Cassette Culture Old

Musical Mood: Party! Party! Party!
Rough Genre: Electro

I've not heard the original of this track but this remix is definately something different from the old Groove Armada classics. At 1.41 you'll be rewarded when everything kicks in and the choppy vocals send things flying. Great stuff from Van She once again.


Groove Armada - Drop The Tough (Van She remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

www.myspace.com/groovearmada
Buy The Best of Groove Armada @Amazon for £3

Musical Mood: Sit down and relax with an orange
Rough Genre: Electro/Psychedelic/Jazzy

Well I don't know what I've been doing with my life up till now but I've been missing out big time. Sure I'd heard of Lemon Jelly. Yeah... I think I'd even heard a track...it was probably when I was an ignorant 14 year-old and it was probably Nice Weather For Ducks (which is a great track but there is so much more!!).

Alas, I have ignored them, bizarrely up until yesterday when my housemate came into my room and said "Lemon Jelly"
- and I said "Nice Weather for Ducks?"
- He said "Yeah"
- I went over to their Myspace to reminisce, accidentally played the wrong track and GOOD LORD.

For those of you not yet acquainted, Lemon Jelly are (were) a British electronica duo renowned for their use of samples in their tracks - the famous example is Nice Weather for Ducks (see below). Unfortunately, Lemon Jelly - Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin - are currently pursuing personal projects so new material looks unlikely for now. Yet don't despair - a wealth of goodness lies in their 3 albums: Lost Horizons; Lemon Jelly.ky; and '64 - '95 which I urge you to buy (see links below).

Here's Nice Weather For Ducks to remind you of Lemon Jelly and my two favourite tracks: Stay With You and Space Walk. They are simply beautiful.


Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather for Ducks
Alternative link (Mediafire)


Lemon Jelly - Space Walk
Alternative link (Mediafire)


Lemon Jelly - Stay With You
Alternative link (Mediafire)


www.lemonjelly.ky/

Buy Lemon Jelly albums @7Digital

Musical Mood: Walking home from the bakery / Party Party?
Rough Genre: Electro

Boy-8-Bit hails from the Mad Decent side of town (i.e. Diplo territory) and it shows.

Here's a quality original mix called The Suspense is Killing Me - a bouncy, distorted gander that probably won't be everyone's cup of tea as its quite repetative and no vocals.


Boy-8-Bit - The Suspense Is Killing Me
Alternative link (Savefile)

And here's Boy 8-Bit's remix of Bumblebeez track Rio:


The Bumblebeez - Rio (Boy-8-Bit remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

Buy Boy-8 Bit @Beatport

Musical Mood: Sit down and relax with an orange
Rough Genre: Electro

I hate Sunday mornings that involve actual kids with guns, but this of course is just a song, and it has been remixed, and so we draw ever further from potential scenarios like waking up and getting shot by a 3 year-old.

This is totally different to the original. Completely chilled out, soft and relaxing.

If you ever needed convincing of the power of music, all you need do is hit the play button below. Enjoy.


Gorillaz - Kids With Guns (Hot Chip remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

www.myspace.com/gorillaz
www.myspace.com/hotchip

Musical Mood: Find your dancing shoes
Rough Genre: Electro

I posted about Rex the Dog quite recently, but since then I've turned up some more really good stuff so thought I'd pop up a bit more Rex for you. Rex is certainly a talented remixer and I've got a couple of great examples. First up, The Knife - Heartbeats is re-worked with Rex's classic 80s electro feel. Second, Rex remixes Mylo v Miami Sound Machine - Doctor Pressure. That famous beat is given a bass boost and most of the vocals are stripped out. It takes a while to build but proper kicks off at 4.43 (its a 7-minute track).


The Knife - Heartbeats (Rex the Dog remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)


Mylo v Miami Sound Machine - Doctor Pressure (Rex the Dog remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)


To finish up, here's Rex the Dog's 5-minute minimix from the Annie-Mac show and a track from it.

Rex the Dog - Annie Mac minimix

Tracklist
Mel & Kim - Showing Out
Bangkok Impact - Masters Of The Universe
S'Express - Theme From S'Express
The Prodigy - Girls Acapella
Ellen Allien - Trashscapes (Anthony Rother Mix)
DJ Koze - Brutalga Square
Mel & Kim - Respectable


S'Express - Theme from S'Express
Alternative link

www.myspace.com/rexthedog1980
Buy Rex The Dog - The Rex the Dog Show @ Amazon

Musical Mood: Party! Party! Party!
Rough Genre: Indie/Electro

This is one of those classic Bloc Party remixes; full of interludes of downtempo guitar twinkling and then building to some big kick off peaks. Kelly's warped vocals really make this one.


Bloc Party - One Month Off (Metal On Metal remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

www.myspace.com/blocparty
Buy Intimacy @Amazon for a fiver

Musical Mood: Party! Party! Party!
Rough Genre: Electro

This is worth it just for the sample-friendly vocals that kick things off. Then everything launches into euphoric friendly electro. Find more Lapse remixes here and Moulinex remixes here and here. Oh and if you live in/near Brooklyn look whose stopping by on Friday (see poster above and Myspaces below).


Moulinex & Xinobi - Discotexas Theme (Lapse Remix)
Alternative link

www.myspace.com/moulinex
www.myspace.com/xinobi

Musical Mood: Walking home from the bakery
Rough Genre: Electro

Royksopp are back! Yes I know this happened a while ago, but Ohh! Crapp has just alerted me to the fact you can get Happy Up Here, the first track on their new album Junior for just 50p from 7Digital. Well worth it! Head over to Royksopp.com to preview the track. Junior will be released on the 23rd March and I for one can't balming wait.

Oh and Lykke Li will be on the album *swoons*.

Musical Mood: Walking home from the bakery or relaxing with an orange
Rough Genre: Electro/reggae

You're probably aware of Damon Albarn's animated band Gorrilaz and some of you may of heard of his side-project Monkey: Journey to the West, another sort of band slash Chinese Opera whose sterling track featured as the BBCs Olympics theme tune. Monkey: Journey to the West the opera was created by Damon Albarn (composer), Jamie Hewlett (Visual Concept, Costume, Design and Animation) and Chen Shi Zheng (director). Unfortunately, it finished its run in early January this year but you can still listen to some tracks on the Myspace or buy the soundtrack.

Today's tracks are a Diplo remix of a track called Monkey Bee from Monkey: Journey to the West; and Schtung's Chinese New Year remix of Gorillaz popular Dirty Harry track.


Monkey - Monkey Bee (Diplo remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)


Gorrilaz - Dirty Harry (Schtung Chinese New Year remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

www.myspace.com/monkeyjourneytothewest
www.myspace.com/gorillaz
www.myspace.com/diplo

Buy Monkey: Journey to the West @Amazon

Musical Mood: Go find those dancing shoes!
Rough Genre: Electro

Rex the Dog! Man and Dog! Or just Dog as he would have us believe. Either way, a man, or a dog has e-mailed their latest creation. This is a stop-motion (I think?) animation video for Rex The Dog's next single Bubblicious.


Bubblicious from Rex The Dog on Vimeo.

And here's an older track, Can You See Me I Can See You.


Rex The Dog - Can You See Me I Can See You (Kenson remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

www.myspace.com/rexthedog1980
Buy Rex The Dog - The Rex the Dog Show @ Amazon

Musical Mood: Party! Party! Party!
Rough Genre: Electro

When Cassette Culture first started I was actually getting concerned that I was becoming an almost exclusive promoter of Australian and New Zealander electro music. I adored The Presets, fell in love with Ladyhawke and practically married Cut Copy. Anyway, its been quiet on that front for too long in terms of new tunes so here's to the old days with some crackers that have sparked my attention again recently.

First up, I enjoyed the well known Presets tracks like Talk Like That but never got round to buying the album. Probably why I missed out on this:


The Presets - This Boys In Love
Alternative link (Savefile)

This track is, in my opinion, the best remix of Cut Copy's Lights and Music. Moulinex have pumped the thing with synthy atmosphere but don't be decieved, there's two cracking dancey peaks in there. Here it is in beautfiul 360kbps:


Cut Copy - Lights and Music (Moulinex remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

Finally, there have been tons of Paris is Burning remixes. I think my favourite was Cut Copy's slightly tropical take, but this version has its merits, especially if you like clapping and warbly bass noises. Stick with it for the peak.


Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning (Peaches remix)
Alternative link (Savefile)

www.myspace.com/ladyhawkerock
www.myspace.com/cutcopy
www.myspace.com/thepresets
www.myspace.com/peaches
www.myspace.com/peaches

Buy Ladyhawke's album for a fiver @Amazon
Buy The Presets - Apocalypso for a fiver @ Amazon
Buy Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours for a fiver @Amazon

Musical mood: Sit down and relax with an orange (relaxing, chilled-out, psychadelic tune)
Rough genre: Electro

Here's a couple of cracking Goldfrapp tracks for you. I'm only allowing streaming of A&E just to be safe but Happiness was given out free by Goldfrapp over Chirstmas so help yourselves!


Goldfrapp - A & E


Goldfrapp - Happiness (choral version)
Alternative link (Savefile)

www.myspace.com/goldfrapp
Buy Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree for a fiver @Amazon

Musical Mood: Walking home from the bakery (Music that makes you feel upbeat!) and Sit down and relax with an orange (Relaxing, chilled-out,or psychadelic tunes)
Rough Genre: Electro-pop/acoustic

Now this Jake Troth fellow is clearly a talented man. I've had this album, Might As Whale, which he sent me, sitting on my hard drive since early December and I'll be honest, it didn't blow me away at first, but I did like something about it and stuck with. I listened to it a few times a week building up to Christmas and started to really like a few of the songs. And then by New Year I was finishing meals early so I could go and listen to A Mountain again.

The amazing thing is, he's done pretty much everything on the record himself. All the drums are sampled from other bands like Daft Punk, Vampire Weekend and Joy Division, then he plays the instruments and sings (apart from some female vocals). He recorded the whole thing in 5 days - in his own words - "I didn't do anything besides wake up, record, eat, record, drink, record, and sleep".

And he's giving away Might As Whale for free, simply because he loves making music and wants others to share what he's made. I'm going to post a couple of my favourite tracks here and then you can download all 6 tracks free at the bottom of the post. Keep your eye on Jake Troth.



Jake Troth - Aurora Cut Her Thumb (life is hard)


Jake Troth - A Mountain

Download the full Might as Whale album (47mb in zip format)

www.myspace.com/jaketroth

Musical Mood: Sit down and relax with an orange (relaxing, chilled-out tune)
Rough genre: Soul tinged with tiny little bits of electro

Well today I'm stuck inside revising statistics which always brings joy to my heart and a tear to my eye. But there are advantages to sitting inside all day. I've seen some intriguing things, for example, this man has walked past my window 3 times in the last ten minutes always in the same direction. How is he doing this?? He must be doing laps of the block...but why?

I've also seen a small group of roguish looking children charge across the street into the bushes opposite wielding knives (yes KNIVES) and start to hack at the various pieces of vegetation. At this moment in time they appear to have obscured themselves in the scrub, perhaps waiting for an innocent passer-by....OH MY GOD! The walking man!! I must warn him!

But first, here's some sweet sweet soul, given a little edge by deck-dancing master Diplo. I caught this song on a Manchester student radio (Fuse FM) show called Gruvi. The show is commandeered by an extremely music-smart chap called Jon who regularly explores musical worlds I personally rarely encounter (Jazz, Soul, Brazilian!). You can listen to some archived shows here. There are certainly some quirky guests on the show, such as the infamous "Lyrics Sean" who warmed my statistic-heavy heart when he gave a shout-out to Cassette Culture the other day!

Anyway, listen to this I'm off to rescue a man from the knife children.


Marlena Shaw - California Soul (Diplo remix)

www.myspace.com/officialmarlenashaw
www.myspace.com/diplo
Fuse FM's Gruvi

Music Mood: Find your dancing shoes (music that makes you edge towards the dance-floor)
Rough genre: Electro

Diskokaine has quite a self-deprecating blurb on his Myspace in which he basically describes how everyone thinks he's rubbish at everything. Apparently, his mother thinks he has shit hair, his girlfriend thinks he's bad in bed and the promoters never invite him back when he plays at parties. Well! I think he's pretty good at the music thing and his hair isn't bad. I do not know about the rest but I'm sure that's nothing that can't be worked on.

See what you think of this track Riminini (which I'm quite concerned I've spelt wrong every time I've written it). A funky electro groove permeated by beeps, boops and choppy vocals. Lovely.



Diskokaine - Riminini

www.myspace.com/diskokaine

Hello. I don't know if its true statistically, but I think there's defiantely some kind of link between a music fan and a t-shirt lover. Through the simple design of a t-shirt, we can convey a message about who we are - why walk into a bar and shout "I love music!" when you coud just wear a t-shirt with a cassette on the front? ta da!

Sure, the first option may be more entertaining, but lets not be attracting the wrong crowd (shouty people). ANYWAY, some of you may be wondering if I've accidently written on the wrong blog - don't panic - I know this is Cassette Culture, but still, I don't see why I shouldn't promote some good t-shirts when I find them.

So today, I thought I'd alert you to a Winter Sale at an online store called La Fraise*. Their t-shirts are all limited editions and feature some great art. And for what they are, they're a great price! Usual prices are between 14-25 euros (thats about $20-$30ish dollars and distrubingly with todays exchange rates, about 15-25 British pounds).

Here's their Winter Sale Offer - buy any 3 t-shirts and get 30% - just enter voucher code: WINTERSALES1 (NB - this ends on January 12th).

If you know any other good t-shirt shops give me a shout -
cassetteculture @ gmail.com

And here's a track! Because this IS still a music blog!


Architecture in Helsinki - That Beep

La Fraise*
www.myspace.com/aihmusic
Buy Architecture in Helsinki @Juno Records

*this is an affiliate link which means that I voucher of a small amount when you buy a t-shirt at La Fraise. It doesn't effect the cost of anything to you.

Hello. Here's some grand stuff from an artist I've been waiting to post about all over Christmas. Her name's Marina Diamond and she's called herself Marina and the Diamonds which is obviously disastrously confusing for us all. And apparently she loves Ancient Greece which is always a bonus in my eyes. Big fan.

Anyway Marina's with the Neon Gold label from whom we've also met Passion Pit so I was already interested before I listened. Whiles she's busy working on her album, have an auditory ganders at these nice jingly electro-poppy tunes of hers.


Marina and the Diamonds - Obsessions
Alternative zShare link



Marina and the Diamonds - Mowgli's Road
Alternative zShare link

www.myspace.com/marinaandthediamonds
Buy Marina's single @Puregroove for a fiver

If you've not heard out this project yet, its time to get aquainted. Buffetlibre have just finished the second edition of their Rewind project where artists submit covers and remixes of their favourite 70's, 80's & 90's songs. Head over to the Buffetlibre site to take a look at whats on offer (all free to download). The majority of the covers are quite light but some of my favorites are the tracks that have been juiced up a bit and revitalised.

Here's one of my favourite tracks from Rewind 2 and one from the first Rewind project.


Little Boots - Love Kills (Buffetlibre vs Sidechains remix) (Freddie Mercury cover)
Alternative Link



Madonna - Into The Groove (Sidechains remix)
Alternative Link


Read more about Little Boots @Cassette Culture
Read more about Buffetlibre @Cassette Culture

Ratatat are something special. There's so much around that sounds the same, and when someone breaks the mould its like being rinsed in fresh lemon juice. They have this fantastic warped synth sound permeated by mettalic guitar strumming and soft keyboard blobbing. Its mainly electro stuff and a cheeky bit hip hopity at times perhaps.

There's also a reasonable mash-up of Justice's We Are Your Friends and Ratatat's Seventeen Years kicking up a fuss over at Hype Machine. Its fairly tight but I'm not sure it adds anything major to either song or creates anything worth writing home about (how ironic you're thinking! He's blogging about it! gah). Don't let it put you off Ratatat themselves though. Just listen to Mirando and the original Seventeen Years and you'll see what I mean.


Justice v Ratatat - We Are Your Friends (Bearbot mash-up)
Alternative Link



Ratatat - Mirando
Alternative Link


Ratatat - Seventeen Years
Alternative Link

www.myspace.com/ratatatmusic
www.myspace.com/etjusticepourtous
www.myspace.com/classtronic

Buy Ratatat @Insound
Buy Ratatat @Amazon