Happy 2008 - Here is some sound.

I've been far too lazy this Christmas. A perfect chance for me to get back into the swing of blogging is squandered, with my time going into playing Wii until the early hours. Never mind, eh?

To make up for my absense I thought I'd put up a jumbo post of some of the stuff I'm liking at this current moment in time. Firstly, Okioki. Another amazing Aussie band, the Nintendo-friendly three piece from Perth have already played gigs with Hot Chip and Yuksek down under. Their myspace is a little vague with information, but they are worth a listen. Imagine playing guitar along to your gameboy and you are part of the way to working out how they sound. If you are expecting the art noise mess that Crystal Castles get out of nanoloop-ing and 8-bit sampling you may be a bit dissapointed, but if you're looking for a nostalgic gaming sound that could soundtrack games of the future, then this could be the hit your after.

mp3: Okioki - Defend the Gas Station
mp3: Okioki - Pocoyo vs The Incredible Machine

Next up, thanks to a heads-up from Gohan, his remix of fellow Parisians Thieves Like Us's 'Drugs In My Body'. This has become a personal fave of mine, and has been given quite a lot of playtime over in my media player. Thieves Like Us, signed over at Kitsune, ran a remix competition for the track towards the end of last year, spawning many a mix. Yet, out of the mixes I've heard of 'Drugs...' this is probably one of my faves. Tiny keys, synthesized choral line... simply love it. I've been watching over Gohan's stuff for awhile now, and if you haven't checked out his tracks over on his myspace, do so now! Thieves Like Us have UK tour dates in February, check their myspace for more information.

mp3: Thieves Like Us - Drugs In My Body (Gohan remix)

For our third sitting we have CHAINGANG. Flaming hell, Australia keeps throwing up some pretty awesome groups, this foursome hailing from Sydney. The email these guys sent me said a lot about the band all being from other bands, and having come together to create this slab of angry noize-rock. I haven't got an idea who the bands they used to play for were, but it seems that the line-up they are currently holding is pretty damn tight. Pulsing drums, dirty bass and heavy guitars, and with a distinctive punk attitude, encapsulated in front-woman Hayley's urgent vocals.

mp3: CHAINGANG - Get Off My Stage (demo)

Stimulation, I need some action.

If you haven't noticed, I love the Teenagers and I find that I have to write about them pretty often to relieve myself of the need that builds up inside me like steam in a kettle (as I did here and here). There is just something so fun about their minimalist blend of pervy lyrics, distinctive bass lines and tinny programmed drums. Sometimes I imagine that if it wasn't for vocalist Quentin's affected French accent the band would be rather plain, but after seeing them live I was totally enthralled. I think they are the kind of band which work better in a small venue rather than massive settings, as with my experience with them they made the stuffy Birmingham Academy 3 into the coolest party that you've ever been invited too. They are a band that actually appear to be having a good time on stage, especially Quentin who excels himself pulling (admittedly camp) shapes at the first sign of a camera from a hand sticking out of the crowd.

You may have heard 'Selflove', an album demo which was floating around on the blogs a short time back, but with the release of their latest single for Merok, Starlett Johansson, the band have renamed the track and unleashed it under the title of 'Full Flavor'. It is, as far as I can tell, a song about masturbation; a topic which seems rather fitting for a band who are renowned for writing rude songs. 'Sunset Beach' is an older song of theirs, but I still love it like I would I small child who happened to be mine. It sounds like the soundtrack to an American 80s TV show which you happened to stumble across on cable in the early hours of the morning, still feeling the effects of the heavy evening of drinks from which you haven't recovered. And then you wake up and realise it was all a dream, and you are sitting in your underpants in the living room, the TV throwing out nothing by static.

According to the band another single is in the pipeline, as well as an album, which will be on Merok.

mp3: The Teenagers - Full Flavor

mp3: The Teenagers - Sunset Beach

A foal is a horse that is one year old or younger.

Foals dress for the occasion and have awesome songs to match. Hailing from Oxford, these ex-art school types create a sound akin to Youthmovies crossed with the pop sensibilities of Bloc Party. The band won a lot of fans over at SXSW earlier this year, and with a couple of singles under their belt released on the Transgressive label, it could not be too soon for them to release an album. Did I mention they are perfectionists? In the short time they have been together they have recorded a mere handful of tracks, but the love and attention that goes into them is clear, as each one is pretty much near perfection. 'Hummer', a song the band describe as being about running, was their first single for Transgressive back in April, whilst the demo version of 'The French Open' shows the groups more progressive side...

mp3: Foals - Hummer

mp3: Foals - The French Open (demo)

Current single, 'Mathletics', is out now.

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