Jump for joy because it’s the end of week and you’ve earned the right cut loose. This week see’s a me indulging a bit on my love of emotional shoegazing psychedelic tribal synth pop house music. yes, as you may have gathered, that isn’t really genre… Anyway, this week’s faves and download links are after the jump.

Gypsy & The Cat – Jona Vark

“Her name is Jona. Jona Vark…”

Ah, some more indie synth pop goodness! After listening to this track I can definitely feel a bit of Empire Of The Sun (the guitar riff = a little bit of ‘We Are The People’), M83, anything from a John Hughes movie, but a lot more Fleetwood Mac. Yes, I like Fleetwood Mac. Not just like, probably love. There I said it… There are definitely elements of ‘Little Lies’ and ‘Dreams’ in this track, especially in the chorus.

While most of the major blogs, Mark Ronson on his East Village radio show and even the late DJ AM were all over the local duo from the middle of last year, they’ve only now started to get a little more radio airplay and more importantly, gotten themselves ingrained into me! Head over to their MySpace and give the rest of their stuff a listen. Hanging out big time for this LP release…

Caribou – Odessa

Now this is an interesting bit of music, quirky and haunting at the same time. It’s fairly heavily layered, so you’re ears will have fun deciphering all the sounds here.  I swear when I first heard the vocals in this track I thought that perhaps Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience and the Whitest Boy Alive fame had contributed. So if you like that kind of minimal-esque type of chill-house you’ll probably like this latest offering from Caribou.

Breakbot – Baby I’m Yours (Featuring IRFANE)

Unadulterated disco pop funk fun! When you hear this track you can’t help but bounce and boogey. If you’re a fan of the works of Shazam, Cassian, The Twelves etc., I think you’ll did this track.

The Jezabels – Hurt Me

“C’mon evil hurt me, hurt me, hurt me…”

Wow. What a track. Powerful and achingly beautiful at the same time. The track sucks you in with Hayley’s haunting vocals/lyrics, complemented by the frenetic drumming and strumming from band members Sam and Nik respectively, intertwined with Heather’s graceful piano work. Don’t forget to add a bit of reverb and swooping strings for effect during the bridge and chorus.

Throw all of this together and you get a rolling wall of big sound that builds and builds till it smacks you right in the face and just like that, disappears as quickly as it arrives. I’m not surprised to see that the Arcade Fire are listed as an influence to the Jezabels on their MySpace page.

Might as well add the music video here since it was just released last month:

Unfortunately there appears to be no Victorian shows lined up in the near future but if you are in Queensland or NSW you can catch them this month at the Playground Weekend festival February 21st or at the Enmore Theatre on the 24th supporting Placebo.

Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

A nice pysch-alt-electro-pop ditty here from NY group Yeasayer. Like any good song (or at least the ones that I like anyway…), it’s instantly catchy and just downright fun. The little synth solo breakdown at the end is just freakin’ awesome!

Douster – King Of Africa

Yes, this track has been floating around the interwebz for a while now, and yes, Douster is no n00b to the scene. These “weekly” posts however are purely an avenue for me to write about the songs that I like at a moment in time and why they got me hooked that first time.

So pretentious rant aside (hehe!), this track features some great sampling from the Lion King’s opening, the powerful ‘Circle of Life’. What you’re left in store for is five minutes of catchy, fun afro-funk-house. I could see this being a nifty opener to a set or bridge/tone shift for all you wheels of steel traders… Speaking of which, Douster is playing at the Espy on February 20th for us local kids wanting to catch him in the act.

So that’s it! Another week done and only one more away till Classixx are in town… Did I mention that I CAN’T FUCKIN’ WAIT TO SEE CLASSIXX?!?!

Have a good weekend folks and we’ll see ya next week where I guess I could try and make it a lovers themed tunage… Or a happy new year to all the chinky readers out there haha! Peace out!

Welcome one and all to another week of music from your truly. It’s looking like this week’s post is gonna skew towards the electronic side of my musical tastings. I promise that’s it’s all gonna be accessible! Alternatively, I could mention my obsession over Radiohead’s back catalogue but you’ve all heard of them before anyway…

Ryskee – Leave Me Amor (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)

Ryskee have got your shoegazing needs covered

First cab off the ranks is Ryskee, a duo comprising of Frenchman Paul de Homem-Christo (aka Play Paul aka Guy-Man bro’s from Daft Punk) and Danish vocalist Leslie Ming.

I’m so confused by this track. The Beetroots are supposed to suck me in, chew and spit me out in a grind of chunky bass and ripping synths. They produce the stuff that gets you hot and sweaty on the d-floor. This track… Ummm… This track is nothing like that.  I’d expected to hear this on the soundtrack to a John Hughes 80s teen flick or heck even off an M83. It’s dreamy. It’s cheesy. It’s wispy. It’s shoegaze. It’s FUCKING FANTASTIC.

MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker (Featuring John Legend)

MSTRKRFT - Look good in leather and hockey masks

I have to admit that the Fist Of God was a little bit of a letdown for me, it was kinda scattered all over the place. I do really dig the tracks “1000 Cigarettes”, “VuVuVu” and of course this one though so it’s not all doom and gloom. “Heartbreaker” stands out more me because it blends the catchy, uptempo feel that the music offers and gels together the lamenting croon of John Legend. What you get is an interesting mix of a track where you kinda want to jump around but figure it might be too painful to do so…. Awww!

Anyway, here’s the video to the track featuring hipsters/cool kids, a love story, disapproving father and a convenience store. Wooo!

Jamie T – Sticks ‘N’ Stones

"Aye! Check out my new mixing board!"

Yeah this track has been out a while but with “Chaka Demus” getting a bit of a flog on the radio of late I thought it’d be good to visit old faithful… Anyway, I just really dig the cocky vibe and bravado the track extrudes… It’s just damn cool. Video below for those interested and yes, the same vibe aurally is transferred visually:

“Sticks ‘N’ Stones” will appear on Jamie’s forthcoming album Kings and Queens which is due out in early September.

So that’s it, a very small post this week. As always, if you dig the artist/music the go buy it whether physical/digital and go see them live. Your conscience and the artists will love you more for it!