Single Review: Ain't Nobody - Youngblood Brass Band

Youngblood Brass Band are a ten-piece acoustic jazz punk funk band who are set to launch their fourth album, Pax Volumi, in September. Originally formed in the 1990s by school friends in Wisconsin the band now encompasses members from all over the US, including Madison, New Orleans, New York, Nashville, Minneapolis and Chicago.

The second single lifted from the forthcoming album, Ain't Nobody opens with the title track of the EP, an instrumental cover of the Chaka Khan original which is launched into with much aplomb and no small amount of passion. The band lay down the track with intensity but in a relatively traditional approach compared to the rest of this release. There's a huge amount of energy though and the track really demonstrates the group's musical ability.

The second track on side-a, 'Ê la ê', is more influenced by hip-hop, a summer-celebrating Latin-jazz party track. It's another instrumental that displays the band's strong percussive skills and also lays in some electronic components that give the track a fresh, modern feel despite the fairly timeless nature of its main hook.

The final track, 'The Plank Will Nod And You Will Go' is featured in both instrumental and original flavours. It is here that the Youngblood Brass Band show off their real contemporary edge, with Henzie-Skogen delivering some ferocious vocals that sound a little like Rage Against The Machine's Zack de la Rocha. His delivery alternates between somewhat subdued in the verses to an upbeat and aggressive scatter-gun delivery in the choruses that forces the music to break into a run just to keep up. Overall it's an interesting and varied release and a promising taster of that forthcoming album.

Ain't Nobody is released on Tru Thoughts on 12 August, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link].

Don't You - Danglo

Fresh summer electronic jive for your overly clammy self as we head into August with little sign of any of this glorious weather abating. On hearing this new single from Danglo label WotNot claimed they simply had to have it.

The press release likens 'Don't You' to Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaur's 'Garden' but with an audible London-influence and they aren't far wrong. The playful yet urgent vocals of Ivan Franco and Tokyo Lopez play up against each other with a certain intimacy. Danglo's chilled but sunny music combines hollow low-end bass and some skippy beats to give the track a future soul sound.

Along with an instrumental the single comes with a dubby mix from DA-10. On this the track has a elastic, cosmic feel with near-horizontal bass work and layers of stuttering vocals. It is almost like a continuation from the original version in the way it extends the distance and confuses the communication between the vocalists.

Don't You is released through WotNot on 5 August, available to pre-order on MP3 [affiliate link].  Stream the original via Soundcloud below:

Artist page : http://soundcloud.com/danglo Press Release: The second we heard this track, we had to put it out. WotNot Music bring you a tasty slice of summer pop, with a hazy synth-pop remix from DA-10 for those balmy August evenings.

Single Review: Witches - Rouge Mécanique

The Witches single is the first proper release from Pyramids of Mars. Coming from Rouge Mécanique, writer and producer Romain Azzaro, the EP precedes a full-length album due later this year through the Pyramids of Mars label.

In Rouge Mécanique Azzaro brings his love of guitars, trippy psychedelic house, post-punk and disco. A-side 'Witches' is a discordant, heavy and chugging slab of textured eletronica. Distorted guitars howl as a looping bass line thrums and a chaotic flurry of voices fight for attention.

On side b is 'Stingray', a track originally composed a fashion show from Aurelia Paumelle. It's a slow moving and poisonous sounding track full of darkly strummed guitars and looped and shuffling drum beats. Little ambient details embellish the track with atmosphere - live rhythms click away in the background, UFO sounds laser there way across your mind, a tambourine fizzes in the background.

The fact this is published by Rekids is reflected in the sound of this release and you could easily see it as at home their. Rouge Mécanique stick appears to be cleverly constructed and atmospheric post-punk disco, and I'll gladly take it.

Witches is released through Pyramids of Mars on Monday. Along with a standard single release there will be 50 copies released with a special leather sleeve designed by Aurelia Paumelle that will be exclusively stocked at LN-CC in London. Preview both tracks below:

Listen to ROUGE MÉCANIQUE - WITCHES by rekids | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio.

Listen to ROUGE MÉCANIQUE - STINGRAY by rekids | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio.

Single Review: Dumb Disco Ideas - Holy Ghost!

Yet more disco pouring into our ear holes and down our brain tubes like hot funky wax rivers in a month of seemingly endless disco pleasures. 'Dumb Disco Ideas' is the latest release from disco-influenced DFA house dons Holy Ghost, who achieved greatness with their modern classic 'Hold On'.

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​Dumb Disco Ideas - Holy Ghost!

'Dumb Disco Ideas' actually sounds like a jovially mocking description of Daft Punk's latest album in a month when it seems to have been the only music people talked about but it's also a pretty descriptive title for this new track. This isn't the moody-yet-knowing house of Holy Ghost!'s breakthrough 'Hold On' but it feels like their most exciting track in some time. It is a chaotic and eccentric punk-funk record that manages to be catchy and yet cool, exactly the sort of thing DFA are known for.

Holy Ghost!'s debut album didn't quite deliver but it would be a shame if this gets overlooked as a result. 'Dumb Disco Ideas' makes me think that maybe they are just a decent singles band but this is one of those singles that is good enough you will want to keep coming back to it. Playing with vocal effects, cow bells and big synths the track's latter third slams into a drop that then re-builds as a crazy gospel soul acid house shakedown: a looped chant of the main hook, "Put it off and wait, and wait for another day... Put it off for another day", build like a mantra to how it feels to make a record. There's a bit of LCD in this record and it doesn't surprise me at all to note Nancy Whang's involvement.

The single has an instrumental on the flip and anyone that reads regularly will normally know that I'm an a-side kind of guy when it comes to dubs and instrumentals but this one is pretty special. There's just so much going on the space given to the instruments creates an equally strong track. I dare you to find an acapella that can ride it though...

Dumb Disco Ideas is out now through DFA, available on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].​ Check out the video below:

Directed by Ben Fries Produced by Deadhorse Films Title Design by Michael Vadino Shot May 2-3 at The End. Special thanks to Jesse Cain, Zach Poff and Brian Crowe Buy Single: http://store.dfarecords.com/collections/digital-downloads https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dumb-disco-ideas-single/id641336094 HOLY GHOST!

Single Review: Ziegler's House - Ben Rau

Ziegler's House is the latest release from London label Save You and it comes from Ben Rau, Berlin born Fuse resident who went against the flow, moving to London.

Ben Rau gives Ziegler's House a progressive sound that is balanced well with some smooth, adjusted vocals. There is a deep, techie bass line that bobs along throughout this track whilst lo-fi percussion and ambient synths give the track a raw feel. It's a cool, understated track and Rau is audibly keeping his cards to his chest, creating something minimal yet funky and well worth checking out.

The single is backed with a mix by Jordan Peak, who gives Zeigler's House a harder, minimal finish. Hard robotic keys and a bass line that hits like rubber bullets increase the pressure, with unforgiving drum loops adding to the track's darker tone.

​Ziegler's House is released on Monday through Save You. Preview it via the Soundcloud snippets below:

Listen to SYR023 Ben Rau - Ziegler's House feat. Jordan Peak rmx by Ben Rau | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio.