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)

Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1986.

Parisian Kavinsky is yet another amazing artist who produces synth-driven electronica, along similar lines as Justice and SebastiAn, the latter of which he is touring with on Daft Punk's Alive 2007 tour. However, whilst aforementioned artists can often verge into glitchey-electro, Kavinsky offers something much more sublime. His first two EPs,Teddy Boy and 1986, both released on Record Makers are drenched in slick synths, with a heavy 8os feel, which is reflected in the artwork which accompanies his releases.

According to his last.fm page, Kavinsky "is a zombie in need of revenge; killed when he crashed his Ferrari Testarossa in 1986. His records are the story of his first steps in the world of the living dead". This is a pretty damn close description of the imagery his music creates. 'Testarossa Autodrive' is the sound of Kavinsky driving at unearthly speeds through a neon city, taillights blazing across lanes of crawling traffic, against a backdrop of skyscrapers. It's the kinda music I imagine RoboCop would listen to, 'Grand Canyon' being the perfect music for cruising through a dystopic and crime infested city.

Alongside his own music, Kavinsky also makes time to make some remixes in his own distinctive style. Find below his reinvention of Klaxons' 'Gravity's Rainbow'. Grab it fast and enjoy.

In June Kavinsky will release Deadcruiser, a mini-album compiling tracks from the first two EPs, the tracklisting is as follows:

01:: The Crash
02:: Testarossa Autodrive
03 :: Transistor
04 :: Grand Canyon
05 :: Flashback
06 :: Testarossa Nightdrive
07 :: Wayfarer
08 :: Ghost Transistor
09 :: Deadcruiser

mp3: Kavinsky - Testarossa Autodrive (Teddy Boy EP)
mp3: Kavinsky - Grand Canyon (1986 EP)
mp3: Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (Kavinsky remix)