Love this beautifully bluesy track from New Jersey-born, Norway raised and New York-based singer Okay Kaya. Taken from forthcoming release Damn, Gravity, this lead track is utterly bewitching - stark guitar is plucked out against the background of the swirling universe as Okay Kaya's pensive vocals pick their way through your mind. Sublime.
Cute track from Irish sextet Little xs for eyes. Logical Love is a head-over-heels soft-rock-influenced folky-ballad packed with dual vocal harmonies. Jangling guitars and melodic synths create something that feels both poppy and indie at once, and totally smitten. Logical Love is taken from their second album Everywhere Else . Save it for the person who you can't help but find popping up in your mind 32 times a day.
Historically the DJ-Kicks series are known for some of the new original material that comes with the mix albums - each artist normally producing one new track specifically for the album. In the past these have included a number of highlights - Tiga's Man Hrdina, Hot Chip's My Piano and The Juan Maclean's Feel So Good all stick out for me - and in the past these have often seen their own release complete with remixes from artists selected by the compilation artist.
In the new release of Without You, DJ-Kicks are returning to this tradition, selecting the original composition from John Talabot's 2013 compilation, Without You.
Opening the EP, the original track benefits from the separation from Talabot's DJ-Kicks entry, itself a great compilation, simply for the focus it earns in standing on its own, unmixed. A significant portion of time has passed since Talabot's 2012 debut album Fin, and hearing Without You in its full form only adds to the yearning for new material... It stands up there with much of the material on Fin, a forlorn and heartfelt slice of psych house, haunted vocals calling out as rhythmic sonar-like synths pulse through the smoke.
Alongside the original are three alternative versions. The Melchior Productions Ltd Sueno Sin Ti mix (which translates as 'dream without you' from Talabot's native Spanish) is more minimal, focusing on shifting percussive movements and the looped refrain of the main synth line. The vocal hook just occasionally sneaks in, but it is a more muted take that retains the mood but applies it to a subtler take.
Oskar Offermann's Without Her Remix is warmer - a more upfront minimal house version. He plays with the elasticity of the track's pulsing synths and bass, creating warped cosmic soundscapes that once again emphasise the alienation of the original.
The best is kept for last... Mistakes Are Okay's Midnight Version feels the most distinct, an incredibly atmospheric alternate take that slows the original down and places the focus squarely on the organic synth sound that permeates much of Talabot's work to date... Folding in a robotic bassline with the layered melodies and vocals of the original create something that feels electronic and thoroughly cinematic... Beautiful.
Without You is released tomorrow through K7 Records. Order from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link].
Listen to a selection of the tracks via Soundcloud below.
Du Tonc is a partnership between producer Mighty Mouse and Matt Van Schie, who founded and plays with the Australian band that took his name - Van She. Together they are releasing this new single for Eskimo Recordings, Animal.
Having first made an impact back in 2013, Du Tonc's first single for Eskimo, Every Song, hit the top of the Hype Machine chart. Busy at work on their debut album, which is due this year, Animals was created between San Francisco and LA, with the California experience impacting their music.
Animals packs a lovingly sun-bleached sound, and it is Eskimo at their most blissfully laid back. The influence of Van Schie (and therefore Van She) is audible in the melodic synths and vocal hooks, if not the subtle animal samples the guys snuck in there on this track!
Animals is a warm, blissful trip of a record - both Eskimo's best output for some time and an exciting preview of the Du Tonc album.
Else What Else? is the forthcoming EP from Turin-based psych-pop duo Niagara, due out on Monotreme Records on 27 April. Featuring album & single track Else, along with remixes from Liars and Diego Perrone... The result is a wiggy and infectious jam and comes with a video directed by Gabriele Ottino.
The video itself is fantastic - with three distinct acts, it's an onslaught of imagery that is very hard to stop watching. And for the record, I like my girls animated.