Web: Tinchy Stryder, Frankmusik to collaborate and record track on Twitter

(photo by Alex Lake)

Tomorrow, July 1,at the clock strike of 2pm join Island Records recording artists (and friends) Tinchy Stryder and Frankmusik each on their own Twitter pages (@Frankmusik, @Tinchy Stryder) for the exclusive track recording session, all being done for Mixmag. They'll be recording it all at Frankmusik’s home studio in Thornton Heath, UK and there's no official word on whether the track will get a proper release/Internet leak. Both Stryder and Frankmusik have releases coming out this August, with the sophomore effort from Tinchy Stryder, Catch 22, out on August 17 and the heavily-awaited debut from Frankmusik, Complete Me, out two weeks earlier.

(mp3)    Frankmusik - Confusion Girl (Dolby Anol remix)

Godspeed!

CONTESTS: Win free tickets to Freeland at Webster Hall

If you haven't heard Cope, the new disc from Freeland (out in stores now), you're a sad sad soul in our book. But that can all change as you've got the chance to listen in full to a stream right here. Oh, and if you prefer to hear the disc as your very own, just pick it up by purchase online at http://www.freeland.fm/order-cope.asp. But if you happen to be in New York City for the holiday weekend (and more specifically for Friday night), you can catch the vibes yourself as Adam and the gang are appearing to DJ what we can only assume to be a massive set at the weekly Girls & Boys party. What's that, you want us to sweeten the pot? Well, how about we throw in a free pair of tickets for you a lucky guest? Sure thing. Just email us or put "yo @thecultureofme, how about those Freeland tickets?" into your Twitter update and we'll pick the lucky recipient tomorrow. Honestly, these guys are fucking rad.

(mp3)    Freeland - Adam Freeland Went To Brighton And All We Got Was This Lousy Mixtape

(mp3)    Freeland - Under Control (Miles Dyson remix)

Godspeed!

Download: The Banshee - "Colder (This Was Tomorrow remix)"

(photo by Simone Lezzi)

For another remixed track from the Italian new wave bros The Banshee's 2008 record Your Nice Habits, the boys have been taken on by This Was Tomorrow, a duo from Italy as well, which just so happens to count The Banshee's Jago as one its members. The vocals are ripped up and drawn through the blades of a shredder, but the knife-sharp synths are left nearly intact, with just an additionally dance-worthy backbeat to support. Super amounts of fun abound in this remix and we're psyched for what's coming next from these guys. Here's hoping for big things.

(mp3)    The Banshee - Colder (This Was Tomorrow remix)

Godspeed!

Video: Casiokids - "Finn Bikkjen!"

The new single from Bergen, Norway's Casiokids, a group that we've lost our shit to a few times before, is a delightfully sharp and simple song called "Finn Bikkjen!" and the guys just shot a video for the track, a clip that was shot sometime around the Hove Festival which finds them performing their lo-fi synth-and-drum-track pop diddy in the confines of a hot air balloon, with a helpful visual of papier-mâché bobble heads. The single release for "Finn Bikkjen!" drops via the Moshi Moshi singles club on August 3.

(mp3)    Casiokids- Finn Bikkjen!

Godspeed!

World Premiere: Lykke Li - "Little Bit (Death To The Throne re-remix)"

(photo by Jimmy Backius)

Obsessive? Perfectionist? Sycophant? Sociopath? Tribal leader? Shaman? Showman? Asshole? All of these may very well be in the arsenal of adjectives/detractions one could throw towards the Arizona-based genius of sorts called Death To The Throne, a masked (figuratively) avenger of all things that go bump or pop in the night--a man/spectre who's back at the reigns of a song he's already once done enough treating to, Lykke Li's all-too-ubiquitous dance track "Little Bit". The first iteration of this track was all bassline and chime-like synths, robotics-infused taps and clicks, whereas this, a "re-remix" as DTTT is calling it, is all 8-bit hyperbole and sheen, blips and squeals, less-steady and more disruptive low ends replacing the pumping 4/4 basslines of the first. Manic? Yes. Brilliant? You decide.

(mp3)    Lykke Li - Little Bit (Death To The Throne re-remix)

Godspeed!

Emerging: Forest Fire

(photo by Victoria Jacob)

There's a general sense of ramshackle in the eyes and hearts of the members of the band Forest Fire, a Brooklyn-based set of kids who set out to record music and in the process (a long process, mind you) created a sort of punk ethos-infused folk music that from song-to-song seems to meander all the hell over the place. That's Survival, the group's new record. Maybe it's because the band didn't record songs day after day and instead opted to piece things together, let them sit and then come back to them when it felt right, but you instantly get the vibe that each song matters just as much as the next, a spirited explosion of shared vocals, sometimes-out-of-tune instruments and foot-stomping progressions of capital-F feelings. Sometimes sparse, at other points nearly too filled with overdubbing and corrective measures, the band's delicate balance of their own veering one way or the other on all spectrums possible (from the ache of "Sunshine City" to the pure pop romp "Fortune Teller", for instance) is the key to their imminent success. And maybe it's that balance, mixing the looseness of their songs with the tight-knit group element they seem to embody that will find you wanting more.

(mp3)    Forest Fire - Fortune Teller

Godspeed!

News: The Pastels release an album with Tenniscoats

Cardigan and kitty lovers of the world unite! A disc that's been nearly three years in the making (usually scheduling recording sessions only when a band from Japan is in the Glasgow, Scotland area will necessitate that sort of timetable), the new collaboration between twee godfathers The Pastels and shimmery Japanese popsters Tenniscoats called Two Sunsets will see the light of day finally, as its digital, vinyl and CD availability will be breached on September 22. The disc will be preceded by a single for the song "Vivid Youth" b/w a cover of The Jesus & Mary Chain's "About You" and its instrumental version. It all comes to the world thanks in large part to those rad dudes over at Domino.

Tracklist:

01 So Many Stars
02 Two Sunsets
03 Song For A Friend
04 Vivid Youth
05 Yomigaeru
06 Modesty Piece
07 About You
08 Boats
09 Hikoki
10 From On A Mountain_Sodane
11 Mou Mou Rainbow
12 Start Slowly

(mp3)    The Pastels - Baby Honey

Godspeed!

Download: Delphic - "Counterpoint (Props! dubstep remix)"

Everyone everyone everyone is talking dubstep these days. With its low-slung basslines and deeper, darker vibes and syncopation, the genre isn't new at all and it's been all over the place for the past decade but now it's sort of taking over. Like locusts. No more four-to-the-floor housey vibes but rather kids are opting to hear more varied beat progressions and more drop-outs per capita. This kid from Perth, Australia who calls himself Props! is jumping in on this rage with a remix of one of our "emerging" artists, Delphic, and their song "Counterpoint", infesting the original's fluttery, shout-to-the-heavens style with third beat snares and deeper, wilder, more loosening-the-tie rhythms.

(mp3)    Delphic - Counterpoint (Props! dubstep remix)

Godspeed!

Photos: Girls & Boys on June 26

Okay, so we're not going to say much about part one of this past Friday night, because, well, it neither needs nor warrants further talk. The second part, though, at the Girls & Boys party at Webster Hall, does. With a special, totally surprise guest DJ set from Ed Banger head Pedro Winter aka Busy P, announced performances from Adam Tensta, Hot Pink Delorean and the owners of the present number one dance track in the UK right now, Australia-based trio Sneaky Sound System, the party was in full rage when we got there so we hung out for the remainder of the night, catching the SSS set that was maybe the live highlight of the summer for us. We're full-on about to speak only the high praises of this group's brand of vocal electro dance pop and if you were there on Friday, you'd be doing the same thing.

(mp3)    Sneaky Sound System - It's Not My Problem (Thin White Duke remix)

Godspeed!

Download: No Moon - "Kill Your Tomorrow (The Bass Knights can't be fooled remix)"

Are you ready to enjoy the company of three-and-a-half minutes of tech house that's as fluttery and dark (two things that somehow work in this instance) as the original aimed to be--and both The Bass Knights and No Moon succeed at. No Moon, an interesting pan-global group of housey dance kids (Russia, Israel, Africa, Japan, Ireland all are touching points for their passports), have a funky, Cibo Matto-CSS-Yelle vibe to their tracks that make bouncy, call-and-response teen anthems that well fit in with the remix techniques of The Bass Knights--who, interestingly enough also touch down in various places, like Israel and France.

(mp3)    No Moon - Kill Your Tomorrow (The Bass Knights can't be fooled remix)

Godspeed!