Carly Rae Jepsen

"Call Me Maybe" is THE song of 2012. I absolutely love it. It's so happy and exciting and fresh sounding. It makes me feel so good. The lyrics are cute but true to life, Ms. Jepsen sings well and the production is great, especially the orchestral swells that fill in the space during the chorus. It's an instant classic pop single, something we need more of so badly in this cultural dry well of the new millennium. A lot of other people like it too: so far it has spent 9 weeks at no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It also seems like it came out of nowhere. Who is Carly Rae Jepsen? Well, she's from Canada. And she actually released a whole album in 2008 called Tug of War, a collection of gentle folk rock songs. In short, absolutely nothing like "Call Me Maybe". Skip forward to September of 2011, when "Call Me Maybe" is released as a single for her extended play album Curiosity. The song is immediately a hit, and has become an even bigger hit since then.

I'm going to ignore her associations with Justin Bieber, and just focus on something positive, like her clean cut image and good sense of personal style.

The Curiosity EP is pretty good. Of course nothing else on it is as good as "Call Me Maybe", but I like "Curiosity" and "Picture". Both of them have two things that Ms. Jepsen needs to do more of: good hooks, dance beats, and electronics. Ditch the acoustic guitar, turn up the Yamaha keyboard and digital processors.

"Call Me Maybe" was also released with a bunch of remixes, only one of which (the Almighty Club Mix) really stands out. Honestly, what "Call Me Maybe" really needs is a hardcore techno disco reworking by, ehum maybe some of the neo electro artists I've spotlighted here. Imagine it in the hands of Grum or Adeyhawke? Just give me credit after.

Fortunately, Carly has a new album coming out this fall called Kiss. It's make or break. If Lady Gaga is our new Madonna, Carly Rae Jepsen can be the next Kylie Minogue if she wants to. In other words, just as entertaining, but way less pretentious and bitchy. There is a void for uplifting disco queens she can fill. Go Carly!

New Find: Cusax

Tonight I sat at Starbucks sketching and listening to Cusax's "High School Romance" over and over again. It's truly a masterpiece and a musical highlight of the month for me.

Cusax - High school romance

Cusax combines the talents of Chris Faccone (Savage House) and Chris Stallone (80s Stallone). They have just one EP appropriately called "Got That Feeling". Just listening to "High School Romance" almost gives me goosebumps. It is SO good, melancholic yet driving, with a hypnotic repeating center melody and yearning, aching sky high synth swirls. The rest of the EP may not have the same magic but are still serviceable neo-disco synth instrumentals.

They are offering their EP here for free. Grab it.

Moment of Electro Zen

Speaking of Harold

I may have spoken too soon when I suggested Mr. Faltermeyer is in some sort of exile.

While he did drop off the face of the earth after scoring Tang and Cash in 1989, Faltermeyer is back. Cue the "Axel F." theme.

Apparently the director of the 2009 film Cop Out asked Faltermeyer to score the film, and that Faltermeyer did.

The jury's still out on this one. Should Harold Faltermeyer have stayed in retirement? You be the judge.

Giorgio Moroder records with Daft Punk

Giorgio Moroder, the electronic music pioneer and "father of disco" who wrote and scored dozens of soundtracks from the '70s and '80s, has teamed up with neo electro act Daft Punk for their upcoming album.

Daft Punk, despite their newfound celebrity in the post-millennial era, have actually only released three proper studio albums in the past two decades, the last of which was the highly controversial 2005 Human After All. That album was actually my introduction to them and it holds a special place for me in the summer of '05 when I graduated from high school. I loved it then and I still do now. But after their live album and score for Tron, it's going to be interesting to see what they do next.

Now Moroder, who is age 72, has recorded a rap with Daft Punk in which he speaks about his life and career making electronic music. They set him up in a recording booth and asked him to speak about his experiences from each decade starting with the '60s while speaking into microphones from the corresponding era. Supposedly he asked if anyone would know the difference and the sound engineer responded "They will know." Because this is Giorgio Moroder we're talking about.

Nile Rodgers and Paul Williams are also working on the album.

If you look at Giorgio Moroder's discography, it's lengthy on collaborations but short on straight up studio releases. But I guess when you're the person who created "The Chase" for Midnight Run and helped Donna Summer make the prototypical trance song  "I Feel Love", you don't need to prove yourself. Not surprisingly, his work also drops off the radar in the early '90s (although not before one last tango with Ms. Summer with the excellent "Carry On") and has not done any producing that I'm aware of this century. But because his original works were so mesmerizing and his physical appearance in the '70s and '80s so cheesily memorable (handlebar mustache, aviator sunglasses), he has been cited as the source of inspiration for countless electronic music artists across several generations and is a household name. Which means that since he hasn't made many appearances, he's ripe for a comeback. He's already expressed interest in working with Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. 

Now if only someone could coax Harold Faltermeyer out of the shadows.

Paging Electric Youth

Although they have a pretty short discography, Electric Youth has made up for it in content. Bronwyn Griffin supplies the vocals and Austin Garrick is presumably doing the rest.

They have just one self-released album to their name, The "Replay" EP, which has only two original songs and then four mixes of one of those songs.

They also made an excellent contribution to the legendary 2009 Valerie and Friends compilation called "Faces". Seeking out the compilation is worth it alone for that track with Ms. Griffin's soaring voice.

What have they been up to this year? As far as I can tell, just one appearance on the track "Wish It Could Last" from the Pelifics EP "Lifetime".

Bottom line: they need to do more. Right now. Electric Youth? Where are you.

Upcoming Kolour Kult Performences

• August 2: Building 16
• August 24 (my birthday!): Downcity Sound Stage

Moment of Electro Zen

FPU

FPU is best known for their 2002 cover of the synth classic "Crockett's Theme". They do a good job working with that ice-cold new millennium style. Their cover was very influential in the early electroclash scene and helped introduced a whole new generation to a quintessential television show of the '80s. 2002 suddenly seems like a long time ago, but FPU's cover still sounds fresh.

The man behind the project was Swede Peter Benisch. Judging from his discogs profile and the other alias he used he was active in the late '90s and early '00s but hasn't done much after FPU's releases. It's a shame.

Little did I know that Mr. Benisch/FPU also released just one full length album of material in 2003 called Traxxdata, which includes "Crockett's Theme". I immediately grabbed this, expecting a whole album of gems in the vein of Jan Hammer. I was initially terribly disappointed, but upon re-listening tonight I've definitely appreciated the album more now. FPU was only paying homage to a synth great with their cover. They had no intention of replicating the formula over and over. Instead, the rest of Traxxdata is edgy alterna-technoid beats more along the lines of Aphex Twin and CFCF. There are no overtly retro moments here, although some songs are definitely in the best spirit of new wave. Some songs also have the overused vocoder, a slight misstep, but it works within the songs.

Benisch betrays his heritage with sounds as fitting of the snowbanks of Scandinavia as they are of Miami Beach. Everything is cool and slick but never simplistic. Highlights include "You Don't Pay My Bills", "Time Safari" and "Eastside Protection", the latter two which were extra tracks on the Crockett's Theme single.

I highly recommend adding this forgotten release to your collection. It's a great document of the early neo electro era from a mysterious talent we may never hear from again.

Un-Glum With Grum

Grum is the stagename for Scottish musician Graeme Shepherd.

He is a prolific remixer but 2010 saw the release of his first and so far only album, Heartbeats.

The minute I first heard "Through the Night" I knew it borrowed something from someone but I couldn't figure it out where until I shamefully had to google it and discovered it used part of the chorus melody from Toto's "We Can Make It Tonight", which I was into many years ago and loved.

The real highlight is the title song, this insanely catchy and simplistic dancefloor rave up where Grum remixes the chorus from Don Johnson's first foray into pop music for maximum ear pleasure. It is SO good. Grum's formula is taking the exact euphoric moment of an '80s soft rock song, even sometimes just a phrase or one word, and then adding a hardcore, hi-tech production to cushion it, and repeating it over and over. Off the top of my head, Adeyhawke has also done this well with "Groove". It works here too. Grum's songs are so cool, so giddy and well done you really can't help but shut up, smile and dance.

Oh, and the cover art was kinda cool too.

Grum accompanied Heartbeats with a ton of singles and remixes, but we haven't seen anything new from him since. Here's hoping we do.

Catching Up With Miami Nights '84

Miami Nights 1984 is the stage name for Canadian Michael Glover, whose obsession with the synthesizer led him to start Rosso Corsa records, a huge pusher of this great stuff. I had no idea MN84 started that label and am doubly impressed with his profile now.

His first project was called Actrazer, which I've never heard of but will definitely check out now. His second project is  Miami Nights 1984, no doubt taking inspiration from all things Miami Vice. Miami Nights is characterized by big disco beats, huge washes of synths and melodic leads.

His first album was the appropriately titled Early Summer released in 2011.

The standout track for me is "Elevator of Love"; even MN84 himself cites this as one of his favorites. He nails a memorable synth melody right away, although he hesitates to fully flourish it. He definitely needs to revisit this song and give it the full extended treatment it deserves. Buy it here. I bought it on itunes years ago I was dying to hear it so bad.

Fortunately he has just followed up that album with a new one released this past March 2012 called Turbulence. It's even better than his first album and has become one of my top neo electro albums yet. I absolutely love "Clutch" and "Ocean Drive". MN84 has expanded his palette to include jittery Tangerine Dream-esque sequencers, orchestral clashes, and sharp drum patterns that give the album an ever so slightly more modern edge. He aces the feeling of pure hi-tech speed and adrenaline with "Clutch". When I play the song while driving my little Honda Civic practically transforms into an Lamborghini Countach. Not really, but almost. I also like the amazing melancholic ending synth coda, which comes way too late, but still good nevertheless. Buy it here.

MN '84 also had a brush with a different kind of fame when he officially remixed Gotye's excellent Sting-soundalike "Somebody That I Used To Know."

Here's hoping the future brings more music from this excellent artist and that he continues to oversee Rosso Corsa.

I'm back...