Hot new 12″ from Holy Ghost!.  Holy Ghost! are currently in studio working on their first full length.  They will be releasing a new video for, “I Will Come Back”.   This particular tracks lies somewhere between Junior Boys mid tempo electronics beats mixed with disco inspired tracks of  Morgan Geist and a touch of Michael McDonald on the chorus — I know sounds weird, but it works.

Holy Ghost! - I Will Come Back

Bio:

Holy Ghost! consists of two individuals, Nicholas Millhiser and Alexander Frankel. Both grew up a few blocks from each other in New York City and began collaborating on music at an early age. their first foray into the music world came in the shape of their first band, Automato, while attending high school. Shortly after signing to Capitol Records in 2000, they teamed up with DFA founders Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy to handle production duties on Automato’s debut. After recording with Tim and James, Alex and Nick began lending their skills to various DFA productions, including remixes and as touring and recording members of The Juan Maclean. All the while, Nick and Alex began working towards their own record and finally, Holy Ghost! is a product of their obsessions with analog synthesizers, rare disco, and ancient production techniques. Worth to hold on to!Alex and Nick gave up some valuable ‘sleep’ time whilst on a flying visit to London and talked us through some of their favourite cuts – disco or otherwise!

Lyrics:

Can we slow it down, just for a moment see
Some things never get old
Let us Rearrange, we go perfectly
At least that’s what I’ve been told

And your mother won’t leave you alone
And your father won’t leave you alone
In a minute things can change, at least until you get home

It’s the middle of the night
That’s my favorite part
Keeps me under the gun

There’s a part of me
That keeps coming through
And I will come back
To you …

What a change of plans
I can’t wait to see
What you come up with next

Point somewhere on the map
It’s ok to leave
You can always come back

And your mother won’t leave you alone
And your father won’t leave you alone
So you book yourself a room, where a video plays on a loop

It’s the middle of the night, the night
That’s my favorite part
Keeps me under the gun
There’s a part of me
That keeps coming through
And I will come back (I will come back)
To you….

Taken from Sleepthief’s forthcoming album, Labyrinthine Heart, the new single WORLD GONE CRAZY, is a gorgeous new track of shimmering synths, orchestral strikes and lush vocals from the extremely talented Coury Palermo.  Fans of Delerium and William Orbit will find much to love on this single.  Be on the look out for Sleepthief’s new album to drop in August, which lists an impressive roster of guest vocalist (read below for more details).

Also, tune into NewNowNext July 1st on Logo for the world premiere video “World Gone Crazy”.

Sleepthief - World Gone Crazy:

More info:

The first single from the new album (LABYRINTHINE HEART) is called WORLD GONE CRAZY with Coury Palermo. The digital single will be available on all major digital download portals on June 30. The single features 5 mixes of the track including (1) The Psychosomatic Radio Edit (2) Nick Murray Remix (3)Sensory Gate Remix, (4) Martin Preston Mix, and (5) Coury Palermo Mix

The full-length sophomore album LABYRINTHINE HEART is scheduled for a late August release.  The album includes 13 tracks with vocals from:

Kirsty Hawkshaw (Opus III, BT, DJ Tiesto, Delerium)

Kristy Thirsk (Rose Chronicles, Delerium)

Zoe Johnston (Faithless, Above & Beyond, Bent)

Coury Palermo (lynden, Neverending White Lights)

Caroline Lavelle (Massive Attack, BT, Vangelis)

Jody Quine (Balligomingo) and

Roberta Carter Harrison (Wild Strawberries, ATB)

There are a few “firsts” for Sleepthief on this album–the inclusion of a male vocalist (Coury) and also a duet between Coury and Zoe Johnston. A cover of the well-known 80’s hit by Frida (former member of ABBA) entitled THERE’S SOMETHING GOING ON (this time sung by Roberta Carter Harrison) is included on the album.

The first album by SLEEPTHIEF was THE DAWNSEEKER (Neurodisc/Echotone) and is available on Amazon and I-tunes. Two singles were released from the first album:  Eurydice (featuring Jody Quine) and The Chauffeur (featuring Kirsty Hawkshaw). Both singles are available digitally on I-tunes along with numerous remixes of the original tracks.

www.myspace.com/sleepthief
www.sleepthiefmusic.com

I love music, I just had to preface this track with that statement.  Now I’ve heard Jason Bently rave about Miike Snow, the group, and I kinda just filed that bit of info in the “I’ll check them out when I get a chance” dept.  Then on the way home tonight listening to KCRW, I heard “Cult Logic” and feel hard for it.  The slow burning rhythm with great melodies and it just made me happy to be alive.  This track would sound amazing in the club, with friends having a good time and drinking a cold beverage.  By the way, they have one of the slickest myspace layout designs I’ve seen in a while.

My best description of this track is a cross between Hot Chip and Passion Pit with a hint of Peter Gabriel esque vocals — just a hint mind you.

Side note: Two thirds of Miike Snow (Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnber) are also known as the Swedish pop production team Bloodshy and Avant.

Miike Snow - Cult Logic

Facebook | Myspace

bio from Facebook:

Miike Snow is a band. Swedish duo Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg are childhood friends who spent time playing in bands and working on various projects in studios throughout Gothenburg. After separate moves to Stockholm they reunited in 2000 when their paths crossed with American Andrew Wyatt to write a pop album for a someone else. The release was small, there was little distribution and an alleged large sum of money was lost in the process. The three stayed in touch and a friendship was formed and in 2007 Miike Snow was born.

Karlsson and Winnberg’s backgrounds in the DJ scene and punk bands alongside experiments in progressive electro and new rave lead to a series of writing / producing stints with Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears - culminating in their Grammy win for Best Dance Recording with her song “Toxic”. Wyatt has been a member in Black Beetle (with Joan Wasser) and The A.M. (with Michael Tighe). He had an album come out this year with the band Fires of Rome as well writing and producing the new Daniel Merriweather album with Mark Ronson. Miike Snow’s self titled debut is a full band collaboration, showcasing their deft mastery of the studio while acknowledging each members unique talent for songwriting, production, arrangement and performance.

Finally ready to step out of the studio, but not the shadows, Miike Snow is set to be released this summer. Recorded in Stockholm in the 400 year old home used to house King Gustaf III’s mistress, Miike Snow bristles with confidence. It’s intelligent pop music that has the ability to cradle taste making purists and reach anthemic heights. Showcasing melodic songs built for the anything goes environment of the club, Miike Snow will make anonymity an impossibility.

“If You Know What’s Good For Ya!!” is the Solo debut from former UK native now LA transplant  Woolfy.  Woolfy lays down some smokey smooth vocals over a bed of groovy drums and flanged out synths.

Woolfy - Odyssey

myspace

last.fm bio:

Originally hailing from London, Woolfy started hitting the clubs in Los Angeles in 1991, back in the Flammable Liquid era and later Does Your Mama Know, and onto The Harvey Sessions. Started dj’ing in 1995, founded the deep house & funk club Pressure, and went on to be resident for Stereophonic at the legendary Fais Do Do. He started Projections with Dan Hastie (Breakestra / Orgone) in 2000 as well as the rudy band Sounds From The Ward. Projections went on to be signed by Guidance recordings and released the lp Between Here & Now and various singles. He’s also worked with Plant Life, Orgone & Pharcyde. While in New York around 2004, he met DJ Spun of Rong Records playing at his local. A few bottles of rum later, Rong records was releasing the Woolfy / Projections split single. A few spliffs later and If You Know What’s Good For Ya!! was complete. His influences include dirty disco, the rare 12”s from 73-84, a bit of English punk, pub funk, and booze.

Off of SMD’s new album, “Temporary Pleasure” which is due out August 17th, comes this collaboration with Jamie Lidell.  Tracks takes a couple of listens before is starts to grow on you, but those tend to be the best tracks.  Really love the lead synth line over the chorus, that’s something special as well as the Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf esque squeals.

Simian Mobile Disco - Off The Map (ft. Jamie Lidell)

From iTunes Foreign Exchange, we have two cover tracks from the likes of Yelle & Roby.

From wiki:

iTunes Foreign Exchange features two bands from two different countries covering one of the other’s songs in their native tongue.

Robyn - Becaus of Boys (Yelle Cover)

Yelle - Who’s That Girl (Robyn Cover)

Lighthearted electronic pop track from Discovery’s full length titled “LP”.  Guest vocals provided by Angel Deradoorian from Dirty Projectors/Deradoorian.   This track has charming electronic elements blended with sick vocal harmonies.

Discovery - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (ft. Angel Deradoorian)

Press Release:

Fans of bookish, polo-shirt’d, sea-breezed Ivy League indie-pop, get ready to get your party on. Or, um, something like that. It’s time to discover Discovery. That’s the side project of Vampire Weekend’s keyboardist/arranger/producer type, Rostam Batmanglij, and Ra Ra Riot frontman Wes Miles. Where their main bands ‘whose respective debut discs, Vampire Weekend and The Rhumb Line, were two of 2008’s best albums’ play preppy, jangling, twee tunes, Discovery do something distinctly different.

Taking inspiration from the chromed-out gleam of modern R&B production, Batmanglij takes charge of sinuous keyboards, boinging beats, and massive synth crashes; approximating disposable pop fodder with an expert ear. Miles who normally spends his lyrical time making bibliophilic connections to e.e. cummings and Virginia Woolf sings simple refrains in a near-falsetto that’s pitched even higher by the obligatory autotune. It’s brightly-colored, saturated-sounding, fluttery electro fluff that’s stylistic lightyears away from Upper West Side Soweto.

Ok, this is for the hippest of all hipsters!   I have one FREE copy of  Brighton Port Authority’s - I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat on VINYL to give away!

All you need to do is send the name of  a new Artist or Band that should be covered here on the blog, that hasn’t already been.   Entries should be emailed to:

Please, only one suggestion per entry.  The entry that catches my eardrums, wins.  It’s that simple.  The deadline is July 4th.

Good luck and happy hunting!

UPDATE: As of today, I have a total of 8 entries… so odds are exteremly good for YOU to win!

One of my favorite albums of 2007 was from unknown artist at the time by the name of Maps, the album was “We Can Create”.   Maps,  an alias for a James Chapman, recorded the entire album in his bedroom with nothing more than a 16 track.  Well, he’s back with a new release, “Valium in The Sunshine” from his latest effort titled, “Chemeleon” (Due out sometime in August).  You get a glimpse of what’s in store for his new opus toward the end of this track.  It’s a little more darker, a little more moodier, and alot more driven.

Maps  - Valium in The Sunshine

myspace | blog |

So while adding new people to my twitter account (davidaarong), I saw this little tweet from Mackintosh Braun, “recording the new album… hotness!!” which made me smile and thought it was a good time to post several tracks from their 2008 album, “The Sound” (available for free from Last.fm! — no excuse to not get it).  If you like Junior Boys, or The Postal Service then these tracks should tickle your eardrums.

Mackintosh Braun - Nothing Else is Real

Mackintosh Braun - Here

Mackintosh Braun - Good So Far

myspace | twitter | last.fm | thesixtyone.com

bio from last.fm

Mackintosh Braun is an Oregon based electronic duo. Their debut album “The Sound” is already a cult classic, reaching listeners all over the world.
“The idea was to create an album that you didn’t have to skip through, hopefully this is one of those albums for people.” Combining a creative blend of organic instrumentation with electronic glich-pop, Mackintosh Braun accomplishes a feat that few achieve.