In trying to maintain the essence of the show which has also seen electronic music legends such as Orbital, Andrew Weatherall and Erol Alkan take control, they blended classic Groove Armada and Roots Manuva with brand new music from underground luminaries Fis-T, Florrie and an exclusive from Warrior One ft. Serocee.

Their show was wicked, and if you missed it download it here.

Tracklist -
Groove Armada – Superstylin
Florrie – Fascinate Me (Fred Falke Remix)
Carte Blanche Feat. Kid Sister – Do! Do! Do!
Man Without Country – Closet Addicts Anonymous

Guest Selector – Roska
Groove Chronicles – 1999

Hurts – Wonderful Life (Mantronix Remix)
Katy B – Katy On A Mission
Roots Manuva – Witness (One Hope)
Joker – Tron
Ossie B – Maybe Ting (Refix)
Flux Pavillion – Get To Know

Guest Selector – Deadboy
Prince – Little Red Corvette

Jay Electronica – Exhibit C
Fis-T – Night Hunter
Warrior One Feat. Serocee – Bullring Riddim
Cajmere – Percolator
The Chemical Brothers – Saturate
Jamaica – I Think I Like U 2

Dave 1 from Chromeo On The Phone
Chromeo – Night By Night
Chromeo – Night By Night (Skream Remix)

Chase and Status Feat. Dizzee Rascal – Heavy

ClubFoot In The Mix Part I – Will
French Horn Rebellion vs Database – Beaches And Friends (The Twelves Remix)

Vanguard – Loving Someone Else

Duck Sauce – Barbra Streisand (O-God Remix)
Armand Van Helden – You Don’t Know Me
David Borkmann – Superior (Club Mix)

ClubFoot In The Mix Part II – Ashley
The Streets – Has It Come To This
Hackman – Pistol In Your Pocket
Four Tet – Love Cry (Joy Orbison Remix)
Mosca – Gold Bricks, I See You

Danish pop outfit Alphabeat have been filling their diaries of late, with any available slot seeming like an affront to their current work ethic.

This said, the group’s vocal duo, Stine Bramsen and Anders SG, seemed surprisingly relaxed as they sat in a dingy office above Cardiff’s HMV this week.

Surprising, that is, because their second album, The Beat Is…, was released on Monday, mid-way through their UK tour with chart impresario — and label mate — Lady Gaga, leaving them just enough time to squeeze in a spate of in-store performances around the country.

But this visit to the capital was markedly different from their last visit.

“We’ve been to Cardiff four times, I think, but we played down in a basement the last time we were here. I think it was the Barfly?” said Anders SG.

Anyone familiar with Cardiff’s club scene will know the sweat-stained walls of the Barfly could not be a further cry from their venue this time: Cardiff International Arena, where they open for Lady Gaga.

Dressed in a dazzling gold outfit, flame-haired female vocalist Stine Bramsen said: “It’s an ultra-quick set of about five songs or so. It lasts about 20 minutes.”

“At the big venues, we sort of just do what we usually do, you know?” chips in Anders.

“There’s a lot of people who have heard us, maybe on the radio, and they build up this picture of us. When they see us live, perhaps it changes. We do try to get people clapping and all that stuff.

“If you don’t know us, I don’t think we need more than 20 minutes to get the message across anyway.”

If the Silkeborg septet seem comfortable with this level of acclaim, perhaps it is because they haven’t rushed into things, taking success on their own terms.

In 2007, the band turned down the chance to support the Spice Girls on their UK tour because they felt it would be “weird” playing in front of such big audiences before they were well known.

When asked what had changed since then, Stine said, “We feel like we’ve worked our way up now. We’ve done so many gigs, about 190 in the first year, in bigger and bigger venues.

“We feel like there’s a big awareness of Alphabeat now in the UK and it’s also a good opportunity to get out to any doubters.”

This is certainly true: these plaudits have also allowed them to make the record they have always wanted. Their new release, The Beat Is…, moves away from the instrument-driven pop of their debut and looks more to electronic music from the early 1990s for inspiration.

Clearly relishing discussion of their new sound, Anders said: “When we started the band, this was the kind of sound we wanted.

“We slowly started to find out we had to make the sound ourselves. The big change was we started to make music on computers rather than just standing in a rehearsal space so that’s really developed the sound for this record.<

“That’s definitely something we always wanted, we just didn’t know how to do it.”

The difference between the two albums is quite stark, but the band’s commitment to live instruments is key.

“The fact we are still very much a live band means the new songs fit quite well into the new ones because they are all played live we don’t use any sampled drums or triggers,” Stine said.

It is not just a change of musical direction which has galvanised the group. Alphabeat left their original label Charisma, a subsidiary of EMI, and joined Polydor to release the new record.

Anders said: “There’s been a lot more confidence in the whole process of making the record, just being at Polydor is a lot calmer than our days at Charisma.

“People used to get fired every week and people would just try to impress you. It wasn’t a good time to be on that label.

“At Polydor it’s just the complete opposite.”

The subsequent acoustic performance the duo produced to a busy HMV showed why the band are able to utilise this new, comfortable professional environment to flourish.

Stine and Anders’s flawless vocals sounded just as breathtaking backed only by an acoustic guitar as they do by glossy synths and punchy drums: clearly now at ease with their current trajectory.

Well — you may be pleased/aghast to hear — this is not the case.

While other journalistic commitments have meant we’ve not been listening to as much music recently as we would have liked, we have been conducting an existential, internal debate.

What is the point of this blog?

In short, we have realised that opinion pieces, as engaging as they are as a supplementary feature, are not worthy on their own.

Hence, this site will now be committed to bringing in some of the best exclusive content from the Cardiff music scene.

This will start with an interview with Danish pop-stars Alphabeat (who we met yesterday), and acoustic sessions with Icelandic group Hjaltalín and, later on, Errors…

STAY TUNED!

‘Be Calm’

It’s New Years bloody Eve, why are you reading this instead of rolling around in a puddle of vomit, cheap whiskey and party-popper innards? That is what fun is all about isn’t it?

Well not quite.

When pianist Andrew Dost quit superb Chicago indie ensemble Anathallo in 2009 (leaving them with a mere 7 members), one might have been forgiven for thinking his next musical move would be in the same pensive, sombre vein. One, in this instance, couldn’t have been more wrong.

Teaming up with Nate Ruess, formerly of The Format, and Jack Antonoff, still of Steel Train, Dost is now involved in an unlikely, yet surprisingly successful, supergroup: fun. (yes, full stop in the title).

Their debut album, Aim and Ignite couldn’t be a further cry from Floating World, Dost’s last record with Anathallo. It can only be described as what the Beach Boys, or even Queen, might have sounded like if Weezer’s power-pop had been one of their influences. At a fairground.

The first time I heard the opening track, Be Calm, I was somewhat overwelmed by the corucopia of instruments, melodies and ideas being thrown at me. Ruess’ voice is also outstanding; ranging from quivering hushed tones to half-screamed highs.  Other highlights are the the afro beat ditty, Walking the Dog, and the plush trumpet and harmonies in I Wanna be the One.

However, talking of highlights in such a consistently brilliant album just seems silly. Just buy it; it will be the best, most fun. £7.99 you ever part with.

Just ask this audience:

The Smoothest Gooch blog, whose high standard of content matches the juvenile hilarity of its title and banner, have uncovered (or rather, been sent) a gem — Murdok‘s rework of Imogen Heap‘s 2-1. While the oh-so-cooky Heap burst onto the scene some time ago with auto-tune-a-thon Hide and Seek (of which there is a pretty solid remix by rising dupstep producer Mt Eden), her recent album, Ellipse, was pretty disappointing. This remix, as ‘the Gooch rightly appraises, has breathed some much needed life into her music.

Her voice, an asset never in doubt, is allowed to flow — free from the shackles of her increasingly-neurotic production. And while the differing LFO speeds (the wobbly bits — in layman’s terms) and shuffled hi-hats are nothing new, this is still a well thought-out track. The atmospheric production makes it — along with Jack Beats’ La Roux, and Neon Steve’s Phoenix, remixes — one of the better offerings of the year!

Listen to Imogen Heap — 2-1 (Murdok remix) via The Smoothest Gooch.

For those of you whose image of Christmas is — like that hellish, Wham! video/monstrosity — adorned with quaint portraits of roasted chestnuts, mulled wine and other things people pretend to like around this time of year, here’s somewhat of a musical digression.

Fenech Soler have just ripped the wrapping paper open to reveal what can only be described as an absolute monster. Their remix of the Marina and the Diamonds chart botherer, Hollywood (available below), sees them trade-in their traditional trancyness for utter, buzzsaw-synth-induced brute force.

Anyone familiar with the BBC or Guardian’s ‘hotly-tipped for 2010′-esque lists will be familiar with Marina and the Diamonds. I took particular interest in the starlet as, although now living in London, she hails from my hometown of Abergavenny. This surely makes Fenech Soler’s remix the best piece of music to have origins in this suburban ville.

Although I’ve nothing too positive to say about the overblown theatrics of the original record, Fenech Soler augment the positive features the 23-year-old Welsh-Greek artist does possess — they make one feel as if Hollywood was recorded specifically with their rework in mind. Marina’s uniquely-strong voice makes for a perfect foil to the rasping, compressed bass. And while, in the original, her brash “Oh my God” was a little annoying; here, it gleefully-heralds a small field-trip for your speaker cones, and, no doubt, another boost in notoriety for the precocious Fenech Soler.

“Hollywood” (Fenech-Soler Remix) – Marina & The Diamonds on Neon Gold.

Check out other videos on their site — it’s much, much better than this one!

BEIRUT VIDEO!

Have a good ‘un tomorrow on the big J-man’s birthday!

x

This list is, believe it or not, comprised of my opinions and my opinions alone. It is also merely a collection of albums I have listened to and, considering I’m a fairly poor excuse of a music blogger (often shunning new releases on little more than gut feeling and unfounded prejudice), there are bound to be stark omissions. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ latest album, for example, was a record which, while I thoroughly enjoyed Fever To Tell, I just didn’t really listen to and have no reasonable explanation as to why.

This said, I may well have ‘forgotten’ the odd record; so feel free to leave a comment informing me of my error in however polite a tone you see fit.

I have provided a youtube stream for each artist and each header is a link directing you to somewhere where you can purchase said album.

Almosts:
Bat For Lashes — Two Suns: Daniel is a great song; but the rest of the album doesn’t really live up to it.

Major Lazer — Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do: Same as Two Suns, Pod de Floor is huge, though.

Animal Collective — Merriweather Post Pavilion: Good album but perhaps got hyped too much before I had chance to listen.

Spokes — People Like People Like You: Very promising, though not quite concise enough to break the 20.

20) St Vincent — Actor (4AD)

‘Marrow’

Actor is an adroit album; but what did you expect from a 27-year-old who’s already been in Sufjan Stevens‘ touring band and the Polyphonic Spree (although the latter claim doesn’t exactly put her in a selective group, does it?) I’m not sure it’s quite as good as her debut, 2007′s ironically-titled Marry Me, but this, her second album, is a breath of fresh air — aerating the many fusty, stale offerings from other female perpetrators this year.

19) The Decemberists — The Hazards of Love (Capitol )

‘The Wanting Comes in Waves’

The Hazards of Love is a rock-opera concept-album. It details a medieval love affair between a woman and a shape-shifting forest dweller. Indeed. Frontman Colin Meloy has never been one to cover old ground and, while the opening line of this blurb my put many people off (I really wouldn’t try too hard to disuade them as, if medieval concept rock operas aren’t your thing, it’s probably best to steer clear of this one), his fifth album’s staggering ambitiousness is only matched by its intertwined brilliance.

18) Martyn — Great Lengths (3024)

‘Little Things’

While most of the dubstep community continue to scratch around on the camp-fire-illuminated cave wall with their incessantly-wobbling LFOs and La Roux samples (I’m not saying I don’t enjoy this in a very guilty pleasure sort of way),  artists like Martyn and Dutch impresario 2562 are constantly charting new territory. I wanted to include the latter’s new release, Unbalence, but it has only just come out and I haven’t listened to it enough yet. Martyn’s Great Lengths boldly plots new points on the dubstep map with it’s dubstep-come-spooky-techno lonely rhythms.

17) Copy Haho — Bred for Skills and Magic EP (Big Scary Monsters)

‘Pulling Push Ups’

Okay, so it’s not an album; but as this list reveals itself to you, you will realise (if, by some miracle, you read until its denouement) this ‘rule’ is by no means sacrosanct. Copy Haho are ace, fun, Scottish and possibly many other adjectives, but you get the idea. If you haven’t already, go listen to this as well as many of the other bands Big Scary Monsters records have on their ever-growing roster!

16) Colour — Anthology (Big Scary Monsters)

‘Over the Moon’

The late, great Colour are one of the major artists I regrettably never got to see before they broke up — along with Spy Verses Spy and J.S.Bach. The are survived, however, by this: an anthology of every song they ever recorded in their fleeting existence. As well as personal favorites, songs such as Over the Moon and Chutes, we get to see this accomplished mathy-indie band’s progression through their recording career. A sad loss.

15) Shoes and Socks Off — Hand Reared Suburban Piglet (Big Scary Monsters)

(listen here)

Talking of defunct bands on Big Scary Monsters records, from the ashes of Meet Me in St Louis arose singer, Tobias Hayes’, solo project, Shoes and Socks Off. While his first record, From the Muddy Banks of  Melitzer, was a virtuoso, bedroom-esque one-man-and-his-guitar effort, the follow-up, Hand Reared Suburban Piglet, took the same great songs and embellished them. The revised versions ranged from MPC-fuled hip-hop cross-over to neo-classical serialist violin staggered genius.

14) Junior Boys — Begone Dull Care (Domino)

‘Hazel’

One of the more cultured and considered ‘indie-electro’ outfits of recent times, Junior Boys didn’t disappoint with their third album: a hazy, retro production of slick proportions. While not satisfying some fans’ of their earlier releases (mainly due to allegations of swapping good song writing for good production), there is plenty on offer here. Hazel is a disco gem; a piece of music which, it has been proven by scientists, provokes an irresistible desire to pout like you’re in one of those inescapable-at-this-time-of-year perfume adverts.

13) Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers — Songs for the Night (Ramseur)

‘Get the Fever Out’

Samantha Crain is one of the newer arrivals on the US indie-country scene. However, with Songs for the Night, she could easily be receiving the kind of acclaim heaped on Oberst, Adams, and Welch et al. There is many a whistle-friendly tune on this record and it’s the fact her band keep it simple which allows the songs, and perhaps more importantly Crains gorgeous voice, to ring through.

12) Au Revoir Simone — Still Night, Still Night (Moshi Moshi)

‘Shadows’

Another female offering at number 12 really makes me frustrated that most of the ‘girls doing it for themselves’ rhetoric we’ve heard this year has been the product of such uninspiring music (cf Florence and the Machine, Little Boots etc). Luckily, for those privy to this trio’s nuggets of casio greatness, there is salvation at hand. Still Night, Still Night is simultaneously charming and terrifyingly-cool.

11) The xx — xx (Rough Trade)

‘Stars’

The xx are named so because xx, as anyone who studied latin at an Our Lady of the League Tables school knows, is 20 in roman numerals — the average age of the band. Now, I’m not going to launch into some patronising polemic about ‘oohh aren’t they doing well’ and so forth; but xx does show staggering maturity. Just compare it to anything by Symposium for Christ’s sake. The lonely guitar-simmering drums combination works in a kind of naive way (much of the album was recorded while still learning their instruments), but it is the male-female vocal combination which sets this debut from the pack.

10) The Antlers — Hospice (French Kiss)

‘Kettering’

Hospice is a morbid tale of the relationship between a cancer sufferer and an abusive carer. Main man Peter Silberman wrote the record solo in a few lonely years living in Brooklyn, only recruiting Michael Lerner and Darby Cicci much later on. The sombre seclusion felt in Hospice is a testament to this. But doesn’t stop it being a fantastic, fantastic record. Just make sure you lock away the paracetamol and sharp objects before you get stuck in —lest you do a successful ‘Owen Wilson’.

9) Freelance Whales — Weathervanes (French Kiss)

‘Ghosting’

If this was a ‘shittest band names’ list, Freelance Whales would be up there with Arctic Monkeys, Papa Roach and The Beatles. Luckily for the Williamsburg quintet, their chirpy, banjo-driven pop is just too irresistible. The vocals maybe too sweet for some — especially in an age where it’s fashionable to sound like you’ve been down a Yorkshire mineshaft all day (cf The Kooks, The Maccabees). However, what the voice may lack in weathered integrity, the music more than makes up for.

8) Dirty Projectors — Bitte Orca (Domino)

‘Cannibal Resource’

Dirty Projectors have been around for a while. Still, I’m sure I wasn’t alone on hearing Cannibal Resource, the first track on Bitte Orca, and thinking it was quite unlike anything I’d encountered before. While Dave Longstreth clearly pulls the strings, it is the disjointed rhythmical vibe and abstract, parallel vocal harmonies of the whole band which pricks the ears. In a year where Brooklyn, at times, seemed to dominate almost everything interesting going on in Indie music, it speaks volumes of the band that they are so lauded as innovators in the field. Fuck Florence: this is how to make pop music unique without becoming a self-parodying, ostentatious twat.

7) The Very Best  — Warm Heart Of Africa (Moshi Moshi)

‘Warm Heart of Africa’

The self-effacingly-named The Very Best exploded onto the Blogosphere in 2008 with their ‘mixtape’ of remixes. This included M.I.A’s Paper Planes and, bizarrely, The Beatles‘ Birthday. Shortly after this, the song Warm Heart of Africa started doing the rounds on radio. While the guest appearence from Vampire Weekend‘s Ezra Koenig (this is the closest he’s getting to this list) had a slightly ‘Paul Simon‘, African-music-made-for-the-West quality about it, this was a big tune — evoking a gleeful, carnival-like quality. The rest of the record is perhaps more authentic to the band’s cultural roots and makes a refreshing change from much of the past tourist-rock based around the continent’s culture.

6) Slow Club — Yeah, So (Moshi Moshi)

‘It doesn’t have to be beautiful’ (starts after 30 seconds)

When I first heard about this album, I thought I’d find it about as enjoyable as having the story of the nativity read to me by a fascist. Happy-happy duo erring on a bash-core vibe? No thanks. However, I listened to it and, after a fair amount of pride swallowing, I fucking loved it. It’s a great record and I think even a more austere misanthrope than this embittered blogger would find it hard to resist it — of which there are many. The harmonies are great, the melodies, even better. There is a definite charm on offer here — as well as oodles of twee. If you’re not humming on of the hooks by the end, I’d break out the chest paddles.

5) Cougar — Patriot (Counter)

‘Stay Famous’

Fans of bands who ‘do vocals’ look away now. Fans of amazing, electronica-influenced, beatsey indie rock, come in, sit down by the fire, meet Cougar. They simultaneously chop up guitars, turning them into epileptic, glitchy entities; and exhume a lost, almost psychedelic richness. Right from the first track, Stay Famous, which slyly decieves you, priming you for a rock assault, only to drop into a trip-hop groove, the album is packed full of instrumental goodness which just about manages to keep on the good side of self-indulgent.

4) Fanfarlo — Resevoir (Canvasback Music)

In a year which saw a curious rise in style-over-substance bow-tied singers and glockenspiel-playing guitarists, Fanfarlo convinced by wearing their twee-indie-garb over a toned physique of great songs. Some saw them as an Anglo-version of the ubiquitous Arcade Fire, but I think a more apt description would be a more upbeat Anathallo. Frontman Simon Balthazar leads from the front, acoustic guitar in hand. And while the mandolines, glockenspiel and trumpets add unique elements (although perhaps not all that unique to anyone who’s heard Beirut), they are never the meat, merely the gravy.

3) Burial and Four Tet — Wolf Club/Moth (Text)

Okay, so not technically an album; but it’s my list. This super-group pairing were always going to be good but, on Moth in particular, the talents of both producers copulate and give birth to something magical. It’s not clear what roles each party took in either song — the sleeve is plain black with no liner notes — but Burial’s tradmark beat is evident on Wolf Club, as is Four Tet’s sonic jewelry. Kieron Hebden, the man behind the latter, is renowned for his spiritually-charged performances and one would be surprised if he wasn’t the major perpetrator in Moth’s opening — a low didgeridoo-like drone. What follows is the best nine minutes of electronic music all year.

2) Grizzly Bear — Veckatimest (Warp)

A close second. I honestly don’t think there’s been an album released like this in the last 30 years. Everything from the shared lead vocal duties to the disjointed rhythms mean that it’s never anything approaching forced or contrived. It would be so easy to fuck this album right up; but Grizzly Bear pull it off with stunning élan and vivacity. Never is a note rushed; never one single element over-done. The harmonies are Beach-Boy-crisp and, when the band allow themselves, there is actually a propensity to be up-beat and radio-friendly. A joy.

1) Phoenix — Wolfgang Amadeaus Phoenix (V2)

Everyone likes this record. It works on pretty much every level and that’s why it wins. Emerging from the same scene that produced fellow Galls, Air and Daft Punk, Phoenix were the first ever French chart-topper to chantez en Anglais — and you can see why. The two singles, Lisztomania and 1901, are punchier than a Leona Lewis book signing; although I wouldn’t have liked to have chosen the singles from this release such is the standard of pop-pedigree on offer. As a whole, the nine-song delight is the quintessential indie-album-with-dancing-shoes experience. If you don’t own this record, don’t fret, just right your heinous, heinous wrong. It’s going to be okay.

Courtesy of Counter records

Spokes — People Like People Like You (Counter, 2009)

Listen on myspace

Shakespeare once said: “Brevity is the soul of wit” (ie don’t waffle on). And, while no one ever seems to disagree with him, the Manchester orchestral-pop group, Spokes, have taken this statement to its logical extreme.

Their five-song, 35-minute debut mini-album, People Like People Like You, contains only a smattering of lyrics. This leaves their vast, arcing, violin-driven song structures to do the majority of the legwork.

The listener has to wait a while to hear the album’s first (and indeed, last) vocals, in the song Precursor. The title of the next song, Sometimes Words are too Slow, perhaps best summarises their philosophy.

PLPLY is a layered and heavily emotive work, bridging the gap between classical and pop. A casual listener may criticise the group for too much shoe-gazing and not enough variety. But casual listeners also probably shouldn’t spend too long away from their NME-intravenous-drip, lest they get any of those dangerous opinions of their own.

Even though Spokes could be compared to other soundscapists, Sigur Rós and Ólafur Arnalds, PLPLY doesn’t quite share their relative digestibility and, thus, isn’t going to bother many daytime radio playlists (not that this is any sort of indictment, mind).

This said, the record seems somehow more accessible than their closest confrères, Yndi Halda. Rather than merely taking on ostinatoes and adding more instruments until a bed-wetting crescendo is reached (as Yndi Halda do but with some verve, it must be added), Spokes prefer an elongated form of the traditional pop structure.

Encouragingly, the band’s latest song, Torn Up in Praise, found on Counter Records’ new sampler, Strike! (which you can, and should, buy here), is even more cohesive and accessible than PLPLY.

The only thing I’m left pondering is whether, considering the band speak very little, their name is self-referentially ironic?

Spokes play Buffalo, Cardiff, on January 21.

Pantha du Prince — The Splendour (Rough Trade, 2009)

Whatever you say about the British record-buying population, you can never knock their enthusiasm.

Just as the chart-influencing plebeians have promoted acts such as the Crazy Frog and the Fast Food Rockers, the valiant population of our proud nation have now taken it upon themselves to topple Dr Cowell’s evil, Sony-backed pop-monopoly by buying a song backed by… er… Sony.

Well, I’m sure the Zapatistas of Mexico and the 30 million below the US poverty line, who Rage Against the Machine once passionately and poetically protested for, will be glad the music — which has long since been an anthem to white, middle class, teenage door slamming — is finally achieving some good.

Anyway, while this saga has been going on with dauntless abandon, there has been some bloody good music being released.

‘The Splendour’

Fans of German minimal techno blippery will be excited to hear that Berlin and Paris-based artist Pantha du Prince, traditionally affiliated with Hamburg’s deep house label, Dial Records, is releasing a new record through Rough Trade on February 8.

The record, Black Noise, features some exciting collaborations — namely Noah Lennox of Panda Bear and Animal Collective and Tyler Pope of and LCD Soundsystem, who plays bass on new single, The Splendour, which was released on December 14.

If this single (which you can download legally, for free, here) is anything to go by, the album will be an utter treat. It begins with the kind of atmospheric, organic stuttered clunks and whirrs which notoriously characterised Aphex Twins’ Drukqs. The beat which comes in is subtle yet perfectly weighted. It evokes that peculiar, welcome loneliness often induced by such sonic material.

Hendrik Weber, as Pantha du Prince is known to his friends, describes his mission as “to render audible what is unheard and unheard of: black noise, a frequency that is inaudible to man. Black noise often presages natural disasters, earthquakes or floods; only some animals perceive this.”

Although this may sound like an ambitious — pretentious even? — pitch, the way the music builds certainly has an ethereal quality to it.

My knowledge of techno is reasonably limited (far more limited than many of my friends anyway, who’ll no-doubt lambast me for my Zane-Lowe-depth on the subject!). However, I’m looking forward to February, when Black Noise is released, probably as much as Joe McElderry is looking forward to February — when this whole X-factor/RATM debarcle has blown over and we’ve forgotten he ever existed.