Thursday 15 December 2011

Frontier Sounds SoundCloud Selections

NTEIBINT Remixes by NTEIBINT

First up we have this rather delightful remix of the Cassius tune The Sounds of Violence by an artist with a name that is impossible to announce. Hailing from Athens, they have their first album out in the not too distant future and preliminary listens are sounding good.


http://soundcloud.com/hadouken/sets/remixes-of-hadouken


Hadouken are a London stroke Leeds five piece, who make indie electro narrated by angsty grime, they come into their own in the live environment and I have seen them many a time tear the roof down. Spor, who has done this remix of Turn The Lights Out, is one of the biggest and best drum and bass producers around at the moment, so enjoy this meeting of minds.

Line Runners - Happens For A Reason by Bassis & Liability
  Line Runners & Fister - Dispatch Comp Entry by Bassis & Liability

Back in 2006 I took those first tentative steps towards starting my radio career and alongside three friends Rich, Joe and Paulo set up the institution that became Big Safe Radio. So as a sign of respect and solidarity towards those days and my fellow pioneers, I want to play a couple of tracks produced by two former Big Safe Radio members. Paulo and Joe aka Bassis and Liability, have been producing music together for five years and have recently united under the Line Runners name. They are both talented DJ`s and have had success in their producing careers as well with several tunes being signed to drum and bass labels.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Frontier Sounds Christmas Singles

Listen again to the show here http://www.radiofrontier.ch/features/frontier-sounds/



My first Frontier Sounds Christmas Single is this delicate and subtle reworking of Christina Rosetti`s Christmas carol of sorts, called In The Bleak Mid Winter. As the tittle might suggest, Rosetti was adept at appreciating the sadder things in life, a nervous breakdown at fourteen, three cancelled wedding engagements and a life lived with a father ravished by depression. So yes, Christmas can be a sad time too and Fairewell`s rework  is like an audio version of the ubiquitous East Enders Christmas episode, where Dot Cotton spends it alone with no central heating and someone, if not everyone, beats up Ian Beal.

Mike Doughty (What Do You Want ) with Rosanne Cash by xxxcrjxxx

What would Christmas be without a duet? Empty, that’s what. Now normally these can be a pretty shabby affair, like your dad`s budget Lidle mulled wine or sickly, like a mug of egg nog spoilt by some super sweet Baileys. This track works because Mike Doughty and Roseanne Cash`s voices aren’t super polished, rather they have a rustic, something-I-can-relate-to sound to them. Also, it`s a song about either two things. 1) A couple not knowing what else they can give to the relationship in order to make it work or 2) A couple not knowing what to get each other for Christmas. I hope it`s the latter because I know that pain and as much as I like Christmas, the commercial aspect brings me down. I like to think that someone has had the balls to sing about it.



Next up we have Laurie Cameron`s version of Christmas Baby Please Come Home. I think her voice might normally annoy me if this song just wasn`t so beautifully depressing, even when the kick drums booms in to try and give it more life, it`s reluctant, there are even some faint half-hearted sleigh bell sounds in the background like you got Eoor in to do the percussion. I love it for that.

Gruff Rhys - Post Apocalypse Christmas by PIASGermany

This is the happiest song about Christmas after a nuclear apocalypse I have ever heard, which probably isn`t hard considering that this is the first song about Christmas after a nuclear apocalypse I have ever heard. In some ways though, I guess you would have no choice post fallout but to get on with it and try and have a nice time. So what, most of your family are dead and there is nothing but bleak nuclear winters and overcast skies to look forward to, it`s happened, now time to re-build society from the ground up. And as the title of Gruff Rhys`s Atheist Christmas EP suggests, on the plus side you would be able to re-build that society without the evil of religion, no more sitting at rubbish nativity’s and signing twee hyms, no more songs of praise Christmas specials or ruddy carol singers, just more family, drinking and presents.

Because it`s good.

Friday 9 December 2011

Frontier Sounds SoundCloud Selections

http://www.radiofrontier.ch/, get on board, visit the site, listen in, like it on facebook, join us on twitter @radiofrontier, love it etc etc.

Trucker Hats Go! DjAslan Remix by DjAslan

Here`s some US hip-hop from Sivion and the DJ Aslan remix of Truckers Hats Go. Aslan is a turntablist by trade, beginning his battling career in 96, a year in which he competed in the DMC World Team Championship with IF2-Immortal Fader Fyters. He is currently in Oklahoma working with Church Boy Entertainment and contributing to Illect Recordings. Many of his mixes are available on SoundCloud.
CRAZY by goodshivelow

What makes someone with an annoying, generically American, middle of the road voice sound better? A swing band that`s what and luckily Eli Becken from Dallas has realized this, hiring some trumpets amongst other things, to form the band Goodshivelow. With an indie base the band have added some much needed brass to create a sound full of soul, you can imagine this being the track that finally rids people of their inhibitions and gets everybody to their feet and onto the dance floor at some awkward dinner come dance in a school hall somewhere. A generation crosser, as grandpa`s dance with teenagers, mother with sons, This is Goodshivelow with Crazy.

Peengh by Pav Dharia

A taste of the sub-continent now with some Electronic tinged Bhangra. On the outskirts of this tune you can hear the modern, electronic sound flirting with the traditional Bhangra body, as if these elements were guests, milling at the edges of the dance floor at a colorful, well attended Indian wedding, making eyes at a girl already promised to wealthier, less slum dog, family.
My only complaint with this track is that it doesn`t evolve these influences enough, I think Pav Dharia who works out of Melbourne Australia, has missed a trick here and I would have liked to have seen this develop into a real bass driven dance number; It`s calling out for a remix perhaps. To give potential remix artists an idea of quality of the base they have to work with this is Pav Dharia with Peengh.

Camille Martin - Trucker by camillemartinoff

This little Daft Punk-esq banger is by Camille Martin from Rennes and sounds like different elements of the office going bizerk. It’s as if the computer, printer, shredder and computer have all suddenly developed a consciousness and means of self-expression and are celebrating the fact it`s a Friday as well. This is fist pumping techno at it`s finest and most fun, so enjoy our SoundCloud Selection of the week.

Thursday 8 December 2011

The return of Valve Recordings

Valve Recordings is set to return in the new year, follow the link to find out more and to recieve a free download or two.


http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/news/valve-recordings-is-back.html

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Frontier Sounds Singles Selections



Back by popular demand this time featuring friend Spikey T, Roots Manuva returns with Here We Go Again, a cut from his new, critically acclaimed album, 4everevolution.

It is a tune that fuses hip-hip, techno and dub step influences to create a bass heavy, head grooving beat. It is much like the sound of a robotic dog, barking at a reversing post van, has passed through a ball of candy floss on route to your ear drum.
Roots` style is as effortless and comfortable as you might expect from someone releasing their fifth studio album. His lyrics are razor sharp and intelligent as he raps about the perils and temptations of street life, in a manner which does not preach but rather serves to warn, not only us but Roots himself. For me Roots Manuva has one of the most charismatic and poignant voices in hip-hop and there isn`t a week that goes by where I don’t wish I sounded like him.



Formed from the break-up of Los Angles band Mika Miko, sisters Jessica and Jennifer Clavin`s new project Bleached, releases its first single, Searching Through the Past today off the Suicide Squeeze label. This is the B side from that seven inch called Electric Chair.
A beautifully low-fi affair that forces a blurred montage of a drunken youthful night to appear in your mind, as you stumble, blissfully happy from gig to gig, dancing like a fool and generally enjoying the beer soaked fruits of your own stupidity.



Although this track draws obvious influence from The Stones classic Not Fade Away and other rock n roll greats such as Buddy Holly, there are more modern, hip hop, techno techniques at play here, which have drawn people to label his unique sound as Electrorockabilly.
It`s a track that makes me think of that scene in Back to The Future when Marty Mcfly brings the rock n roll sounds of the future to his parents High School dance. Imagine though that he was also joined by Doc, who has just returned from 2011 and making strange sounds through a thing he calls a synth and a box called a drum machine.



Finally to the Frontier Sounds Single of the week by a group I have been wanting to talk about some time and who already some incredible tracks in their arsenal, this latest single being one of them      
This Greek duo have been all the buzz of the blogs of late for their unique, experimental synth-pop sound. Like a more mature and refined Air, this is their wonderfully euphoric and dreamy single, Campus Martius.  

Sunday 4 December 2011

CloudToy on The Frontier Mix

CloudToy on The Frontier by CloudToy

To celebrate the CloudToy Blog’s current and hopefully continued association with Radio Frontier (http://www.radiofrontier.ch/) and Frontier Sounds, I’ve put together this little mix of some of the best tunes heard in the last few weeks. As usual many of the tracks featured are available for free download so please follow the links below or download the entire mix yourself from the little arrow on the player. 

1)   A1 - Darkside (Nicholas Jarr and David Harrington) 
2)   Pyro – T.I.
3)   The Party and The After Party – The Weeknd
4)   John Henry Was a Trucker  - Buck Truck (free download www.soundcloud.com/buck-truck)
5)   Bad Behaviour – David Heartbreak (free download http://soundcloud.com/mixmag-1/sets/david-heartbreak-m7-ep)
6)   Last Words (Dimitri from Paris Remix) – Clubfeet  (http://soundcloud.com/helloclubfeet)
7)   Chameleon – Escort (free download www.soundcloud.com/escort-records
8)   ISM Featuring Ernesto – Mario & Vidis  (http://www.mixmag.net/music/mp3-blog/free-mp3%3A-mario-%26-vidis)
9)   Let You Know – Kingdom
10)  Diving (Crisis Kid remix) – Heartbreak (free download http://soundcloud.com/mixmag-1/sets/david-heartbreak-m7-ep)
11)  Back To Me – Marco Del Horno (http://soundcloud.com/marcodelhorno, check out an interview here.
12)  Firetruck - The Madden Brothers feat Kreyshawn feat Hollywood Holt
13)  Shogun (remix) – Fanu (free download http://soundcloud.com/fanu

Friday 2 December 2011

Frontier Sounds SoundCloud Selection the Horrors Special

Earlier on this week Frontier Sounds was invited aboard The Horrors tour bus for an exclusive interview with guitarist Josh in advance of their Geneva show. Once aboard the good ship horrors, we talked about many things, one being remixes and specifically their remix of a Lady Gaga tune, which is included below. You can listen to an extended version of the interview on the Radio Frontier site here http://www.radiofrontier.ch/features/frontier-sounds/



My Frontier Sounds SoundCloud selection this week is The Horrors remix of a Florence and the Machine track. I think this is a stunning tune, as what`s cleverly been achieved is punch in places where the original lacked and it has also taken punch from areas such as the chorus, to make a more consistent, DJ shadow-esq soul track, full of life, colour and texture but still retaining typically Florence elements such as harp flourishes and drawn out string sounds.

The Horrors - Sheena Is A Parasite (Oscillate Mix) by stop.oscillate

Here is the Stop.Oscillate remix of arguably The Horrors best song from their first album Strange House. The track Sheena is A Parasite, which they disappointingly failed to play on Monday. Describing itself as IDM, or Intelligent Dance Music for those of us not smart enough to understand this oh so smart, holier than thou abbreviation. The track conjures up images of a futuristic fairground at night, bright neon lights, the collective ambiance of a reluctant fun, the carousel spinning and chopping up the sounds floating across the fair from the haunted house, whose Dracula inspired tones, are daring you to enter.

The Horrors - Still Life (Comfort Remix) FREE DOWNLOAD by James Comfort

Here`s a remix of probably my favorite Horrors track, Still Life, which was the highlight for me during their Geneva show Monday, the crowed being whipped into a frenzy with the opening synth line being repeated for an age as the drummer tried to sort out a technical issue he was having. This is a really fun, bubbly, well produced drum and bass remix of The Horrors Still Life by DJ Comfort.



Here is The Horrors, or more specifically Tom from the Horrors, with a gothic, futuristic and pleasantly bleak version of Lady Gaga`s Bloody Marry, taken from Born This Way the Remix, a remix of her last studio album also featuring re-edits by Foster the People, Goldfrapp, Micheal Woods, Metronomy and Twin Shadow, to name but a few.

Thursday 1 December 2011

Frontier Sounds Singles Selections



My single of the week is this fantastically bluesy number from Kill It Kid, who are a four piece from bath. Featuring the poor boy tones of Blind Willie McTell it has all the piano and vocals you`d expect from a Blind Willie inspired tune but given a contemporary touch. I can`t do more than let this wonderful  track describe itself, decent video as well.




Simply for the fact that I didn`t like a lot of the singles released this week, I`m going to play a little teaser from next week, in fact I`m doing any French readers a favor in informing them that on Monday they will be able to get hold of this record nearly two weeks before the rest of the world. On the fifth of December in France, the 13th everywhere else, Anglo-French singer and actress Charlotte Gainsbourg will release Stage Whispers, a double LP of live and previously unreleased material. This track is called Paradisco, written especially for Gainsbourg by Moby. Bizarrely, in what I`d like to think is a move of French solidarity but rather suspect is a massive sponsorship deal, you can preview two more tracks from the album on The Air France web site.



A series of layers, acoustic guitar, atop classical finger picking, a gently humming bass driven by an army drum roll which is all bound together by, in the words of Master Chefs Greg Wallace, a buttery-biscuit vocal. Right Way Round is the latest single from East London rock folk five piece Dark Captain. It`s a track that sounds like both the sum of all its parts and all those parts individually battling to be heard within the mix; either way, the result is beautiful. 
They have an album out called Dead Legs and Alibis and it`s available from www.darkcaptain.com, so if you like Right Way Round, you know where to hed to hear more.