The Joy Formidable

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: I posts a woefully inadequate amount of indie music. But hey, why should I? Most is a load of angst ridden bile driven by some Pete Doherty wannabe, or some over bloated guff you feel like you need a degree to understand.

The Joy Formidable are guilty on neither counts. Having been described as dream-pop by Radio 6 DJ Tom Robinson, and sounding like a cross between The Wombats and The Von Bondies, TJF operate as the perfect link between radio friendly 'guitar music' and post prime-time indie. Love it, love it, love it.

TJF are playing shows nationwide throughout March and April. Check out their Myspace page for specifics.

MP3: The Joy Formidable - Austere DOWNLOAD
MP3: The Joy Formidable - Cradle DOWNLOAD
MP3: The Wombats - Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis Cover) DOWNLOAD
MP3: The Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon DOWNLOAD

...And to further redress the balance:

MP3: Mezzanine Owls - Snow Globe DOWNLOAD

Moulinex Interview!!!

I love the music of Moulinex and I like asking questions, so what better way to spend my time than by combining the two and presenting it to you beautiful people. You can thank me later:

1. First things first. How are you? Where are you?

Everything is good. Right now things are looking good - doing some remixes of some very nice tracks (which are always harder to remix), and working on a few originals. I've been living in Munich for the past few months. I've been researching on brain-machine interaction (an almost sci-fi subject) but now I've changed to a completely different field: astronomy. I'm originally from Viseu, a small town near Porto, Portugal.

2. I have to ask about the name simply because my family name is so similar. Whats the story behind it? Are you affiliated with the makers of small electrical products by any chance?

The name is just a tribute to French electronics. It came up as a joke but it stuck.

3. What music did you listen to as a kid?

I was lucky, I grew up around a lot of great records. I remember clearly the day Dark Side Of The Moon blew my mind (NO I wasn't there on 1973 when it came out!). My teacher asked us to bring a record each for a kind of show and tell thing, and I made it my personal goal to try to play the opening helicopter-like drone as loud as possible. My father was into world music, some progressive rock, some jazz fusion - i didn't know it back then, but he was introducing me to what I see now as key records in my life.

4. There's a definite French influence running through your production work (most notably Leisure Suit). Do you think you were born in the wrong country?

Like I told you, I love a lot of French music, ranging from Air to Jarre and Daft Punk to all these excellent newcomers. But truth be said, I wouldn't trade the sunsets by the coastline in Portugal for anything else.

5. Has the musical output of your own nation had any impact on your own work?

Yes, definitely. Besides the usual copycat mass, there many talented producers and DJs in Portugal: Xinobi, Bandidos Desesperados and Cpt. Luvlace, just to name a few. Luckily I happen to be on the same boat as almost all of them: D.I.S.C.O.TEXAS. You'll be hearing about us soon, very soon. Have a listen to ZNTN, André Conde, and Combo - each one has his own thing going - and it's good!

As for Munich, where I live now, its past makes it a great town to discover relics and pearls from other times. The disco scene was huge here, e.g. here's where Moroder produced some of his early (and best) work. So it can happen that you find a Munich Machine record while randomly digging obscure shops or flea markets.

6. I always have to ask this question. What's your take on the whole MP3-blogging culture? Help or hindrance?

It's definitely useful and contributing to break boundaries between artist and audience, as other web tools are. But there are dangers that come with it, e.g. people listen to preview versions of tracks at low bit rates, and then download them to spin them that night. Then when the real thing comes out they're already bored to death of them and the track never hits them as it was meant to. A lot of stuff gets overlooked or over-hyped - but that's part of the game, I guess.

7. Thanks for taking the time outta your busy schedule. Have a great day.

No, thank you for the interest - take care!

MP3: Moulinex - Breakchops DOWNLOAD
MP3: Cut Copy - Music and Lights (Moulinex Remix) DOWNLOAD
MP3: When Saints Go Machine - You Should Be Someone Else (Moulinex Remix) DOWNLOAD

This Week...

This week I have:

• Been attending the Liverpool leg of Justice's tour:

MP3: Justice - Phantom Pt. II DOWNLOAD

• Been enjoying these remixes:

MP3: LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (Loud Pipes Remix) DOWNLOAD
MP3: Digitalism - Pogo (Digitalism's Robitic Remix) DONWLOAD

• Been chuckling (heartily) at Chewy Chocolate Cookies:

MP3: Chewy Chocolate Cookies - Pepites EP Teaser DOWNLOAD

• Been pleased that I got this emailed to me as I've been meaning to get my hands on it for ages:

MP3: Busy P - Rainbow Man (Mat Payne 130bpm Edit) DOWNLOAD

& Down (Lil' Bro Peeps' Haunted House Remix)

Friday was the day I received an email containing a fine remix of & Down, Boy Noize's bass heavy opener (I refer to its position on Oi Oi Oi). It came from Lil' Bro Peep whose name suggested I'd be listening to some kind of Hip-Hop take on the track, but who actually delivered a version that sounds like it's come via the Midnight Juggernauts camp, whom he admits to being "a massive fan of". Shoreditch based, and just 23. What's not to like?











MP3: Boys Noize - & Down (Lil' Bro Peep's Haunted House Remix) DOWNLOAD

Does anyone know what the hell is up with Blogger. The spell check won't work and now the add image feature seems to be hit 'n' miss. Argh!!!

The E.L.F. (3)

I've been championing The E.L.F. ever since their (or rather his) sweet sound of summer hit my ears back in June of last year; so it's with great pleasure that I post this interview of Darren Cross (the man behind The E.L.F.) hosted by Angus of Twelve Major Chords.


Stevie Nicks Hearts, The E.L.F.'s first extended player, is to be released on 16/02/08 through Oaks Records.

MP3: The E.L.F. - Stuck In Vanilla DOWNLOAD

Advert Music

The cynical (and perhaps sensible) part of my personality believes music in adverts to be little more than a marketing ploy intended to endear the viewer to the product featured. Nonetheless, those annoying bits in between television programs have included some great music of late, whose quality (in the UK at least) has indeed endeared me to the products featured. Not that I could afford any of them.

MP3: Jupiter One - Platform Moon (Mazda) DOWNLOAD
MP3: Simone White - The Beep Beep Song (Audi) DOWNLOAD
MP3: Vitalic - Trahison (Toshiba) DOWNLOAD
MP3: Orba Squara - Perfect Timing This Morning (Apple) DOWNLOAD
MP3: The Arcade Fire - My Body Is A Cave (More 4) DOWNLOAD

Image taken from corrupt.org

Loud Pipes

It's always such a pleasure to open my inbox and find an email from one man production power house Loud Pipes. The pleasure doubled on this occasion, as not only is this an original composition, his first, but is also an exciting departure from his previous sound. Not to do his past handiwork a diservice, but a change is sometimes required to keep things fresh. Made with "the dancefloor in mind", please enjoy Untitled in all its 320kbps glory.

MP3: Loud Pipes - Untitled DOWNLOAD
BONUS: MP3: Loud Pipes - Megamix DOWNLOAD

I also recieved this remix of Adele's Hometown Glory. Produced by Night Facilities, probably best known for his winning Lo Sforzo remix, this particular interpretaion doesn't stray far from the original. That said, it does more than enough to engage the listener. Kind of like what Tom Middleton did with Coldplay's Clocks way back in '03. I think.

MP3: Adele - Hometown Glory (Night Facilities Remix) DOWNLOAD
BONUS: Coldplay - Clocks (Tom Middleton's Cosmos Remix) DOWNLOAD

Alex Metric (2)

Alex Mertic is no stranger to CTA. His superb remixes have secured my interest for the foreseeable future, and at just 26, have shown him to posses the creative flair so often lacking in the music of his peers.

Although linked to the Breakbeat scene (his label, Marine Parade is the creation of renowned Brighton Breaks DJ/producer Adam Freeland), admitting that "it's the scene [he] first got known in", it's a pigeonhole he's been trying to gain some distance from, with, might I add, some success. That said, the old school breaks "mentality" is something that has stuck with him. "Mashing everything up into one, not just conforming to any one genre or style within a tune" appears to be his way of doing things, demonstrated by the tracks posted.

Alex will be playing at London's Hoxton Bar this coming Sunday.

MP3: Splittr - Alone Again (Alex Metric Remix) (Myspace Rip) DOWNLOAD

MP3: Elevator Suite - The Wheel (Alex Metric Remix) DOWNLOAD