Guilty pleasure #178 [Cicada]

Electronicpoptastic

I don't know how this got to the bargain bin, but it's a crime it did. July 4 weekend I was out In San Francisco with Dan, and as is customary with a trip out to California, I went to Amoeba Records. When skimming through the electronic music section, I came across a little gem of a group called Cicada, which produces some poptastic electronic similar to contemporaries Mylo and Spektrum.

Now, when I first moved to NYC I constantly hit up this great dance music store called Satellite Records, which tragically shut down this passed Winter (vinyl is even less profitable than CDs these days). While shopping there, I came across this record by Cicada called "Cut Right Through", which though was pretty standard fare, had a phenomenal remix that I would constantly spin on my tables at home.

Flash forward to this past Sunday. Cicada's debut album, which includes "Cut Right Through", is sitting in the electronic music section at Amoeba for a mere $5 (markdown from $18, and this is an import, for crying out loud!). I had to buy it, and so I did. While there are some duds, there are fair amount of absolute electronic pop screamers, including "Electric Blue", and a track with moderate fame, "The Things You Say", which are posted below for your listening pleasure.

Cicada - The Things You Say [Cicada LP, 2006]

Cicada - Electric Blue [Cicada LP, 2006]

Puppets get down

Puppetmastaz, yes really

Justin already introduced us to the latest Modeselektor album, but I feel that it is right and proper to drop another track off of Happy Birthday!. You'll note that there are actually two tracks here; "Dark Side of the Frog" is the intro to "Dark Side of the Sun," the banger in question. True soldiers will download both tracks and listen to them sequentially, so as to experience the full effect of how slamming this track is. Please comment if you've ever heard the words "bitch motherfucker" combined in a more righteous way.

Modeselektor - The Dark Side of the Frog [Happy Birthday! LP, 2007]

Modeselektor - The Dark Side of the Sun (feat. Puppetmastaz) [Happy Birthday! LP, 2007]

In the spirit of boastful rap, here's Count Bass D explaining why no one can touch him behind the boards. The knives are drawn very long. Count keeps an awesome website which you should visit if you like this song.

Count Bass D - Sifting Through Records [Ohio Players EP, 2004]

Euro-Cruuuuuunnnk!!! [Modeselektor]

Modeselektor have been churning out some of the more exciting techno and electronic music these days. Their debut album, “Hello Mom!,” was a collage of sound, piecing together differing styles of electronic music to create a well-varied but ultimately disjointed piece of music. Filled with IDM, glitch-hop and emotive techno, “Hello Mom!” was very enjoyable but never felt like a true album. Enter Modeselektor’s second work, “Happy Birthday!"

While the Phorks will disagree, “Happy Birthday!” is a cohesive body of work, sounding more interconnected than Modeselektor’s first album. The multiple electronic influences are still there, but they have ultimately been filtered through the group’s now more nurtured, unique “Euro-crunk” sound. Fusing the best elements of dirty techno with the grittiness of hip-hop, Modeselektor and their signature sound are defining themselves in an oversaturated European techno market. Much of this development has been nurtured on Modeselektor’s label, BPitch Control, which is well known in electronic circles as pumping out some of the grittiest, dirtiest and crunchiest electronic music in all the land, with standout artists such as Ellen Allien, Smash TV and the MFA. You can get further enlightened on Bpitch at my blog here (shameless plug!).

I have posted a couple of tracks from “Happy Birthday!” that define Modeselektor’s signature sound, “2000007” and “Let Your Love Grow Moderate.” “200007” is the successor to the excellent “Dancing Box” (also posted) from “Hello Mom!,” employing cut-up vocal work from rapper TTC. “Let Your Love Grow Moderate,” on the other hand, can be best classified as a “sensitive banger,” coupling a propulsive rhythm with emotive synths and Paul St. Hilaire’s tongue-twisting vocal work.

One final note: Thom Yorke is on the album. Cheers!

Dancing Box feat. TTC [Hello Mom! LP, 2005]

200007 feat. TTC [Happy Birthday! LP, 2007]
Let Your Love Grow Moderate feat. Paul St.Hilaire [Happy Birthday! LP, 2007]

Don't care how you pay your bills (Boom Bip)

With “Coogi Sweater,” Boom Bip puts one over on a great many maximalist producers of today. Check the spoken-sung guest vocals – take that, Justice and Simian Mobile Disco! And has anyone else in the game so blatantly referenced Lil Jon? His upcoming album isn’t going to sound like this, but on this evidence it’s clear that he could pursue a healthy side career producing dancefloor hits. This track is that good.

Boom Bip - Coogi Sweater [Sacchrilege EP]