The notorious Safetybear (aka David Bratton) — all-around swell dude and one of Tass Times’ most reliable sources for great new music to check out — also happens to comprise 50% of the rad electro-pop duo Oars. They were recently profiled over at Stay Thirsty Media and answer the question you know you’ve been dying to ask them yourselves:

“What happens when you put a self-described jazz geek from Seattle and ex-BMX rider from east of LA in a recording studio for half a year?”

Well pals, the mystery is cleared up here!

Check it out, then do yourself a big favor and iTunes up their debut album, full of irresistible ants-in-your-pants-so-just-dance tunes by two super-talented, multi-instrumentalist, knob-twiddling (and guitar rocking, keyboard pounding, microphone checking…) electronic evil geniuses. OK, fine, they’re not evil. More like a ray of headphone sunshine peeking through your dour-as-of-late heavy rotation MP3s.

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According to their Myspace page, “Nortec Collective emerged from the burgeoning Tijuana electronic scene, performing a style of music that they invented called Nortec - a fusion of Norteño (”from the North”) and Techno, documenting the collision between the style and culture of electronica music, characterized by hard dance beats, and samples from traditional forms of Mexican music.”

Well, ¡cada día se aprende algo nuevo!

You could get TRS-80’s “The New You” on limited edition blue vinyl or just save up the cash for one of these. Either would be money well spent…

’nuff said.

“And Then So Clear” (from the 2005 album Another Day On Earth) very well may be my favorite thing he’s ever done. In the video below, Eno discusses the process he used to distort his voice for this and other tracks on that album.

It’s humbling to see that so many people are capable of creating truly moving music. The Radiohead Remix competition Radiohead Remix is filled with some pretty great interpretations of their recent track ‘Nude’. I made an interpretation of my own and posted it today.
For your enjoyment:
Nude - Battlestar Remix