Lance Herbstrong Survives A Dragon Attack

Through stream-of-consciousness aural atmospherics, Lance Herbstrong takes you on a trip, sustaining musical momentum with sonic layers propelling the rhythms. The result is music that is ethereal and organic, of the air and of the earth, and always moving. The nation’s most esteemed climate change scientists described their first Lance Herbstrong show as a ‘motherf---ing Fun Bomb that just goes off inside you.

If that wasn't enough Lance has taken one of the greatest Queen songs ever and roughed it up a bit and somehow, someway, seemingly made the song seem heavier.  This is a fantastic re-work that pays loving tribute to the original while roiding it up.  Featuring former Porno for Pyros member Peter DiStefano on guitar this is like the best dance metal crossover thing ever.

Download: Dragon Attack (Lance Herbstrong rework)
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Fol Chen Get Technical

Ever-innovative, enigmatic LA collective Fol Chen is proud to announce their collaboration with Monome. The band worked hand in hand with Monome and The Machine Project to create the Tetrafol, a pyramidal sound manipulation device that will be available through Monome shortly.

According to the folks at Monome, the Tetrafol is, "a hand-held tangible electronic sound toy. Circuits enclosed by a wooden tetrahedron detect orientation and motion-gestures to modify the playback of a collection of Fol Chen's micro-compositions, allowing the user to explore sound through physical manipulation. The battery-powered device has its own internal speaker but can additionally be hooked up to a headphone or amplifier. The circuit and firmware are based on open-source hardware and is itself published as open-source, allowing anyone interested to learn about its deepest inner-workings." The devices are hand assembled and will be limited to an edition of 100, making them remarkably unique.

The device will come pre-loaded with the sounds Fol Chen created for new tracks "So Good" and "Back on Kent," allowing people to create their own take on the song, but users will be able to upload their own music to the device for manipulation as well.

Download: Back on Kent
Download: So Good
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Twiggy Frostbite Hides In The Darkness

One of our favorite bands around here is easily Twiggy Frostbite.   Sort of a splinter group of The Deer Tracks every once and a while something appears from them that leaves us in awe.   It's completely random when they show up.  In fact, we don´t know exactly when, what or even if something will happen with these guys but this is how it goes when you give an artist total freedom. No demands on format, no deadlines. no nothing...

The saga of these occasional songs is something that we don´t understand the beginning of nor the end.  It's just continued at random intervals and while we dwell into it´s beauty we can not help to wonder what will happen next. I guess that only Elin, Anna-Karin and Emma knows the answer to that question. The question is if it really matters, as long as they present such amazing fragments of beauty.

Download: In Darkness Lights Are Out
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The POP! Stereo Top 25 for 2010

This was originally going to be posted at the end of December 2010, but things sort of happened that wouldn't allow me to do this. If you follow the blog on Facebook or Twitter, you'll know that I've had a family medical emergency that made me set the blog aside for a couple of weeks. I'm now trying to do the blog in an effort to create a sense of normality amongst a sea of change.

So, my apologies for doing this late, but family comes first .

As for the countdown, it's a god honest run down of my favorite records this year. It's got NO hipster credibility as I, quite honestly, have no idea what the hell the blogosphere went gaga over the last year. It's what I found myself listening to over and over again. Belle & Sebastian is about as cool with the hipster community as relaxed fit jeans...but you know what? I still love them and they made a fantastic record that's on this list. That's just a little hint of where I'm coming from...so prepare yourself and enjoy!

Without further delay...here we go....and no those aren't mp3's but videos from each album.

25: No Age: Everything In Between
This is indie rock the way it used to be played.
Fever Dreaming

24: Quitzow: Juice Water
Pure, simple, overjoyous synthpop
Cherry Blossom

23: 1900's: Return of the Century
Fantastic indie pop that's lazy goodness

22: Julius C: Ok Ok
Big massive power pop to fill enormodomes
Don't Want Anybody

21: Magic Bullets: Magic Bullets
All hail Orange Juice and those who sail in them.
Lying Around

20: Five O'Clock Heroes: Different Times
Yeah...that band w/Agyness Deyn showed up in.
Who

19: Lyrics Born: As U Were
Somewhere right now Cameo is shitting himself.
Kontrol Phreak

18: Goldfrapp: Head First
Alison Goldfrapp revisits Xanadu and never leaves.
Alive

17: DVAS: Society
Like a Members Only Jacket only cooler.
Society

16: Shout Out Louds: Work
Sunshiny pop from Scandinavia that's not work to listen to.
Show Me Something New

15: Wolf Parade: Expo 86
Who knew these guys could have made a record this good?
Yulia

14: Belle & Sebastian: Write About Love
Stuart is still brilliant. I still love them and always will.
I Want The World To Stop

13: Foals: Black Gold
Musical adventure that's absolutely blinding.
Black Gold

12: Amusement Parks On Fire: Road Eyes
The Son of Mustang Ford is still alive and kicking.
Flashlight Planetarium

11: Stereolab: Not Music

Two decades later and these guys are still amazing.
Silver Sands

10: The Mynabirds: What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood
The soulful sixties channelled through one of the most gorgeous voices on earth.
What We Gained In The Fire

09: Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
Still as important as ever.
Ready to Start

08: Rusko: O.M.G.

To say Rusko is a dubstep producer is an insult to his ability to level dance floors of all kinds.
Hold On

07: School of Seven Bells: Disconnect From Desire
Somewhere amongst the miasma the Cocteau Twins are blushing.
Windstorm

06: Editors: In This Light And On This Evening
Having done the Joy Division thing, they're well on their way to becoming the next New Order.
Papillon

05: OMD: History of Modern
Who says resurrections can't be fantastic?
New Babies New Toys

04: The Vaselines: Sex With An X
Let the c86 revival start now...again.
Sex With An X

03: LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
Is there anything James Murphy can't do?
Pow Pow

02: The Drums: The Drums
The Best British Band On The Planet and they're NOT even from Britain.
Best Friend

01: Chromeo: Business Casual
Some bands know that a tongue planted firmly in cheek is the key to great pop music.
Hot Mess

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The Fog Rolls In

Fog is a DJ and producer form Dublin, Ireland. He has been DJ for over 11 years and has held residencies in a plethora of top Irish clubs. Right now he holds residencies at the Twisted Pepper and runs the ThunderBots club night in Good Bits.

As with most DJ's after caning it for years, it only made sense for Fog to actually start creating his own tracks. Having been at it for about year now, he's starting to make more of an impact than the Euro exchange rate. As if to prove the point, Fog has a forthcoming EP on Bualabeats entitled The Concrete EP' that will be available in early April through most of the major download sites. In addition to that he has also recently remixed 'Deathstar' for Cut La Roc, which will also be available in April through the Roc Star record label.

Fog's tracks are somewhere between breaks and dubstep and it really comes down to how he feels at the moment when he produces. He's got his bases covered and whichever direction he chooses at the time, you can be sure that the tunes involve punishing bass lines and more wobbly bits than a super model. He rocks the beats and rocks them hard. It's all good stuff as you'll see below...

Download: Fuzzy Dice
Download: Charly Says Bass

Optimistic Relations

Andrew Leary and Oliver Keech aka Relation met as children in Essex. Though they both played in bands throughout school and university, the discovery of dance music heroes Orbital and Jeff Mills plus a shared love for the electronic pop giants of the 80s, was the catalyst for the duo to come together and form Relation.

Now on their fifth release, Relation have pretty much got it down pat. Their latest single, Optimistic is a slice of blue eyed soul run through the 80's. The tune has so much in common with The Style Council and Depeche Mode that Paul Weller and Martin Gore must be jealous. Truth be told, Optimistic is a perfect slice of pop in the purest sense of the world.

Radio friendly and a bit up-beat despite having lyrics like this..."How can we play the rent when the money's spent?" Optimistic is about as realistic and relatable as any artist can be today. They're the real deal even if they're thirty years late to the dance.

Download: Optimistic (The Diogenes Club Remix)
Download: Optimistic (Laserdisco Remix)