And why not start your weekend with a brand new Frankmusik track? Losing Streak, a collaboration with Computer Club, is the first appetizer from his sessions for the second album (in the works and rumoured to be called, as for now, Follow The Leader). I'm really liking this new direction, it's always refreshing to hear some good ol' dirty electronica! While we wait for more information on this new project, start your weekend with a bang and enjoy the new tune below!
Frankmusik vs. Computer Club - Losing Streak (mp3 via The Culture Of Me)
If, at first listen, you have mixed feelings towards Complete Me, then don't feel bad, you are not alone. My primary reaction was the same and mainly caused by what Stuart Price, who co-produces this record, has done to the overall sound. Which is actually not much (mainly turning the beats fatter) but still enough to make me feel confused in the beginning, sort of missing the DIY dry sounds of the Frankisum EP. But still, something addicted me in a way that I couldn't stop hearing it over and over again, until nothing else mattered than the fact that this is actually a brilliant collection of pop songs like all pop albums should be: versatile, fun, human and even a bit volatile. So besides the trademark ZX spectrum sounds that made his name in his early days ("Gotta Boyfriend", "In Step", "When Your Around"), we have ballads a la Keane which sound much better than Keane will ever dream of being ("Your Boy"), cheesy 1980's pop anthems - but "cheesy" in the best way possible ("Better Off As Two", "3 Little Words", "Wonder Women"), touching moments ("Complete Me", "Vacant Heart"), experimental electronic ballads that are just incredibly amazing ("Done Done", "Run Away From Trouble"), and much more, while everything still sounding very unique and individual - very "Frankmusik". Hell, he even has a charming and "nice guy" personality that seems almost too perfect to be true (and maybe that's why some critics have been trying to start a backlash and writing pointless and mean reviews - yes NME, I'm looking at you). So basically, a new pop star is officially born. Now show your love. (8,5/10)
One of my female tips for 2009, Ellie Goulding has a touching vulnerable voice and great song-writing skills. In this song, her lovely introspective charms are joined together with the electro-pop midas-touch of Frankmusik, one never shy to add a bit of vocoder here and there. The result, marrying folk with electro, is nothing short of brilliant and one of the best songs I've heard in a while.
A few more months and these guys will be everyone's favourite new band. Stick-in-your-head melodies, an absurd amount of involving keyboards and infectious synth-lines, and so much loud energy and intense exuberance that, when getting into the chorus, they have no choice but to slow it down and make a catchy-as-fuck love declaration.
The original is just an average rock track, but Bo Flex (a.k.a. Ayad Al-Adhamy, a Passion Pit member that also doubles as producer of Giantess) takes it into a whole new level, immersing the melody into layers of icy synths and unashamedly dated keyboards and handclaps, creating a celebratory anthem to shout out loud.
This is probably as close as I'll ever get to the feeling of having a future pop star playing for me and about a dozen more people in what could be my living room...
(filmed on the 04-12-2008 at Cabaret Maxime in Lisbon, Portugal)
Keeping on with some more acts to watch out for in 2009, Frankmusik is 22-year-old Londoner Vincent Frank, who has been causing some waves for a few months now with his impredictable mixture of power-pop, eighties music, electro and a few more sounds that seem to come directly from a ZX Spectrum computer, as seen in his debut EP "Frankisum", with refreshing results. So much so that super-producer Stuart Price has recently manifested his interest to collaborate with him, updating one of his anthems "3 Little Words" into a brand-new ridiculously catchy affair set to win the hearts of more than a few people. All this could not be complete without a video full of eighties pure-fun innocence (a.k.a. Tom Hanks in "Big"), so there you go. Expect this guy to change the face of electro-pop in 2009 with his first full-length album.
As a bonus, here's another song with Vicent showing his more sensitive side...
