In Motion: A Broken Bow

Evryone - Flamingos (dir. Entrepreneurs)

So then 2011, let's be having you. My first proper post of the year and it's a veritable IT love-in.

After introducing the wonderfully eccentric Evryone to the blog world back in August of last year, it seems fair that we offer the exclusive drop of the video for their début single Flamingos.

Such news would bring a smile to my face even at the worst of times, but that smile quickly turned to a grin once I heard that the video is directed by the ever multi-faceted Entrepreneurs, of whom I'm expecting a big year ahead.

Done.

In Motion: Find Some Peace Of Mind

Get People - Odyssey (+ live visuals)

Get People have been... well, busy people... since we first exposed their persons about this place Back In The Day - TWICE - re-arranging some original arrangements on behalf of New Islands and The Good Natured, as well as re-tweaking their own OG slices with the able assistance of Paul Waller and embarking on shrouded-in-secrecy mini-tours.

Because I'm nice, and because when he's not hating on holidays or being emo even Carl has his moments, we're generously serving up a third Get People exclusive before Summer finally slits it's wrists and bleeds faded hopes of happiness all over Fall's reddening rug... wow, emo: so contagious.

Guns up then for the cheery mystery of Odyssey and it's bright brilliance; a breath of fresh air set to be exhaled/released on our bosom buddies Hit Club in October.

Hype: Covered In Roses

It's all about... Timing. Having happened across San Diegan synth-dreamers LES∆NDS but a few weeks ago, it was only a matter of minutes before we'd fallen totally for their sun-kissed blend of East Coast electronics and West Coast synth-pyschodelia, and a only day or two later that we agreed it was like, probably a good idea to have them appear here, all up in your face an' ears an' that.

A recent name-change has reinvigorated the Californians - currently amassing both an enviable list of live shows and Stateside label interest - and blessed us with beautifully blissed-out beach hymns such as Pretenders, the first taste of many good things to come from their forthcoming debut EP.

I can't quite believe I made it all the way through this post without saying something like, 'I hate sand in my eyes... But I love LES∆NDS in my ears!'

TIMING.

LES∆NDS - Pretenders (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Exclusive: Worship Ginuwine Idols

Dear People,

Last week we shared Get People's mind-bending, genre-blending debut Deity alongside some suitably acidic visuals; this week we're going one better, sacrificing our own selfishness and offering it up as an em pee free for your precious ears.

It's got that whole woozy vocal thing going on, which I like to think of as the heady scent of a lemon slice that sits aside the edge of a summer juice-filled glass... With the bongo beats supplying the juice and the synths bringing the fizz. Or something.

It's really hot.

The Get Peoples are DJ'ing at various nights about London Town over the next few weeks so run come join the celebration.

Sincerely,

E N Joi.

Get People - Deity (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Exclusive: This Ain't No Inspector Clouseau

Since first writing about her way-back-when, Spark has certainly sparkled (you thought I wouldn't! But I did!), embarking on a UK tour with that other certified bobby-dazzler, Ms. Marina, and picking up well deserved praise left, right and centre: 'centre' being our arch enemies from across the watah, Neon Gold, who dropped the Monsieur Adi remix to much acclaim a week or so ago.

Now she's back with us at IT, hand-in-hand with London's Pink Ganter, and accompanied by his rather wonderful re-working of the Puregroove-released debut single Shut Out The Moon - get at it below.

And having witnessed the live show for ourselves recently, I'd say you'd do well to mosey on down to The Macbeth this Thursday, 24th to see a girl at the top of her game. (Unlike France... ZING! Apologies Mr. Adi)

Spark - Shut Out The Moon (Pink Ganter Remix) (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Who's Who 2010: Morning Parade

This post has been a long time coming. Here it is, my final Who's Who for 2010.

Having first discovered my next tip in early Autumn of last year, I've followed their progress closely; listened as they perfected their sound, watched as they honed their live show, and waited until all the pieces of this particular puzzle had fallen into place as perfectly as those September leaves carpeted the cold ground, before finally introducing them.

The. Wait. Is. Over. And when the finished article is as special as Morning Parade, it was well worth it.

Hailing from deepest Essex, childhood friends Steve Sparrow, Chad Thomas, Phil Titus, Ben Giddings and Andy Hayes craft dramatic, heart-on-the-sleeve anthems. Fusing electronics with guitar parts and keys with self-assured emotion, Morning Parade are making unapologetically epic songs to soundtrack first kisses and last goodbyes. Somehow, I don't think the wait before they blow up will be nearly as long...

I'm very proud to be giving them their first exposure here on IT, and even more so to be offering their debut single - Marble Attic - in partnership with the official Morning Parade site as an exclusive download below.

Morning Parade - Marble Attic (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Exclusive: Broken Lovelorn On Your Rocks

Having previously sung the praises of London's {Psychologist} not three months ago, we certainly needed no further convincing of his sublime talents.

We didn't need it, but we got it.

I'm not going to attempt to talk his cover of Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren up - no hyperbole, no spin, no hard sell. I'll only say that, if you do nothing else this weekend, download this track, and let the music speak for itself...

{Psychologist} - Song To The Siren (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Exclusive: Just One More Dance

So we've posted the Entrepreneurs remix of Marina and the Velo remix of Ellie Goulding, it's now time to unshackle the final part of the trinity of earth shattering remixes that I've been cryptically rambling on about on Twitter for the past month or so.

So here we have it, The Aspirins For My Children has surpassed himself yet again in what I think is his best remix to date, an absolutely huge reworking of Gold In The Fire by Monarchy.

Spacious, climactic, deadly.

Monarchy - Gold In The Fire (The Aspirins For My Children Remix) (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

It's no suprise that all three of the original artists have had releases on Neon Gold, and the latter's debut single was unleashed with B-side Black The Colour Of My Heart on Monday. Cop it from Puregroove here or straight from the Neon Gold HQ if you're in the US.

Exclusive: The Smile That Wrote This Song

Image by alibubba

We haven't even finished up on our 2010 Who's Who feature and things are already beginning to take off for the chosen few that we've already covered.

Velo were first out of the blocks in a lightning-quick flash with their monstrous remix of Ellie Goulding hitting the Hype Machine #1 spot (congratulations guys!).

Now Talking Pictures are back in a similar fashion, except they are on the other side of the remixing coin with The Aspirins For My Children taking over the reigns on Back In Time, adding some of his ADHD-addled charm and trademark synths to proceedings, cultivating a far more upbeat sliced and diced piece of electro-pop.

Not only that, but they're also part of a huge line-up at Camden Barlfy on 19th February that includes live performances from The Shoes, Talking Pictures and the much loved and newly signed Monarchy, with TAFMC springing up yet again on DJ duties.

I wonder if he'll play his mind blowing remix of Gold In The Fire...

Talking Pictures - Back In Time (The Aspirins For My Children Remix) (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Exclusive: Throw Out Your Heart

Okay, six bands into our Who's Who rundown, and it's time for an interval, of sorts.

And Oh. My. God. What an interval...

Following on from my recent words, Velo have made a swift return to these parts with their aforementioned Starry Eyed remix for the much-loved Ellie Goulding. Sie and Pete don't waste an ounce of the original in creating this grinding disco edit, effortlessly keeping intact everything that made the original so good while stamping their own mark all over it, creating something as home on the radio as it is on the more discerning dancefloor.

The sweet nature of the original is warped with distorted chants and a mammoth drum breakdown that calls to mind the Thrust Lab remix of Problem Is by HEALTH - quite how they incorporate such influences but remain defiantly pop is a true testament to their remix genius. Inject the unabashed funk of Pete's own original bass parts and the oft talked about 'Next Level' isn't so much reached and breached, as smashed.

Exclusive drop for you below. Spread the Velo.

Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (Velo's Wild Eyed Edit) (limited download)

Exclusive: Give You The Crown For A Fool

It's pretty obvious to the regular reader that one of my favourite Hype's of the year has to be Wolf Gang. Since coming across them in February and catching one of their earliest shows at The Great Escape, I've seen them develop over the latter half of the year to become one of my tips for mainstream stardom in 2010.

You've watched the video for their second limited single through Hit Club and now it's time to unleash the grandiose classical-meets-dubstep hybrid mastery of Kid Adrift, with a remix that simply destroys every other The King And All Of His Men remix I've heard previously.

Wolf Gang - The King And All Of His Men (Kid Adrift Remix) (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Exclusive: Briefcase Bomb

I recently caught up with Guy Connelly, the creative genius behind one of my favourite discoveries of 2009; Clock Opera.

You seem to have captured everyone's attention in the past couple of months since you first hit the internet, does it feel like everything is falling in to place nicely?
Yeah, since that fateful day, it's been mental. So busy that I've given up ambitions of joining the circus. The trapeze will have to wait and it's all your fault. A lot of people have come knocking, so that's been really nice. Still early days though, eh.

Your recording process and composition are a little on the unorthodox side, what inspired "Chop-Pop"?
I've always loved sampling and rearranging stuff. Dropping everything on the floor and having to put it together again.

Always loved Brion Gysin & William Burroughs chopping their words up & wanted to try it with music. I love looking for different ways of making things, I'm inspired by making mistakes & I like encouraging computers to make them too.

What's the thought process behind your brilliantly titled Clock Operations?
Rather than answering questions about who or what I'm into, I thought it would be fun to see what happened when my music came into contact with singers I love. Scott Walker's pretty much my favourite ever, so he was a natural first choice. Definitely gonna do more.

I'm constantly hearing good things about the live show, how's that coming together?
We're still not in double figures of shows yet, but it's getting better all the time. I don't lose my voice at every gig now. Got some amazing shows coming up too!

You're releasing your debut single soon right?
Yeah! White Noise 7" comes out on Pure Groove on Nov 16th. Alouette is the b-side, which we play at most gigs too.

So what's next for Clock Opera?
Huge amounts of excitement and drama are pretty much guaranteed. A couple of remixes, just done music for an amazing experimental short film which I'll chuck up sometime soon.

Lots of talks about the next single, probably February time. Ideas are tumbling out at the moment, so not sure what it's going to be yet, but I'll sure as hell let you know!

----------

If you're in or around London this week then you've no excuse not to see Clock Opera doing their thing.

Kicking off proceedings with an in-store at Pure Groove tomorrow night, they're also playing Levi's One to Watch supporting fellow IT favourites Marina & The Diamonds and Wolf Gang (if you're going to this, come say hi!) on Wednesday as well as Kill Em All on 20th Nov and Scandalism on 22nd.

For now, here's the exclusive download of White Noise.

Clock Opera - White Noise (YSI) EXCLUSIVE

Purchase the White Noise/Alouette 7' exclusively at Pure Groove here.

Exclusive: Never Holding Back

He's back.

I tipped him for big things back in January and The Aspirins For My Children has slowly been building the momentum to fulfill the hype.

After a great start to the year with remixes for Marina & The Diamonds, Frankmusik and Lost Valentinos, love from every corner of the blogsphere and working with some of the UK's freshest talent, he's back in the game and bringing the Grace Jones classic My Jamaican Guy in to the 21st century.

His rework of the 1983 single, taken from her third album Living My Life, features Manchester rapper Envy spitting a verse about her take on what's required from the modern UK man.

Ridiculously huge.

Grace Jones - My Jamaican Guy (The Aspirins For My Children Redux 2009 feat. Envy) (YSI) (EXCLUSIVE)

Exclusive: Said Your Voice Is Made Up Of E's, F's and G's

Hailing from North East London, singer, multi-instrumentalist and multi-talented Elan Tamara is about to self-release her debut EP.

Gold Fishes EP is produced by the always excellent Kwes and sees Elan play piano, saxophone, flute, xylophone, Balinese gamelan, bass, guitar, percussion and drums at various points throughout. I don't think I need to say much more do I? It's brilliant.

If you'd like to invest in one of the amazing handmade (and hand-drawn by Elan herself) EP's then pre-order at Rough Trade here and if you want to find out more about her then check out an interview she did for the elusive Interplanetarians.

Elan Tamara - Oranges (Limited Download)

Exclusive: With My Advice; This Could Be The Finest Night

I first came across Hereford five piece apples and their fantastic track Reason 45 courtesy of Jamila of Fucking Dance, and I'll be honest; they weren't my usual cup of Yorkshire Tea.

However, there's something about their brand of sunny-side-up guitar pop that seems to capture my sentimental side and forces me to submit to seeing the world through rose tinted glasses and embrace my inner wellness... or something.

I'll be checking them out at The Great Escape and Dot to Dot in the coming weeks and I've no doubt that they are headed for BIG things. Right on cue, here's an exclusive download of an as-yet-unheard track which will be doing the rounds soon.

**EXCLUSIVE**
apples - Swiss Beauty (Home Demo) (YSI)

Exclusive: Anti-Banger Association

Out this week on Ninja Tune is Tunnel, the debut EP from Shuttle aka Nate Donmoyer from Passion Pit.

To mark the occasion, Shuttle unleashed his track Rotten Guts (featuring the vocal talents of Cadence Weapon) on the blogsphere about a month ago.

Through the magical properties of my inbox and right on cue, Gold Panda is on the money again, adding his own flavour to the mix.

**EXCLUSIVE**
Shuttle - Rotten Guts feat. Cadence Weapon (Gold Panda Remix) (YSI)

Exclusive: Panda Watch

I know what you're thinking and NO - I'm not turning into Ohh Crapp.

Although posting two remixes of the same song within a week is some unprecedented territory on Illegal Tender, as soon as I got in from work and opened my inbox to find this; I knew what had to be done.

I'd been looking forward to hearing it ever since he told me it was in the pipeline, and in true Gold Panda style - it's brilliant.

Huw Stephens is all over him at the moment, so the well deserved hype has officially started.

**EXCLUSIVE**
Marina And The Diamonds - Obsessions (Gold Panda Remix) (YSI)

Hype: Worship False Idols

So before I make some ridiculous link to the sneezing panda, or some sort of pathetic panda-related joke, I'll get to the point.

Before I went to serve coffee in some downtrodden, back-water town this morning, I had a chance to chat with Shoreditch based producer Gold Panda. It went a little bit like this...

What's the thought process behind Gold Panda?
Um. I don't know if I really think about it too much, when I do it never works out. It's just sort of happening at the moment. I guess I get really depressed and frustrated and then make a song... and I hate it.

Maybe I'll listen again a year later and think 'oops, that was actually good'. Only Quitters Raga was made recently...and I hate it. Is that the musical process? Who knows. I am a disaster continually happening!


What's the musical process behind Gold Panda?
Basically I'll listen to loads of gangster rap and get really excited. Then I'll make some crappy twinkly sounding track instead. All my tracks are samples from old records so I basically sift through stuff into a sampler and mess with it till I make my own song. Sometimes I'll pluck some instruments and sample them, pitch them up and down.

I can't actually play any properly though. I try to avoid all preset sounds and definitely no sample CD's!! If I think of a drum sound I want then I will try and make it with paper or bubble wrap or some other junk if I can't find it on an old record. I like it to rain when I make songs.

When did you first start making music? Has your style changed much since then?
I just grew up on hip-hop and made stuff with samplers when I was younger. That is how I started. I think I've made most types of music since then, mainly for a laugh. I guess all my influences have come together for Gold Panda so my style hasn't really changed, just matured, maybe. I always have ideas about other projects and styles though. Too many.


Who were your musical heroes growing up, and have they influenced your sound?
I went through my dad's records, they were all crackly 7" rock n roll and doo-wop tracks etc so I guess maybe that's where the Gold Panda sound comes from.

I loved Michael Jackson and used to dress up as him and dance to it, but hey, who didn't? Mobb Deep, Snoop, Onyx and Gravediggaz. My mate Phil but he's dead!

Whilst there's definitely an underpinning style in your work, all of the tracks are quite different in terms of sound, where or whom do you take inspiration from?
The tracks are all made in the same way so they get a certain style. I want every track to be different but so you know it's a Gold Panda track. (Does that make sense?) Sometimes I'll hear one sound on a record, sample it, loop it for hours, drink some tea and be inspired by that.

You've done remixes for Tin Can Telephone and Stricken City (both of which are excellent!), are there any more in the pipeline?
Thank you very much! Yes there are more on the way (shhhh). Anyone want a remix, let me know. It'll sound like a Gold Panda track though.

What does the future hold?
Hopefully a live set and some releases. A tape. 7". Do an album. More remixing and more tea. Write a book. Grow a cat up. Buy a plant. That kind of thing.

Gold Panda - Quitters Raga (YSI)
Gold Panda - Back Home (YSI)

**EXCLUSIVE**
Gold Panda - I Suppose I Should Say Thanks Or Some Shit (YSI)

Somehow, I don't think this will be the last you'll hear from Gold Panda on this blog.

Hype: Don't Put Me On Hold Bitch!

I was put on hold for twenty-five minutes yesterday by Vodafone - not such a hot line... but nevermind about that, I'll get to the point.

Hotline are Nottingham-born duo Ronika and Laurence, carving their own slice of acid tinged disco pop.

Taking influence from 80's pop artists such as early Madonna and Kylie as well as early Detroit techno artists such as Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, the duo have added their own flavour to the mix and created a contemporary take on the music that inspired them to start creating their own.

Despite having worked together for only three months, there has already been label interest and I've been informed that live and DJ dates are on their way!

**EXCLUSIVE**
Hotline - Bricolage (Instrumental) (Zshare)

And here's a sweet little remix for your ears...

Hercules and Love Affair - Blind (Hotline Remix) (Zshare)

Exclusive: The Walls Have Ears

More evidence that labour bares fruit, or more importantly months of hassling busy people who actually have lives outside of the internet for mp3s pays off, here's something I've been wanting to share for a good while now... here's 6:42 of musical bliss.

Cage & Aviary are East London duo Jamie Paton and Nigel of Bermondsey who produce some absolute epic house music with Balearic, Cosmic Disco and Kraut influences.

You're going to be hearing a lot more of Cage & Aviary in the coming months with a 10" release of Friday 14th pts I&II through Parisian label Astro Labs in September, a yet to be decided 12" on Tiny Sticks and topped off with a January release of Television Train on 12" through the mighty DFA Records.

It doesn't even stop there, Jamie and Nigel will be releasing limited 12" of their remixes which will feature a Cage & Aviary vocal remix on the A-side and a dub on the B-side, all through their own imprint The Walls Have Ears.

First up will be Country Girls by Bow Mods in October, with more on the way from Toy Toy, Truck, F**, Artanker and SidWho?, most of which can be found on their Remix Myspace.

***BLOG EXCLUSIVE***
Cage & Aviary - Hot Cancel (Zshare)
Cage & Aviary Myspace
Cage & Aviary Remix Myspace