I have recently been introduced to Eleanor Jackson aka La Roux. I first heard her first single, “Quicksand” a couple of weeks back when it came in at second on the track listing of the aforementioned Kitsuné Maison Compilation 6. This is now being released through Kitsuné on the 15th December.

“La Roux” - simply meaning “The Red Haired One” is to me, described best I think, by a quote I read, saying that she is; “targeting charts, clubs and hearts”, and to be honest I totally agree. The melodies in her songs could almost become electro chart-toppers by themselves but she says herself, “It’s not that I can’t listen to music without words that mean something, I do all the time. It’s just not the kind of music I want to make. I’ve cried between vocal takes. I want to connect with people at that level.”

She is not alone in this creation however… no credit can be taken from the other half of La Roux. Ben Langmaid helped produce the music that creates the style, almost unique to her and the duo are sure to produce more great stuff in the future. La Roux is on my personal list of new artists to watch in the next year and I’m sure this won’t be the last time I write about them!

- Stuart

8 Venues down, 10 to go. This is the “Annie Mac Presents” Tour of the UK which I am really annoyed I am not able to attend.

The madness started in Lincoln on the 28th September with Annie Mac, Simian Mobile disco and others at the Engine Shed. Recent gigs in Oxford, Birmingham and Manchester were HUGE, and have included people like Yuksek, Surkin and Kissy Sell Out.

Bournemouth is next on the list with someone who really needs no introduction, Mr Erol Alkan. Some words from the profile of him on Annie Mac’s website sums up his career so far:

“That’s the thing about Erol Alkan hearing is believing. Until’you’ve borne witness to one of his legendary live sets, poured’headily over one of his meticulously crafted productions, or been’catapulted to a sudden sonic nirvana by the dropping of one of his’remixes, you might be justified for dismissing his existence as an’extremely elaborate myth of the musical underground. After all, how’can one man, still in his early thirties, have kept so many kids’dancing for so long?”

He is at Bournemouth on the 14th November and then the tour continues throughout the UK from Brighton, to London and all the way up to Liverpool and Newcastle. The tour dates can be found on the official Annie Mac Presents website.

I would love to be able to make it to Fabric, London on the 21st November to see Annie, Yuksek, Surkin, DJ Mehdi, Brodinski, Chase and Status but I can’t! So… anyone who has a chance to catch one of these nights - GO TO IT! I highly recommend!

- Stuart

Giggle me timbers, what an unusual afternoon. I haven’t slept for that long in tiiiiiime.

Whats more; South Central’s debut CD “Owl Of Minerva” is due for release in December through Egregore Music. You should defintatly get your claws into it. I have had the chance to listen early and was pleasantly suprized. Bedroom rave. Yep yep, went straight into my five star ratings for my ipod and now assists me on many a commute.

Owl Of Minerva is a collection of South Central’s finest from the past two years, all the stuff you couldn’t get on CD or mp3 anywhere else. To date, South Central has remixed artists including Klaxons, Van She, The Whip, Metronomy, Shy Child, Maccabees and Shitdisco, the list goes on…

For me, the strongest tracks on the CD are ‘Golden Dawn’ and ‘Nothing Can Go Wrong’ - something about them touches me… and in an almost inappropriate way? They move me; interacting with my soul as well as my ear drums. I like them. They make me feel.

Do me a favor.. feast; MP3: South Central - Aeon

Hope all is well across everyone’s corners… Thanks for the emails from Russia, they were awesome ^_^ Keep them coming!

- Luu

- Unite. For an Effin’ good night… set to be a good one!

Head to 176 tomorrow night for some tuuunes. I checked this night out last month and wasn’t disappointed. The drinks were flowing and the music was doing some good vibrating. With two sets; one up, one down.. you really can’t go wrong. Head upstairs to stand around a’chattin’ and downstairs to hit the floor. Either or, the place is comfortably atmospheric and seems to me like a good old 176 revival, if ever there was one. Byebye Consort on a tuesday; hello ON&ON every last friday.

SHAB RUFFCUT (Jack Union / Warehouse Records)
+ VERY Special Guest DJ!!

Support From:
CHARLIE LANG
DAN ORCHARD
SWIRLY THE NERD
HARRY BIRD
MATT G
SAM KING

Get there, I will be.

- Luu

It’s that time of year again when Kitsuné Music release another brilliant compilation of the artists on their label. Kitsuné Music was created in 2002, and is part of the Kitsuné Fashion Label. Artists such as, Alan Braxe, autoKratz, Bloc Party, Boys Noize, Digitalism, Hadouken!, Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and many more have found themselves part of the Kitsuné entourage at some point.

I first heard about the record label about 2 years ago when I first heard Lo-Fi-Fnk’s: Change Channel and Metronomy’s track: This Could Be Beautiful emerge from the first Kitsuné Maison Compilation. I was instantly hooked and thinking back, was one of the first CD’s that really made me explore the apparent boom of electro sounds coming from Paris.

Released on October 27th, the Kitsuné Maison Compilation 6 is tagged, “The Melodic One”. Lo-Fi-Fnk start the album nicely with their usual but more defined style, whilst Digitalism, Beni, autoKratz and many others carry you through the album at a nice pace with some great new music. It’s pretty similar to what you would expect from the Kitsuné Maison series except I found that a lot of the bands/artists had a more evolved and mature sound to when they first appeared on the scene. Kitsuné themselves say; “There is a Kitsuné sound, but it keeps on evolving towards always more melody. A sometimes aggressive, violent sound and sometimes throbbing, melancholic or all of that at once.”

More evolved or not, I am loving the new album and it fits in nicely to the past editions. Definitely worth a listen.

- Stuart

Good old friends of Eyemaylisten, Drive A, have new material and we are very happy to shout about it. They are back with a great new look and have certianly matured; I can almost perv on them now ^_^.

Their new single; ‘Are You Blind’ is worth checking out. It’s a stretch out of the sound we are used to hearing from them, their sound has developed and we’re liking the vibrations! It’s less rocky and it seems they are embracing a more punkesque vibe. It’s definately addictive. The new album; ‘Loss Of Desire’ is due for release in February 2008 and we will most certainly be giving you a full review when it comes around - I can’t wait. They are very talented lads.

Watch the short video they filmed for us back in June!
- Luu

Good morning. I have something of great delight to share with you on this beautifully muggy Sunday morn; Boom Boom Satellites and their CD “Exposed”.

“Japanese dance rock pioneers Boom Boom Satellites (aka
bassist/programmer Masayuki Nakano and guitarist/vocalist Michiyuki
Kawashima) celebrates their 10-year anniversary with the digital release
of “Exposed.” Boom Boom Satellites are widely considered one of the
first true “dance rock” band’s (the genre didn’t even exist back then)
and their impact is felt in the music of some of today’s most popular
artists. “Exposed” offers 12 tracks that blends philosophical lyrics and
an untamed physical rave experience with the toughness of rock’n'roll
and the precision of electronic programming.”

Well, I hadn’t read that part of their bio before I cracked into this album and wasn’t suprized when I finally did read it. This album definitely mixes a rock sound with some beautifully electronic based vibrations and merges effortlessly. I am so into them they haven’t been off my stereo… in fact, I’ve had to turn my last.fm tracker off so I don’t look like a loon listening to them over and over. I have a severe weakness for Jrock, although if you listened to their album without a visual aid you probably wouldn’t know any different, they present themselves in clear English throughout the album.

The first track that catches me is, “Bring It On Down.” It sounds familiar in a really pleasurable way. I may have heard it already but I’m finding it hard to place just where. It’s fast moving, catchy and repetitive in a comfortably tingly way. It sends vibrations to the musical soul and makes you want to move. If you love electronica, you should check these guys out. If you are on the Hadouken! bandwagon, these guys aren’t as in your face but will fill the gap with a uniqueness. You can check out their video of the track “Easy Action” here on youtube.

There are twelve tracks on the album but “Six Fourty Five” is easily the strongest track for me, closely followed by “Fiends” and “Get Back In My House”. All three tracks are very much electronica based with immense lyrics. This is music I would expect to hear on a good night out. It would be easy to OD on these guys.

All of the tracks on the album carry an indefinite quality and do not compete with one another for play time, each being unique. There is not a track on the album I would dare to skip, which is rare for me. They have a clearly distinguishable sound. I am in love.

MP3: Shut Up And Expload - Boom Boom Satellites

- Luu

Well goodness me, didn’t that take some time. Our internet resources have been out for a long long time.. and still are.. but alas, we are learning to work around it. At least until VIRGIN sort themselves out. I have also literally JUST got back from Istanbul. Turkish music is most defiantly different, probably something I would respect a little more if I knew the language better. Luckily Matt had donated his ipod to moi so I survived all the long hours of traveling.

So.. a lot has been going on. We have been sent lots of music and have ALOT to discuss. Firstly, Mesh-29. We received their nice little album through the post about a month ago. It’s official release date was 20th Oct, you can pop over to Media Addiction and get a limited edition signed&numbered copy.. Or just get it from itunes. The album’s called Secret Traffic. Kudos to the album artist, I love it. It’s nice, organic and portrays the sound well. Gives it a recycled paper feel. Although… Mesh-29 are far from recycled. They are rolling with the whole independent music scene, which many of you will know by now we fully admire and support.

The album itself is very soft, well contained and thought provoking. The piano solos bring thoughts of Placebo (this might just be me finding that likeness) but somewhere between the unmistakable vocals and thought provoking acoustic sounds lies a deepness. Ok, they are not ‘pop’, they are not ‘nu-rave’ or ‘electronica’, but they are organic and that’s what I like about them. Soooo… check them out (click on their name in the above paragraph to visit their myspace) and let me know what you think!

Secondly; Dan Black. I received an email about this guy and hella, he’s been on repeat ^_^. If you only click on one of my recommendations today be sure to click on this video; Dan Black ‘Yours’ Video (directed by Paris-based Chic Et Artistic) because I am very much addicted. The track ‘Yours’ is different. Foremost, this is not lovey-dovey. It’s an electro anti-love song fueled with a new kind of angry yet passionate beat. The video too is well composed also, so for the visual among you; feast. I am loving this vibration, so get onboard.

Image; Eleanor Hardwick

If you want more, I can give you more; MP3: Dan Black - HYPNTZ. Ok, so possibly not the first to take Rihanna’s Umbrella beat, but it’s different. So many have tried and failed… but here I am certain Black gets it. Give him a spin. You won’t be disappointed.

I have so much more to come, my inbox is litorally jam packed, so rest assured your sterio will be fuelled with a lot more over the next few days.

Hope everyone had fun in the snow in England

Also I hope everyone likes our new guest writer Stuart…
-Luu

Joseph Mount. One of the other artists who has been a great influence on my music tastes in the last couple of years. You may know him better as Metronomy. Joseph Mount performs his strange and catchy instrumental electropop live with Oscar Cash and Gabriel Stebbing; known for their charming dance routines and light shows (most famously - the use of push lights stuck to their chests).

The debut album, Pip Paine (Pay the £500 You Owe) was released in 2006, under Holiphonic Records. I found it’s catchy and unforgettable sound very hard to stop listening to and it was a refreshing change from some of the music I was listening to at the time. The newly released Metronomy album, Nights Out with songs such as, “Radio Ladio”, “Holiday” and “Heartbreaker”; is made in a simlar style to the last one but with a more refined sound. They also engaged in their first headline tour this year, supported by London based act Primary 1. It proves to be a fairly successful year for anyone involved with Metronomy and I’m sure this will continue into the future.

Stuart

Hey Stuart here, and since this is my first appearance on Eyemaylisten I thought I’d briefly say a bit about a couple of artists that have been constantly drumming through my ears in the last year or so.

Firstly, the young talented DJ and producer, Benoit Heitz aka Surkin. The 20 year-old from southern France first appeared a few years ago mainly hitting the French clubs in Paris with his club hits, ‘Radio Fireworks’ and ‘Ghetto Obsession’ from his mini-album Action Replay. His fast-paced, cut-up mixing of old and new electro and house packs a hard punch that no dance fan could ignore. His newer projects; a solo EP, ‘Next of Kin’ and newly released joint production with label-mate Bobmo under the title ‘High Powered Boys’ are his most successful yet. Just the album to come now…

Secondly, I would like to mention one of the front runners of the new wave of French electro, Pierre Busson aka Yuksek. His productions and remixes alike have captured the interests of many. His is sound hard to describe because it is so unique. I would say that his songs are made for the dancefloor and although a mix of techno rhythms, pop structures and accurate melodies make his music easy to listen to; the art of the thumping beat make his music, personally I think, un-rivaled in clubs.

Stuart