Panda Bear: "Come To Your Senses [Danny L. Harle Remix]"

For some, this remix by PC Music's Danny L. Harle will conjure up unpleasant memories of early 90's rave, particularly the first two Prodigy albums. For the rest of us that recall the rave scene as generating some historically significant music and not just being an incessant series of "James Brown Is Dead" clones, this "Come To Your Senses" rework is a welcome panacea to the dominance of the moody, tone poem art scene that dominates modern electronic music. I enjoy a little cerebral techno as much as the next guy, but it sometimes seems like the dancefloor has been altogether ceded to the hip hop/top 40 community.

Duck Sauce: "It's You"

You ever meet one of those middle-aged adults who somehow think they're being progressive by listening to LMFAO? "I like that they're having fun and not taking themselves seriously", is often the justification for such ill-conceived fandom. Yeah, well, that doesn't mean the fun is being conveyed to me, motherfucker. ICP look like they're having fun too, doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy feeding them and their whole crew to a tree shredder and oiling the gears with Faygo. Anyway, in a perfect world Duck Sauce would be the fun time, party duo getting blared from every stadium soundsystem instead of Berry Gordy Jr.'s trust fund kids.

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.

96wrld: "Pirmas Rudeninis"

"Pirmas Rudeninis" comes to us via the Renegades of Bump imprint's Ritmo Kovos vol. III comp. Bump is about as good a word as any for what 96wrld is getting himself up, gurgling bass splashes on a roller coaster ride with acid stabs as their conductor. Check out dude's Soundcloud page if you like his m.o.... he's been keeping busy.
(via XLR8R):

Amtrac: "How Can She" [Original Mix]

Some old school, no frills 80s-style house right here... from Kentucky, no less. Keep Louisville weird? Actually there's nothing too obtuse about "How Can She"; if anything it has a certain naive charm to it, as if Caleb Cornett (a.k.a. Amtrac) lives in a distant suburb for which Chicago house music is just now becoming available. With this song's prominent (and probably unpaid for) "Being With You" sample I wouldn't look for this to show up in any official capacity anytime soon, but through the magic of Soundcloud you can score it for free.

Physical Therapy: "Drone On" [feat. Jamie Krasner]

Most producers, if given the melancholy, ethereal vocals of Jamie Krasner to work with, would have put her over top a bed of standard, narco-trip hop beats and called it a day. Physical Therapy turns that idea on its head, even mocking the obvious with a contradictory song title that he has no intention of living up to: "Drone On" is an incendiary dance floor stomp filled with skittering breakbeats and old school D&B flavor.

The Safety Net EP is supposedly already out on Hippos in Tanks, but their shop page still lists it as a pre-order.

Spector: "Never Fade Away" [Wolfgang Voight Remix]

Not familiar with these Spector cats - their debut album Enjoy It While It Lasts comes out Monday - but I dig what Kompakt honco Wolfgang Voight has done with their single, "Never Fade Away". Through the bouncy techno beat you can make out a new wave-y melody, and from the promo photo above these dudes look like a cross between Rick Astley and INXS. You know what? That could work.

Cubic Zirconia: "Darko" [Tommy Trash Remix]

Last night I left the club in a k-hole stupor and soon thereafter a jet engine fell through the dance floor.

TNGHT: "Higher Ground"

Today is the day: the self-titled EP from the Hudson Mohawke / Lunice collaboration TNGHT is finally out on Warp. Has it really been two and a half months since we posted previous leak "Bugg'n"? Seems somehow longer than that.

Dubbel Dutch: "No Futuro"

Two Austin posts in one day? Unreal. I'd actually never even heard of this guy, a local DJ/producer by the name of Dubbel Dutch. Judging from his Soundcloud page dude keeps pretty busy, and right now is peddling beats across Europe. I've spent the last half hour audio-browsing through a bunch of them and he seems to favor Latin and Caribbean rhythms, warping them into electronic club bangers... even his remixes tend to exhibit that same flair.

Professor Green: "Remedy" [feat. Ruth Anne]

It takes balls to look like the chav Rick Astley.

Willy Moon: "Oh Yeah" [Sinden Remix]

One thing that gets lost in the era of 2.5-minute, truncated techno tracks - or the polar opposite: eight minute spacey, blissed out ambiance with beats - is the appreciation for the old school breakdown. On a Soundcloud post you can often tell a breakdown is coming by a certain bell curve in the middle of the waveform map. So on that basis alone you know that three fifths of the way through Sinden's remix of Willy Moon's "Oh Yeah" things are about to get epic.

Van She: "Idea of Happiness"

People like to sneer at my so-called musical elitism, claiming I'm an indie snob who doesn't like pop music just because I don't give it up for the Kelly Clarksons and the Katy Perrys.  Well, fuck you, this IS pop music... and I like it. It may not be in the Billboard Top 40. It may in fact sound like a pop song circa 1984 rather than 2012, but it's still pop music, damn you.

Van She (presumably riffing on Banshee, to which this group owes many obvious similarities) even uses that bouncy synth phrasing in the chorus that's so popular among the youth of today. But mainly it's just that "Idea of Happiness" is so much catchier than anything I have yet to hear out of the David Guetta / Lady GaGa school of dance pop that it fully justifies hating the fuck out of the latter.

[UPDATE 4/4/12: adding official video]:

Lana Del Rey: "Blue Jeans" [RAC Remix]

I'm not posting this to get in yet another stale argument about the legitimacy of Ms. Del Rey but it's a good gateway to discussion about how much more listenable mainstream dance pop would be if the production was this damn good. For those of us who are comfortable enough in our shoes not to feel like a stuck up elitist if we don't feel obligated to fill some quota of token mainstream coverage, it's because there's not enough of it out there that bothers to put together more than a couple of rudimentary beats, the melody usually getting sacrificed wholesale in favor of low bass punctuated with whatever mating call synth patch is currently all the rage with producers. RAC put together the whole package with this one, to the point where it really doesn't matter what you think of Lana Del Rey herself. But for those of you on the fence I avoided posting yet another sex kitten pose to frame the article... she's had so many damn official / unofficial remixes of this song I can't figure out which cover art goes with which single anyway.

Orbital: "New France" [feat. Zola Jesus]

Passed on the chance to cover this when the audio was released several weeks back, but one of the benefits of these staggered release schedules is it gives thick skulled guys like me a chance for proper digestion and reappraisal. The leonine stuffed animal starring in this vid is just the right mix of creepy and endearing, though the song itself could only be accused of the latter quality, basically just a no frills clubber with epic synth washes and breakdowns in all the right places. Orbital don't always come through consistently but when they do it's usually timeless and immediate... that is if you don't have ADD like yours truly.

Doctor Jeep: "Level II" [kuxxan SUUM Remix]

End Fence is a Brooklyn (where else?) label which has initiated their free Single Series Session 1 via their Soundcloud page.  Co-owned by kuxxan SUUM - who provides the remix here of Doctor Jeep's "Level II" - End Fence claims to have "no manifesto" and is seeking out "timeless" electronic music regardless of genre trappings, so future releases may be more esoteric / less clubby than this particular banger.

(via XLR8R)

Graphics: "I Don't Wanna"

UK producer Graphics has been shitting out tracks lately, that thus far the London-based Alfie MacGibbon has been content to give away for free (mostly here and here), but he recently announced via XLR8R that he was starting his own label, LYWat Records. What's not entirely clear from the first two tracks self-leaked from a supposed upcoming EP is whether an actual physical release is forthcoming or whether he's just compiling free singles by mood and feel. Presumably the former, as the previously released "Dogs Yawn" is quite the mopey, atmospheric dirge compared to the downright club-friendly "I Don't Wanna".

DJ Sliink: "Put Cha Back In It"

Put your back inTO it. I realize DJ Sliink is kind of at the mercy of the sample he's using here, but I literally can't here it recited without mentally marking the song in red. Then again he's got two I's in his name so it's clear he's deliberately trying to push my buttons.

Sliink is a member of the Brick Bandits crew from Newark, but homeboy went all the way to Los Angeles to sign with Body High Records, who just released his Vibrate EP yesterday.

(via Fader and XLR8R)

Scuba: "The Hope"

Never thought about it before, but elephants have a built in snorkel.  Bitchin'.

Scuba is producer Paul Rose, whose new album Personality is out February 27 on Hotflush. In the meantime enjoy this found footage video clip, or just flip to another tab and jam the frisky tuneage in the background while you get some work done.


SCUBA - THE HOPE (official video) from Hotflush Recordings on Vimeo.

Diskjokke: "Now Dance"

Norway - at least as its filtered musically here to the US - tends to be one of two extremes: cold, hate-driven black metal and sunny, effervescent pop music.  "Now Dance" isn't pop music per se but Diskjokke doesn't sound like he's got a lot of heavy shit on his mind.  It's a bit different from his more spacy, relaxed stuff on his most recent album, Sagara.  Check out more of his stuff via Soundcloud or peep this mix he did for XLR8R.