MGMT : JUSTICE

Justice have made a comeback with a song that will appear in the soon-to-be-released Ghostbusters 3. It's hard to say exactly what it is, but it's nice to hear it again. LSD children MGMT, who we've posted about here, get the treatment from two French Fans, Justice. When is the Motor Remix coming?


MGTM - Electric Feel - Justice Remix

5 Songs to Hear Before You Die This Summer

I was recently intrigued by the headline of a Smithsonian article published a few months ago called, "28 Places to Go Before You Die." Despite it being a travel article, the headline called attention, above all, to the fact that the reader will at some point die. Places are elusive, you've seen them and then what? You die. But unlike places, songs are retainable. They become part of your day, morning, mid-afternoon, eveningtime. They work their way into your routines and love affairs, into a moment when you've lost track of everything. Songs equally belong to the seasons, and so I've given myself the task to post and write about songs that belong to the summer. Here are five.


Biarritz © 2004

1. Datarock - Princess (Morgan Z remix)

If Animal Collective were strictly a dance group, I imagine this is what they sound like. Much like an AC song, this one never gets repetitive. Norwegians yell over the freshest bips and bloops, then orchestra synths, then glam-rock guitars, and then it all culminates into an acoustic guitar six chord melody that feels like an early morning summer's breeze. Feels good, tastes good.


2. Paul Simon - The Obvious Child

Summer loves parades, and parades love drums so this is a fitting choice. Paul Simon is one of the first to mash genres of music, leading all the way to Dan Deacon. On this album, he blends the styles of rock/folk with Latin American sounds so perfectly it's hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. Also, this song includes one of my favorite lines of all time: "Well I've been waking up at sunrise/ I've been following the light across my room/ I watch the night receive the room of my day."


3. The Rubies - I Feel Electric (Tiedye remix)

The Swedish redo of this Rubies song featuring Feist build the setting of an impossibly hot landscape. This year so far has had some of the most drastic weather: no one is sure if Global Warming is supposed to make summers hotter or winters colder? But if anything, we've been waiting for GW our whole lives. The weather is the number one topic between humans, and finally it's getting exciting.


4. Sébastien Tellier - Roche (Link Removed As Per Request)

We're all amoreuse des trucs sébastiennes, and Sébastien loves Biarritz. This song, which might have made R. Kelly a little jealous he didn't pay attention during French class, keeps it simple, but in its simplicity, beauty. I feel like this is a perfect song: it knows when enough is enough and when too much is too much and it captures the minimalism of a day at the beach--far niente--to a T.


5. B-52s - Dirty Back Road

When I first heard this song I was blown away that the B-52s, who are currently on tour, could sound so good. The album Wild Planet came out in 1980 and was their second. The lyrics seem to describe driving wrecklessly down a deserted road--but there seems to be a fine line between driving and sexual intercourse. But oh, those summer nights...

BLACK is BLACK

There's not too much we know about DVAS, aside from where they reside: Toronto, Canada. We do know we love their latest mix Passion Communication. Comprised of 80s synths played on Ferraris that are travelling 88 miles per hour so as to arrive in the future, this mix requires no fast-forwarding, no semantic mumbo-jumbo puns intended. Think of Fred Falke, or early Roulé, like DJ Falcon, maybe Crydamoure, and you'll find yourself in the ballpark that is DVAS. Said mix contains classic space-cases like FPU, Giorgio Moroder, and Jan Hammer (Music Producer for 80s Television show Miami Vice), and a song from DVAS themselves. Is anyone on the same page?

You can purchase their New EP through their Myspace. Here's a bit.

DVAS - Forever



Valerie is the biggest secret waiting to be exposed, or rather, gain more exposure. The blog always has amazing and rare music, for ardent fans of someone like John Carpenter, Moroder, or simply 80s nostalgia. Notable is also that they have the best blog post JPEGS ever. Valerie, how do you find them? The Valerie Story explains it all: "Valerie is not only a blog, but a collective composed of music artists in the west of France (The Outrunners, College, Anoraak, Minitel Rose, Maethelvin and more)."


When you have the saxaphone on board, it's all business. Official Theme to Valerie vis-a-vis their blog:

Minitel Rose - West Coast Valerie

Head over to Valerie's blog to download the DVAS mix. Don't forget to send DVAS a line and check out the excellent track Ambient Room on their Myspace. They're supposedly the Cut Copy of Canada, and that can't be bad.

Nyte Is Good For You

It turns out that Let There Be Night not only provides you with good tunes, we're also helping the environment with our new blog design. According to Blackle, a Google-based search engine with a black color scheme, computer monitors require more energy to display white than they do black. For example, given the amount of hits that it gets in one year, Google, in a black color setting, could feasibly save 750 megawatts per year. So, that means that every time someone visits our blog, we're displacing the equivalent of the energy that a blowdryer uses up in one second. Uh, right?

--Moebius

With lines like "There's something burning up inside/ I reach out for you and our hearts collide" and "I've been searching for a love alive/ Drowning in the silence as we walk the night," Cut Copy's vision of "Hearts on Fire" is a favorable one: poignantly describing those special nocturnal loves. But through the eyes of their Australian colleagues, Midnight Juggernauts, "Hearts on Fire" is far more dystopic. The trio coats the song with their distinctive space-age keyboards to derail the original meaning of the song, shrouding the happy lyrics in their apocalyptic world-view. Those same lines might equally describe disease, disaster, or a sole-survivng member of the world race searching the once bustling cities, now completely deserted and dead. How's that for détournement?

Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Midnight Juggernauts Remix)

After listening to the Together podcast by The Glimmers, my own heart was on fire for an obscure Belgian band's cover of Olivia Newton John's hit, "Let's Get Physical." Disko Drunkards are produced by fellow countrymen, The Glimmers, and I can't find out much about them. Still, this song rocks the dance floor as you can see in their music video, which features what seems to be video clippings of a 1980's super-awkward bar mitzvah. I went to a bar mitzvah once, and believe me, it was almost just as weird as this one. Let's get awkward!

Disko Drunkards - Let's Get Physical

Music In Media

Ok, as promised here is the Fred Falke remix of Lykke Li's "I'm Good, I'm Gone," fresh as this morning's baked baguettes. Since I last posted about her, Lykke Li has seen a surge in popularity (no correlation, right? nah), especially with the debut of her album "Youth Novels," so this remix couldn't come at a better time. And it's easy on the ears too.

Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone (Fred Falke remix)



The arrival of this anticipated remix gives me the excuse to write about something else that I've been noticing in the past few days: electronic music in the media. It seems like the kind of music we post about here, from Australia to Sweden and back, is starting to get picked up by those in high places. Songs I never thought I would have heard outside of my own room are popping up in the most peculiar places. I don't know if it's just coincidental or just a sign of the times to come. I have to admit, it gets me excited.

So, when else can you hotwire a car, do several drive-bys and get chased by the FBI all while cranking out the sweet sounds of Justice? I got a chance to play Grand Theft Auto IV this past week. Simply put, it's amazing. Just by chance I had recently noticed that on Kavinsky's site, he had advertised that "Testarossa" was featured on the "electrochoc" channel, so the first time I did my own hotwiring I immediately tuned in. I was thoroughly impressed with the tracklist and quality of mixing. To my surprise, searching for the ramps to drive my car off of, in addition to SebastiAn's remix of "Testarossa Autodrive," I heard "Waters of Nazareth" by Justice, "Tits & Acid" by Simian Mobile Disco. Albeit lo-quality, you can listen to the radio station yourself without playing the game here and here.

When I checked the tracklist on wikipedia, I was shocked to see names like Boys Noize, Bag Raiders and even Black Devil Disco Club. How the hell did Rockstar catch wind of Bag Raiders? Ah, then I saw that DJ and producer François K compiled the list. Still, it makes playing GTA IV that much more enjoyable. There are other quality songs on the other stations as well. I've heard !!!, LCD Soundsystem (while buying a chicken sandwich), Q-Lazzarus' "Goodbye Horses," and even Philip Glass (while getting into this epic six-star wanted level chase on the train tracks).



On Tuesday I was invited to go to a film at the SFIFF called American Teen. The documentary, directed by Nanette Burnstein, attempts to tell the story of the American High School Experience more realistically than its predecessors. The movie features a wide array of songs, but I did notice"Kids" by MGMT and "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" by Black Kids.

Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

Sometimes when I'm bored I surf trailers and I recently caught an independent French film called Naissance des Pieuvres or in Engish, Water Lilies. The trailer features Vitalic's "Trahison." The trailer renewed my love for Vitalic and it looks like an interesting film itself that I will have to catch once it comes out.

Vitalic - Trahison

Cut Copy

As an adventure, Thursday was an amazing day. Around 3:20 PM, Cut Copy sent out a bulletin that they would be performing in San Diego, for free.

We are all too familiar with "Bright with Neon Love," their seminal LP. We all know well the curves to that LP, the dips and corners, what's to be expected and what will be sung, our favorite songs, repeated to add-infinitum, and it is able to provide the same comfort every time. I'll be the first admit: I never gave Cut Copy a fair chance, a mistake many of us make with our fascist music regimes, or maybe I should speak for myself. Maybe not.

Early on, I was familiar with SebastiAn's first remix ever, "Going Nowhere," the "Whitey Remix" you could cry to when drunk, and the "Going Nowhere" remix that put Digitalism on the map in a big way. Besides these three songs, I never once gave the original material my ear. At an unimportant date, that changed, and there has been no reason not to love the music of Cut Copy since .

Because of the recent release of "In Ghost Colors," Cut Copy has consumed the I-Pod player at our drinking spot, and when word came that they would be playing downtown, I had to call those that gather at that drinking spot, and let them know of the news that had fallen into my lap.

For me, the "show" actually started 4 hours prior to Cut Copy's performance, across the street, at a Japanese restaurant. There, I kept bothering a couple about the time, out of fear of being late to the show; I was later informed Cut Copy would start at 9pm. The guy seemed to be a former meth user if not at the time; the girl was obese. I explained to him that I came downtown to see a great band play; in return, he asked me if I liked Slipknot and Disturbed. Just as I was leaving, I again insisted he should check out the Cutters. Funny too, my recommendation turned out to be an explanation that the excellent group from Australia was not "Cunt Copy," but rather "Cut Copy." Then after several more beers, I was befriended by three guys from where else but Australia. Light and comical conversation soon ensued, ranging from Van She, Miami Horror, Pnau, Knightlife, Midnight Juggernauts, Midnight Oil, wristies (hand jobs), The Presets, and of course, Cut Copy, and wristies. That was an experience in itself, and what better company to have prior to a Cut Copy show?

And really, besides the experience prior to the show, there's not much room to talk about Cut Copy. We all know who Cut Copy are, and if you don't, you should. Cut Copy did Cut Copy, and it was everything expected, unexpected, and of course, more. It was a necessary reunion, a small piece of heaven, sadly ephemeral. There in front where these guys who devised this music, arranged the harmonies, decided to be interesting but with style. Every moment was enjoyable, every song ending carried into a new surprise. Cut Copy made an excellent impression. The experience was very homey, and I can say I enjoyed this show more than I did enjoy the hype of 2007, Justice.

That said, here are a couple choice bits. The blog world has a lot of crap and hype floating around in it. Cut Copy are an exception to this rule. The temptation to post full mp3s from both albums is high, but we know that would be no fun. Head over to Modular or iTunes and pick up their new LP yourself, "In Ghost Colours." You will be satisfied, I'm confident in that. Trust me: I once recommended Cut Copy to a Meth head that liked Slipknot and Disturbed.

Cut Copy - Going Nowhere - Whitey Remix

Cut Copy - Going Nowhere - SebastiAn Remix (SebastiAn's first remix ever! He's a fan of the Cutterzz)

Midnight Juggernauts - 45 and Rising - Cut Copy Remix (Cutterz remix Juggerz)

Le Soleil au Zénith

m: 5001 [hits], dude
a: let's have a glass of bubbly
m: i was thinking about a 24, but it's too early--not too early for me, but for some other people
m: do you even have bubbly?



If you're anything like me you avoid listening to a band even though, based on what other people say about them, you know you'd like them. There's just too many bands out there to like that at times it can get overwhelming. This could go on for weeks, even years, maybe you'll never hear that song that, for you, might be one of those "perfect songs." Unfortunate, but that's how it goes. But sometimes all it takes is one song and you're hooked. You'll do anything for that group. And strangely, sometimes the first song you hear of a band is the best song no matter how many new albums they come out with thereafter. Well, I have seen the name Crystal Castles everywhere but only recently decided to give them a listen. The song that pushed me over the edge was "Courtship Dating". It's the kind of song that you have to invent new genre names for: noispeggio, gamebitpop, hardlectro. Crystal Castles consist of Ethan Kass and Alice Glass who met during community service assisting the blind. The two left their own respective bands and started collaborating on remixes and original work. This track is about human taxidermy, and it sounds that evil.

Crystal Castles - Courtship Dating

A lot of people recommended that I see this Julie Delpy movie called, 2 Days in Paris. Ehh, it felt like a modern, redo of Woody Allen film à la française, but not as funny. It wasn't completely worthless though--I did pull this little gem from it: a song by Betrand Burgalat. Burgalat was born in Corsica in 1963, and his music suits the time and place: a swinging, French beachtown vibe wrought with wry lyrics. His name belongs chez les yéyés made famous by France Gall and Serge Gainsbourg. The track featured in the aforementioned film comes from his 2005 release, Portrait-Robot off of Burgalat's own label, Tricatel. Hold on to this one for your summer BBQs and warm, late night 7-11 runs.

Bertrand Burgalat - Sans Titre

Finally for today, a band I never thought I would have written about, Mystery Jets. I'm still not completely persuaded that this song belongs on here; I'm only tempted to do so considering the 2008 trend of, as Albie called it, "the cheese," ie The Presets. With the choruses' synthbells and the saxophone solo, "Two Doors Down," (only one door away from one of the worst bands ever) seems like it could have held down one of the top slots on the radio charts circa '83. However, just as when I listen to The Presets, I often come close to turning it off because it's so cheesy, though admittedly infectious. But, don't take my word for it.

Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down

Check back here for a post on Eurovision: A Short History and What To Know for 2008, plus Fred Falke remixing Lykke Li as soon as that drops!