When I first heard Aussie/LA/Londoner Sam Sparro a month ago, I immediately thought he was of black descent considering his booming soulful voice. I was wrong, this white boy can sing! Already a huge music chart climber in the UK, Sparro isn’t just a singer but a musician that writes, performs, produces and arranges all of his own material.

You may think why does the world need another Calvin Harris or Mika who likes to dabble in RnB and electro? I don’t know but his voice is easier on the ears than those other two guys. His self-titled was just released in the US yesterday. The song ‘Hot Mess’ stands out to me because you definitely hear some Prince and Gap Band. If you wanna hear the where is he now D’Angelo check out ‘Cottonmouth’. My real attraction to this album is it harkens the now cheesy mid-90′s acts that I loved like SWV, Jodeci and Blackstreet with the artificial sounding instrumentals (keyboards, synthesizers and beats). Throw in some English flavor from acts like Black Box and KLF and you have a description of this soulful-electro album.

You can buy it on Itunes right now.

[MP3]: Sam Sparro “Hot Mess”

Check out the Falco looking video for “Black and Gold”. Yeah he’s out of the closet.

Syclops lends itself as a bit of a mystery. Little is known of the “Finnish trio” featuring Sven Kortehisto, Hanna Sarkari, and Jukka Kantonen since they don’t tour, do interviews, take press photos, or reveal much information about themselves. The “band” does however play live shows, but only for themselves, not audiences. “They” want the listener to experience their music and enjoy it unencumbered by other things like biographical information, stories, and the like. The fact of the matter is, the ambiguous Finnish trio is actually a front for the one man project of interview-shy, leftfield producer Maurice Fulton (Mu, Kathy Diamond). Why hide behind an obscure trio? I’m not really sure, but one thing I do know is that after a handful of singles including this year’s brilliant “Where’s Jason’s K?,” Fulton will be dropping his debut full-length as Syclops I’ve Got My Eye On You on DFA in June.

I’ve Got My Eye On You expands on the dark electro disco of the January 2008 Syclops single “Where’s Jason’s K?”/”Monkeypuss” (DFA) with more left of center madness. The Sheffield, UK producer’s main success under the Syclops alter-ego is that he manages to take his twisted view of disco, soul, funk and electro and turn them into solid catchy tracks. “Where’s Jason’s K?” follows an addictive hammering bassline over minimal beats for most of the track’s length. Fulton adds a cowbell here and there before the song reaches a pinnacle at its midpoint with organ freakouts and other bizarre shit. The B-side of the single, “Monkeypuss” is a acid house infused affair, harsh and bassy, primed for the dirty dancefloor.

With the brilliant Hercules & Love Affair album already under their belts this year, DFA looks to do it again with I’ve Got My Eye On You on June 10th. Previous single “K” will appear on the album along with the other tracks listed below.

[MP3]: Syclops  ”Monkeypuss”

“Where’s Jason’s K?” Single, DFA; 2008

I’ve Got My Eye On You Track Listing:
1. “NR17”
2. “The Fly”
3. “Naoka’s F”
4. “5 Out”
5. “Nelson’s Back”
6. “Where’s Jason’s K?”
7. “The E Ticket”
8. “Mom, The Video Broke”
9. “I’ve Got My Eye On You”
10. “A Lovely Sunday”

Get ready for Monday!

Over here at the FRICTION NYC HQ, we’ve spent most of the day nursing our massive hangovers from last night’s show, party, afterparty, and after afterparty drinks. While we were bringing ourselves back into existence from our drunken haze we decided it’d be festive to recap last night’s show Madlibs style. Yeah, we’re probably still a tad off, but whatevs, here it goes.

Last night we were too poor to play this game, HEALTH ate the king cake and the drummer was very excited because he got the baby Jesus in his piece of king cake. So, therefore, after the bathroom break the viking warrior drummer had to buy the next king cake. This made everyone feel festive at the show. Apache Beat ran around heaven with excitement over the XGames, while Crystal Castles broke the baby Jesus over Leonardo DiCaprio’s face. Nghiiiiaa fucked the Statue of Liberty in a dimly lit back alley throughout the show and was not a witness to any of these exaltations. Ruckus Roboticus expressed great fungus over the unwashed recycling bin. Team Robespierre observed these goings on from a distance and were like “whatever duuuude.”

FRICTION is back at The Mercury Lounge for Cinco de Mayo with Bristol’s creamy Fuck Buttons. Tickets on sale Saturday, March 29th. More details soon. Photos from last night’s wicked party on our Flickr site.

GET HYPE! Crystal Castles, HEALTH, Team Robespierre, and Apache Beat are primed to mess with your ears tonight at the Mercury Lounge for our SOLD OUT installment of FRICTION. Crystal Castles bring their distorted electro all the way from Toronto, while HEALTH’s blasts of noise mess with your head, this of course, after locals Team Robespierre and Apache Beat freak you out with their spazzed-out pop-screamo and tropical psychedelia. Dayton Ohio’s, Ruckus Roboticus will be spinning his own tracks between sets. Afterparty to follow at The Annex.

Doors open @ 7:30PM. MP3′s, full details, and more. Here

Crystal Castles cover photo © Ren Rox 2007
Crystal Castles (above) © Patrick Parault 2007

I was instantly into the sound of London-based electro outfit, Battant, after hearing their single “Kevin (1989).” The convulsive punky/new wave-inspired track was written by lead-singer Chloé based on the diary entries of a dude named Kevin. Not exactly sure what she found in the diary, but to come up with killer lines such as “he fucked the eggs out of her, that stupid cock-tease whore,” it had to be pretty juicy. The Undertones, well, undertones, a jagged Joy Division “Transmission” influenced guitar line toward the end of the song, and catchy vocals have peaked my interest in this quartet.

Further digging led me to the video of the single “Jump Up” and an Andrew Weatherall remixed b-side to “Kevin (1989).” Check it.

[MP3]: Battant  ”Kevin (1989)”
Single, Kill The DJ; 2007

I’ve had Sébastien Tellier‘s new track, “Divine,” from his forth-coming album Sexuality on constant repeat. It has a sleazy electro doo-woppy sound to it, inspired by Brian Wilson and 60s era Beach Boys music. Tellier calls the song “a tribute to the Beach Boys and the Juicy Fruits. It’s about a time of innocence – when having fun was more important than picking up girls.” The Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Daft Punk) produced Sexuality drops next month on Record Makers. A la Serge Gainsbourg, Tellier aims to “make music that makes people want to have sex” with this new album.

[MP3]: Sébastien Tellier  ”Divine”
Sexuality, Record Makers; 2008

I guess it’s time for me to start getting together one of those year end list things. While I’m at that I wanted to share a few tracks from some artists that I’m looking forward to hearing a lot more of in 2008. Myself and maybe even Nghia will try to get around to doing another one of these in the coming weeks.

Thanks to the kind peeps over at Death + Taxes Magazine for turning me onto London’s SIAN ALICE GROUP. A promo copy of their debut record, 59.59, literally kept me company on my travels over the weekend. 59.59 is an expansive, sprawling pop effort, some might even say epic. Words like haunting, atmospheric, reflective, lush, dreamy, and experimental all come to mind when listening to the album’s sixteen tracks. Sian Ahern lends the record an ethereal beauty with her unearthly, yet seductive vocals…perfect for that winter night bundled up by the fireplace. 59.59 is due out in February on Brooklyn’s The Social Registry imprint.

[MP3]: Sian Alice Group  ”As The Morning Light”
59.59, The Social Registry; 2008

Expect to be hearing a lot more about Brooklyn duo MGMT when their debut full-length, Oracular Spectacular, sees its proper physical release via Columbia Records in January (currently only available as a digital download now). When I first heard the single “Time To Pretend” I was reminded of the quirky uplifting pop of The Unicorns (who I miss dearly, but also makes a nice spot for MGMT in my heart).

[MP3]: MGMT  ”Time To Pretend”
Oracular Spectacular, Columbia; 2008

I’ve been looking forward to the debut record from APES & ANDROIDS ever since they rocked off our faces at FRICTION back in the day at Sin-e. Nearly a year-and-a-half later and the band has completed their first full-length titled Blood Moon (cover art above), which will hit the streets relatively soon along with a release party at The Mercury Lounge on January 19th. To quote the band (well, actually a Transformers movie review), “it’s long and loud and everything about it is big: from the massive riffs, the pounding score and the band itself, which towers above everything and everyone in this mega-budget sonic explosion.” Check out “Golden Prize” from Blood Moon below. RAD!

[MP3]: Apes & Androids  ”Golden Prize”
Blood Moon, Unsigned; 2008

If you have any love left for punchy energetic dance music after the onslaught we received in 2007, then Lyon, France’s SPITZER is for you. Mathieu and Damien Brégère, the French brothers behind Spitzer have been generating a bit of buzz with a couple of hard-hitting electro singles like “Kapersky,” which is going to be included on their Roller Coaster EP, set to be released in 2008. Currently unsigned, I wouldn’t be surprised if the duo was gobbled up by a label like Kitsune or Ed Banger in the coming months. Check out “Aveda Dollars” from the Roller Coaster EP below.

[MP3]: Spitzer  ”Aveda Dollars”
Roller Coaster EP, Unsigned; 2008

Baltimore’s BEACH HOUSE put out one of my favorite records of 2006 with their self-titled debut on Carpark. The band is set to release their sophomore full-length titled Devotion on February 26th. Sounds like the band is picking up where they left off with “Gila.” Perfect.

[MP3]: Beach House  ”Devotion”
Devotion, Carpark; 2008