Patrick's Alibi

Good day ramblers and ramberettes.

Welcome to Episode Seven of Audio Flare. A tasty mix of dance, disco, dubstep, dread, doom and downright dirty dukes and dames. Welcome to one and all. 

Starting out with two artists making noises in the dance genre at the minute, Joy Orbison and Retro/Grade. Firstly we have Joy Orbison, 22 year old South London native who's style of dubstep is getting him noticed. A fan of Phil Spector, his music is pretty eerie, ethereal and electric. If you consider his major single 'Hyph Mngo', the first 80 seconds is pretty generic, sampled vocal loop over beats but then he brings in a fairly soulful synth backing and the song almost goes Burial on us. The song overall is really, really good, the first 80 seconds being the weakest but once it gets going, it's all good. His MySpace has 'Hyph Mngo' on as well as other songs to give further indication of his style and approach. This includes the very Burial 'Tentative Bidding' and the fairly Goldie sounding 'Wet Look'. All in all, his influences are visible in his music but considering the style of music he's making, they're the best influences you could want. Damn good stuff from Joy Orbison. Keep your eyes and ears open for his name in the future. 

We also have Italian disco revivers Retro/Grade, who's ten minute single 'Moda' is just something special. A while back I found an album by an artist called Sun Control Species and it instantly became one of my favourite dance albums and this is so similar, so good, I just love it. With a more progressive sound similar to Sun Control Species, Retro/Grade inject it with some stylish synths and breakdowns to make a very modern take on an older style of music. It's been chopped and cut into a 4 or 5 minute long radio edit which you can find on their MySpace here along with another single 'Zoid'. Just listen to 'Moda's' radio edit around the 2 minute mark for an example of how dynamic the song is. With high profile fans such as Erol Alkan, A-trak, Annie Mac and The Filthy Dukes expect DJs to carve up the 10 minutes into many types and styles of remixes. The also excellent 'Zoid' is also a very modern sounding version of a very old style. It sounds like it belongs in an ancient Sega Megadrive or SNES game. But it's so easy to listen to, Retro/Grade have genuinely succeeded in my opinion in showing how 'obsolete' dance genres can be revived. Retro/Grade have an album 'Motion' coming out next year. I'll probably be covering more from them in the future, keep eyes open for that.

Now onto a pair of Californian characters called Danny and wife Tiffany Preston, aka Rainbow Arabia. Blending (you guessed it) Arabian and Asian music with electro dancey pop music doesn't sound particularly good but in reality their music is really special. Because the variety of styles mesh rather than clash, you find that the music makes you feel really happy. If you ever feel down, just listen to 'Holiday in Congo', it'll perk you up something fierce. Their MySpace is here and I swear if you've had a shitty day, delayed public transport, coffee spilt over yourself, corrupted computer files wasting hours of work, just fire it up and give it a listen. It sounds almost innocent, and it brings a smile to my face and for that reason alongside the talent of the pair, I am a big fan of Rainbow Arabia. There's also a fair few very good quality remixes out there too such as Mexicans With Guns remix here and Myd's remix here. Disclaimer: the remixes may not cheer you up as much as the original. Well, the Myd remix might. 

And now to something that will not cheer you up if you've had a bad day. Esben and the Witch. Despite the foreboding tone of the first sentence I am in fact a big fan of this Brighton trio. Self describing 'nightmare pop', this band have made some creepy music. Picture, if you will gentle reader, a haunted house. A haunted house on an isolated hill at night with mist surrounding the house like a moat. Now imagine on the windowsill you see the nicest apple crumble you've ever seen. This band make songs like that, creepy, gloomy but inviting. Listen to their single 'Marching Song' on their MySpace page and see what I mean. But considering the band is inspired by 'glaciers, caverns and waning moons' they certainly do fulfil their promise. Sonically, the band is a mix of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Portishead with a heap of Edgar Allen Poe thrown in. I'm sure that Poe didn't made music but the style of his stories, the dread, the doom is almost palpable here in their music.

They are genuinely the most exciting new band I've heard for an age and I really hope that things go well for them. 

That is all for today. I hope you've been nourished by today's tasty morsel. Saturday's episode will come to you with verve and flair. Hope you've enjoyed reading. 

I leave you with the bizarre lyric de jour which comes from N.E.R.D's 'Lapdance'.

"I dare a motherf**ker to come in my face"

I think he's say 'I dare you to start on me' but you just don't know.

Comments

[Linnet]

Wooo Brighton bands, good work pal