Dragonette are (kind of) back with a new song!

The Canadian pop outfit Dragonette are some of the best electropop musicians out there, and now they've got a new single coming out! Releasing new music for the first time since their cover of Neutral Milk Hotel's "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" last January, the trio have collaborated with Dutch DJ Mike Mago on a brand new house track called "Outlines". The song is already available on Soundcloud and YouTube, and it's properly out on August 15.





Ever since Disclosure broke through internationally (their AlunaGeorge collaboration "White Noise" was ranked the 2nd best song of 2013 on Popheaval's 'Best Of' list), you could really start hearing the influence of their deep house vibes in other music as well. "Outlines" has some elements of that same music style, while Basement Jaxx's recent(ish) single "Unicorn" felt equally Disclosure-inspired. Not that it'd be a bad thing at all. So, one does wonder: is the UK garage/deep house sound making its way to the mainstream consciousness again?

Anyway, in case you're interested, there's also a lyric video for the song (since they're clearly a 'thing' these days). Here you go:

Review: 'Fixin To Thrill' by Dragonette

In 2007, an album was released that in my eyes is one of the best electro-pop albums that I've ever heard. That album is called Galore and it's by the Canadian pop marvels Dragonette. It was such a near-perfect album that I gave it five stars in my review. However, with a phenomenal debut come huge expectations - how are you going to come up with a follow-up to such a solid album? It can't be easy, can it.

Yet, "It's easy / hard as it seems" sings frontwoman Martina Sorbara on "Easy", and it kind of answers my question as well. Released in 2009, Fixin To Thrill is the group's second album and marks a slight departure from their initial, straight-forward pop-rock style. It's not like they abandon pop music here either, but they do embrace a more electronic-oriented, even indie-like soundscape on the record. Fixin To Thrill also sees a change in Sorbara's persona: whereas on Galore she represented an archetypal sultry pop vixen, here she adopts a bolder and occasionally even juvenile character, which is also reflected in the music videos and the way they portray her.

So, there's a new Dragonette collaboration out.

The Canadian marvels of electropop Dragonette have a new song out. It's a collaboration with the Spanish DJ duo Buffetlibre with whom they previously worked on a remix of their 2010 single "Easy". The song is a cover of "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel and appears on Buffetlibre's new 4-track EP Elaine's Ghosts which consists solely of covers and features vocals by different guest vocalists. Other covers include Lorde's massive 2013 hit "Royals" (featuring Emanuel from I'm From Barcelona), "The Mother We Share" by Chvrches (featuring Jay Jay Johanson) and "Sometimes Always" by Jesus & Mary Chain (featuring Ed Harcourt and Catherine Ad).

The whole EP can be streamed on Buffetlibre's Soundcloud page. Furthermore, all the profits raised by the EP will go to Oxfam Intermón so it's also music for a cause. And what's greater than that?

Merry Xmas (Says My Blog Message)

Hooray, we've almost tackled year 2013 already and it's finally Christmas time! It's that time of the year when you're allowed to just kick back and relax, spend quality time with your nearest and dearest until the point of frustration and feast like all you want for Christmas is type 2 diabetes.

Christmas-themed movies tend to be rather drenched in romance and larger-than-life love stories so unless you have that special someone to hold on to while lounging about in front of the telly, you might feel that certain aching feeling deep within your chest and no, I'm not talking about cholesterol. Then again, you might also have experienced a holiday season heartbreak which would help you identify with Wham's ever-so-popular "Last Christmas". Indeed, pop music has given us a plethora of modern Christmas songs to bob our heads (or channel our disappointment) to, but while these songs are nowadays part of the whole "Christmas experience", they are the same bloody songs year after year after year. And you do grow weary of them, don't you. ("All I Want For Christmas" is never going to get old, though.)

So should you be looking for a new song to add to your Christmas pop canon, here's Canadian electro-poppers Dragonette with their 2012 single "Merry Xmas (Says Your Text Message)". Thematically it follows in the vein of "Last Christmas": one year ago, the storyteller was totally shagging someone but after being treated in a shitty way, now wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire. (That's obviously not the actual lyrics.) "Last December I remember when / you said you wanna give me everything / Now I look forward to / celebrate New Year without you". And singer Martina Sorbara's lyrics give you one example of how to deal with it: "Merry Xmas says your text message / But you're late by a  day or two / so mine says thanks a lot and fuck you". 

So there you have it. Fuck them and enjoy the magic of Christmas time! Remember to watch a lot of movies such as Love Actually and eat excessive amounts of chocolate. There's never too much chocolate. Hang out with your family and friends, and make sure there's always at least one board game on the table being played. Remember to relax, take it easy and make the most of it the way that pleases you the most!

Merry Christmas everybody!

P.S. The second half of my Best of 2013 list will follow... shortly.

One For The Weekend: 'Animale' by Don Diablo feat Dragonette

The weekend's here again. Too bad I've caught a cold so no partying for me... the chilly Danish weather got the best of me, it seems. So hear me guys, remember to look after yourselves. Oranges, for example, are an excellent way to take care of those vitamin C levels - just make sure they're not that kind of oranges as seen in the 'Animale' music video.





'Animale', the 2010 single of the Dutch DJ Don Diablo (try to say that after a couple of drinks) is a killer tune with infectious synth riff that makes you want to go bananas with citrus fruits and dance like you're living in a Skins episode. And hey, any music video that promotes fruit consumption is good, right?

Of course the clip actually refers to Requiem for a Dream, the heart-breaking and disturbing drug drama, and the oranges are obviously a metaphor for something less innocent they're getting high with. Which you probably noticed yourself. Anyway, the brilliant track also features Martina Sorbara of Dragonette (of whom I recently wrote about) in the vocals, so there's one more reason to love the tune. So go ahead, knock yourselves out to this song and have a great weekend!

Fun fact: after discovering this clip I started to get enormous cravings for oranges whenever hungover.

Another fun fact: people have told me I bear a striking resemblance to the protagonist of the video. After that I haven't been able to unsee it and now watching my unfortunate doppelgänger's fruit-fuelled adventures feels a bit weird, I'm telling you.

Review: 'Galore' by Dragonette

I've written about glorious debuts before - some bands just nail it straight away. That obviously comes at a price: it's hard if not downright impossible to write a follow-up to a flawless debut. Many of the groups whose debuts I'll review in this series have struggled to top their first albums, and Dragonette is no exception with their 2007's Galore. This is not because their latter albums wouldn't be excellent - they are - but because they went on and wrote a perfect pop album at the first attempt. 'Perfect' is a tricky word, I know, as it implies that nothing could be done better. However, the world we're living in isn't perfect and with an album this good and this close to pure pop perfection I dare to use it.