Airport

Sofi Needs A Ladder (Feat. SOFI) - deadmau5 - 4x4=12 (2010, mau5trap)

It’s something a little less melodic from the producer many credit for bringing the melody back to house music, but all the same it’s a killer track. If this is what the mau5 produces while on a non-stop around-the-world tour, I can’t wait until he finishes his next proper artist album. Also, deadmau5 will be headlining Creamfields Australia next year, so make sure you get along to check out his crazy live show in the flesh.

Forest of Fountains - Solar Bears - She Was Coloured In (2010, Planet Mu)

I love end-of-year lists, and the biggest reason why is because I always picking up a few interesting albums I missed over the year.

This is one of those, She Was Coloured In by Solar Bears, released on Planet Mu a few months back. Being described by the blog I was reading as a very good “approximation of Boards of Canada”, I jumped right in. And it’s a bit of a funny album. Firstly, there is not much here that reminds me of Boards of Canada. If I had to make comparisons, I find it to be more of a… dystopian Daft Punk, a la Discovery era.

Secondly, and I guess more to the point, the album constantly wavers between ingenuity and cliché. There are some gripping, inspired tracks on the album, like the excellent retro/futuristic album opener Forest of Fountains; the really cool, contrasted third track Twin Stars; Quiet Planet; and the admittedly Boards of Canada vignette-esque Solarization. But then you get dull tracks that just wallow in warped synths, and don’t seem to go anywhere, such as She Was Coloured In. That, or you get a cliché ruining what would otherwise be a pretty decent track- Children of the Times would be really cool, minus the clichéd ‘dystopian’/’ironic’ vocoded vocals.

I find the good ends up outweighing the strongly mediochre, but this is one of those albums that would have been much better minus a few of the tracks on it. It does, however, have a really cool album cover.

Gallery Piece - Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping (2008, Polyvinyl)

I recently gave this record another spin, and remembered just how awesome it is. I think this track kind of sums up what the record is on about nicely. Even though it isn’t as deliciously ADD as some of the other tracks, the lyrics are quite… inspired. Also, how good is the cover art?

Congratulations (Erol Alkan Rework) - MGMT - Congratulations (2010, Columbia)

The more I listen to this album the more I realise just how good it is. It’s much better than good actually, and I wish I had of got into it before. But there’s nothing like a band issuing a public statement apologising for the low quality of their latest album to turn you off it before you even give it a listen.

Anyway, British party-starter and producer extrodinaire Erol Alkan recently gave their latest single Congratulations a little more dancefloor oomph with a quite inspired rework. In a way it’s not really comparable to the original, but I like this version just as much (and I love the original). It’s one of those rare remixes where the producer manages to give justice to and incorporate the original track tastefully, but also create something interesting and new.

Distant Shores - Petar Dundov - Distant Shores (2010, Music Man)

An absolutely incredible track from veteran Croatian producer Petar Dundov

Green Knight - Memory Tapes - Seek Magic (2009, Something in Construction)

A perfect song to drift off to sleep to, on a warm, rainy summer night such as tonight.

Countdown - Sidney Samson & Bobby Burns - Countdown (2010, Wall Recordings)

Sidney has finally followed up Riverside with something decent, teaming up with Bobby Burns to produce this awesomely dirty electro-house number. This is a definite dance-floor monster.

Hypnotize U (Nero Remix) - N.E.R.D. Feat. Daft Punk

Original featured on N.E.R.D.’s latest LP Nothing (2010, Star Trak / Interscope)

The dubstep world is going Nero crazy at the moment. Their decidedly pop-leaning, rock-influenced brand of dubstep has massive crossover appeal, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a dubstep mix from the the last two months that doesn’t include at least one Nero track or remix (a few have as many as five). I could lean back on my old “hurr durr I preferred dubstep when it was underground and subtle/hurr durr Burial etc” adage, but this stuff is really pretty good, if you (I) can get over it not being underground anymore. But I don’t think dubstep has really been underground for a while now. Still want to be electronica indie? I suggest you check out autonomic.

Stephen Hawking vs Dubstep - Balboa

I’m not normally one for listening to dubstep when it goes all mid-range wobble. But add Stephen Hawking into the mix, and you have a hilarious, kick-ass track.