Pierre Crube & Jerome Rocipon make up the French-Canadian duo Numéro. Their French electro-pop style is something that seems familiar, yet strangely unique. I have enjoyed some of their music in the past and have recently released their second album, Sport de combat. I highly recommend listening to these guys if you don’t mind listening to French lyrics!

MP3: Numéro – “Arbandot”

- Stuart

SL Blaise Mini-Mix – Kitsuné Maison Compilation 7 Sampler

7m32s
Tracklisting:

- “Something Good Can Work” – Two Door Cinema Club
- “Time After Time” – We Have Band
- “In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix)” – La Roux
- “Fringe Element” – Beni
- “Always More (Yuksek Remix)” – autoKratz
- “Touring in NY (Short Tour Edit)” – Maybb
- “Bejan” – Tanlines

MP3: Download here.

and

BUY THE ALBUM!

- Stuart

Firstly I’d like to mention local DJ and producer, Udy. A seemingly busy man he is resident DJ at some local nights around the Portsmouth/Southsea area and shows some huge potential with his own music. He is a resident at “Kiss My Bass”, nominated recently for Best Club Night, and the website turned blog (& podcast) is updated often by the man himself – some great mixes and other musical info can be found here. Another port of call is udymusic.co.uk, which showcases Udy’s recent productions and is well worth a listen and download – some great tracks. Another fan of French electro, house and dubstep his mixes are also a very entertaining hour of listening!

Check him out!

MP3: Mix – Pop n Bass 3
MP3: Udy – “Hustlin”

Also on the horizon is the next installment of the Kitsuné Maison Compilation Series – Kitsuné Maison Compilation 7. Tagged “the lucky one….”, and featuring tracks from Two Door Cinema Club, La Roux, Beni and autoKratz it proves to be another good one. It is due for release on 1 June. You can check out a teaser video here.

Another artist I feel like I have to mention is La Roux. After writing about them in November they have picked up more and more interest and after the Single “In For The Kill”, made it’s way to No. 2 in the UK it is hard to go anywhere without hearing about them! A surely amazing duo, and are set to release the self-titled debut album on 30 June.

Whichever way you look at it the next month or so, I’m sure, will be a great one for new music. Get listening!

- Stuart

Bloc Party in the BBC Radio1 Live Lounge on Thursday just gone..
Listen to it here – It’s effing awesome.

Chris Naish And The Wasted Nights, an independent punk hip hop band hailing from Alberta, Canada, have just released a single on iTunes worldwide. The song is called “Sleep When You’re Dead”. The tune is pretty catchy, but whats better is fifty percent of all profit will go to depression and suicide prevention charities, so give it a listen.

YouTube Video With More Info

Buy “Sleep When You’re Dead” from itunes

To celebrate their artwork, their album being finished and the proximity of their trip to SXSW and tour with Snow Patrol, Fanfarlo have put ‘I’m a Pilot’ on their site for you to listen to… but I’ve made it a little easier for you… Check it out below:

MP3: Fanfarlo – I Am Pilot

Keep the emails coming
- Luu

Ever since hearing this girl she has been on the mind. She’s nothing less than awesome. I haven’t had a pet favorite for a while and she’s certainly filling the void. There isn’t much available out there in the way of information but I can confirm she is set to release her double A-side 7″ single Obsessions/Mowgli’s Road on Neon Gold Records for Valentines day (the location is hush hush) but it’s going to be something spesh. Take a look at her video for the single here on youtube. You wont be disappointed. Listen to the track below…

MP3: Marina And The Diamonds – Obsessions

Hope everyone is having a good week!
Keep the emails rolling, I am reading them!

- Luu

Eat them up; MP3: The Japanese Popstars – Electronic Poet

Hope everyones well.. sorry again that I’ve been so busy. I do have something pretty spesh coming up though, as well as the long awaited competition ^_^ Keep emails coming!

-Luu

“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!

MP3: La Roux – “Fascination”

- Stuart

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

“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

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