Audio Drums

This track is taken from their forth studio effort titled, “You & Me”. If you’ve picked up their previous albums, be sure to pick up this release — has more of the crooning, pop, and rock influences you’ve come to love from their previous releases.

Bio from last.fm:

The Walkmen are five New Yorkers who have played rock music since they were 10 years old. All five originally hail from Washington, D.C. where they attended the same high school and played in several bands. Over the years, and in their many ensembles, they’ve experimented with punk, noise, a lot of “garage” sounds, ska, and rock.

After Jonathan Fire*Eater imploded, Walter, Matt, and Paul rounded up enough investors to rent a Harlem industrial space, and convert it into a 24-track analog recording studio. Dubbed “Marcata Recording”, the new space became the birthplace, home, and virtual sixth member of the Walkmen. Joining with ex-Recoys, Walter’s cousin Hamilton and his friend Peter (who had for years been slaving away in the East Village for spots at the Continental and Luna as The Recoys), the lineup was complete by the summer of 2000. Over the course of the next year the band sedulously wrote and recorded late in the evenings after work. It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. While adjusting to their new space and equipment, the band engaged in much experimentation with sound.

Their first show took place at Joe’s Pub in the East Village in September of 2000. Onto the tiny stage the band lugged an upright piano, a bass cabinet that was taller than the bass player, three amplifiers, an organ, a lap steel, two tape machines, three guitars, and a set of drums. The show was a great success, so they decided to stick together. Since then the boys have remained dedicated to their instrumentation, and even got their hands on an over-sized, rotting upright in London which nearly ruined the trip (one show was on the third floor).

Initial press for their debut EP gave the Walkmen positive reviews but focussed mainly on the former notoriety of three of its members, all of whom played in the much hyped, short-lived Jonathan Fire*Eater. The band began to be judged on their own merit with the release of their debut album, Everybody Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone (2002).

It was with the release of their second album Bows + Arrows in 2004 that they truly came to the fore, after The Rat received heavy airplay on alternative radio in both the US and the UK.

The Walkmen’s third album, A Hundred Miles Off was released in the US on 23rd May 2006 and in the UK on 26th September 2006.

The band’s influences include, Bruce Springsteen, The Pogues, The Cure, Björk, The Smiths, Joy Division, Neil Young, and New Order. Primarily piano and organ provide the basis for each song, with dashes of a variety of guitars and tapes. The bass holds a steady, booming foundation, and the drums fluctuate from minimal to down right furious. The vocals range from strong and long-held highs to reserved falsettos and lazy lows. The songs can be light and playful, or huge and atmospheric.

The Walkmen - New Years Eve

Ok, this track just floored me the first time i heard it (actually, i saw it / heard it since it was a music video on LOGO). Anyway, Logan Lynn is from PORTLAND, Oregon and has a great emotronic sound to his music. This particular track is taken from his last ep titled, “Feed Me To The Wolves EP”

bio from last.fm:

If the Land of Misfit Toys elected a team of cultural ambassadors, Logan Lynn would be its poet laureate. In Portland’s pulsating music scene, he occupies a singular position- an emo prophet with a penchant for electronic beats, preaching the Good Word to drug-damaged crybabies.

For the past decade, Logan has been writing and recording his own music. In 2000, he released his debut album, Glee, a blissful, sex-drenched romp through some emotionally treacherous territory. Produced by Pfog, heavy themes of religion, sexuality and identity played out alongside upbeat grooves and smiley-face rhythms. One critic said it “put the ‘disco’ back in discomfort.” That blend of spleen-venting lyrics and “Let’s dance!” optimism owes a lot to Logan’s unique, mildly scary upbringing.

Homeschooled in a fundamentalist Christian household, he was completely isolated from popular music. (Let’s just say the tagline “I Want My MTV” had especial resonance for this 80s baby.) Escape came in the form of the mid-90s underground rave scene, deejaying for tweaked-out teenagers in the Midwest, and later moving to the West Coast to pursue a degree in art school. All this helps to account for the leitmotifs threaded through much of his music: sex, drugs and Jesus.

His self-titled sophomore effort came out in 2006, using his earlier work as a springboard for exploring fresh sonic territory. He collaborated with several Portland artists on some truly radical music videos- Think the backroom of a bathhouse as reenacted by Ken dolls. The album release coincided with a much-praised performance at San Francisco’s all-leather Folsom Street Fair. To retool a phrase from the aforementioned music critic, he puts the ‘mo back in emo.

Logan Lynn - Feed Me To The Wolves

Here’s the video for Feed Me To The Wolves:

Fun mid tempo electronic pop track from Chicago natives, “Walter Meego” This track came be found on their 2008 release, “Voyager”

Bio from thier wiki:

Justin Sconza and Colin Yarck met in college at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. Justin grew up in Beverly on the south side of Chicago. In interviews he has said his style comes most from the Real Book as well as the entire catalogs of the Beatles and Nirvana.

Colin Yarck has said he is heavily influenced by the electronic music scene in Chicago. He started making beats with Pat Pelligrini in a basement in Park Ridge, IL, on the north side of Chicago. In 2003 Justin Sconza and Coln Yarck started making music under the name “Walter Meego”, a name for one of Justin’s alter egos.

In the summer of 2003, Justin is rumored to have made hundreds of songs and unfinished ideas on his four-track and put them together on audio cassettes entitled “Walter Meego”. A lot of people got them and they became hip in Chicago.

Justin, Colin and Pat recorded Walter Meego EP in the Park Ridge studio that fall. Starting in January of 2004, the three of them began performing regularly throughout Chicago under the name “Walter Meego.” The band enjoyed initial support from promoters at Chicago venues like Metro, the Empty Bottle and Double Door.

Following the release of “Walter Meego EP” in April of 2005, the UK’s Rough Trade, as well as Internet blogs like Music For Robots began to strongly support Walter Meego.

In the summer of 2005, Pat Pelligrini quit Walter Meego. Soon after, Jarrett Spiegel came on to replace him. After a string of shows and inner-band turmoil, Spiegel was replaced with Andrew Bernhardt in the summer of 2006, who currently performs live as a member of Walter Meego.

Walter Meego - Forever

Update: This track is currently in the latest Heinken Beertender commical!  Way to go Walter Meego!

If you took Andy Bell from Erasure and had him sing on a Frou Frou -esque track I imagine it would sound similar to this Darren Hayes track. Full of little bleeps, toy piano samples, and of course, strings. Simply wonderful…

Bio from Last.fm:

Darren Stanley Hayes (born 8 May 1972 in Brisbane, QLD) is an Australian singer-songwriter. He’s best known as the vocalist of the hugely popular 90’s duo Savage Garden, whose international hits includes “Truly Madly Deeply”, “I Want You” and “I Knew I Loved You”.

Hayes’ first solo album Spin was released in 2002, carrying on in the same musical vein as Savage Garden, with a less soft rock sound and more edgy R&B vibe, although the first single Insatiable was a ballad, reaching Number 3 in Australia. Other singles “Strange Relationship”, “Crush (1980 Me)” and “I Miss You” also performed well in charts.

Hayes spent two years working on his second solo album, The Tension and the Spark. Other than the track “I Forgive You” which was produced with Madonna collaborator Marius De Vries, the entire album was produced by Darren himself and Robert Conley (with whom he had previously toured and recorded Crush (1980 Me) for Spin). The album marked a bold change of direction from Hayes. Conley’s production was almost entirely electronic, with acoustic instruments buried under walls of sequenced sounds. Although artistically this was a huge step forward and earned Hayes the strongest praise of his career, it seemed to alienate a large portion of his audience who were expecting another album of radio friendly pop songs. The first single Pop!ular was released on July 12, 2004. This single reached Number One on the US Dance Charts, and fared well in the UK. His follow up single, Darkness, failed to chart, leaving Dublin Sky - the planned third release - in limbo. Ironically, “Dublin Sky” was considered by many to be one of the strongest and most accessible songs on the album and the most likely to be a hit.

Truly Madly Completely, Savage Gardens greatest hits album was released in late 2005 and featured two new songs - So Beautiful and California. The tour, ‘A Big Night In with Darren Hayes’ followed in 2006. In July 2006, Hayes announced that he had married his boyfriend of two years, Richard Cullen, in a Civil Partnership Ceremony.

Hayes released a double album, This Delicate Thing We’ve Made, on 20 August 2007 on his newly formed independent label ‘’Powdered Sugar’‘. “The record features 25 songs recorded with the help of a Vintage 1983 Fairlight CMI syth - a cinematic, theatrical and epic Pop Opus.” The first single to come from Hayes’ third album was On the Verge of Something Wonderful to be followed by Me, Myself And (I) later in 2007.

http://www.darrenhayes.com
http://www.myspace.com/darrenhayes
http://www.youtube.com/darrenhayes

Darren Hays - Neverland

Track has a slight vocoder effect on the vocals over the chorus that works wonders for this track. Think Royksopp vocoders meets mellowed out electronics.

bio from last.fm:

Di Johnston was born in Hong Kong to two US diplomats. After stints in mainland China and Virginia, she moved to New York where she began her performing career.

Within months of arrival, Di began to establish herself as a voice-over actor in NYC. She became the voice of many commercial campaigns, including Lincoln Mercury, Pantene, Lenscrafters, Verizon Wireless, PNC Bank and CMT. In 2006, she was selected as the announcer for the Miss America Pageant.

Recently, Di began applying her vocal talents to various musical pursuits. After releasing a few tracks on producer Dave Liang’s Shanghai Restoration Project to an enthusiastic response - her song “Jade Buddha Temple” was featured as the single of the week on iTunes Japan and played on KCRW’s “New Ground” - Di decided to take the sound one step further and record her own EP. She wanted to mix in some Chinese instruments as a nod to her upbringing, and decided to tackle the ubiquitous theme of flawed love without taking the subject too seriously. Liang’s astute production and musicianship were the keys to creating a lush layering of music and vocals to complement Di’s naturally seductive voice.

Di Johnston - Trite

myspace

website

Has a erasure vibe to this track, very upbeat and happy. Bio from thesixtyone.com:

Jesse Shaw – writing, programming, vocals, guitar
Ricardo Autobahn – producing, programming, writing
Chad Dyer – guitar

Electropop group IKKI is generating solid tracks full of ultra-catchy gems. Combining talents from its several members, IKKI features Jesse Shaw (Minneapolis’ Uber Cool Kung Fu), Ricardo Autobahn (UK’s Spray and Cuban Boys) and Chad Dyer (St. Cloud’s Electric Almighty.) Taking cues from bands such as New Order, Carter USM and Spray, IKKI blends hooking lyrics with a punchy sound.

www.ikkiband.com
www.myspace.com/ikkiband
www.tcelectropunk.com

ikki - We Can Fly

Be sure to listen till 32 seconds into the track for things to kick in sublimely. Beautiful arrangements and melodies adorn this track.

The Long Division - Dreams of You

myspace

last.fm

You can purchase their tracks here