City, UT @ Energy Sol Arena
8/18/09 San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
8/20/09 San Diego, CA @ Cox Arena
8/21/09 Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay
8/22/09 Phoenix, AZ @ US Air Arena
8/24/09 Sacramento, CA @ Arco Arena
8/25/09 Los Angeles, CA @ Forum

Download: No You Girls (Trentemoller Remix Edit)

DirtyBlu Wonder Where Are You?

It's been a while folks. Duty calls in the form of off site meetings. I'm still playing catch up and I should be back to normal by tomorrow. Until then here's a quick post from DirtyBlu.

DrtyBlu are an obscure electro-house punk group from Brooklyn, who claim 'Our mission is to capture and release sounds, our style is no style. DrtyBlu smells like Humbolt county and moves like Muddy Waters. DrtyBlu is the new color of electro [pop] punk.'

Whether or not they are the 'new color' is up for debate, but the fact that DirtyBlu can write a big tune is not. "Where Are You" is destined to be huge as it has radio friendly written all over it. This is a tune that embraces the poppier side of punk with open arms and then bashes it over the head with a bunch 0f 808's. It might be a pure pop-ish at times but the synths and samples just throw the whole song into a dizzying loop of floor filling fun.

Download: Where Are You
Download: Where Are You (SnFu Remix)

Spencer Product Bites

Do you miss the days when Ministry were at the top of their game? Do you miss the hilarity and ironic nature of the Revolting Cocks or 1000 Home DJ's? If you do, then you'll love Spencer Product's We Bite.

Disguised as a "electro" artist this American takes all the classic elements of those Wax Trax bands (broken synths, distorted vocals, inane lyrics, etc) and gives them a 21st century spin and comes up with a pill munching, alcohol swilling, party patrolling monster that really sounds like the best song Al Jourgensen (a poster child for champion partier if there ever was one) never released.

We Bite is a cross genre monster that will appeal to your inner goth, inner American Apparel wearer, and inner party demon. This is a blast from the past that probably has no idea that it's a blast from the past and that's what makes We Bite great. Throw in a couple of remixes and you have a single that's bonecrushingly amazing.

Download: We Bite
Download: We Bite (Designer Drugs NY Nite Mix)
Download: We Bite (Tronik Youth Remix)

Crushed into Bits

Who the hell are Bit Crushers? Well you may know them separately as DJ Fame and Gaby Dershin who is one half of Astro&Glyde.

DJ Fame was the first US producer on the fidget originators Dubsided as well as a member of the Pottymouth Music label out of Chicago. Fame also held down a long running residency at NY's Sullivan Room bringing in top guests including Switch, Jesse Rose & Mathew Jonson.

Gaby Dershin holds down a residency at Le Souk as a part of Sunday Sessions, a cornerstone of the NY House scene. He has also released tracks on CR2 and Azuli.

Together they combine into the mighty Bit Crushers and come up with tunes that a bit of everything. Their tunes are a bit fidgety, a bit 8bit, a bit minimal, and a bit garagey(kind of a stretch I guess). While a combination like that could be incredibly annoying and lead straight to a migraine of epic proportions, Bit Crushers manage to stay away from that by drilling a small hole into your skull and pumping these tunes directly into them so that you won't soon forget them. It's good stuff then.

Download: Wanna Ride (Original Mix)
Download: Wanna Ride (DJ Fame Mix)
Download: What She Said (Original Mix)

Straight Outta The Tundra

There are more ideas crammed into the 41 minutes of Max Tundra’s third album than most bands manage in their whole careers. Parallax Error Beheads You, the third Max Tundra LP and his first since 2002’s Mastered By Guy At The Exchange, is a masterpiece of micro-melodies and sound-bytes; a triumph of splicing, dicing and editing.

It’s an intricate mosaic of sounds and styles, some of which you might recognise from the last 30 years of pop, rock, prog, disco, funk, techno, rap, metal and soul, but many of which are completely new: either from a startling recombination of existing genres, or from Max inventing an original one himself. The attention to detail, and the sheer speed at which ideas whizz past you in the mix, will leave you stunned.

“Each song contains many facets and genres, and the starts of songs are often stylistically extremely different to how they each end up, touring via a few styles along the way,” says the man himself, going some way towards explaining why there are multiple, simultaneous or sequential, melodies during each of the 10 tracks on Parallax, and why one song can sometimes sound like seven different bands from totally different worlds playing at once—”Glycaemic Index Blues”, to name but one of the songs on the album, is like Yes playing glitch techno with Pharrell Williams fighting Todd Rundgren at the controls while Green Gartside offers his creamiest falsetto. Just call it cosmic glitch-pop R&B.

What the hell does all that mean? Simply put, Max Tundra makes crazy glitchy, fidgety, soulful stuff that bounces like one of those superballs through genre's and beats. Just check out the Mixtape and you'll see the frenetic pace that Max Tundra keeps. Crazier stuff you are not likely to hear.

Download: Playboy
Download: 30 Minute Mixtape

Spanish Dance Troupe

Spanish Dancer does not play Flamenco music. In fact, Spanish Dancer isn't from anywhere near Spain, but rather Rhode Island. SD is made up of one guy Anthony Ferreira and a warehouse filled with electronics.

If his name sounds familiar that's because Spanish Dancer isn't actually Anthony's first band. He was once part of Providence group A Trillion Barnacle Lapse who released three albums, got some decent press from Pitchfork and did the whole band thing.

As fate would have it, ATBL didn't last so he joined Honeyhander and well that didn't last past one album. That's where Spanish Dancer comes into play. Unlike the noisy dark new wave stomp of the two previous acts the Spanish Dancer material was sorta snarky, self-aware, and maybe more importantly fun while still retaining all the complex spastic freakout moments of both prior bands. Aside from the previously touched up genres of New Wave, Shoegazer, and post-Hardcore, Spanish now was incorporating more lost movements like Freestyle and Space Disco.

Whatever the hell he's influenced by, the results are like nuggets of dancey goodness. The songs are synthed out blasts of pop that are somewhere between Cameo, Herbie Hancock, and Figurine. Spanish Dancer's jumpy beats and totally over the top vocals are quite memerizing.

Download: Hustler
Download: The Bloods

Morsy is Back With Friends...

A little while back I posted a few Morsy tracks here and it got phenomenal reaction judging by the number of referrals I've seen. His Kinks rework is a killer and we all know it. Well, not being one to rest on his laurels, he's back with yet another tune.

This time Morsy has teamed up with Cosmic House heads Koko Dozo to create a vocal house stormer that's an absolute a disco monster. It's got everything that you need: funky guitar loops, wailing vocals, beats that are so hypnotic that your ears won't know what to do.

That being said, Morsy and Koko Dozo are no strangers to each other- Koko Dozo has played live at the monthly Crooked Disco party Morsy throws with partner Kestar. Well they all went into the studio and turned out "The Shine," together.

If that weren't enough...Koko Dozo are also offering up a new original "Gangsta"' that has a Warehouse feel to it with a bit of tribal drums and a whole lot of funk. It's the perfect late night tune to bring you back to the origins of house.

Download: The Shine
Download: Gangsta

Mass Games Will Play With Your Head

Mass Games is a slowed down, slightly sinister lo-fi electro pop outfit from Thailand via Brooklyn, utilizing sparse samples pulled from Learn-To-Speak-English tapes. The songs from I Like Classical Music Too are reluctant to cross the indie dance floor but still stand close by - watching, secretly hoping to escape the club on a motorbike, speeding alone through the mountains at night with 808 beats pumping from the ground.

With their name pulled from the infamous North Korean synchronized gymnastics, the debut EP I Like Classical Music Too was produced by “Jagga” aka Joe Weber, the man behind Joseph Francis Machine, Lines of Escape, and Dead Ghosts. A full length album is currently in the works."

What's do Mass Games sound like? Hell they sound like Daleks attacked the BBC Radiophonic Workshop made a right racket and then decided to take over the whole damn BBC and make bizarre tripped out rainbow coloured TV that will give you a headache while entertaining you. (Blipverts anyone??).

Download: Eyes

Watch Zone B:

Who The Heck Is Meck?

The name MECK has been everywhere of late thanks to the UK number 1 smash hit single Thunder In My Heart Again. The record gained the support of among others Radio 1s Pete Tong, who went on to play it for 10 consecutive weeks and made it his Essential New Tune.

As people have subsequently found out, Meck is the DJ and recording alias of Craig Dimech, the former head of free2air recordings and now head honcho at Frenetic Music which he's firmly placed in the epicentre of cool, clubbing culture.

His latest choon, Windmills takes a bit of Dusty Springfield and tweaks into a huge monster of a tune that's so upfront it's blasting in your front yard right now. An absolute massive tune that's so epic it could part the seas and as some has pointed out it's the perfect follow up to the Audio Bully's Shoot You Down.

Download: Windmills (Club Mix) (via SoundCloud)
Download: Dusty's In The House (via SoundCloud)