aka Alexander Ridha (Alex Ridha / Kid Alex) is a german multitalent. He is praised as one of the top young producers in the Electro scene. In 2003, Alex produced some electro tracks as Boys Noize and got in touch with DJ Hell. Hell knew that he found a talented young guy and signed the first Boys Noize single to International Gigolo Records. The 2nd Boys Noize came out on Datapunk Records. After that Boys Noize got to remix some bands, like Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Marilyn Manson or Tiga, and many more. His remix for Feist (My Moon My man) was one of the best tracks of 2007. Boys Noize’s debut album ‘Oi Oi Oi’ was released in September 2007 on his own Boys Noize Records. The album contains the single Don’t Believe the Hype and Lava Lava. He released then in 2008 a really great Bugged Out presents Suck My Deck mix album.
Little Dragon is a swedish band, from Göteborg (like José Gonzales and Jens Lekman). Their music is a warm, mysterious mix of soul, pop, jazz, electronica and R&B. Enjoy, because i did !
note : fresh & unknown (yet) will be a new serie of posts, with (un)known bands, having a cool and fresh sound. Not necessarily my favourite, but always good to discover (mostly thanks to their label). But you will be your own judge ! And there will be an mp3 to grab, of course... are you ready?
This band, from very different horizons (UK, Hong Kong, Italy & Canada), released it's debut album 'Summer Palace' last month. The band masters the happy side of indie/pop/rock 'n roll, like the beach boys meet death cab for cutie. There's also an upcoming remix EP, Stranger, featuring remixes by Diplo, CSS and the Cool Kids.
stream : sunny day sets fire - wilderness
MP3 : sunny day sets fire - 'wilderness' - CSS remix
Joseph Mount writes and records music using the name Metronomy, but plays it live with Oscar Cash (saxophone, melodica and keyboards) and Gabriel Stebbing (Bass and Keyboards). They lived in Devon for a time, moved to Brighton later. On the way Metronomy has recorded one album, Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe), and remixed many bands and artists (Architecture in Helsinki, Infadels, Dead Disco, Roots Manuva, Franz Ferdinand, Sébastien Tellier, Klaxons, Box Codax, Ladytron, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Kate Nash, Gorillaz, ... ).
The singles "Radio Ladio", "My Heart Rate Rapid", "Holiday" and "Heartbreaker" all come from Nights Out, a second album coming out soon.
Who are Metronomy at the moment and what's the best thing about each of you? Metronomy at the moment is me, Joseph Mount, Gabriel Stebbing, and Oscar Cash. The best thing about Oscar is that he looks constantly fantastic, he's got an amazing fashion sense. Gabriel's a tricky one, the best thing about Gabriel is he's a competent musician, except for last night in Cambridge, where he was absolutely awful. The best thing about me is that I finance them both.
Do you feel the band have progressed and improved since the arrival of Gabriel and Oscar as permanent members? Gabriel and Oscar are an irreplaceable pair. Although I’m still writing the music alone I now feel more like I’m writing for a live band, and feel that Metronomy has become a band now instead of just me. Thanks to the boys Metronomy is now and are now a good, well traveled live band.
Describe Metronomy's sound for those who have never heard it. it's kind of electronic music but with a bit more of a guitary twist. I think the favourite description I’ve heard is Garage Electro, by that I mean garage rock and electro. I think there's a DIY element to the music that's more in line with punk than most sheeny electro. I think it's got the spirit of a guitary band but the wrong instruments. However, I wouldn't deny that I think I’m writing pop songs. I'm just making the music that I’d like to hear, so it sounds like all kinds of things because I listen to all kinds of things.
Where can we see you this summer? At the moment we've just got a few festival dates coming through like Bestival, we're doing Benicassim as well, we've not done it before but we keep hearing stories of people dying from dehydration. People get completely wrecked at night fall asleep in their tents and die in the heat. I don't know if we're allowed to mention the rest but hopefully Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds, and the standards.
What's the best gig you've been to? When I was younger I saw Radiohead at the Plymouth Pavilions when 'OK Computer' came out and before it launched them really massive. I saw The Shins in Brighton at the Concorde and it would be too small for them now. I'm not making a point of saying I like to see gigs before bands are famous. Once a gig size is beyond 300 then the chances of getting close to the front get slimmer. Small gigs are a lot more intimate and energetic. We've played quite a lot with The Klaxons, we played a gig with them in Bath and that was a very good little gig there.
You've done a lot of remixing, how do you get to do them? It kind of changes as you go along. Initially you just ask and do them on spec so they don't tell you unless they use it kind of thing. You just kind of ask, well originally it would be my manager just asking people if I could have a go at mixing them. Then that kind of went well for me, and now people just ask me to do it. But there's a still a lot of mixes that don't get use. You spend quite a while doing them and they get turned down by the label or the artist or whatever.
Which remixes are you most proud of? The one I like the most is the one I did for 'Box Codax', it's the guitarist from Franz Ferdinand, Nick McCarthy his side project it's really good actually, him and this German guy and his wife. It's the kind of mix I like listening to that I've done. I've also done a new 'One Nation' which is a Goldfrapp remix, which has got a guy, Michael from The Teenagers guest appearing in it. I've kind of hijacked the whole song. That makes for quite a nice listen, and it's all about Nottingham actually, well it's a guy speaking in French, a French monologue but it's all about Nottingham.
How do you think myspace has changed the music scene? Yeah, you could in a way say we grew out of it yeah. I think the time of it being a kind of space to come out of. There were the bands and acts that came out of it and you could say they were a myspace phenomenon. But as far as me using it I think the best thing about it is that it's used all over the world. And it's amazing getting messages from all over the world. And you get kids leaving messages from Latvia, Brazil and India who have listened to your music. I think it's brilliant that people from all over the world having access to the same music. I think it does mean bands don't need to have websites now they can just set up myspace. I think the main surge has happened. I think what it's best for is that you can sit down and wile away a few hours listening to stuff that you've ever heard of before. But it's got to the point where bands think it's a way for them to get big and you just get bands spamming you, and that's not the point you don't want it to be forced down your throat. But on a certain level it will still be as good, people just getting on with it and setting up music, they're the ones who will end up benefiting from it I think. You've just got to avoid the people who want to listen to their music.
What were the influences behind first LP ‘Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe)’? There are all kinds of influences behind that album. I'm a very big fan of Devo and David Bowie, people like Prince and Kate Bush who do everything themselves, and Wilco. I was listening to all kinds of music at the time. Frank Zappa, Aphex Twin, LFO, Talking Heads, Les Rhythms Digitales and Kraftwerk are just some of them. But, Totnes did have a big effect on the record...maybe not in a positive way though. Totnes has a non-existent music scene; kids listen to drum and bass and middle aged folk listen to whale song. When I started writing music I was reacting against that as much as anything.
What can we expect from the follow-up LP, due out in septembre 2008? The album will be called Nights Out. It will be a much more concise record than the first. I've also started singing on a few tracks. Dystopian Sci-Fi films have been quite a big influence on the music, as have the many club nights we've played.
Thank you very much. Have a good summer. Cheers and you.
tour : 7 August 2008, 20:00. Oya Festival, Oslo, Norway 8 August 2008, 20:00. Pantiero Festival, Cannes, France 23 August 2008, 20:00. Pstereo Festival, Trondheim, Norway 24 August 2008, 20:00. Get Loaded In The Park, London 31 August 2008, 20:00. Offset Festival, London 5 September 2008, 20:00. Bestival, Isle of Wight 17 September 2008, 20:00. Scopitone Festival, Nantes, France 11 October 2008, 20:00. Electricity Festival, Reims, France
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