Behind my gameboy I got gamegirl.

Tranterco is one part of Melbourne's Gameboy/Gamegirl, who you will have surely heard of if you've had your finger on the pulse of the coolest blogs in blogland during the past year. Tranterco (who is responsible for the faux rapping in GB/GC) has been djaying for awhile and as well as throwing down tunes he also puts his hands to some pretty interesting mash-ups and mixes. Examples from his myspace page include a mix of Justin Timberlake's 'Rock My Body', and a mash-up featurning SebastiAn and 90s R&B outfit Bell Biv Devoe. My pick from what I have heard of his output, however, has to be his mash of Spank Rock's 'Bump' and Midnight Juggernauts' 'Shadows', and I've included it below.

I've also thrown in a Gameboy/Gamegirl track, so you can check out Tranter during his day job. 'Pumps Rumps' is, to me, a throwback to 90s group 20 Fingers' 'Short Dick Man' brought kicking and rapping (?) into the naughties, but like a million times better. GB/GG have got a killer sound, and Ican't wait until they release some new material besides the tracks over on their myspace. Head over to Hype if you want to hear more, 'Sweaty Wet/Dirty Damp' is highly recommended.

mp3: Tranterco - Midnight Spanknauts (Midnight Juggernauts vs Spank Rock)

mp3: Gameboy/Gamegirl - Pumps Rumps

That's why I copy and paste.

Every now and again you stumble across a musical gem, that once you've heard you never will forget. About two years ago I heard a song on late night MTV2, a song which since that day I have been able to remember vividly, yet until a couple of days ago I didn't know what it was. I could remember the cutesy animated video and the unforgettable chorus, but did I know who wrote that little piece of magic?

No, of course I didn't.

Plastic Operator are a two piece international electronic pop outfit, with one half from Antwerp and the other from Montreal. How did they meet? In London whilst studying audio production of course. After hitting it off, realising they both had a shared love for well written pop music, the duo began to make their own blend of bittersweet electronic pop music; music which is sure to leave you feeling both melancholic and uplifted simultaneously. Okay: try to imagine the Knife if all they listened to was the Postal Service and the Pet Shop Boys... they are somewhere in that region. Seriously, the stuff they produce is amazing.

Anyway, I digress slightly. On hearing the band's self produced debut Different Places I was stunned into silence when the third track kicked in and I realised this was the song I had been looking for. Call off the search! That tune that had managed to evade me for so long finally had a name, 'Folder'. It was P.O's first single back in 2005 and was well received by much of the music press, and now two years later it was blasting from my stereo. It's so catchy, vocalist Pieter Van Dessel's distinctive voice flowing over a sea of electronic keys and synthetic drums, seemingly sad with its strains of string and blipping synths. It's pop perfection. Plain and simple.
It's the kind of song you would want to fall in love to.

Why not fall in love with it too?

Plastic Operator's debut album Different Places is available now on Fine Day.

mp3: Plastic Operator - Folder

Acres of dead space cadets.

Elle Milano are back! And not only do they have a new single, but a new album. Fans of the Leicester three-piece (they recently lost a member) may remember their Swearing's for Art Students EP which came out seemingly years back now which gained them a reasonable amount of support from the music press, especially from Indie fanzine ArtRocker.

The first single to be taken from the album, 'My Brother, The Astronaut' takes up where the last EP finished, an scathing indie rock anthem that leaves you gasping for air. Not a band to play quietly, the track is loud and abrassive; all angular guitars and shouty lyrics. Lots of fun! It also sounds remotely similar, in places, to a certain Fallout Boy song. This, however, may be intentional, as the band are well know for their satirical and cynical outlook on the British alternative music scene, as well as the shallow consumerist attitude of today's youth. Check it out for yourself, along with the classic title track from their EP, 'Swearing's For Art Students'.

The new single 'My Brother, The Astronaut' is released on Brighton Electric 0n October 29th, and is limited to 500 white vinyl and download. This will be followed by the debut album Acres of Dead Space Cadets later in the year.

mp3: Elle Milano - My Brother, The Astronaut
mp3: Elle Milano - Swearing's For Art Students

This just in!

Bloc Party are good again. Honest!

Bloc Party's new single is called Flux and is currently whizzing around the blogsphere like bird flu in an apocalyptic vision of the future. RAD!. We Were Rock Stars is not content to sit idly by and neglect our duties in hyping this beyond hyperbole so: THIS IS THE BEST SONG YOU WILL EVER HEAR!!!

Ok, maybe not. But perhaps one of the best releases of the year and a quick one too. A Weekend In The City, an album well below the par set by 2005's (great year for music that) Silent Alarm, seems to have been done and dusted and if the rest of BPs new stuff is half as good as Flux, produced by A Weekend In the City producer Jacknife Lee, then we'll be welcoming them back to the dance floors of indie discos across the UK.

P.S. In order to bring you this literally HOTTT with three Ts off the press we have the added 'joy' of Zane L0L yammering on at the end of the mp3 but hopefully we'll replace this at a later date but no doubt in about 2 weeks you will have heard this everywhere and be sick to death of it a la Standing in the Way of Control.

Bloc Party - Flux

Sweet as Sugar.

London's David E. Sugar has been around for awhile now, and in my opinion is one of the UK's bright sparks who continues to excell himself again and again. Whilst he produces his own original material, utilising a Gameboy's default sounds to program his beats, it is his remixes that have really grabbed my attention.

My first encounter with Sugar's work was his remix of Klaxons 'Golden Skans', a smashing mix with the best bit coming in at 2:43 with the song stripped back to the vocals and keyboard before the beat kicks back in. Sweet as.

His reinterpretation of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly's 'War of the Worlds' is not so much a remix but Sugar ripping up the original and sticking it back together in the form of a three minutes of perfectly chunky glitch pop. It's like, wow, how to make a song that was already a tune in to the theme from an early 90s Sega game that you want to listen to on repeat. Thumbs up.

I have never really liked the Rumble Strips, and after seeing them last summer and being put off by their tad mediocre sound, I have never really strayed anywhere near them (well apart from to listen to Sportsday Megaphone's remix of previous single). However, how could I resist when I saw that David E. Sugar had put his hands to work at remixing their latest single 'Girls and Boys in Love'. At what a mix it is! It starts off all tinkling pianos, until roughly the 50 second mark when in drops a crunchy electro riff which is partnered once more about 15 seconds later by that lovely piano. It's big and punchy, and puts the original to shame!

On the subject of his original material, as an added bonus I have thrown in his cover of the Cure's 'Just Like Heaven', which sees a classic slice of Robert Smith put through the 8-bit blender and coming out squeakyfresh the other side.

David E. Sugar's new single 'Chelsea Girls' is out October 15th on Brikabrak.
'Chelsea Girls' video directed by Peepshow Collective.

mp3: Klaxons - Golden Skans (David E. Sugar remix)
mp3: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - War of the Worlds (David E. Sugar remix)
mp3: The Rumble Strips - Girls And Boys In Love (David E. Sugar's Shameless mix)
mp3: David E. Sugar - Just Like Heaven (Cure cover)

Just Jak It.

Pseudonecrophile are a boy and a girl from Houston, Texas, who I seem to have stumbled across out of nowhere. However, since hearing them only a few days ago on the old myspace I have became somewhat obsessed with their irresistable blend of electronica and attitude, a mix that hits hard but manages not to sacrife its pop edge. Imagine Crystal Castles if all they listened to was Justin Timberlake. Or something like that. The track that has stuck in my head most is 'Jak It', an ode to a Jack Mitchell who, as the song informs, is a sex god. Apparently. Bass-heavy beats and quicksharp vocals is the name of Pseudonecrophile's game - and it's the kind of game I want to play.

The remix by supercool Parisian Gohan is also highly recommended and worth checking out, and if you enjoy that you can download his album from his myspace. 'John Woo' is a bit of a tasty tidbit to get your juices flowing. It got mine going for sure. Bonus, non?

mp3: Pseudonecrophile - Jak It
mp3: Pseudonecrophile - Jack Mitchell (Gohan remix)
mp3: Gohan - John Woo

Coming Back With Power! Power!

BOOM! M.I.A is missing no longer, I have found her in my stereo every single minute since the release of her second major album Kala on the 20th of August.

I feared an album too 'banging' for my tastes with the more raucous tracks; 'XR2', 'Bird Flu' and 'Boyz up on her myspace at the beginning of the year.

"...take a pill good time all the time"

However this contender for album of the decade has come with some more saccharine tracks that are more to my tastes and serves to make the album a richer and more eclectic venture.

While blogging M.I.A. continuines the theme of 2007 being a great year for albums as many artists are following up on their 2005 releases which by and large were best bunch of records ever released in a 12 month period I have to say that this album is extremely good at making it feel little has come before it. It is totally complete, not one song could be swapped with 2005's Arular as it would serve to ruin both albums.

While Arular was an explosion of positively addictive Carioca Funk, Kala is much more of a Hip-Hop affair with Timbaland even producing a track. Its more stripped down and the samples are more recognizable and M.I.A's delivery and content has moved towards gangs and guns; though more AK47s in Africa than 8 Balls and Glocks in South Central LA. Contributions by Timbaland and Afrikan Boy help Kala conform more to the typical Hip Hop formula of collabirations.

"I’m illegal I don’t pay tax tax,
EMA yes I’m claiming that that"

She hasn't sidestepped pure dancibility and with Tacks like Boys, XR2 and the sublime Jimmy which sees her adopting a more Bollywood style she will be permanent fixture on all god DJs set lists - certainly in America where she is far out pacing her level of fame over here.

Is there a theme to Kala? Does it all string together? Not really, no. Perhaps there are many threads that unwravel for a track and are reswen back into the fabric of the album later. While she criticises the status quo with regards to the West and the Third world in Hussle and $20 she is at ease with forgetting them completely with Jimmy and Come Around.

"no one on the corner has swagga like us"

Is it all good? You bet your Air Max 95s it is! Its arogant and funny, dancable and edgy, lots of good things and yes more good thing besides. While I did not think this immediately this is one of the greatest albums to come out of the UK (though this album owes everything but M.I.A. herself to the US) in the last 10 years. Its made listening to Arular harder and while I think this had the potential to become slightly dated in the long run right now its perfect and I'm prepared for the time when she claims she's bigger than Jesus and really isn't cool anymore, I'll be there asking the very important question, "Where were you in 92?" I was 7 growing up in Northfields, South Ealing near Hounslow where M.I.A. is from so I kinda feel like we're kindred spirits. I am seriously considering changing my name to Jimmy Aaja!

This was very close to a sensible album review and this worries me. To counter balence this I shall turn to M.I.A. herself and how she described her album to the Gaurdian in March: "Shapes, colours, Africa, street, power, bitch, nu world, brave." I couldn't agree more.

M.I.A. - Boyz
M.I.A. - Jimmy
M.I.A. - Paper Planes
M.I.A. - Come Around Feat. Timbaland