Wicked review from the boys at IDJ -

The Japanese Popstars....

We Just Are: Live....

Gung-Ho Records....

This Northern Irish trio are proving to be quite an act and with live performances like the ones they’ve been racking up, it’s no surprise they are getting such attention.

With an industrial, rave-centric sound that is somehow smoothed out and made accessible without being tamed (a la The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy), this album is a recording of their live tour that has seen them potentially challenge Orbital for supremacy of live electronic acts. No track demonstrates this better than, ‘Rushed Jabb’ – quite simply… MENTALIST!

Jan Mikulin....

8/10....

Cheers IDJ!!

FREE Japanese Popstars tune!!!

To celebrate the release of the 'We Just Are: Live' album we want to give away one of the tracks for free! just click on this link to get Facemelter (live). Easy as that!

The Japanese Popstars 'We Just Are: Live' Out this week!!

The wait for some new material from The Japanese Popstars has been torturous because of there constant touring. But now we have the new live album out today that has some new bombs and classics from the first album. Here's the official press release:

THE SUNDAY TIMES: “DANCE MUSIC DARLINGS”

DJ MAG: “ONE PART KITSUNE STYLE DISTORTO-RAVE, ONE PART CLASSIC STADIUM DANCE THE LIKES OF WHICH WE HAVEN’T SEEN SINCE ORBITAL”

WORD: “LITERALLY AMAZING... THEY’RE INCREDIBLE LIVE TOO”.

NME:“CROWD-PLEASING ORB-MEETS-KRAFTWERK ANTHEMS...PULSATING PRODIGY AGGRESSION... IT’S TIME TO GET THE PILLS IN”.

MIXMAG: “THE MOST EXCITING NEW ELECTRONIC ACT ON THE PLANET”

POPJUSTICE: “F*CKING AMAZING”

THE GUARDIAN: “PICK OF THE WEEK: TOTALLY STUPENDOUS MECHANICAL POP MUSIC”

From the Nerve Centre Derry to Fuji Rock Japan….

52 weeks, 220 Shows, over 500,000 people, 135,000 air miles, 4 continents, 30 festivals, too much airport food, 1 smashed keyboard, 13 broken leads, (only) 2 blown monitors, 1 missed flight, and more laughs than you can imagine.

‘We Just Are: Live’ was recorded from The Japanese Popstars 2008/2009 WE JUST ARE tour that saw the Northern Irish trio deliver their sound (quite literally) to the planet.

Well on their way to becoming Britain’s hottest live dance outfit, Decky, Gary, and Gareth have hammered soundsystems this summer at Glastonbury, Glade, Rockness, Oxegen, Fuji Rock, Planet Love (supporting The Prodigy), and numerous other summer festivals.

They exploded onto the scene in 2008, with a debut album that received heavy praise from The Guardian, Word, Artrocker, NME, Clash, Popjustice, Mixmag, DJ, Radio 1, XFM, and many more, with critics hailing them as the rightful heirs to Underworld, the Chemical Brothers, and Orbital. Remixes for Depeche Mode, Beyonce, Grand National, Ting Tings, Shinichi Osawa, The Music, Groove Armada, and others - came thick and fast.

The Japanese Popstars’ live gigs have seen them tear up stages at Glastonbury, Fabric, Wireless, Oxegen, Matter, Warehouse Project, and countless others. Their tours have taken them across the UK, Australia, Japan, and beyond, supporting the likes of Justice and Basement Jaxx, and cementing a reputation for a blistering live set.

‘We Just Are: Live” features live versions of tracks from their debut album, plus new tracks including ‘Rushed Jabb’, ‘Catapult’, and ‘Kid Roppongi’.

Order album here

Buy from iTunes here

TV Advert for 'We Just Are: Live'

The epic new live album from the Japanese Popstars is hitting the shops on monday! We are pretty excited about this! Have a look at the advert we had made for the occasion....

Burn The Negative Live Video

As I've put previously in the blog, Burn the Negative played at the now legendary Ibiza Rocks on September 1st and killed it! Well we found this live footage on youtube taken from the gig. It features the boys playing 'Wonder Why'.

Arveen & Misk 'Hells Bells' EP on iTunes!

Arveen & Misk seriously mix it up with this EP! 'Hells bells' and 'Blow your whistle' have featured in any good party DJ's sets this summer and will carry on doing so well in to the xmas party season! The mix of electro and classic acid are something these boys are the masters of!

This EP has previously only been available on beatport but now you can get it on iTunes as well.

Download From iTunes here

or

Beatport here

Burn The Negative new double disc release!

Burn the Negative are re-releasing their album 'In The Atmosphere' with a bonus disc featuring a load of sexy acoustic versions and a couple wicked B Sides they have done.... Here's the official press release -

Burn The Negative’s blend of new wave electro pop casts a wry and canny eye over relationships, fame, and late Noughties Britain.

Signed to Gung-Ho Recordings, home to The Japanese Popstars, Gus Gus, Zoo Brazil, Petter & The Pix, and others, Burn The Negative have just been added to ITB’s roster, the live agency that represents The Verve, Soulwax, Hot Chip, Roisin Murphy, and many more.

The four piece band cite Japan, David Sylvian, Gary Numan, Sonic Youth, Bowie, Baby Ford, Nine Inch Nails and a dozen others as holding key spots in their music collections.

All local lads, Mark Baker (vocals), Gary Little (synths/techie stuff), Gareth Milburn (bass/synths), and Lee Smith (guitar/backing vocals), formed in their native Carlisle in February 2008. Mark and Gary have worked together for over a decade, as techno producers, Lil Devious, while Gareth and Lee played in several indie bands. Exemplifying this decade’s fusing of electronica with guitar pop, the four-piece found common ground and began building a name for themselves on the live circuit.

Debut album, ‘In The Atmosphere’, was recorded between Carlisle and Abbey Road Studios (the legendary studio liked their material so much, they featured the band on their website). It’s a unique concoction of energetic trashy disco blended with electro beats, New Romantic rhythms and the spirit of ‘70s punk, ‘80s rock and ‘90s house.

The current single, ‘Wonder Why’, nestles between the epic electronic pop of ‘Low’, ‘Lights’, ‘Travelogue’, and ‘Only For Tonight’. ‘She Said She Said’ and ‘You Control Me’ are fine examples of their drum machine synth-rock, while the shimmering electro funk of ‘Time’ and ‘Change’ sit perfectly alongside instrumental tracks such as ‘Life In Hansa’, ‘Hero In Tokyo’ and ‘Secret Garden’.

Buy the 2 Disc album here

We released The Yank 'We can't be stopped' last week and its flying out of beatport! the words getting around about the wicked sample used in amongst the wonky electro mayhem! Its a true party tune. Get on board and buy it this weekend folks!

Tom Maddicott 'Ravor' EP

The Debut release Production from Producer / DJ / Promoter Tom Maddicott gets its release proudly on Gung-Ho! With a monstrous electronic line and huge bassline ploughing through,it’s an absolute call to arms. ‘Laugh out Loud’ adds some quirkiness to the package with some heavy acid stabs. Tom has already been asked to play on Radio 1’s Introducing tour. Things are looking good.

Aside from recent remixes and productions, Tom has been running his Bath based ‘Metropolis’ night for the last 6 years and has built it to become one of the best underground house nights in the UK with appreances from the likes of, Erol Alkan, Mylo, Switch, Annie Mac, Jon Carter, The Japanese Popstars , Herve, Sinden, Alex Metric, Jesse Rose, Simian Mobile Disco (who Tom is tour DJ for) and many more.

For 2 weeks in a row Pete Tong has played The Japanese Popstars. Friday just gone (4th Sept) he played B.C.T.T and described it as 'sounding pretty heavy' . The week before that Pete played Catapult saying 'one of the more ecliptic and very good one's' from the album and describes the boys live performance as 'lively!'!!

Pretty solid reaction from one of the biggest voices in dance music! Teeing us up well for the release of the 'WE JUST ARE LIVE' album out 21st September.

You can listen again to the whole Pete Tong show here

And its probably a good idea to Pre order the Live album so there's no waiting around. Click here to pre order

Burn the Negative @ Ibiza Rocks

Last night Burn the Negative played the sunset slot for Ibiza Rock. The line up also included the brilliant Soulwax. The early reports from the gig are shouting the boys from Carlisle massive praise! Here's what they are saying about them on the island - "Burn The Negative supported Soulwax last night. Really good fun gig - nearest comparison I can make is that they are like an electro version of The White Lies. We had a great chat with them after the gig, really down to earth guys - see them live, buy their records…burnthenegative.co.uk"

Big thanks to Ibiza Rocks and www.ibiza-blog.com for the great piece you wrote about the band and all the great photos with the blog!

Japanese Popstars new live tune on Pete Tong Radio 1

Last Friday night Pete Tong played 'Catapult'. a brand new track taken from the Japstars forthcoming live album. He said 'one of the more ecliptic and very good one's' and describes the boys live performance as 'lively!'

Massive thanks to Pete and if you want to here it you can listen again from here - Pete Tong Radio 1

'Bring Back Love' Review!

'Bring Back Love' got a wicked review this month in Tillate mag. Here's what it said -

"Rarely do the guys at Gung-Ho! pick up a dud and its yet more quality uncovered here - Glide & Swerve will certainly stand out from the labels pool of edgy electro artists; instead, these guys specialise in Balearic house and electronica and they've come up with an absolute sweetheart of an album. Mostly instrumental (though vocal tracks like 'And I Smile' work too) this is like a aural therapy - particularly when it gets deep and dubby on 'The Journey Back'. This is faultlessly chilled, lovely listening. 7/10"

On that note make sure you pick up a copy -

HMV - Order here

iTunes - Buy now here