Irish Hearts, English Blood

I've been meaning to pick the right moment to write about this song, and seen as Orbital have just finished up two dates in Dublin, and David Gray is due to play this December, now is as good a time as any.

Gray has enjoyed unrivalled success in Ireland, with White Ladder remaining the biggest-selling album on the isle. Orbital have been gigging over here for nearly two decades; Electric Picnic was one of their first stops on their comeback tour. Unfortunately I've never had the honour of witnessing the Hartnoll brothers perform live (my parents wouldn't let me go see them in The Point back when I was 15) but considering they crept in at 49 in the Top 50 Bands to See Before You Die list (Q Magazine, 2002), I would recommend anyone to go catch them before they split up again.

Gray collaborated with the Sevenoak's duo for 2001's 'The Altogether'. Illuminate is mellower than their usual acidic sound, but still reams of their trademark twinkles and signature basslines, with Gray's voice adding a radio-friendly dimension to it. Cool, but not too chilled.

Orbital ft David Gray - Illuminate [Click Link to Download]

Ellie Goulding

Anyone who caught Ellie's performance on Jools Holland a couple of weeks ago will have undoubtly posed the question 'Who's this one?'. Her slightly awkward and unorthodox stance on stage pounding a drum reminded me of when Jamie first showed me Little Boots singing and simultaneously playing the Yamaha Tenori-On, stylophone and piano on Later...

Coincidently, Ellie has spent the last month touring with Little Boots around the UK. She's currently working on her debut album with Mark Ronson, with this taster officially released this month. One to watch? Let's hope it's not as hurried as 'Hands'.

Ellie Goulding - Under The Sheets [Follow link to download]*

* Some people are having a little trouble downloading MP3s, but if you click on the link above and wait for about 10 seconds or so, the download should appear. Ignore any pop-ups also!

New Alan Braxe Remix

Another remix post, this time Beyoncé gets the Alan Braxe treatment, who seems to have got his mojo back with his take on Broken-Hearted Girl. Forget what you know of the original, and if you haven't heard it, don't bother. Chopped up vocals, silky smooth synths and a pinch of bass slappin'. Back to what he does best. Back to Braxe.

Beyonce - Broken-Hearted Girl (Alan Braxe Remix) [Follow link to download]

Heads Will Roll Remix

A-Trak (see Duck Sauce post) continues to make his mark in the dance music world with this stomping cut up of Yeah Yeah Yeahs 'Heads Will Roll'. It seems that this is most people's favourite track off It's Blitz, and now Alain Macklovitch's take on it has really made it one for the dancefloor. One of my favourite remixes of the year. On another note, the guillotine was only abolished in France in 1981, and the last head rolled in 1971. Those crazy French.

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]