14. Gypsy & The Cat - Time to Wander (Joan of  Arc Remix)
15. Feldberg – Dreamin’
16. Your Nature - Forward Motion
17. The Good Natured - Your Body is a Machine(Zebra+Snake Remix)
18. Monarchy - The Phoenix Alive (The Octans Edit)

Kitsune 9 will be released on the 23rd April, 2010

Tourist History

February 26, 2010 Posted by Eva at 10:31 am

In this day and age, a record that defies you to spot what music its makers have been listening to is a rare beast – especially one that makes you dance and sing as well. The fact they’re still so young – and, by definition, inexperienced – makes it even more extraordinary. Northern Ireland’s Two Door Cinema Club are a music-mad trio and their debut album – fizzes with invention and sparkling tunes. It’s undeniably pop, and it draws on electronica/electro, rock and Afro-beats without ever recalling hopeful dilettantes, but the sum is greater than any ‘indie electro pop’ parts. The album also re-defines short, sharp and sweet – 10 songs, 32 minutes and no wastage whatsoever – as classic debut albums should be.

Their story begins with three 15-year olds at school in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Vocalist/ guitarist Alex Trimble and bassist Kevin Baird studied music together; guitarist Sam Halliday was a mate of Alex’s. Their name was a happy accident. A few days after they’d all visited The Tudor Cinema, which specialised in ‘50s/‘60s B movies, Sam suggested Two Door Cinema Club, which the others thought was really cool. “We asked him how he came up with the name,” Kev recalls, “and it turned out he thought ‘Tudor’ was pronounced two-door’!”

By this point, the boys’ tastes had gravitated toward alt.pop, such as Death Cab For Cutie, Architecture In Helsinki, Bloc Party and Modest Mouse, whose collectively leaner, rhythmic and melodic approach spilled over into their own music. Gigs were quickly secured on the back of two songs (neither of which they play anymore) posted to myspace, followed by a deal with Kitsuné, the release of their debut single Something Good Can Work in March ’09, and immediate support from radio (especially Radio 1’s Steve Lamacq).

The album simply multiplies the single’s surfeit of ideas and sounds. Take the opening Cigarettes In The Theatre, which instantly nails the band’s light-footed, but hard-driving, energy. It begins with an ambient rumble, then adds a niggling guitar (or it could be a synth) line, which develops a siren-like insistence over a nervy beat pattern before a telling  pause and a newer, deliciously – almost deliriously – danceable song kicks in. The icing is Alex’s vocal melody, with its almost dreamy brand of urgency, and his bare-boned narrative of meeting his last girlfriend (“We’ll pass the burning light / we’ll just keep talking on / tell me your favourite things”). And then there’s the exhilarating trumpet coda. Brilliant.

The album, Alex explains, has two general themes – ‘love’ songs (“but not in a typical sense; I’m adamant about avoiding clichés”) and songs that chart, “our progression over this past 18 months. Where we’ve come from to where we are now with this album.” The trio were faced with choosing between the security of university/potential career and the uncertainty and thrill of the band; we all know which won out, but Something Good Will Work is a self-explanatory lyric by Alex to the other two, likewise Do You Want It All?, “a song of hope, to keep us going, with the thought that if we try hard enough, then we’re gonna do well.”

Do You Want It All also shows the subtler side of TDCC despite the high bpm and the escalating switch into an exhilarating sprint, led by Sam’s dizzy, brilliantly simple guitar. “He’s a massively versatile guitar player,” Alex says of TDCC’s more interview-shy member. “He has a great ear for what sounds good, and incorporates a lot of different styles, which provides a nice variation throughout songs.”

From the Afro-pop lilt of Something Good Can Work (imagine Vampire Weekend with an acute pop sensibility) to the smooth/jittery combo of Eat That Up It’s Good For You [about the rise of women emulating men’s worst boozing-and-cruising habits: “that’s me venting my anger, in a happy pop song,” Alex grins), there are TDCC favourites all over the shop.

If they can make such a mature album this early on, think of what they can do next time and the next album after that.

Tourist History is out now on etcetc.

Tracklist:

1. Cigarettes in the Theater
2. Come Back Home
3. Do You Want it All
4. This is the Life
5. Something Good Can
Work
6. I Can Talk
7. Undercover Martyn
8. What You Know
9. Eat that Up, it’s Good for
You
10. You’re Not Stubborn

Coming Soon: Kitsuné Maison Compilation 8

October 15, 2009 Posted by Eva at 6:50 pm

You’ve barely finished listening to Maison 7, and Maison 8 is already here!

As you’d expect from the Parisian label famous for it’s talent spotting, Maison 8 is a crystal ball filled with hauntingly accurate hit-predictions.  With Midnight Juggernauts, Delphic, Beni, Two Door Cinema Club, Heartsrevolution, Memory Tapes, and The Drum, it’s no suprise that this volume has been dubbed “the chic and nice issue”.

Out November 13.

Kitsuné Maison Compilation 7

May 28, 2009 Posted by Eva at 1:24 pm

The seventh Kitsuné Maison Compilation is here: the lucky one!

A constantly expanding network of new discoveries, about to blow-up talents, hopes, loves, happiness and hedonism, the Maison is not so much an exclusive world, but a welcoming space open to all winds.

Kitsune Maison Compilation 7 brings together new tracks and exclusive remixes including La Roux’s In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix), Phoenix’s Lisztomania (Classixx Version),  Two Door Cinema Club‘s Something Good Can Work, The Golden Filter’s Favourite Things, autoKratz’ Always More (Yuksek Remix), and Men’s Make It Reverse. Plus local Australian talent in the form of Beni’s Fringe Element.

As the Kitsuné sieve keeps on searching for gold and finding it, we hope that these discoveries put you in as good a mood as they did us. Here’s the seventh Kitsune Maison: the lucky one!

Kitsuné Maison Compilation 7 is out now on etcetc. To buy it, click here.

Track Listing
1. Two Door Cinema Club – Something Good Can Work
2. We Have Band - Time After Time (feat. Yulia)
3. Phoenix - Lisztomania (Classixx Version)
4. Crystal Fighters – Xtatic Truth
5. The Golden Filter - Favourite Things
6. La Roux - In For The Kill (Lifelike Remix)
7. Beni - Fringe Element (Short Like Me Edit)
8. autoKratz – Always More (Yuksek Remix)
9. 80kidz – Miss Mars
10. James Yuill – This Sweet Love (Prins Thomas Sneaky Edit)
11. MEN - Make It Reverse
12. Chew Lips – Solo
13. Chateau Marmont – Beagle
14. Heartsrevolution – 薔薇と彼女の王子
15. Delphic - Counterpoint (Delphic’s En Route Mix)
16. — Encore—
17. Maybb – Touring in NY (Short Tour Edit)
18. Renaissance Man – Rythym
19. Tanlines - Bejan