Here are the top tracks the Plauge Boyz have been feelin’ lately.

Dalion: Toro Y Moi – Can I Get Love?
YouTube / JunoDownload

Okay. Kicking things off with an old friend, Toro Y Moi. He’s still stuck in the 80′s (or actually maybe the late 70′s), like a lot of people these days, but I’m not complaining. “Can I Get Love” is kind of sleazy and porny, instantly reminiscent of Boogie Nights. A nice tune for summer, a season that’s nearly a year away (sad face).

Milo: Lumeet – Galaxnikov
Spotify / JunoDownload / SoundCloud

Let’s not drift too far away from the frosted perm decade, but rather slip into a gas-guzzling muscle car and go for a ride through some mountainous terrain, while listening to this Lumeet tune on our brand new Blaupunkt tape deck. If that last Toro Y Moi track was Boogie Nights, this one is Knight Rider, all synths and popping bass and glittering chrome. You can practically see the Hoff driving around, shifting gears and checking himself in the rear view to this tune, am I right?

drS: Jesse & Jimi Tenor – Karaoke King
YouTube

Okay, we’re still in the eighties. But now we’ve entered some weird-ass cafe with neon-light art installations and people who are way into post-punk and leather jackets, probably. Jesse definitely went a new direction with “Karaoke King”, abandoning pumping electro, which honestly was getting stale, for a more subtle boogie approach with some surprising tropical touches, no doubt courtesy of Jimi Tenor, perhaps one of the most underrated musicians in our fair country.

wispy: Dub Phisix – Narrow Eyes
SoundCloud / BeatPort

Okay, enough eighties for goodness sakes. It’s time for some drum and bass, but this is definitely not your moms D’n'B-tune. Dub Phisix’s “Narrow Eyes” takes a lot of cues from glitch hop, dubstep and dubby techno. It’s a drum n bass tune which, in lieu of overplayed jungle breaks, relies on snapping percussive drums, sub bass touches and some rather nice MC work. Me likes.

Åke Kanaria: Rick “Poppa” Howard – Can Your Love Find Its Way?
YouTube

Rick “Poppa” Howard’s “Can Your Love Find Your Way?” sounds like that ye olde classice house sounde, and why shouldn’t it, because that’s exactly what it is. Taken off Motor City Drum Ensemble’s latest DJ Kicks-comp, this is a mellow little piano house number, understated and plain.

Azure: Motor City Drum Ensemble – L.O.V.E. (Kyle Hall Remix)
SoundCloud / HHV

Speaking of that Motor City Drum Ensemble compilation, here’s a tune made exclusively for that comp, now remixed. This is one of those long house burners, Detroit all the way.

Herman Prime: Storm Queen – It Goes On
Juno

Okay. The thing about this tune: it isn’t out yet. Apparently mr. Prime was so convinced that he will be playing this tune for a long, long time once it drops. Some of you may recognize Storm Queen as another alias for the boogie man Morgan Geist and if you didn’t, you do now. The track sounds exactly what you would expect: a bare-bones groove straight from the eighties (fuck! again!?) with some rather soulful and lovely vocals on top of the mix.

Esmuntutu: Tyga – Rack City
YouTube

I used to be a Native Tongues kinda dude. I wouldn’t listen to any rap that wasn’t “conscious” or didn’t have any “poignant social commentary”. Then I decided that it doesn’t really matter what the rapper’s saying as long as the beat is banging. After that I backtracked and decided that it does matter, that it has to be 70% hot song, 30% hot rhymes. Where am I going with this? Hell if I know. This Tyga tune kinda sounds like Ying Yang Twins’ “Whisper Song”.

Jukola: Arto Nuotio – Jos diggaat Pina Coladaa
MP3

Signor Jukola unearthed this Finnish cover of the Pina Colada song and fell in love, apparently. Well, to an extent that he spammed every single place in Facebook with it. Which is fine, you know. It’s really funny and fun and whatever. Wouldn’t advise on getting “Pina Colada” tattoo, tho.

Lars Palmas: Virgo Four It’s A Crime (Caribou Remix)
YouTube

Okay. So here’s some techno for y’all. I’m sure that mr. Caribou wouldn’t like me pigeonholing his music so cruelly, so I apologize (also: you played a great gig in Flow the last time I saw ya). Once again we’re in the 80′s (sigh), but this is definitely eighties revival, eighties with a twist. In this case the twist is a kind of DFA records treatment, I wouldn’t actually be surprised if this was out on DFA, with that actual drum kit and tight jeans-production.

Nikola MMI/Tesla: 7 Samurai – Brothers
YouTube / Juno

I close things off with an edit I just can’t get enough of. It’s a pretty simple and straight-forward edit of Willie Hutch’s “Brothers Gonna Work It Out”, but it fucking works. It removes the intro, which is admittedly smooth and soulful, and goes straight to that monster of a tom-drumming build, extends it and then lets the track loose.

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