He Took Her To A Movie.

Ladytron fans, rejoice! Ladytron has just announced on their website that they are reissuing their first three albums, 604, Light & Magic, and Witching Hour, fully re-mastered and "featuring the original album track listings plus four bonus songs for each album." Sounds incredible! The bonus songs are either remixes of favourite tracks, or live versions. Could be an awesome year for Ladytron; their first single off the upcoming album, "Ace of Hz" is out now on iTunes, and the album itself will be coming out later this year. 


Ladytron's label, Nettwerk, has released through Sound Cloud a sample of six songs from their catalogue that you can, you know, click on and listen to. You can click on this link here to visit the Sound Cloud page. I've embedded the tracks themselves below. Included are "Playgirl," "He Took Her To A Movie (Live in Sofia)", "Seventeen," "Seventeen (Soulwax Mix)," "Destroy Everything You Touch," and "International Dateline (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)." Happy listening, everybody!

 Ladytron - Reissued by nettwerkmusicgroup 

Ambient Classic: Aphex Twin.

picture: coverlovers.blogspot.com

Just had to share this. My favorite writer from one of my favorite websites, Boing Boing has written a little piece this morning about a new video for the track "Gwely Mernans" off the 2001 Aphex Twin album drukqs. As Xeni Jardin writes, "No idea if this is sanctioned or 'unofficial,' but it's hard for me to imagine an approach that would fit the composition better."

I myself strongly agree with Ms Jardin. This clip, directed by Milan-based videographer Rino Stefano Tagliafierro, is essentially a moody black and white piece consisting of one long, drawn-out close-up of an attractive couple sharing an especially erotic open-mouthed kiss. Whether or not it's SFW is not my call to make - but you might want to wait until you're at home, in the dark, watching this video on full-screen with a glass of your favorite red wine at hand. And then, afterwards, light some candles and maybe some incense, and enjoy the aural sensation of Mr Richard James' other ambient masterpieces - say, Selected Ambient Works Volume 2, ... I Care Because You Do, or the 2003 Smojphace EP.

You'll then be in for quite a night - make it romantic, will you? Feel free to tell me how your evening went in the comments!

IN OTHER NEWS: Second Drawer Up will be moving to lovely Melbourne, Australia tomorrow, so there might be a few days until I'm up and running again. Thanks so much for your support and continued reading - I'm looking forward to keeping you all in the loop! Cheers!

Update and Free Music From Röyksopp!

Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, better known as the Norwegian chill-out electronica heroes Röyksopp, are incredibly busy bees these days. Just last year they released Junior, their third album (and, in my humble opinion, their finest and most complex); embarked on a fine worldwide tour promoting said album with featured collaborator Karin Dreijer Andersson, the lead vocalist of Swedish experimental electronica duo The Knife; popped up on Swedish chanteuse Robyn's fantastic new album Body Talk Pt. 1 (on the terrific song "None of Dem"); and now have a new album, Senior, coming out on the 13th of September. As Röyksopp themselves explain on their website:

"The two albums (’Junior’ and ‘Senior’) have a kinship, in that they represent Röyksopp’s two very different artistic expressions. ‘Junior’ – with emphasis on vocals, accessible melodies and harmonies, has the energy, the inquisitive temper and confident 'hey-ho, let’s go!'-attitude of youth, whereas ‘Senior’ is the introverted, dwelling and sometimes graceful counterpart – brimfull with dark secrets and distorted memories, insisting 'I’m old, I’ve got experince…'. Senior’ is furthermore an album about age, horses and being subdued – with devils breathing down your neck."

I myself find this to be excellent news! Röyksopp is on constant rotation in my household, and their albums -- The Understanding, Melody A.M., and the aforementioned Junior -- I find to be exhilaratingly gorgeous soundscapes, each with their own personality and inner rhythm. I can easily imagine Brundtland and Berge ("B+B"), with all their warmth and humor, likening them to their children. I've got to say, I'm really quite looking forward to Senior!

However, if one would like to download, for free, some new music from Röyksopp, then do I have some good news for that downloadable-music-for-free person. From now until the new album comes out, Röyksopp are giving a free song away every month. Yep, you read that correctly. A free song every month. And going all the way back to February. Here's the list of songs and their corresponding months:

February: Röyksopp -"Vision One" (Instrumental)

March: Gustavo Santaolalla - "De Usuahiah a la Quiaca" (Verson RYXP)

April: Steve Reich - "Electric Counterpoint III"

May: Röyksopp - "It's What I Want" (Instrumental)

June: Röyksopp - "Happy Up Here" (Instrumental)

... and, this month's musical piece,

July: Röyksopp - "Hus Nr. 9".

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO THE FREE SONGS.

So there you have it! And when Senior is in fact released, then by all means expect a juicy review, right here on these very pages. Cheers, my friends. But until then, I'd like to leave you with the mind-blowingly off-the-charts cool video of my favorite track off of 2001's Melody A.M. It's called "Remind Me," and it quite frankly is one of the most pretty and delicate pieces of electronic warmth to exude from my speakers in quite some time. It certainly is time to reclaim it from the aggrieved-cavemen-obsessed insurance people from GEICO, that's for sure.