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DAFT PUNK
Random Access Memories

Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories was one of the most anticipated albums of not only the year, but maybe even ever. This of course begged the question: does it live up to the hype? The best saying for this is the good old “aim low and you’ll never be disappointed,” which, albeit somewhat demotivational, does allow for a “better than expected” result. The French duo were being very ambitious by creating such a buzz, but can we expect any less from Daft Punk? Maybe not. For everywhere Random Access Memories lacks, there is an equally smooth and velvety groove to combat it. Unfortunately, this creates a very inconsistent album that has too many lull moments for it to be an overall winner in disco music history. The whole album is layered with 70′s funk, reminiscent of those fuzzy guitar solos and sweet licks we all grew up on and this makes it an extremely fun and upbeat type of record that has been filled to the brink with A-list cameos (please see Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas, Nile Rodgers, Giorgio Moroder and so on). So, in the end, Daft Punk have delivered an exceptionally well marketed album, which unfortunately has an overall lacklustre feel. It is definitely worth a spin, but worth two spins? It’s up to you.

ARTIST: Daft Punk
TITLE: Random Access Memories
LABEL: Columbia
RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013
TIME: 1:14:35 min.
WEB: http://www.daftpunk.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Give Life Back to Music [04:34]
02. The Game of Love [05:22]
03. Giorgio by Moroder [09:05]
04. Within [03:49]
05. Instant Crush [05:38]
06. Lose Yourself to Dance [05:54]
07. Touch [08:19]
08. Get Lucky [06:10]
09. Beyond [04:50]
10. Motherboard [05:42]
11. Fragments of Time [04:40]
12. Doin’ It Right [04:11]
13. Contact [06:21]

PREVIEW: Daft Punk (feat. Julian Casablancas) – Instant Crush

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RS VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #157
REDRUM ALONE – OniricAct Part 3 (il leprotto remix)

ARTIST: Redrum Alone
TITLE: OniricAct Part 3 (il leprotto remix)
ALBUM: De Redrum Remixes
WEB: YouTube

directed by Fab Design

PORTFOLIO
We | Humans

Brand new EP from Reggio Emilia-based post-rockers Portfolio, featuring two unreleased tracks plus Beth Gibbons e Kim Novak, taken from their debut The Standing Babas, but here nicely re-worked. The first remixed by Silent Panda | Deadly Panda (a.k.a. Luca G from Julie’s Haircut), who plays guitars also on James Horses Chariot and Sion. The second one shows a wonderful different skin with less electronics and the introduction of a string quartet. An appreciated appetizer while waiting for their second full-length, sweetly enhanced by Laura Loriga‘s (Mimes of Wine, Giardini di Mirò) voice.

ARTIST: Portfolio
TITLE: We | Humans
LABEL: This Is the Land
RELEASE DATE: May 06, 2013
TIME: 24:54 min.
WEB: http://www.facebook.com/portfoliothesound
PURCHASE: special offer – NAME YOUR PRICE

01. James Horses Chariot [06:08]
02. Sion [07:17]
03. Kim Novak (with strings) [04:09]
04. Beth Gibbons (silent panda | deadly panda remix) [07:20]

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JOHN GRANT
Pale Green Ghosts

After a breakthrough year following his exceptional solo debut Queen of Denmark, John Grant hasn’t rested on his laurels but created a follow-up that underlines his uncanny and charismatic talents. Recorded in Iceland and featuring Sinead O’Connor on guest vocals, this brilliant Pale Green Ghosts adds sublime notes of dark, gleaming electronica to the anticipated velveteen ballads, calling on all of Grant’s influences and tastes, presenting an artist at the peak of his powers. Exclusively for RS readers, here’s a deluxe edition featuring a bunch of stunning remixes.

ARTIST: John Grant
TITLE: Pale Green Ghosts (deluxe edition)
LABEL: Bella Union / Partisan
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 1:40:47 min.
WEB: http://johngrantmusic.com/
PURCHASE: price – 11.90$

01. Pale Green Ghosts [06:04]
02. Black Belt [04:19]
03. GMF [05:14]
04. Vietnam [05:29]
05. It Doesn’t Matter to Him [06:27]
06. Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore? [06:12]
07. You Don’t Have To [05:54]
08. Sensitive New Age Guy [04:42]
09. Ernest Borgnine [04:54]
10. I Hate This Town [04:04]
11. Glacier [07:38]

01. Black Belt (hercules & love affair rmx) [07:48]
02. Black Belt (gluteus maximus vocal rmx) [08:24]
03. Pale Green Ghosts (nivolt rmx) [05:21]
04. Pale Green Ghosts (no ceremony rmx) [04:48]
05. Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore? (nivolt rmx) [05:49]
06. Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore? (bon homme rmx) [07:40]

PREVIEW: John Grant – Black Belt

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RS VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #156
THE KNIFE – A Tooth for an Eye

ARTIST: The Knife
TITLE: A Tooth for an Eye
ALBUM: Shaking the Habitual
WEB: YouTube

directed by Roxy Farhat

ADULT.
The Way Things Fall

It’s been six years since the last full-length output from Detroit’s ADULT., who took a much needed and deserved hiatus, but nevertheless the husband-and-wife electronic team have returned. Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus survived several cycles of fashion, but their love of electro and kohl-eyed techno-pop is pure, unwavering and indefatigable. The Way Things Fall is filled with spiky electroclash, sparse disco-punk torch songs, pleasant enough in their own right, even if things get better when the going gets weirder: something like like an imaginary meeting of Siouxsie Sioux and Kraftwerk, or The B52s broken down and fed to Arpanet, ora again when Nicola stands her finest, most indolent/insolent vocal performances to a tough chassis of Aux88 style electro-tech.

ARTIST: ADULT.
TITLE: The Way Things Fall
LABEL: Ghostly International
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 44:13 min.
WEB: http://www.adultperiod.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

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BIBIO
Silver Wilkinson

Stephen Wilkinson seems to occupy his own universe. Using his home studio, the producer is able to craft warped, woozy nuggets of electronic pop music which seem to break rules you hadn’t even considered were capable of being broken. 2011′s full length Mind Bokeh was a fantastic return, and since then Bibio has been busy performing live and playing with his near infinite supply of gadgets. Now the producer is ready to return, with new album Silver Wilkinson: filled with eastern harmonies and highlife influenced guitar lines, this is a wonderful piece of oddball sunshine pop.

ARTIST: Bibio
TITLE: Silver Wilkinson
LABEL: Warp
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 48:59 min.
WEB: http://warp.net/records/bibio
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. The First Daffodils [02:57]
02. Dye the Water Green [05:26]
03. Wulf [02:10]
04. Mirroring All [05:39]
05. À Tout à l’Heure [04:10]
06. Sycamore Silhouetting [03:17]
07. You [05:29]
08. Raincoat [04:09]
09. Look at Orion! [07:38]
10. Business Park [05:00]
11. You Won’t Remember… [03:04]

PREVIEW: Bibio – The First Daffodils

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MISS KITTIN
Calling from the Stars

One of the enduring characters of electronic dance music, the formidable feline Miss Kittin gets expansive and expressive on her new double album, Calling from the Stars. The first disc boasts impulsively catchy tunes such as single Bassline but there’s also a broodingly romantic air on tracks such as Tears Like Kisses. Disc two reveals surprisingly trancey ambient electronica, with standouts including Sunset Mission. Overall, it’s a poppier contrast to this Grenoble star’s electroclash beginnings: even her characteristic deadpan vocals seem mellower. But don’t worry: it’s still commanding, though.
Miss Kittin hasn’t lost her sharp claws.

ARTIST: Miss Kittin
TITLE: Calling from the Stars
LABEL: Wagram / wSphere
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2013
TIME: 1:49:35 min.
WEB: http://www.misskittin.com/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 9.46$

01. Flash Forward [04:49]
02. Come Into My Eyes [06:11]
03. Bassline [03:37]
04. Calling from the Stars [04:46]
05. Life Is My Teacher [04:27]
06. Meneki Neko [02:49]
07. What to Wear [03:35]
08. Night of Light [04:48]
09. Tears Like Kisses [03:00]
10. Eleven [03:19]
11. Blue Grass [04:30]
12. See You [04:03]
13. Everybody Hurts [04:20]

14. Only You [05:04]
15. Cosmic Love Radiation [04:51]
16. Tamarin Bay [06:57]
17. Sunset Mission [05:39]
18. Mind Stretching [04:40]
19. Ballad of the 23rd Century [05:15]
20. What You See [03:49]
21. Sortie Des Artistes [02:18]
22. Silver Lake [05:20]
23. I Don’t Know How to Move [07:28]

PREVIEW: Miss Kittin – Bassline

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LETHERETTE
Letherette

If there’s one thing occasionally lacking in the current crop of electronic wonders, it’s fun. Fun is what sets Letherette apart, what makes them more than just another act in electronica, and what makes their self-titled debut a classic album. Letherette is, dare we say it, a classic of “dance” music generally. The young duo from Wolverhampton have won hearts, minds and feet with four EPs, stunning remixes for Machinedrum and Bibio, and exuberant live shows. It’s easy to see why they inspire such enthusiasm: they understand the cutting edge without feeling afraid to let themselves go, and their music is all the better for it. Letherette explores mood confidently, taking in introspective, melancholic moments as well as upbeat drive and lending their debut extraordinary depth.

ARTIST: Letherette
TITLE: Letherette
LABEL: Ninja Tune
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2013
TIME: 56:43 min.
WEB: http://ninjatune.net/artist/letherette
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 8.99$

01. After Dawn [04:29]
02. D&T [03:14]
03. Restless [04:07]
04. I Always Wanted You Back [03:18]
05. The One [04:46]
06. Gas Stations and Restaurants [05:55]
07. Cold Calm [05:49]
08. Warstones [04:36]
09. Boosted [04:36]
10. Space Cuts [04:06]
11. Hard Martha [05:24]
12. Say the Sun [06:23]

PREVIEW: Letherette – Space Cuts

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SØLYST
Lead

As the rhythmic powerhouse between krautrock/electronica/post-rock fusionists Kreidler, Thomas Klein has proved his chops as one of the most accomplished and creative drummers in the German music scene, and now he comes to the fore with his dub and techno-influenced solo debut as Sølyst. If krautrock as a movement was about taking organic, instrument-created sounds and building them into angular, avant-garde sonic tapestries, then Klein’s reinvention of the template simply does the same with digital technology and sounds. The dub influence slows the pace to a narcotic, undulating throb through echoing percussion with multi-faceted, bubbling synths. Understated and avoiding wilful experimentation in favour of smooth, rounded compositions, Lead is a strong debut from Klein.

ARTIST: Sølyst
TITLE: Lead
LABEL: Bureau B
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2013
TIME: 47:20 min.
WEB: http://www.bureau-b.com/solyst
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 8.99$

01. Pierobourg [07:17]
02. Glass Danger [05:10]
03. Polar [04:53]
04. Lead [02:15]
05. Magellan [05:00]
06. Melancholia [05:20]
07. Spiegel [04:28]
08. Kristall [02:17]
09. Euphorica [04:57]
10. Schnee [05:43]

PREVIEW: Sølyst – Schnee

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MINILOGUE
Blomma

Everything comes in its own time: a wordly wisdom that Marcus Henriksson and Sebastian Mullaert a.k.a. Minilogue take for granted. Since their foundation in the s-far-so-good late 90s, they emerged to one of the most respected and hard to pigenhole electronic music acts world-wide. And Now? Now it’s Blomma-time, of course. A time (and an album) where the title isn’t just a name: the Swedish word “blomma” represents two meanings in one, the bloom and the flower. The flower and the blooming are deeply tied to each other, as for Minilogue the process of making music and the temporary result of this process is one too. So the album title matches perfectly with their aim of beeing aimless. The result is a record with no real beginning or end. An album that tells unconscious an epic story about the path it took to make it. With each atmospheric turn it blooms like an unreal sound of fairytale which leaves much space for the listeners individual imagination. A dancefloor madness that you can call whatever but mainstream: more that two hours of full-length, tracks up to 45 minutes.
You can dance to it, you can ease, you can loose your feeling towards time and space:
and that’s wonderful.

ARTIST: Minilogue
TITLE: Blomma
LABEL: Cocoon
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 2:27:11 min.
WEB: http://www.minilogue.com/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 8.99$

01. Everything Is All You’ve Got [21:00]
02. Atoms with Curiosity that Looks at Itself and Wonder Why It Wonders [18:06]
03. Forgotten Memories [12:22]
04. Existensberättigande [14:14]
05. Nor Coming Nor Going [09:09]
06. E De Nan Hemma? [45:41]
07. Mellan Landet [17:05]
08. Evaporerar Ut Från Sitt Gömställe [09:34]

PREVIEW: Minilogue – Not Coming Nor Going

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!!! (CHK CHK CHK)
THR!!!ER

Famous for their high-energy live shows and relentless touring schedule, !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk) have really focused their efforts on crafting an album with tighter song structures, and the results are stunning. The album, is titled THR!!!ER and was produced by Jim Eno, the drummer from Spoon. Like many people, Jim was a fan of !!!‘s live show, but he felt that they too often tried to capture these performances in the studio. Instead of trying to chase this feeling, Jim encouraged them to create a different type of excitement by using weirder sounds, inventing new dynamics within each song and introducing unexpected changes.
Something more honest, more interesting, more fun than ever before.

ARTIST: !!! (Chk Chk Chk)
TITLE: THR!!!ER
LABEL: Warp
RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2013
TIME: 34:53 min.
WEB: http://www.chkchkchk.net/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Even When the Water’s Cold [03:48]
02. Get That Rhythm Right [05:06]
03. One Girl / One Boy [04:04]
04. Fine Fine Fine [03:54]
05. Slyd [04:15]
06. Californyeah [04:34]
07. Except Death [04:37]
08. Careful [05:37]
09. Station (meet me at) [03:55]

PREVIEW: !!! (chk chk chk) – Fine Fine Fine

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THE KVB
Immaterial Visions

Combining shoegaze guitars, minimal synth melodies, hypnotic drum machine rhythms and reverb drenched vocals, The KVB was first formed in 2010 as the solo project of Klaus Von Barrel. He was later joined by his girlfriend Kat Day, who added synthesizers and abstract visual elements. Their sound is dark, layered, complex and moody: an icy atmosphere juxtaposed by the warmth of distorted guitars. With this Immaterial Visions, the duo demonstrates that its palette can expand beyond the shoegaze tag they are regularly adorned with.

ARTIST: The KVB
TITLE: Immaterial Visions
LABEL: Minimal Wave / Cititrax
RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2013
TIME: 33:44 min.
WEB: http://thekvb.tumblr.com/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 7.12$

01. Shadows [03:59]
02. Dayzed [03:59]
03. I Only See the Lights [05:24]
04. Lines [03:37]
05. Old Life [04:46]
06. For the Day [04:04]
07. Pray to the Light Machine [04:42]
08. Human [03:18]

PREVIEW: The KVB – Shadows

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YOUNG GALAXY
Ultramarine

Ultramarine is the name and colour of Young Galaxy‘s 4th LP, the first album they have made away from Montreal, across the sea, all together. Like 2011‘s Shapeshifting, Ultramarine was made with electronic producer Dan Lissvik, but this time it was made in Göteborg, Sweden at Lissvik’s own studio. This time five musicians stood in a room with Lissvik, playing their instruments: this time every song was sung by co-founder Catherine McCandless, with eyes on a blue horizon. These are ten tracks of shining, glimmering electronic pop-songs that scatter across the dance floor, swim through headphones, ringing out like a cold new summer. A modern record, beautifully now, and in a way more direct than anything Young Galaxy have ever made. This band has always loved pop music: here they lean into this love, finding lyrics that speak more to the beat than to intimate autobiography.

ARTIST: Young Galaxy
TITLE: Monomania
LABEL: Paper Bag
RELEASE DATE: April 23, 2013
TIME: 39:54 min.
WEB: http://younggalaxy.com/
PURCHASE: price – 11.99$

01. Pretty Boy [03:56]
02. Fall For You [04:24]
03. New Summer [04:13]
04. Fever [02:58]
05. Hard to Tell [04:38]
06. What We Want [03:57]
07. Out the Gate Backwards [04:10]
08. In Fire [04:29]
09. Privileged Poor [03:14]
10. Sleepwalk with Me [03:55]

PREVIEW: Young Galaxy – Fever

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CRIMEA X
Another

Italian post-kraut-rock and cosmic-disco duo Crimea X have finished their second album, Another. It comes 2 years after their last effort, Prospective, and explores the same laidback yet spaced out sounds laced with intergalactic guitar riffs, wobbly pianos and skewed synth patterns that DJ Rocca (a.k.a. Luca Roccatagliati, producer for Daniele Baldelli, Ajello and Dimitri From Paris‘s partner in the Erodiscotique project) and Jukka Reverberi (Giardini di Mirò) have championed since first getting together. The album was produced by Norwegian legend Bjørn Torske who spent 10 days in the studio with the duo before returning home to mix it in Bergen. As a proof of value of Another, stands the fact that Prins Thomas likes the album so much he has decided to remix three tracks from it to release on his own label.

ARTIST: Crimea X
TITLE: Another
LABEL: Godfellas / Hell Yeah!
RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2013
TIME: 58:04 min.
WEB: https://soundcloud.com/crimea-x
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 7.99$

01. Essential [05:09]
02. Floordance Track [07:25]
03. Haunted Love [06:01]
04. Dream Is Gone [06:37]
05. Portable Water [04:58]
06. I Feel Russian [06:48]
07. Yev [05:09]
08. A Present [05:40]
09. Summer Rain [10:17]

PREVIEW: Crimea X – Yev

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RS VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #152
JAMES BLAKE – Retrograde

ARTIST: James Blake
TITLE: Retrograde
ALBUM: Overgrown
WEB: YouTube

directed by Martin de Thurah