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January 13, 2010October 23, 2020

Phantogram – When I’m Small

Ahh, some music with a little grit and dirt on it, love it. Phantogram are a NY duo of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel. The duo has Trip Hop elements with indie pop sensibilities. Look for their full length album out on February 9th on Barsuk Records. Be sure to check out their other track, “Mouthful of Diamonds”, which has this squeaky synth that just bring a smile to my face.

Phantogram – When I’m Small

About Phantogram:

“A refreshing, unusual and diverting first record from two new talents, and one to recommend for jaded electro and indie fans who felt the New York scene had gone as far as it could with art-skronk.”

– The BBC

Phantogram’s music sounds like it’s made by a band from the city. Electronic loops, hip-hop beats, shoegaze, soul, pop – each finds its way into their songs. Unexpectedly, the band doesn’t live and work in a major urban center, but rather calls the town of Saratoga Springs, NY (population 26,186) home. Despite the cultural influence of local Skidmore College (where fellow beat-experimenters Ratatat formed) and a relatively small scene of adventurous musicians and listeners, Saratoga isn’t exactly teeming with fans of J. Dilla, My Bloody Valentine or Serge Gainsbourg.

But Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, the duo that make up Phantogram and who grew up in the even smaller nearby municipality of Greenwich, have flourished in Saratoga. In fact, the town itself isn’t rural enough for their taste – they drive almost every day another 45 minutes into upstate farmland to a barn they call Harmony Lodge to write and record. Serving as their homemade studio/practice space/think-tank/bat-cave, the barn is equipped with various samplers, tapes, records, synths, drums, and both percussive and stringed instruments. It’s there that Phantogram allows their natural surroundings and metropolitan influences to meld together creating beautiful, beat-driven dreamlike pop songs.

http://www.myspace.com/phantogram

January 12, 2010October 23, 2020

NiYi – Jungle Fever

From the dark side of another planet arises Niyi with his own brand of house music that showcases some Faithless-esque vocals and low pulsating bass sounds.

NiYi – Jungle Fever

NiYi – Bumpback (Raven Mix)

Press Release:

Niyi’s back! The multi-tasking – and talented — one-man musician, DJ, club promoter, fashionista and general boy-about-town releases his six track EP ‘Jungle Fever’ on Holloway Hit Factory – his own record label – on 4^th January.

Since his last single ‘Poached Eggs’/’I Love You All’, Niyi’s been a busy boy. He was recently featured in a five-page shoot for Clash magazine’s October issue, which is out now. He also ran his hugely popular weekly club night ‘I Heart Niyi’ at Punk in Soho for a year, which was graced each week with the crÃ¨me de la crÃ¨me of the fashion and music world (Lady Ga Ga performed live last year as part of London Fashion Week and Calvin Harris, Little Boots and Golden Silvers have all DJed).

However; he no longer runs the club night but has been busy causing mayhem on the decks at the likes of this year’s Glastonbury, Reading, Offset, Field Day and opening the annual fashion fair Bread and Butter in Barcelona.

Despite Niyi not owning a TV for more than eight years, if you watched last year’s ‘Big Brother’s Little Brother’ — you would have seen him on there too as one of the show’s regular contributor.

It’s hard to sum up Niyi. The ex Central St. Martin students’ musical repertoire is refreshingly unpredictable. A softly-spoken “rapper”, Niyi cannot be lumped into existing categories and so forges his own genre-bending music which is represented on ‘Jungle Fever’. Other themes on this bizarre musical wonderland include: clean work surfaces, reclaiming his “bump”, Great Britain and Dirty Girls. Sounds crazy? You’d have to check it out to get your head around it.

“Jungle Fever is a about sexual passions. I’ve tried to explore this theme throughout the three tracks with different takes on it which can all be interpreted differently by the listener.” Niyi

Niyi will be performing live at his new under 21-year old club night ‘Poison’ at London’s Cargo on Monday 21^st December which will feature an array of new Djs and live acts spanning dubstep, UK funky, drum ‘n’ bass and electro. There will be four ‘Poison’ events per year.

So, Niyi neatly defies definition. He is much more than the token Nigerian boy who grew up in Essex!

www.myspace.com/niyi

January 6, 2010January 6, 2010

NEW: Roisin Murphy – Mamma’s Place

New music from the very talented Roisin with a dance track that captures some early 90’s house flavor. Cannot wait to hear her a full length or EP or whatever she has in the works.

Roisin Murphy – Mamma’s Place