Marie (Paris) and Bruce Driscoll (New York) aka Freedom Fry came together with the pure intention of creating alluring and exquisite music. Using both French and English lyrics, the pair have hit the nail on the head when it comes to their sound which is already distinctive and inspired.

The above stream is taken from their recent debut 5-track EP, ‘Let The Games Begin’, which throughout incorporates their love of autoharps, ukeleles, dulcimers and harpischords and the this next song is a great example of that.

The next song is scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day (14th Feb) and the music video was released just recently. There’s a full length LP on it’s way at some point as well as some live dates due to be announced and given they’re listed as based in LA, you can expect the first run to in the States.

XXXY – Everything

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzxYUsnZV6M

The video for Paddling Out has just been released by Miike Snow.

It’s fun, weird and fantastic.

Wow, haven’t been this exciting for an album for a while and below is what’s shaping up to be the album artwork…

Mooryc – All Those Moments (Marek Hemmann Remix)

Swiss duo Zebra & Howard have dropped a succession of absolutely superb mixes in the past, but it’s been a little quiet on their front recently so we started speaking about kicking off the mixes in 2012 with an exclusive Mahogany mix, and oh boy did they deliver!

The pair have answered some questions as well so click play and read on…

1. The Dead Rose Music Company – Keep the Faith
2. Tiger Skin – Unreal Thing (Original Mix)
3. LeSale – Make me Feel so Good (Original Mix)
4. Adana Twins, Dr. Dru – Juicy Fruit (Original Mix)
5. Discodromo, Hard Ton – Build a House (Tensnake Remix)
6. Audiojack – Get Serious (Original Mix)
7. Maxxi Soundsystem, Royston – Open Your Eyes (Original Mix)
8. Terry Walker, Jozif – Twilight (Casino Times Remix)
9. Jonas Rathsman – Feeling You (Original Mix)
10. Lula Circus – Miami Vice (Original Mix)
11. Ruben & Ra – Street Machine
12. NY’s Finest, Victor Simonelli – Can You Feel Me (Club Mix)
13. Jazzler (Dixxie Yure) – She Has (El Txef A Remix)

1. Who is Zebra & Howard, where are you both based and when did it all begin?

Zebra & Howard are Cedric Marti and Jan Skalski. We are both from Switzerland and met in Geneva for the first time, about  3 years ago. We both studied there and got to know each other by attending the same classes.

We soon found out that we both like the same kind of electronic music and as Geneva offers a lot of venues with good DJs we partly got inspired by some of the acts we had seen there. We both had been experimenting with programmes like Ableton for some time before but we had never played in bars or clubs. One day a friend offered us to play in Zurich and we decided to give it a try. We had a lot of fun that night and that’s how it basically began.

2. Where do you both stand when it comes to analog vs. digital — are you the record store or Beatport generation?

We both like going to record stores and get inspired by digging and discovering new records and sounds. We do the same on the internet and usually get the tracks there.

When we listen to a mix or dj set we attribute more importance to how it is mixed than where the tracks are bought or what device is used. The whole thing must be coherent, which means that there must be some sort of logic continuation with one track following the other. But most important of all, you have to be able to enjoy what you are hearing.

3. Talk to us about the mix you created for us

The mix we did for you is  a compilation of some tracks we have been listening to lately. It has some disco, soul and  house influences.

Some of the tracks contained I’ve discovered during my recent stay in New York, like NY’s finest and Victor Simonellis 1993 track ‘Do You Feel Me’ or the mor recent Lula Circus’ ‘Miami Vice’. The Miami Vice EP came out this fall on Brooklyn based label Stranjjur which is led by some guys who initially limited themselves to organizing parties in New York and introducing amongst others artist such as MANIK (Hot Natured) and Pezzner (Freerange, Crosstown Rebels) to their hometown. As a consequence the EP now also features remixes by both MANIK and Pezzner to which it is also worth listening to.

Other tracks are from emerging European producers, such as British youngster Maxxi Soundsystem, whose moves we have been observing since his debut ‘Criticize’, or Göteborg based Jonas Rathsman, who started out together with DJ Nibc as the duo ‘Stuffa’.

Finally, and since we both started out by playing disco and nu disco records, we’ve got some these in it too, like e.g. Tensnake’s remix of  ’Build a House’.

I don’t think there has been an electronic release I’ve been more excited to finally get my hands on than the debut LP from Spanish producer John Talabot. All of his EPs and singles to date have been mesmerising – diverse and subtle, sometimes with bold crescendos and creepy vocals, at other times smooth and soulful like the track ‘So Will Be Now…’ that we posted a few weeks ago. On general release this week, his album ‘Fin’ has lived up to every bit of hype that has surrounded it.

John Talabot – When The Past Was Present

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi6-bssNG3A

John Talabot – Last Land

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEUiJKjJxms

The first track I heard from Talabot was the 2010 release ‘Sunshine’. Its a track that starts off as a hypnotic deep techy drone, and is suddenly broken through with summery melodies from acoustic guitars. It was a bold track that mixed all sorts of influence, and his subsequent releases have shown a similarly fearless blending of genres and sounds.

John Talabot – Sunshine 

Even on remix duties Talabot manages to consistently create a fresh sound. His remix of The xx’s ‘Shelter’ is sublime – and one of the most effective re-workings of The xx’s subtle music that I’ve heard.

The xx – Shelter (John Talabot’s Feel It Too Remix)

Our sessions are back after a much deserved January break and who better to kick start us into gear than the stunning Jess Mills.

Jess Mills has had an amazing couple of years – most notably becoming a pivotal voice in the underground (but now mainstream) dubstep and breaks scene, working alongside the likes of Breakage and others in defining the sound and releasing the massive Fighting Fire track last February.

We’ve already posted her beautiful rendition of Roy Davis Jr.’s Gabriel but we’ve been eager to get together for a session and earlier this week we met up and she laid down a beautiful stripped back version of Pixelated People.

We think the result is stunning…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6OsEwCe6pU

We posted the Downtown Party Network remix of Chordashian’s EP title track and they’ve since released the 3-track record on the revered label Mullet Records – we like it lots – so here it is.

Simples!

In my opinion there’s almost nothing better than some classic hip-hop and Pretty Lights aka Derek Vincent Smith’s latest work is absolutely bang on the money.

We Must Go On, released this week, is actually part of a really interesting project alongside his girlfriend who is a very talented visual designer.

In 2011 they travelled around the world touching down in cities in almost every continent and returned with some great footage which has just been released as an accompaniment to the song.

Speaking about the goal/mission of the video, their aim was explained.

1 – Create a visual accompaniment for the music that added depth and complexity to the emotions being channeled by the music and lyrics… Rather than tell a story, communicate a range of feelings and open ended ideas.

2 – Create a piece of art that speaks to the name “Pretty Lights” The name was originally intended to capture the essence of inspiration and speak to the nature of the artistic eye, so this video combines captivating imagery with beautiful lights in an organic and creative manner.

3- To accomplish the first two things in a way that captures the attention of the viewer and does not let go. The element of precise synchronicity combined with quickly and creatively edited shots brings the video and music together in a way that unites the two like never before. It truly is one piece of art.

Rainy Milo hasn’t got a massive amount of material online to put together a substantial profile piece, but the one song she’s got up on SoundCloud was strong enough to stand here on it’s own.

The London teenager is creating some lovely modern but old school soul sounds on a J Dilla-esque beat and sometimes less is more when it comes to a debut.

We’re definitely excited to hear from this lady.