Archive for the cheese tag

Null Device: Electrified

If you've never been to Madison, Wisconsin, you might have some preconceived ideas about it, possibly something involving cheese, football, and maybe beer. Sadly, you'd be missing out on Madison's real gem: their electronic music scene. It never ceases to amaze me just how much talent comes out of this one college town. They have loads of great bands, great venues, one of the best promoters I've ever met, and a friendly crowd of open-minded people attending events. Madison also has a weekend-long electronic music festival that I'm lucky enough to be involved in every year and highly recommend. And trust me, you'll see plenty of Chicagoans there that weekend.

Null Device is one of the bright stars of the Madison scene, an intelligent and interesting synthpop outfit that is as good on the stage as on the CD. Erics Oehler and Goedken get better and better with each release, and watching their fans frantically gobble up the latest offering at their shows, I get the impression that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Their 2007 album Excursions is still one of my favorites, aptly titled for its wanderings into styles that not only cross genres but the entire globe. Their 2010 contribution Suspending Belief comes out tomorrow (June 22) on Nilaihah Records.

Null Device is playing alongside fellow Madison talent Caustic and The Dark Clan at Darkroom on June 27 on their first US tour. It's a diverse lineup of long time friends and occasional collaborators that will definitely make for a fun show.

official website
Buy Null Device on bandcamp.com

Cph Jet: Just Can’t Get Enough

I hate "Just Can't Get Enough".*

There, I said it. It feels good to get that out there. It's not just that it's the one of the most overplayed cheesy chunks of pop I've ever had to push the play button on, it's that it's an overplayed cheesy chunk of pop from a band that has literally hundreds of other more interesting songs in their repertoire. For crying out loud, this is Depeche Mode we're talking about here, not some one-hit wonder outfit whose entire career rests on having one memorable single released in 1985 or something. We have so many other options, let's use them.

That said, when I heard this Cph Jet cover, suddenly it changed my whole opinion. Just as even the most bland food becomes delicious when battered and deep fried, I will swallow a chiptune version of practically anything. Anders Remmer replaces Dave Gahan's adolescent-sounding vocals with adolescent-sounding robots and Vince Clarke's cheesy '80s synths with cheesy '80s 8-bit video game synths. Is this awesome? Yes, yes it is.

From the exceptionally good but difficult to find Danish Depeche Mode tribute album DMDK, also containing a terrific cover of "Strangelove" by Tiger Baby; available via import on iMusik Denmark.
Anders Remmer's Wikipedia page

*Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this post do not represent the opinions of the rest of the Atomic bloggers, probably most of the Neo staff, and definitely not Kamar, who LOVES this song, no matter how many times he's heard it.