Hurricane

Grace Jones - Sunset SunriseHallelujah! Grace Jones' 2008 album Hurricane is finally being given a US release on September 6th by PIAS (America). Produced by Jones and Ivor Guest, it marked a pretty successful return to form. I bought the EU import version a couple of years ago and loved it. It might not be a classic like Nightclubbing but it covers a lot similar ground. There are plenty of tough reggae riddims, some sleek electronica and a hint of rock guitar. I do wish that there was more uptempo, clubby material on it, but I am ultimately satisfied with the record. Best part of this news? Not the new artwork, but the newly added second disc - a dub version of the record. This has me psyched - can't wait to hear it!

Dance By Accident

Halloween, Alaska - Dance By AccidentThe Minneapolis quartet is gearing up to release it's 4th album in August. Called All Night The Calls Came In, it sees the band moving further away from the electronic, ambient soundscapes they are known for and into more of a live band driven, ever so slightly rocking direction. Dance By Accident is a tightly grooving beast. Dave King's drums drive everything, then the band layers scratchy guitar and gentle keyboards over it all, and top it all off with the melancholic vocals of James Diers. Lovely. Can't wait to hear the rest of the record.
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Halloween, Alaska / Twitter / Facebook

Forever Young

Joakim - Forever Young (Discodeine Remix)
French producer and artist in his own right Joakim is putting out a new album in September called Nothing Gold. I'm a big fan. My first exposure to him was as the producer of Panico, and over the years I have grooved to his remixes for the likes of Goldfrapp, Late of the Pier, Cut Copy and Friendly Fires, as well as his stellar production of Poni Hoax. The first single from the new album, his 4th, is this delightful track, Forever Young, which has been remixed by Discodeine. Joakim describes the song as the "soundtrack to a late beach sunset on an Indian Summer's night, a setting where time is meaningless, yet quickly fades away." All know is that I like the synthy propulsiveness of it and the nice '80s melancholy feel.
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Joakim / Facebook / Tigersushi

Safari Disco Club

Yelle - Safari Disco Club

RIP Martin Rushent

One of the great music producers of the '80s died this week. Martin Rushent started out as working as an engineer on records by T-Rex, ELP, Yes and Fleetwood Mac. However it was a producer that he made his name. He helmed the first 3 Stranglers albums, as well as records by The Buzzcocks, 999, Generation X, XTC, The Rezillos, Téléphone and Rachel Sweet. He produced Altered Images, Intaferon, Leisure Process and The Associates too. It was his fascination with the newest synth technology that brought him his greatest successes, first with Pete Shelley's Homosapien album, and most notably with The Human League. Dare and it's companion remix album Love And Dancing were pop music at it's best, gleaming and modern. I thought he was a production genius. I used to buy records just because his name was on them. He made a bit of a producer's comeback in the 90's and was also involved in records with The Pipettes, Kila Kella and Does It Offend You, Yeah? (whose lead singer James is his son). He was a production genius and a legend of the mixing board. Rest in peace...

The Human League - Love Action

The Human League - The Sound of the Crowd [Extended 12" mix]

The Human League - Seconds

The Human League - Don't You Want Me

Let's Play Master & Servant

Depeche Mode - Master and Servant (RSS Remix)
Remixes 81 - 11
Out June 6th
Depeche Mode

General Practice

Faux Pas - General Practice
A nice bit of dreamy, blippy ambient with guitars added.
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Faux Pas / Soundcloud / Facebook

The Return of SirBilly

SirBilly is a long time fave here at SIART. He remixes almost exclusively '80s music, often by some relatively obscure acts. I have enjoyed pretty much everything he has ever sent to me. I was very happy to hear from him again, especially considering the song he has remixed is Heaven 17's Let Me Go. It is a stone cold classic tune - a tight groove and some deliciously rubbery wubba-wubba synths combined with a great pop song. I never get tired of this track - not bad considering it is 29 years old! You can listen to the original here. Now have a listen to SirBilly's edit...

Heaven 17 - Let Me Dub (SirBilly ReCutt)

As a little bonus coolness he has also put together this mix that is chock full of classic grooves.

DIVE AND LET LIVE
(download)
TRACKLIST
THE KLF - What Time Is Love? (Virtual Reality Mix)
COLDCUT - Autumn Leaves (Irresistible Force Remix)
LAURIE ANDERSON - Excellent Birds (12")
CHRIS AND COSEY - He's An Arabian
KILLING JOKE - Requiem (Spiral Tribe Remix)
SIMPLY RED - Picture Book In Dub (Adrian Sherwood Remix)
TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY - Sign Your Name (SirBilly Dubitalic)
NEW ORDER - Blue Monday (Jam & Spoon Andrea Mix)
CLARA MONDSHINE - Caesar In Cameroun
NICO - Das Lied Vom Einsamen Madchen (Live)
SINEAD 'O CONNOR & CHIEFTAINS - The Foggy Dew
EASY STAR ALL STARS - Time
DUB SPENCER & TRANCE HILL - Pop Muzik
THE POLICE - Walking On The Moon (JoolsMF Mix)
GENESIS - Mama (SirBilly Rework)
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Facebook / Soundcloud

Choco Pudding

Box Codax is the new project from Franz Ferdinand guitarist Nick McCarthy. He has enlisted the help of his wife Manuela Gernedel and friend, poet and singer Alex Ragnew. Their new album Hellabuster is out now on Gomma. It features some production by Metronomy, and it is really quite delicious. It kicks off with the very Franz-ish title track, morphs into some tasty disco, then into some lovely downtempo balladry. It touches on chanson, folk, garage rock and of course a smidge of post-punk. The variety of the music combined with the fact that all three members sing (and with quite distinctive voices) makes this record a lot of fun to listen to. Enjoy a bit of Choco Pudding, and as always, click the arrow on the Soundcloud player to download the song. You can also listen to the whole album here.

Box Codax - Choco Pudding

Violent Sensation Descends

NYC based combo Violens are my current obsession. Born from the ashes of Miami art collective Lansing Dreiden, they pick up from where that band left off. LD mixed art rock and prog with idyll pop, and slathered it in the gloss of the '80s. Violens retain all of those elements, but they punch it all up a bit more. Their debut album Amoral came out at the tail end of last year and it is chock full of psych pop gems. They start with a foundation of '60s jangle pop and '70s art rock and then couch it all in the sounds of '80s new wave with a dash of post punk. The record is crisply produced and the songs are super melodic, full of lovely vocal harmonies and anthemic choruses. One minute they are raging loudness - think Kevin Shields' guitar on a My Bloody Valentine record - and the next they hit you with blissful, quiet bits of dreaminess - think the perfect jangle of Johnny Marr. The music seduces you with it's sweetness, and then you realize that they're singing about nightmares, death and drug induced hallucinations. Gloom never sounded so good. They are good friends with MGMT - they've toured together and have remixed MGMT songs, so if you like MGMT there is a pretty good chance you'll like Violens. I am seriously amazed at how under the radar these guys are flying - I love this record and wish the whole world would get on board too.
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Violens - Spirit

Violens - Acid Reign

Violens - When To Let Go

Violens / Soundcloud / YouTube / Twitter / Facebook

SIART Decade

It recently occurred to me that I've been doing this blog for 10 years now. When I started in 2001 I was a relative newbie to the web. I used Yahoo's GeoCities as my first foray into audio blogging. The name of the page was The Rezidence. It was a lot of writing and a few mp3s. Over the first 4 years I really dug into posting, and enjoyed seeing my readership grow. By 2004 I was stymied by GeoCities' limitations and decided to switch over to Blogger, and at the same time decided to rebrand the blog. (A few years ago Yahoo shut down GeoCities, and I found out too late to save any of the archive, so the only evidence of The Rezidence is preserved as a few pages on the Wayback Machine.)

Silence Is A Rhythm Too was born, the name borrowed from a lyric by The Slits. I've been here ever since, with over a million visitors logged. Over the last decade my wife and I have had 2 kids. As the kids aged life got a little more hectic, time a little more precious. As a result I haven't always had time to post stuff. I might go a month without posting, but I have never given up. There has also been a shift in content over the years. Initially I posted what I wanted to. As the blog grew I began to get posts removed by Blogger due to copyright infringement, so I switched to posts that featured content sent to me by bands and labels. It has meant less of the personal posts and more of the corporate whoring. I would really like to get back to a bit more of my personality here, so I'm making that a goal this year with the blog. So, you might not get a free download anymore, but you will get some good opinion. Let's see if I can make it another 10 years!

When You're Out

Kauf - When You're OutRonald Kaufman is LA based one man band Kauf. Recording out of his bedroom studio, he has just released his second single When You're Out. It is a delicious slice of mid paced bump and grind disco, all smothered in tasty synths and sequencers. He is currently putting together and EP for Fall release, and then plans to tour with a band. Fans of Miike Snow, Neon Indian and Junior Boys will definitley find something to enjoy here...
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Kauf / Twitter / Soundcloud / Facebook