Hot on the heels of the breathtaking orchestral majesty of debut UK single “Hearts A Mess”, Gotye’s returned with “Learnalilgivinanlovin”, your quintessential summer single and an exciting sign of things to come on his style-mashing debut album, Like Drawing Blood. While “Hearts” made its money on a languorous, ethereal bounce and a chorus that tugged - nay, wrenched - at the old heartstrings like nobody’s business, “Learnalilgivinanlovin” is its polar opposite: all racing Phil Spector drums, triumphant horns, and Wally’s soaring falsetto’d vocals, all of which put Gotye in a league of his own when it comes to this increasingly-stagnate indie scene. Like some lost Northern Soul classic, “Learnalil” races along on a timeless instrumental and a breezy melody that’s the perfect soundtrack to another hot summer in the city, whether you’re cruising sun-drenched country backroads or toughing out the sweltering city heat while kids dance around fire hydrant fountains down the street. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore, folks.
The single’s not released in the UK until September 8th, but it’s been out as the lead single elsewhere in Europe and Japan since April, where it’s garnered serious critical acclaim and even scored A-list honors on the biggest radio stations in Holland, Germany and Wally’s native Belgium. The UK release, however, comes backed by two excellent remixes to further entice listeners, courtesy of new kid on the block Styrafoamkid and Lucky Number’s resident remix master Juke Bullit. Bullit takes us “Back To The Hac” in brilliant fashion on his Hacienda-influenced rework - easily his best yet - but it’s Styrafoamkid who simply knocks it out of the park on this one. His aptly-titled “Sunshine Mix” is just over eight minutes of seriously blissed-out electropop, all transcendent keys and glorious electronic flourishes. Easily one of the best remixes of the year this shit is not to be fucked with, and if it catches you at the right moment it just might change your life a little bit, even if only for a few fleeting moments. STREAM: “Learnalilgivinanlovin” (UK Single Version) - Gotye
BRING A LITTLE SOMETHING SO WE CAN GET LEAN
Those of you feeling the talents of Dekker & Johan put on display in my last post should be pleased to know that Dekker’s been kind of enough to pass some more tracks our way, and this time it’s an unspeakably dope remix of “Smoke Machine” by MissOddKidd (basically a British Uffie for the uninitiated). The original is mad dece, but D&J absolutely kill it on the remix, draping the track in all manner of massive synths and glitchy booms and bips - check the breakdown, it’s absolute fire. Hot like lava, y’all.
Dekker is pretty much the man. Founder of the Apocalypso club night at the Old Queen’s Head in Islington, he’s been making a name for himself on the tables around London for a few years (including his regular stint as Miss Odd Kid’s touring DJ) and is about to take it to the next level with some original material of his own. He’s also one of the nicer dudes I’ve ever met, having been kind enough to put on Fresh Prints back before they were world famous and even taking us into his flat for some private tutelage on top of that. I had the pleasure of dancing my balls off to his sets throughout the semester everywhere from the cozy confines of the Old Queen’s Head to Fabric, London’s electro mecca, and now he’s ready to drop some tracks of his own on us with the help of his sound engineer sidekick Johan.
“Brooklyn” has been killing it on London dancefloors for a minute now, and at long last I’m able to drop the freshly-mastered finished version on you. Chopped up vocals, all manner of glitchy bells and whistles and an arpeggiated breakdown and vocal lovingly sampled from Death In Vegas’ “Rocco” all converge to create a dark disco vibe and bring to mind what it might sound like if Burial decided to go all jacking house on us. With “Brooklyn” Dekker & Johan bring to the table intensity and depth generally absent from the flavor-of-the-week electro oversaturating the blogs these days, and with significant A&R interest already swirling around them, you can expect big things from the duo in the months to come (yes, even in the face of the Impending Electro Recession).
Like MGMT, Boy Crisis make highly danceable electro-pop that’s so brutally hip and “now” that it hurts. Like MGMT, Boy Crisis went to Wesleyan (were they were like bffz or something), currently reside in Brooklyn and are into all sorts of sprightly psychedelia. And like MGMT, it took me the better part of six months to get over my initial dislike for them and, just like MGMT, they’re making me realize how fucking wrong my original judgment of them was. In the same way I wonder how I ever disliked pop behemoths like “Kids” and “Electric Feel”, listening to Boy Crisis’ “Dressed To Digress” now makes me wonder if my ears were even working when they first crossed my radar back in January. I’m now aware that the hype and rampant A&R buzz surrounding them is more than justified, and I hope you’ll feel the same way.
Then there’s Amazing Baby, who I still haven’t quite come around on, but then again it’s only been a few weeks since I was tipped off on them and given my track record, I really can’t write them off just yet. Most of the above similarities between Boy Crisis and MGMT apply here, only Amazing Baby didn’t go to Wesleyan, rather they’re principally comprised of the former members of Stylophone and MGMT frontman Andrew VanWyngarden’s supermodel girlfriend. You can expect more of the same in the psychedelic tribal space-pop department though, and as is the case with any band with even the most tenuous link to MGMT these days, they’re getting no shortage of A&R attention of their own. Worth the hype? You decide.
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