College: "Départ"

There's arguably been no greater popularity booster for post-Moroder minimalist electro than the 80's-repping soundtrack to Nicholas Winding Refn's 2011 polarizing film, Drive. Kavinsky's "Nightcall" got most of the press, but David Grellier's College project made noise with their Electric Youth-featuring "A Real Hero". Grellier's chosen nom de plume evokes 80's electro-R&B group Collage and "Electric Youth" is obviously the name of a (best forgotten) Debbie Gibson hit, so everything about the song was firmly rooted in a specific decade.

College goes back to 2005, one of several backward-glancing projects that Grellier juggles - others being Valerie and Sexy Sushi - and March saw the quiet release of their third album, Heritage.

Black Jeans: "No Safety"

Black Jeans give me hope for a Giorgio Moroder revival. Purist synth tones employed toward a scuzzy end with indiscernible lyrics is pretty much exactly what I want out of my electro right now. "No Safety" sounds like Kraftwerk held an orgy and only Death Grips responded to the invite.

Philipp Gorbachev: "Montana Blues"

Last song of 2012, folks. "Montana Blues" has that disco hi hat-driven, late night end of the world feel to it, I think. Or maybe I'm just trying to shoehorn it into a preconceived context so that I can wrap this up and get my holiday drink on already. Well, shit, if you're going to be that way about it maybe I shouldn't say anything at all. Merry fuckin' Xmas, arsehole.

Get this jimmy jam on Musica Comeme.

Diamond Version: "Shift the Future"

Never heard of Byetone but Alva Noto is one of my favorite minimalist beatmakers (and, if I haven't made that clear by now, minimalist, grimey techno with a simmering mean streak is my preferred form of electronica). The two hook up in new project Diamond Version after having co-run the Raster-Noton label for several years. EP2 is the second (duh) of a projected five EPs the duo plan to release on Mute over the next year, with a full length emerging sometime in 2013 as well.

Vitalic: "Stamina"

Hey, a hard hitting, peak hour club banger with absolutely no trace of bro wobble? Fuck's sake, I'd almost start to think there's life left in this here techno thing after all!

Head over to Urb for an exclusive, downloadable remix by Le Castle Vania.

Mouse on Mars: "They Know Your Name"

Mouse on Mars sound here like they were attempting to flirt with dubstep but are just too fucking weird to properly pull it off. They even throw in some uncharacteristically poppy half-rapped, half-sung lyrics. Wrrrd.

Hawthorne Headhunters: "My Sweetheart the Drunk"

Nope, not a Jeff Buckley cover - he had a posthumous album called Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk but there was never a song with a similar title - but hopefully the breakthrough single for LA-via-St. Louis duo Hawthorne Headhunters. Myriad of Now - out now on Plug Research - is a unification of 20th century African-American music: soul, funk, hip hop, jazz... boys got it all.

Fat Tony & Tom Cruz: "Double Dragon"

Nintendo Famicom vs Scott Pilgrim in this bitch. Ghetto tech style.

KILLER COVERS || YACHT: "Le Goudron"

Even though the French have a reputation for being passionate and romantic, they can also pull off aloof pretty well too. So it should come as no surprise that YACHT's cover of the 1969 Brigitte Fontaine number "Le Goudron" sounds like the missing link between Krautrock and Kraftwerk. There's a stilted pseudo-rap thing going on that recalls Austrian Falco more than it does Serge Gainsbourg or even Air, but the naive incompetence is half the charm, I guess. You're mostly in this for the beat anyway.

Stylo G: "Dash Out" [feat. Chip & Delerious]

The UK has always done a better job at honoring Jamaica's musical heritage, so no surprise this electro-infused dancehall heater doesn't originate here in the US. "Dash Out" flirts with grime while keeping one foot firmly in the dancehall genre. Most obviously, the patois-inflected rapping evokes the likes of Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, but that's not bad company to be in.

You can find this track and more by Delerious at his Soundcloud page.
(via Soulculture):

Simian Mobile Disco: "Cerulean"

Simian Mobile Disco have spent most of the past three years outsourcing their talent in the form of remixes and DJ gigs. Finally, after a long hiatus they return to gift fans with Unpatterns, a new full length that will presumably defy formulae. First up is this video for "Cerulean", which strongly resembles a rudimentary geography game intended to run seamless on a Commodore Vic 20.

Com Truise: "Brokendate"

Posting this just so I can use the word Spoonerism.

Com Truise is Seth Haley, who, appropriately enough in his thus far brief career, had a remix featured on the Tron: Legacy Reconfigured album, because both his visual aesthetic as well as his audio palette seem heavily influenced by the minimalist direction of recent Daft Punk.  In fact, this video looks like a Daft Punk parody of the old Golden Earring video for "Twilight Zone".



 Com Truise - "Brokendate" from stereogum on Vimeo.

Ladytron: "White Elephant"

Blame it on Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy soundtrack if you want, but 80's minimalist electro is all the rage these days.  Ladytron have been doing it longer than just about anybody, so with any luck "White Elephant" will put them over the hump.  No idea what this video is about, but it's got a definite Last Year at Marienbad feel to it, which would be apt considering Marienbad centered around the unreliable nature of memory - or did it? - and everyone knows elephants never forget.