popgoestheradio: 2012

Monday, January 2, 2012

Save for Shit Robot and Japanese Popstars Ireland isn't too well known in terms of dance music. Electronica, sure, but when it comes to dancefloor music it's a sparse world, which is why I'm excited by this first offering by Ships. Two Hearts is a belter, and I hear they rocked the arse out of Block T on New Years Eve. Good stuff then, can we have some more?

I posted this song before, but in the interest of acknowledging a name change and an exciting future I'm reposting along with more stuff from the addictive listen that is Alt-J. I initially heard Breezeblocks when the band were called Films. Hard enough as that was to google, the band then changed their name, not to the words "alt j" but to the symbol created when one hits the "j" key once the "ctrl" key is pressed on a keyboard ...if it were for furthered obscurity it has far from worked, given that they've popped up all over the top 100 tracks of the year lists, including a number 7 in The Recommender. And why all the noise about em? Cos they knock together a thoroughly interesting sound that should garner them much interest in 2012. For the moment, here are their demos on Soundcloud.

After reading an article yesterday on the ongoing forward thinking of legendary Seattle label Sub Pop I had a listen to Spoek Mathambo. Since the release of his debut Mshini Wam in 2010 the Johannesburg electro-rapper has toured Europe, South America and the US, picking up accolades for his futuristic take on, as he calls is, "township tech". Put Some Red On It is the first single from his forthcoming second album Father Creeper.

Spoek Mathambo - "Not Yet Uhuru" by welikeitindie

(Film makers Pieter Hugo and Michael Cleary won the Young Director Award at Cannes last year for this video)

SPOEK MATHAMBO - CONTROL from spoek mathambo on Vimeo.

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