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Video: Old Skool Baby - Nudes

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Nudes have released this video ahead of their Tuesday night gig at The Old Blue Last Shoreditch. The duo are Owen Wallace Lasch and Tom Giddins and if this is anything to go by their tear-streaked psychedelic electronica could be about to blow up. The

This is actually a cover of the WestBam track 'Oldschool Baby', although it takes it's particular cue from the beautifully downtrodden yet epic Piano Mix.  Check out both below via Spotify. Nudes' take feels like New Order at these most ecstasy influenced - there's a moodiness to the male vocals that isn't present in the WestBam original that sounds like the sort of thing Sumner would lay down. The video is also great - simple but effective.

EP Review: Disappearer - Avec feat. Jake Shears

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Disappearer comes from Doorly and Shadow Child, who have formed a new partnership in Avec. Here they are joined by Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, who applies his trademark falsetto vocals to an upbeat house track.

Shears and Scissor Sisters have never been my bag but this EP feels like a natural home for his vocals. The track itself is sunny disco house and as a result the vocals sit quite naturally on the melodic piano riff that makes up the track's central riff. It is only really on the chorus that the identity of the singer is obvious, and the main vocal hook is just a little too much for my taste.

Disappearer - Avec feat. Jake Shears

Thankfully a total of five remixes are included on this release and so there is plenty of scope for a little additional subtlety.

The Hauswerks mix starts with a deep looping groove before applying a large drop with some snappy garage drum beats - it's a lot more intense than the warm summery original. Martin Brodin does his trademark disco thing and really takes the track up a level, working the vocal into the track so that the final result has a much better flow. The People Get Real mix is another disco house mix, but this one builds to a climatic pace whilst a head-nodding bass line provides an infectious rhythm and a series of drum rolls and crashes give a tactile feel to the percussion.

The Sona Vabos Pitched Down Jackin Dub is deep, dubby and slowed right down to create a weird strung-out and techy vibe that bears little resemblance to the original. Finally the Maos mix is laid back and dubby with some warm bass chords and slow synth melodies.

Disappearer is out now through Southern Fried Records.

Video: Baby I'm Yours (feat. Irfane) - Breakbot

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I used to associate Breakbot with the tired sounds of Justice and Ed Banger but he always manages to deliver the tunes and on this latest track it really feels like he's breaking out from that scene completely. We're still not in the league of organically produced disco that Daft Punk aspire to but 'Baby I'm Yours' is as close to that as it is to anything else...

​The video is also glorious and must have taken an age. It is composed from around 2,000 watercolour images to created a beautiful moving image. Credit to Irina Dakeva who created it.

Stick this on and head out into the sun to get burnt. Oh, and when it finishes check out Breakbot's lush remix of Phoenix's 'Trying To Be Cool':

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EP Review: Seneca - The Range

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On Seneca The Range follows up his Disk EP from last year on Donky Pitch with another EP of incredibly dense and percussive dance music.

The Range came to my attention a few months back when he released his fantastic Promises Edit into the wild. It's a stunning rework of Ciara's Promise that feels deep, sweet and thick like treacle, creating a big electronic sound around the vocal with smatterings of drum & bass rhythms as the track builds. Unfortunately it doesn't feature here, due to it's unofficial status, but it's worth checking out.

​Seneca - The Range

What we do get are three new original tracks and three remixes. PS 3 opens the EP, creating a spectacularly kinetic track of Asian-sounding melodies and flick-knife-quick rhythms. It's an impressively uplifting track, full of Eastern promise and clattering excitement - steel drums stuttering vocal edits and frenetic energy. It's pretty thrilling.

Greg Maddux Change Up is next, and whilst it retains the same complex, multi-layered rhythms it is downbeat in mood. Stirring, blue electronic melodies slowly play out in the background against brittle, cold keys whilst The Range's trademark pitched vocal samples sit high in the mix.

The final original track is Life Like This and it's probably more similar to that Ciara edit than the other tracks on this EP. Slower, though definitely not slow - it has just a little less energy than the other tracks here. Rapid drums and an Amen break still give the track energy, but it's also feels delicate and contemplative in tone - an observation of the non-stop chaos of life, perhaps.

Two remixes of PS 3 feature. Obey City create a slower track that plays up the Eastern elements of the original, adding strings, whilst Supreme Cuts deliver a deeper mix, full of sub-bass and a more minimal sound. Howse provides the remaining mix, this time of Life Like This, and it too is deeper, creating a thick, atmospheric track that still has complex rhythms but combines them with hazy melodies.

​Seneca is out now through Donky Pitch, you can purchase the EP on Bandcamp. Check out that Ciara remix below: