Cougar Microbes

Record label Cascine has been making some Cougar waves this year and having already featured roster runners Selebrities it seemed only fair to shine some light on fellow talent Evan Voytas.

With a background so diverse as to include a Pennsylvanian farm upbringing, a deep immersion in religious text and a former fascination with acid jazz it’s probably best not to dive into it too much as god knows where that will cause your pre-play perception to lie. So with out further a do we’ll head straight in to his sound.

On the bare bones of it he’s a singer and multi- instrumentalist. His CV currently holds live positions of keys and lead guitar for ‘Flying Lotus’ and ‘Gonjasufi’ both of which provide some reference to his solo sound. Vocally his most obvious choral cousin would be Miike Snow but with the ability to top some seriously high notes particularly in title track ‘We’ll Go Anywhere Tonight’ that would make Prince proud.

If you’re looking for a pigeonhole genre you’ve come to the wrong place. His music is vaguely-pop-vaguely-electro and vaguely world but to his credit he always provides a common theme and you’re never left in his musical playground without a melody to hang onto. For example ‘Astro’ is a glimpse of intergalactic dream pop and it’s by far the most starry eyed of his EP editions. Whereas ‘Our Thing’ is more grounded and slower in pace, with an unusually heavy crunch beat to it and a bit of background 70s soul feel to it.

As far as EPs go this one is a tonal treat and on a frugal note it ain’t bad value either with not an ounce of filler, simply put this EP is pure killer.

‘Tomorrow Night We’ll Go Anywhere‘ is out now on Cascine.

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Post by Ruby the holy spirit

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TRACKS:

Darwin Deez have taken 2010 by storm with their own brand of “genius pop”. Using specially tuned 4 string electric guitars and lyrics inspired by children’s books they have managed to create a form of Indie rock pop that is unlike any other.

Tracks such as ‘Radar Detector‘, ‘Bad Day‘ and ‘Constellations’ are best described as musical earworms. They go in through the eardrum and then hit the brain where they will squirm around for days, weeks or months even. The album has garnered much success; gigs and festivals have been greeted with shoals of sing- along fans, tons of radio airplay not too mention an almost sold out UK tour, heck even hit shows like The Inbetweeners have enlisted their musical help.

And If that’s not enough they’ve added an unusual twist to their live performances by inserting random displays of Calisthenics to music from the likes of Miike Snow, The Pointers Sister and Beyoncé Knowles.

In short Darwin Deez have dropped like a musical hand grenade onto this year’s music scene and if you’ve think you’ve pulled out all the shrapnel think again, because we’ve got some knockout remixes for you.

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Post by the inexhaustible Ruby

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TRACKS:

The Amplifietes can be considered a sort of supergroup having shared production work for the likes of Kelis, Madonna, Grandmaster Flash and fellow Swedes Peter Bjorn and John. It is on their own effort that the 4 piece have successfully married up a skilful blend of electro pop and punk that will have you flocking to the chapel this year.

At first play the electro popiness of ‘Something New’ , clearly the stand out track, draws comparisons to Miike Snow‘s dynamism whereas ‘Whizz Kid’ manages to drive through both Elvis Costello and Kraftwerk in just over 3 minutes. Their debut single ‘It’s My Life’ has an element of Gorillaz production to it and boasts a freaky robot tripping chorus that would lead any hedonistic urbanite to the dancefloor.

With a happening sound and lyrical wit The Amplifetes are a true delight so be sure to expect more and more of them this year, in the meantime wrap your chops around their latest EP, ‘Somebody New‘, out now.

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Post written by the patient Ruby

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TRACKS:

The Amplifetes – Somebody New