Intelligent pop: best defined by musical acts such as Penguin Prison. Penguin Prison is Chris Glover from NYC. His music oozes seemingly effortless talent, but his road was a bumpy one. After performing arts school Penguin Prison’s style bounced around until he settled on high-fi synth pop and he is one of the artists on the forefront of the low-fi rebellion. Low-fi was born by musicians recording on at-home, cheap equipment and eventually it became cool to recreate the rough, vintage sound on purpose. Don’t get me wrong, the do it yourself sound is great, but I am pretty amped the movement towards clear, crisp production with understandable lyrics is well underway thanks to Hey Champ, Bright Light Bright Light, Binary’s LexiconDon and of course Penguin Prison. I’m a fan of everything Glover pumps out because any track with the Penguin Prison stamp is nothing less than a polished dance jam about real life-the good, the bad and the ugly.

Passion Pit – Little Secrets (Penguin Prison Remix)

I can’t think of anything better than a Passion Pit track, unless Penguin Prison does a stellar remix of it…case and point ‘Little Secrets.’ The hard synth layers of the original are peeled back and scaled down to reveal a piano melody laden with bits of drums, symbols and strings throughout. Listening to the soft, gentle vocals is sweet ear candy and they make the sound more approachable for the average listener. The last 55 seconds are my favorite as each individual sound disappears and I am released from the spell I was under.

“Let this be our little secret, no one needs to know we’re feeling…higher and higher and higher.”

This tastes like a late night to me. Dancing until you get kicked out and never wanting the night to end, but that is when beers, friends and some really good drunk conversation comes in. I love watching the sun come up, but I’m not THAT much of an early riser, however on one particularly late night after listening to some particularly good tunes I did just that. I remember walking into a diner at 430am and it was still dark, but as I ate my grilled cheese and drank my chocolate milk (yes, I am 5) I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was literally watching the sun rise. It is a surreal feeling when you know that the rest of the world is sleeping and they are missing everything you are experiencing right at this moment. The silence feels good…in an eerie way. The night made me think of life experience and not in the job sense, but simply in life. Doing some crazy things to say you did em’ and then just sitting back…living life and getting high off it. I wonder what stories I would have if I stopped thinking and let life just happen…

Posted by: Kim

The Dream’s new album Love King has been getting a lot of chitter chatter around me lately, and when I heard that our friends in Fiero were gonna re-work ‘Yamaha’ I got pretty giddy. The Fiero boys hit us with this outstanding bootleg remix a few weeks back, and upon first listen I got a raging ear boner. The guys were then awesome enough to let us debut the song here on Binary, which gave me a huge face boner. If you’re not familiar with Fiero, they’re a really rad SoCal producer/DJ group made up of Nicky Savage, Sam Aftermath, and Jeremy Giovinazzo. We became familiar with them earlier this year, and the love affair has been alive ever since. All super cool dudes that make some real top notch chunes… which you can see from listening to this little gem.

The Dream – Yamaha (Fiero Double Rainbow Bootleg)

The track kicks off with a beautiful, glittery build-up and the repeated line, “I miss ya”.  Right off the bat I’m thrown on the runway at LAX, possibly heading to New York… maybe Hawaii. It’s actually the intro to the song after ‘Yamaha’ on the album, ‘Nikki Part 2’. Then, at around 30 seconds in, we get lifted into a delightful world of mystical R&B that straddles the line between inner city and beach… somewhere between Malibu and downtown LA. The uplifting qualities of this song sorta blow me away… I could be having the worst day ever, listen to this, and all is right. Aural delight in true form. It’s like Prince, Usher, and Sébastien Tellier had a musical orgy with Janet Jackson, and this was the result.

The lyrics in ‘Yamaha’ are probably one of my favorite parts. The words just seem to hit me really hard… in that giggly gangster sort of way. Dirty R&B lines like “If you let me in that body Imma turn that motha fucka out” and “Still gotcha name tattooed on my back” have been getting stuck in my head for days and days after listening. I actually think I had a dream recently where I was walking around in a coffee shop repeating those lyrics to strangers. It was awkward. And on top of the lyrics being super catchy and awesome, the name of this remix is perfect… ‘Double Rainbow Bootleg’?!? How perfect is that? (If somehow missed it, as I did, do yourself a favor and check out the Double Rainbow Guy / Yosemite Bear video).

To be honest, the original of this song isn’t my favorite. I really like the Love King album as a whole, but ‘Yamaha’ doesn’t really knock my socks off. It’s a little boring to me I suppose… but Fiero fixes that with this fiery bootleg. Everything about this song  just makes me smile. Makes me want to trade in my crappy little Shanghai Shenke motorcycle (scooter) and get a Yamaha.

Stay tuned for more lovely tunes from Fiero. And definitely stay tuned for some Binary/Fiero magic that should be available for our listening pleasure in the coming weeks.

Posted by: Dillon

Making waves across the electronic universe right now are the trademark funky synth sounds of Chromeo’s latest jam, ‘Don’t Turn The Lights On.’  Since the original track is rightfully being lauded as a major heater in today’s electrofunk scene, Chromeo hardly needs another editorial on this one. Much more intoxicating to those of us who feel the burn of dance floor mania is the remix of ‘Don’t Turn The Lights On’ brought on out of nowhere by none other than a new Swedish wonder DJ named Monkey Method. Simón Garcés Ramström, who just recently settled on that name, has served up a faster, richer evolution to Chromeo’s hit that manages to breathe new life into a song that most are only still getting to know. Chromeo’s upcoming LP “Business Casual” isn’t releasing for another five weeks and yet here we have an inspired young electronic artist putting in his two cents before Chromeo’s waves have even made ripples.

Chromeo – Don’t Turn The Lights On (Monkey Method Remix)

This new and promising Swede offers up an auditory experiment of changing tempos, octaves, styles and moods to blend several levels of greatness into one stellar remix. In every manner of speaking, his attempt proves successful. At times an honest club jam, at others a soulful beat-driven one, Monkey Method’s remix takes you through a gauntlet of twists with impressive zeal. What starts off as a bit livelier and more energetic evolves beyond your wildest imagination. The song sticks with a sincerity that your ears can’t block out, more so than the original does. Chromeo should send Simon a thank you card. Monkey Method toys with the source giving it so many angles and dimensions, by the time it reaches its end you’ll feel pressed to play it again just to see what you may have missed.

As if a great remix isn’t good enough, the finale is sure to make you smile with its subtle but notable homage, as it fades away. After it finished playing through the first time, I found myself thinking more about a certain other artist than I did of Chromeo. I was kind of speechless about that and how I had just experienced such a clever transformation from yet another new Scandinavian DJ who clearly gets what is happening in electronic music right now. Monkey Method’s unique take on ‘Don’t Turn The Lights On’ has all the contaminating types of synth sounds that keep you up at night. You’ll appreciate his ability to balance both his dedication to honoring the original track as well as flavoring the remix with the essence of something great that will put a grin on your face.

From the very beginning Monkey Method injects his remix with a spicy kick that commands your attention. As the songs zips along you might realize you were strapped tightly along for a ride, whether you were ready or not. It’s like a night in the thick of the club heat. You get your drinks in. You get your game on. You try to let the fires of passion and music burn inside you while you’re there. Maybe that’s all the light you need. Maybe tonight’s the night your eyes lock with “the one.” Maybe you let it take hold of you. You draw in the magic of it all and let your body surrender to the beat. Your eyes finally adjust to the darkness and thanks to Monkey Method, the only lights that are going to be coming on are the ones necessary to illuminate the dance floor.

If for some wild reason this remix isn’t enough for you, perhaps the outer space piano odyssey of funkdom offered up by the new Aeroplane remix can fill the void instead.

Chromeo – Don’t Turn The Lights On (Aeroplane Remix)

Posted by: Paul

Hot damn-I think disco is back! I’m fine leaving bell-bottoms and chunky platforms behind, but these disco groves are back and here to stay thanks to U-Tern. U-Tern, aka Vaughn Oliver, hails from Vancouver, BC and he is one of the most talented and dedicated producers out there right now. U-Tern is leading the emerging disco revival with his clean, crisp productions and funky beats. While pumping out ‘70s throwback remixes U-Tern finds the time to host a weekly radio show on Brooklyn Radio, One Day Later, which is also the name of his blog. Here at Binary we have been watching U-Tern for a while; he is friends with our very own Keenhouse and booked him for a show up in Vancouver.

LexiconDon is the band to know this summer. Pink + Blue is the album to have and ‘Student Body’, the single off their debut LP, is undoubtedly the song to love. True to form, the track is impossible to label as just belonging to any one style, genre or influence. A good song is like a good wine, a good ear like a good palate. With this I’m getting hints of Prince, an undercurrent of new jack flavor, and I would say an early ’90s boy band aftertaste, but that just sounds wrong. The metaphor doesn’t have that kind of mileage.

LexiconDon – Student Body

Point is, this is the stuff of summer jams, songs crafted from sunshine, lust, and freedom. Summer gives off a natural buzz and this track is full of it. The vocals have that Mike Posner quasi-hip-hop rasp to them for a guilty pleasure ballad that’s sure to please a broad audience. The instrumentals are in lock step, building an authentic and upbeat ’80s dance vibe. Put the two together and boom – LexiconDon summer anthem. Does it get any better than that? Plus, and totally not a sexist thing here, I feel like girls are going to love singing along to this. It’s infectious. It’s what you hum in the shower without realizing it or sing in the car maybe without even really knowing all the words. Don’t get me wrong I like singing along too, but I have a lot of roommates, they watch a lot of SportsCenter… I just don’t really think it’s a good idea.

One of the big things that makes ‘Student Body’ for me is the imagery: school girls in plaid uniforms, forbidden love, the euphoria that comes with someone new. Add some seriously smooth synth work into the mix and it’s hard to come up with anything short of brilliant. Like ‘December Sunset,’ this song puts supposedly oppositional forces in juxt. But just as ‘December Sunset’ allows for a space for both hope and despair, ‘Student Body’ allows for a similar dynamic between love and lust, good intentions and questionable ones. The use of these themes reveal how fragile these distinctions are in the first place. Maybe I’m over analyzing, but I know LexiconDon is the kind of band that cares about every element of the production. As more and more people make music it feels like quantity sometimes wins over quality. I know a catchy hook is a catchy hook, but there’s no setting on an APC40 for soulful.

Posted by: Evan

Today I have two remixes for you by the wonderful Starsmith, a producer out of the UK. He has an impressive musical background, having received a classical performance degree from the University of Surrey, on the saxophone (yes really). After graduation he opted for electronica—which definitely was the cooler career path—and has since risen to fame with his remixes of such popular acts as Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Mika. This guy has serious chops and is beginning to get the mainstream recognition he deserves. He co-wrote a number of songs on Ellie Goulding’s debut LP as well as a song on Kylie Minogue’s new album “Aphrodite,” which both reached #1 on the UK Charts. He’s debuting his first two singles titled ‘Give Me a Break’ and ‘Knuckleduster’ on August 29th, so keep your eyes and ears peeled, because Starsmith is one to watch.

N.E.R.D. – Hot n’ Fun (Starsmith Remix)

First up, here’s something you don’t often see on Binary…a hip-hop song! Well, at least a remix of one. ‘Hot n’ Fun’ was released in early June by N.E.R.D., and features vocals by Nelly Furtado. Though it seems that a duo like that would make for mainstream magic, the song has yet to chart statewide. The problem is that the song is sexy, but it’s not very hot, nor very fun. It tries too hard to be sultry, and while it’s fast enough to groove to, it’s too slow to really get you sweaty. Which, as far as I’m concerned, is really what having fun is all about. But have no fear, because Starsmith got his hands on the original and completely solved all aforementioned problems by swapping funk basslines and guitars for a prog-influenced intro, and then at 1:18 a drop that will make you put down your drink and get your ass to the dance floor. Now THIS is fun. I know summer is coming to a close, but let this remix be your anthem for the next month, and I guarantee you’ll have an unforgettable time.

Penguin Prison – The Worse It Gets (Starsmith Remix)

While not quite the summer anthem for debauchery and drunken nights that his ‘Hot n’ Fun’ is, Starsmith’s remix of Penguin Prison’s ‘The Worse It Gets’ is nonetheless excellent. The original tune was melancholic new wave electropop in which frontman Chris Glover laments over the person he’s become—who he doesn’t seem to like one bit. Once again, Starsmith puts the fun into the music, and turns it up to 11. Forget the introspective lament; instead of dwelling on the bad, Starsmith takes Chris Glover’s vocal stems and highlights the songs one optimistic phrase, “I’ve got a car that I call Jenny; I take her out when there’s too much noise in my head. She’s always there to take me anywhere,” by framing it with a rocking guitar solo and bouncing, glistening synth beats. I can’t listen to this remix without smiling. It’s campy, it’s over-the-top, it’s amazing. I too have a car (not named Jenny—but who’s keeping track?) that I take out when there’s too much noise in my head. If I take it out and turn Starsmith’s remix on, I’m going to feel like all of my problems are a million miles away.

Posted by: Mikayla

Flash Mode is a virtually unknown  producer from Sydney, Australia with a bright future on the horizon. Try doing a quick little search online for him and you’ll likely be inundated with more information on cameras and Adobe flash than you’ve ever wanted. This may not be the case for long though. His remixes and original productions are really nice nibblets of new-wave disco house that deserve a spot on your beach cruising playlist. Here’s what we do know about Flash Mode: he’s really young… like 16 year old prodigy young, and he’s going to make some waves in the years to come. Just one more producer coming out of the vibrant Aussie scene pumping out quality producers like DCUP, Bag Raiders, Shazam, Cassian, Gloves, and a bunch more I’m probably forgetting.

Below we have a couple of his remixes, but he’s released a wonderful original called ‘Redshift’ that you can check out on his myspace or soundcloud page. Watch out for this kid in the next year or so… he should be popping up all over the place soon.

Knightlife – Discotirso (Flash Mode Remix)

The remix of fellow Aussie Knightlife’s Discotirso starts off with a funkified little loop that kicks things off real nicely. The first time I heard this I had a 360 degree head-nod sorta thing going on within 10 seconds. Not much build up here… you’re just thrown right into a world of neon lights and underground clubs without any warning. The disco is fully alive in this track. That break down and drop around 2:30 is really nice, and just keeps the disco chuggin’ along for the rest of the song. Really fun, upbeat, danceable track that in a lot of ways reminds me of Fabian’s ‘2 AM’. It may be little repetitive to some, but it’s hard to get tired of it. Solid work all around on this remix.

Hystereo – Gonna Love You (Flash Mode Remix)

His remix of Dublin’s Hystereo is really nice as well. A little bit older, this may be my favorite Flash Mode production that I’ve heard. ‘Gonna Love You’ is a bit more on the waning french house side of his spectrum. Also kicking off with a loop, this remix builds up with layer upon layer more clearly than ‘Discotirso’. The synths, bass, filters, claps, vocal samples, build ups and breakdowns are all just really crisp in this track. Well done for a dude that would barely be legal to drive a car here in the states.

Listening to this remix has me cruising around on a warm sunny day. It doesn’t really matter where the hell I am physically at the time, when I blast this and close my eyes I see palm trees and the beach, feel the warm summer wind in my face, smell sweet BBQ coming from the neighborhood… knowing that later I’ll be heading out with my friends, fresh sunburn and all. It’s just a feel-good song that inspires emotions that you wish would never end.

I’m really excited to see what comes from Flash Mode, and how he grows as a producer. My guess is that when mom’s not making him take out the trash or wash the dishes, he’s holed up in his bedroom making musical magic to one day blow our minds. Don’t forget this name…

Posted by: Dillon

I’m an emotional guy. I can’t help it. Most of the time I do a great job of not showing that in everyday life. Friends and family think of me as a level headed dude, but on my own thoughts and emotions can sometimes envelop my entire being. Music an important contributing factor to this, and often a song is what sends me into a tailspin. Sometimes it can be the songs that make litteral sense, like “Mr Brightside” or “Free Fallin”, but other times a word or a chord from an out of context song can send my imagination into overdrive. A lot of what this blog is about revolves around the songs that ‘dont make sense’. Much of the time we hear songs and we make of them what we will. We extrapolate emotional situations that don’t exist… we self aggrandize and center the world as if the song were written for our own sorrow. This, to me, is what makes music amazing.

Walter Sobcek has been on our radar for quite some time. They are an amazing talent and they deserve all the great things that are on their way. A few weeks ago when we were given their cover of Hall and Oates “She’s Gone”, a moment of intense emotional clarity came over me. I couldn’t help but listen to the song over… and over… and over again. Sonically, and lyrically, it made perfect sense. Yes, Hall and Oates are genius, but this version has taken things in a different direction that feels like it was written for me, and hopefully, for you.

Walter Sobcek – She’s Gone

My brain was in overdrive halfway through hearing this song on first listen. I wanted to write every girl I’ve ever been in love with to tell them this is how I feel. I wanted them to put headphones on, and experience what I was hearing. Sonically, this song is perfect. Its like floating down a river on a just-humid-enough day, with the bugs buzzing five feet above your head, but not bothering you. I listened to it and I wanted to find someone to tell about it. It made me want to reach out and connect, no matter how far away they were. It’s perfect as far as I’m concerned.

(Quick side note) I also wanted to comment on the growing obsession that hipsters have with yacht rock. I can’t really complain about it, since MacDonald, Chris Cross, Loggins, are legitimate influences in NightWaves’ music, as well as most of Binary’s childhood… but its worth noting. I guess this is part of the same backlash that started the chillwave and dreamwave movements, but this is an interesting faction of that because of the irony. There’s no doubt that a lot of people that host ‘yacht rock’ parties are listening to this stuff with the same taste of irony that people smirk with when they bump to Lil Wayne. (I love both for what its worth. I dont THINK I’m listening to it ironically). Hipster Runoff could probably elaborate properly. Either way, there’s no doubt people love this music because it represents everything that blog haus and dubstep isn’t. It’s musical, melodic, and emotional.

All of that said, Walter Sobcek taps into all of the familiar touchstones.

I can’t help but feel like I’m wrapped up inside a classic novel while listening to this song. She’s gone… She’s gone…… when I’m driving around it just makes me want to make desperate and rash decisions. Why have you gone away? Why didn’t you stay? We talk about emotion a lot here, but the unique thing is that we seem to talk a lot more about sorrow, sadness, and loneliness, than we do about feeling good. Rarely are we actually content with things. I’m sure it’s because music is best at helping us get through the shitty times. This song is undeniably melancholy, and yet when I hear it, I can’t help but feel the hope permeating throught the song. It made me want to reach out to a girl and tell her that she means something; that the future is bright. It makes me feel hopeful for my own future.

Walter Sobcek has tapped into something special here. I’m quite excited about the prospect of hearing more music that fits within these boundaries. The harmonies are nothing but gorgeous, and the production represents a giant step forward for the guys from France. The largest praise I can give the song is that it made me intensely jealous. Not only do I want to listen to it over and over, but hearing it gets me depressed because I want to mae something this beautiful. Kudos fellas.

PS. Don’t be dumb, go watch the video. It will make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

Walter Sobcek – She’s Gone (Video)

Posted by: Josh (Binary)

Oh Shit!, comprised of producers Devoe and Dirty Seaner, are based out of LA and their label, Velcro City Records, is based out of Denver. Being from Colorado myself I’d like to officially claim them as ours…LA can spare the talent. Those of you who aren’t familiar with Oh Shit! from their collaboration with Nightdrugs on “Everybody Needs” are in for quite a treat. These guys rock.

LexiconDon – December Sunset (Oh Shit! Remix)

Oh Shit! were a great choice for this remix because they’re some of the hardest working producers pumping out disco oriented tracks. They were able to offer up something distinctive without deviating too far from the original. The Oh Shit! version of LexiconDon’s ‘December Sunset’ is faster with lots of dancefloor potential and a bassy bounce; you could call it the 6 million dollar remix. The changes to the melody are substantial enough to give the track the energy it needs to flourish with its new BPM, yet subtle enough to satisfy fans of the original. Still, I feel like this mix really shines in its quieter moments. Breakdowns let the song catch it’s breath a bit and give the vocals  some well deserved attention.

Lucas Smith aka Robots With Rayguns is one of my favorite up and coming producers in blog house – a term I’m shamelessly stealing from Electro Wars. Lucas has got this great way of mashing a Kavinsky-esque electropop sensibility with hints of late ’90s techno. ‘Sugarbaby,’ a track off his upcoming LP “Electro Isn’t Dead,” is a perfect example. The synth is reminiscent of ‘Better Off Alone’ but somehow there isn’t anything eurotrashy about the mix; that’s hard to pull off.  The album title scares me though. “Electro Isn’t Dead”? Are people saying it is? I want their names…

The Robots With Rayguns mix departs more from the original than any of the other remixes out there.  I’m going to try to limit my post to the one Kavinsky reference, but after listening to this you’ll understand why that’s not an easy task. Some songs just beg for a Testarossa soundsystem.

LexiconDon – December Sunset (Robots With Rayguns Remix)

RWR’s inspired rework on the vocals pairs perfectly with the dreamy quality of the instrumental, all the while preserving the spirit of the original. The thing I like most about this track is that it’s not particularly mixable. Sometimes it feels like everyone is producing within the confines of the same cliched chord progressions and formulaic bar structures. Anyone who can count to four can tell what will happen next. That’s what I like so much about this mix: no big builds, no self-indulgent intros, just delicate retro melodies and an understated sense of angst. Glorious work. Anyway if you like this, check out “Kimberly” by Good Luck at the Gunfight – it’s got a very similar feel to it.

Posted by: Evan