Where are they now? #1

When I was a young lad, my musical knowledge, like most people, stretched as far as what I heard on the radio, on the telly and from my older brother. Now and again you hear a song that whisks you back to the days when Friday night/Saturday morning television was king and included your weekly chart run down. One song that I vividly remember making its way up the chart back in the day is a track called 'Ain't No Love' by Sub Sub.

Sub Sub were essentially one hit wonders. 'Ain't No Love' reached No. 3 in the UK Charts back in 1993. An album soon followed, with another song from it called 'Past' featuring on numerous chill-out compilations. The Manchunian trio began working on a second album, but in 1996 their recording studio was destroyed by fire (two band members were twin brothers and the studio ironically went up in smoke on their birthday).

So that was the last I heard of them. I just presumed that such a set-back would have crushed any musicians dream. However on further investigation, I found that this wasn't the case. The group stayed together and in 1998 they decided to take a slightly different musical direction and formed...wait for it...DOVES! Compare and contrast below:

Sub Sub ft Melanie Williams - Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use) [Follow link to download]

Doves - Black and White Town [Follow link to download]

Chromeo - Night By Night (Skream remix)

Chromeo have always moonwalked along the fine line that exists between irony and guilty pleasure, armed with a suitcase full of cheesy hooks that in any other hands would be the preserve of porno movie soundtracks. That bag of tricks is in full effect here with Giorgio Moroder synths, liberal use of the vocoder and a carefully placed guitar solo or two. Dubstep poster boy Skream turns the sleaze up to 11 by slowing it all down and adding a throbbing, rolling bassline. You may need a shower after this one!

Download: Chromeo - Night By Night (Skream remix)

Different Strokes...

The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas releases his solo album Phrazes for the Young on the 2nd of November, filling the lull before a rumoured 4th Strokes album next year. The first track from the album will be 11th Dimension and shows a marked departure with Casablancas striking out and embracing bold, high-gloss electro. Casablancas' pop sensibilities are in full effect here, with hints of Phoenix's 1901 amid a flurry or gleaming 80s synth action.

Download: Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension

Something for the Weekend

Just had a few minutes in the airport to write a quick post...

Most people should be familiar with his name by now, but Deadmau5 has been creating a bit of a stir in the dance music world over the last year or so. He's already had one very solid minimal electronic album, but I can only really recommend it to those who are into their instrumental dance music - if you like Booka Shade, you'll love it.

This song was officially released last week, but has had a lot of airplay on Radio 1 in the UK since Pete Tong showcased it first back in July. The track is called 'Ghosts 'n' Stuff' and features Pendulum frontman Rob Swire on vocals. You can really hear massive improvements in Deadmau5's production skills on this track, which no doubt means there is much more work to come from him. I wasn't aware that Mr. Swire was such an accomplished singer - do I detect the use of auto-tune? T-Pain and Cher would be proud...

Check out Deadmau5's slick website here. Buy his music here.

Deadmau5 ft Rob Swire - Ghosts 'n' Stuff [Click on link and follow download insturctions]