Audioioioionom

Audionom - Kein Bock

TGIF right guys? Whew!

Here's a little (well ok, not so little at 8+ minutes long) electro-rock jam to finish off this week by Sweden's Audionom. They've been pretty big in the alternative scene over there for a while, having formed in the late 90s... and broken up and re-formed multiple times. Their sound is pretty fierce. Synths and guitars all wailing at once, some of their songs are downright heavy - some are hard and fast, just dripping sweat and energy, others (like this one) are slow burners, but are no less hot and ready for some ass kicking. It is excellent. For those of you who've been following along here at MFR may hear echoes of Norway's 120 Days in their sound - as clearly influenced by krautrock and experimental music like Neu! and Brian Eno, as the post-punk of Joy Division, and wall of sound of My Bloody Valentine. If anything, 120 Days sound like Audionom, since the Swedes have been making music as a band for quite a bit longer.

Their full-length debut of sorts (apparently they've only actually released a 7" and a split-12" with Sickoakes so far) is called Retrospektiv, and it covers recordings the band produced from 1999 to 2002. The album is available in Europe already, but it is finally being released here in the US by our friends over at Kemado in just a couple weeks time. Have a look at Kemado's Audionom page over here for more information, a stream of the song "And You Thought I Was The Only One" and the video for "Revlis" - these should give you a pretty good idea of what Audionom is all about. You should also check their Myspace page for more music and info. Apparently they're working on new material, so that should make some of you really happy. I've listened to Retrospektiv all the way through a bunch of times - three times today alone - and it is truly excellent. Highly recommended.

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PS: There's some hot party action this weekend here in New York - Tonight Dirty Down hits Lit, with guest DJs from the Trouble&Bass crew for the Captain's birthday; whilst back in BKLYN, Studio B has Hello, Nurse! with (amazing but true) EGYPTIAN LOVER! Along with Jamie Jupiter, In Flagranti and Max Pask, DJ Duane, Cool Gypsy Bogdan, and Justin Carter + Probus. Hugeness.
Tomorrow (Saturday night) Studio B has Z-Trip and the Bangers throwing down; The Creature gives you another chance to catch In Flagranti, at Midway if you miss 'em on Friday...
There's other parties and other cities (JDH + Dave P in Chicago TONIGHT!), so feel free to add your favs in the comments, and be on the lookout for some crazy stuff coming up later this month!

I'm making out tonight with my computer

What is it with Scandinavians and great pop music? I don't know what's in the water over there, but I want some to pour in my morning coffee.

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Loop Duplicate My Heart.

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names (Johan Hedberg and Peter Gunnarsson, if you're reading the right Bible) is a pair of guys who like to screw around with loops and sweet, sweet melodies. In fact, their official bio from Labrador Records says, "They make and record their music in the hallway or the storehouse at the home of Peter’s kind parents. Johan makes simple drafts of the songs and then Peter polish[es] them and turn[s] them into shiny pop songs." Good friend to have, right?

This one is from their record #3, which also has the catchy songs "Funeral Face," "Noodles," and "Rent A Wreck." It's pure pop goodness, wrapped up in pretty paper and topped off with a colorful ribbon. Also, it may be the biggest nerd anthem since "She Blinded Me With Science." And that's a compliment.

You can pick up #3 from Amazon.

You're Like an Army Baby

Softlightes - Girlkillsbear [Lo-Fi-FNK Remix].

If we haven't already, we need to talk about Friend Rock. This is the music that your friends make which you are obligated to see. Used in a sentence, it would be like this: "After dinner I've gotta go see some Friend Rock at Spaceland. You don't have to come." Most of the time, you're not super excited about going because the band isn't that good - but they're your friends so you kind of have to go. And maybe they're opening for someone cool. It might work out in the end.

And then sometimes you're surpised. A friend asks you to check out his other band and it turns out they just signed to Modular People and are getting remixed by Lo-Fi-FNK. Then their video is number one on YouTube, and they're playing shows with the New Young Pony Club. This is now elevated beyond friend rock into just a great band.

In this remix, the Swedish teens strip the song down to its central, beautiful melody. They're not out to transform this into a dancefloor burner, and instead opt to enhance the song's already deep Southern California sounds. Maybe you remember the singer and rhythm section from The Incredible Moses Leroy. Maybe you recognize the rhythm section as the two guys from El Ten Eleven. That may be so, but none of those are decent references for this sound, which is airy and smart. I love it.

This comes from their Heart Made of Sound EP, which you can get directly from our friends at modular. There's a full length coming soon as well. Highly recomended.

Also, for those of you in Los Angeles, the band will be playing tonight at the Silverlake Lounge. They go on at 10.

A bottle, a message, and a place to call home

The Isles - Summer Loans

Melodic records keeps hitting me out of nowhere with these songs I can't get enough of. First all that Pedro goodness, now New York's The Isles, and more on the way.

The Isles new EP, Summer Loans, follows their well-received debut LP Perfumed Lands (though they're better known across the Atlantic currently), and is one of the rare indie rock releases I can listen to over and over and over... and I have. You'd better believe I have. It's three songs, and all three have climbed into my top playcount list in iTunes for January.

Their sound is sweet, warm, and mixes up the bouncy pop sounds you get from an act like Phoenix with some of the darker, driving melodies you'd expect from an Interpol or the like. The songs keep it moving, and every second of all the new music on the EP has its own unique quality that make their new material a wonderful listen. I have no idea what full length these songs will be part of eventually, but I'll be standing outside Other Music the day they open with a limp 10-spot waiting to get mine.

I mean, come on. I don't like indie rock. That often. So it's special to me when I do.

At any rate, you can (and should) go get the CD from CD Universe, or purchase and download the MP3's from Bleep. You can also download several more tracks for free from their website. They have a MySpace page too, but I refuse to link to the exponentially growing trash pile that is MySpace, so there. But you can figure it out I'm sure...

And finally, a music video for the song:

J-O-A-K-I-M (and friends)!!!!!!!!!

Joakim - Rocket Pearl (LIVE)

Tonight at APT (413 W 13th Street) MFR favorite Joakim is going to be laying down a likely wild DJ set - based on his remixes, his own songs, and the DJ sets of his that I've heard, it will probably be full of disco, techno and everything in between, so the basement will be slamming.

Joakim's new full-length album, titled Monsters and Silly Songs, is excellent, and totally nuts. Seriously, nuts. On his myspace blog, there was a post last February called "Fuck computers" that said his hard drive died and he didn't have a backup of it, which meant re-recording 90% of the album. I don't know if that really ended up being the case (though I might ask him tonight), but the creative process is clearly a firey one for Joakim, because MaSS is wild. There are a few techno-y songs (last year's massive "I Wish You Were Gone" and "Drumtrax" are smartly included), but the majority of it is more like a rock record. A great rock record. With layers of synths and other electronic madness, like this live version of "Rocket Pearl" - I highly recommend it.

Monsters and Silly Songs is out now in France, via Versatile, and it will be available here in the US (and worldwide) in three weeks, thanks to our friends at !K7 - check out the mini-site for the album here.

Oh, and supporting Joakim tonight is our pal My Cousin Roy, who you may remember from the dope disco re-edit I posted a little while back, so expect wierdo-disco-techno style stuff from him, Joakim, and Scott Mou - also, upstairs Justin Carter and Probus of Nublu Records and the "Hello, Nurse!" party will be bringing the noise.

The party should be one for the history books, so be there.

A tomboy

Tomboy - Murky Jerky

Denmark's Tomboy, aka Tomas Barfod, has been making eclectic dance music for few years now. His band-project, Whomadewho, made tons of top-ten electronic lists with their self-titled 2005 album, and we loved it here at MFR! After Whomadewho's extensive touring schedule of 2005-2006, Barfod made the smart decision to lock himself in his studio for a while to finish up his latest Tomboy project.

Coming off four successful EPs for Germany's Gomma Records (the most recent, 4, being an absolute killer), as well as singles for Tiga's Turbo Recordings, Parisian taste-makers Kitsuné, and the always-on-point Berliners' at Get Physical, Barfod presents us with his new full-length artist-album, titled Serios. The album features vocals by Namosh, Mia Von Matt, Mathias Modica (from Munk) and Danish singer Malou. The record is a total trip! With a handful of familiar bangers, it will definitely please the dance heads, including a version of last year's "I Kill Guitar" appears here as does "Finale I-O" and "Ist So Hot". At the same time, Barfod manages the delicate task of producing some fantastic, quirky, bizarre, but ultimately successful electronic pop songs, all of which come together as a very enjoyable, and highly listenable album.

Serios is released by Gomma on February 19th, and will be available via your favorite dance music retailers, which will likely include iTunes and eMusic. Also, for the vinyl deejays out there, Gomma is releasing a pre-album sampler EP with extended and dub versions of a few of the tracks from Serios.

Highly recommended.

It Might Be Too Late to Tell

Philippians - 100 Knives feat. Mirah.

It's always surprising hearing what's happening in little corners of Los Angeles, right down the street from my house. I come across a lot of local music, but much of it is either not good or just undeveloped. Still, I listen. And then one day you'll come into your office and hear something like the Philippians coming out of your email and it's totally ridiculous.

I absolutely love this song. Love it. The philippians make this delicate music that's just amazing. It fits right in with everything I've been listening to lately.

I've been waking up really early lately. This is mostly due to the carwash next door, but it feels pretty natural. So when I'm sitting there at 7 a.m., doing some work, eating some breakfast, and killing some time, I like having this record along with me. Even though it's called Goodnite Life, I find this to be an exceptional morning record.

Two guys in Echo Park made this record. They're more or less putting this record out themselves, and I highly recommend it. You can pick it up direct from the band off their site.

post hype

Vietnam - Welcome to My Room.

I know that if you're the kind of person who reads this site, by now you've probably heard a ton about this band. The truth is I've been sitting on this track for a few months because I'm conflicted--not about the band, they're great--but about what to do when I've got something to post I'm excited about when the album won't actually be available for weeks, if not months. I still haven't made up my mind but I thought on this one I'd wait til the album was actually out and available. So now it's out, although not quite up yet on eMusic although their EP is.

Obviously what we do here is talk about bands we like--you know by now this isn't really a critic site. If we don't like something, we don't write about it. This place exists to share music we like with others. But sometimes I worry that the lag between hype and when you can actually get your hands on something is too long--especially given the speed of the internets to move on to the next thing. I don't have an answer, I don't expect anyone else, or myself to stop posting music as soon as we get it, someone else is going to anyway. But still, it's something I've been thinking a lot about lately.

Anyway, I saw Vietnam open for Jenny Lewis last fall it was a hell of a show. The comparisons to Dylan are obvious, but it's really more like The Band, with Dylan and that is quite all right with me. Live they thrased the hell out of the 9:30 Club. They may have looked a little scary--especially compared to Jenny, but they made the club feel like home. I loved that they came out at the end for the Handle with Care cover.

Vietnam clearly harkens back to rock of an earlier time but their anguished vocals and guitars keep it fresh. Their frequent use of names in songs and titles makes you feel like they're at a house party singing to their friends.

Meet Me in the Middle

A Passing Feeling - Red Gold.

Somehow A Passing Feeling was able to squeeze this record in under my radar, despite the fact that I wore out their EP and played phone tag with these guys for ages (and ultimately missed their only LA show! Sorry dudes!). The point is, I love this band, and I love their new record. It came out back in November, if you can believe it, on this high quality hand-screened package. I think it was a short run of 150.

They've just got a great energy, writing sick pop songs. They're not snotty punks, but they've definitely pissed in those corners before. I don't know why they're not more popular. This is just a fun band with big hooks, sing-along choruses and the singer has a great voice. Their songs are just built to catch.

At any rate, I want everyone to go pick up a copy of the record. It's one of my favorites, and hasn't left my car stereo for a minute. And as we all try to keep warm in our various states and depths of snow, it's nice to have some fucking heat from a solid rock band. There's nothing cozy about this record, but that doesn't mean it won't keep your warm.

The Fünk

Spacek - 1st Stroke (Funkstörung Remix)

I've been a big fan of Funkstörung ever since I first heard their remix album, 1999's Additional Productions. Their remixes of Björk's "All Is Full Of Love" and East Flatbush Project's "Tried By 12" totally blew my mind. Clicks and whirs, blasts of low-end bass, and grinding, crunching beats, but always coupled with beautiful melodies, Funkstörung's remixes felt like the next step in the logical progression of Aphex Twin, hip-hop, and young Germans fascinated with heavy machinery and computer technology.

Some of you who are fans probably already know this, but I'll still relate the news for the rest of you: Funkstörung officially called it quits in 2006. They're still working on music, just no longer with that name attached to it.

During their run, they put out three full-length albums, at least a dozen EPs, and even ran their own label called Musik Aus Strom. This song is from their last official Funkstörung release, called Appendix, a final compiling of another dozen their remixes. The CD is out now on !K7, so it is available everywhere music is sold - you can get it direct from !K7's website, or from iTunes and eMusic (it isn't available for download yet, but I'd expect it there in the next week or so). The album includes remixes of Phon.o, Barry Adamson, Lamb, and Ravonettes among others, and is definitely worth checking out for the faithful. Check out the Appendix microsite here for more information and to preview some more tracks.

ALSO to help celebrate this final Funkstörung release, the folks at !K7 were kind enough to give MFR two SIGNED copies of the double-LP Return To The Acid Planet, their 2005 acid-house release that hearkens back to Funkstörung's beginnings. So, to win, just email me -- blair (at) music.for-robots.com -- with the correct response to the following question:

What are the names of the Funkstörung guys' solo projects? (I'm looking for their names and album titles) We have our winners! Justin and Marcel correctly identified the guys' solo albums: Michael Fakesch's Marion and Chris De Luca's Deadly Wiz Da Disko - I don't know what Fakesch is up to right now, but Chris De Luca is working on an album with Phon.o that sounds dope - check their website here to grab tunes, mixes, ringtones etc.

Funkstörung is dead, long live Funkstörung!