RENDEZVOUS.

Back in the game in full force now, we've got for you the first taste of our upcoming single with the dazzling Mr. Little Jeans, out next month on Neon Gold. A significant departure from the roaring guitars of debut single "Angel", "Rescue Song" is her most intimate track yet, all soft tones and wintry comforts as the Norwegian chanteuse draws the listener to safety with her gentle, honey-throated vocals. Not content to let listeners relax in the wistful breeze of the original, The Royal Palms arrive on the scene to rework the track into a slow-burning disco epic on what's quickly becoming one of our favorite remixes of the year. The opening stanza is all steady drums and triumphant synth builds that kind of make you feel invincible - like listening to hip-hop by yourself or that last shot of tequila - until they throw a serious curveball at you 3 minutes in when the track drops (literally drops) into a massive four to the floor club monster, flashing lights and howling synthesizers running wild across the mix.

MP3: "Rescue Song" (The Royal Palms Remix) - Mr. Little Jeans [exclusive]

WE DON'T CARE IF THE SUN COMES UP.

With CMJ and our massive blowout party with Chess Club and Plugged In now firmly in the rear view mirror, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who came out for the night; it was far and away the most fun and successful event we've ever put on and a big reminder of why we even do this whole music thing in the first place. One of the many highlights of the evening was an absolute blinder of a set from The Knocks, capped off by their MASSIVE new single "Dancing With The DJ", easily the biggest track they've written yet with the serious potential to be a future chart smash with the right campaign behind it. With HeavyRoc homegirl Julia Tepper on the infectious central hook and Mr. JPatt sounding better than ever on the verses, it's on some serious Discovery-era Daft Punk shit, only more human and with a healthier appetite for raging. Basically it's your go-to party jam for the next six months, you can thank The Knocks later.

MP3: "Dancing With The DJ" - The Knocks

WHERE TO RUN.

UPDATE: Apparently the remix we posted last week was sent to us prematurely by Sony, and Vito wanted some more time to throw some studio magic at it. That said we were still very much all about it and it topped the Hype charts in spite of its work-in-progress status, but now the real deal finished product has hit our inbox and it's bigger and better than ever. To quote Vito himself: "I hope you guys can hear the difference because for me the difference is HUGE!". We feel you Vito, we feel you.

We've been loving the sights and sounds of Australia's Gypsy & The Cat since their brilliant "Jona Vark" first slipped onto our radar about a year ago, and it's with great expectations that we eagerly anticipate the release of their debut album in early 2011. First though, comes their new single "The Piper's Song", backed by a brilliant remix from a sonically rejuvenated Aeroplane.

Since parting ways with writing partner Stephen Fasano (now recording as The Magician) and going it solo under the Aeroplane moniker, Vito De Luca sounds like he's got a renewed lease on life and you can hear it in his work. Gone are the dark, brooding nite versions that defined the Belgian duo's vaunted early output, in its place a carefree jubilance that's a whole new look and feel for Aeroplane. Sounding more like Passion Pit than the Aeroplane of old, De Luca's "Piper's Song" remix is nothing but hands-in-the-air synth exuberance, trading the dramatic intensity of his early output with Fasano for a remix that's just fucking fun. Summer's back y'all, dive in.

MP3: "The Piper's Song" (Aeroplane Tape Remix) - Gypsy & The Cat [exclusive]

NEON GOLD + CANTORA PRESENT: CMJANE

CMJ is upon us once again, so to get things started we've teamed up with our good friends at Cantora Records - the fine people who first brought you MGMT, Emil & Friends and Francis & The Lights - to bring you CMJane, a big CMJ launch event going down TONIGHT at The Jane Hotel. Business starts at 10:30pm with good friends, cheap drink specials and the NYC's finest The Knocks spinning tunes all night long. Come one, come all - it's absolutely free and all you need to get in is a government-issued ID proving your 21 or older. Go HERE to RSVP and Facebook and get all other pertinent details for the event, hope to see some friendly faces out tonight!

CMJ 2010 // NEW SHAPES 2.0

It's that time again, as we make our way towards mid-October and the collective gaze of the music industry falls upon CMJ and all the beautiful chaos that comes with it. Last year we brought you the first annual New Shapes party, which saw everyone from Theophilus London and Darwin Deez to Chief and Local Natives grace the stage at Santos Party House. This year we're going even bigger with it, moving to the wide open spaces of Brooklyn and the multiple stages of Public Assembly, and it's finally time to bring the curtain back on what's easily the biggest event we've ever been a part of.

Chess Club are once again our partners in promotional crime for this event, and we've also teamed up with the UK's Plugged In PR to help us bring you one of the best and brightest line ups on offer at CMJ this year. It's all going down at Public Assembly on Thursday the 21st of October, from 3pm to 3am, with two stages and over 20 amazing new bands playing over the course of the evening. Below you'll find the full line up and schedule for the night, complete with mp3s so you can sample the artists on the menu for the evening. Tickets are currently on sale via the event page HERE, and at only $12 a pop that's a hell of a bang for your buck so you'd do well to move quickly and reserve your ticket today. And as this is an official CMJ event, we will also be opening the door to a limited number of CMJ badge holders, but as space is limited you'd be wise to arrive early to ensure entry.

NEON GOLD ROOM
04:00pm: The Good Natured (London) // MP3: "Your Body Is A Machine"
05:00pm: Body Language (Brooklyn) // MP3: "Huffy Ten Speed"
06:00pm: Samuel (Manhattan) // MP3: "I Heart NY" (Remix ft. Joell Ortiz)
07:00pm: Spark (London) // MP3: "Shut Out The Moon" (Monsieur Adi Remix)
08:00pm: Emil & Friends (Brooklyn) // MP3: "Sleepyhead"
09:00pm: Brahms (Brooklyn) // MP3: "Subtext Is Deadly"
10:00pm: Fenech-Soler (London) // MP3: "Lies"
11:00pm: The Sound of Arrows (Stockholm) // MP3: "M.A.G.I.C."
12:00am: Penguin Prison (Harlem) // MP3: "Worse It Gets" (Starsmith Remix)
01:00am: The Knocks (Manhattan) // MP3: "Make It Better"

CHESS CLUB ROOM
03:30pm: Santah (Chicago) // MP3: "No Other Women"
04:30pm: Savoir Adore (Brooklyn) // MP3: "Bodies"
05:30pm: Alex Winston (Detroit) // MP3: "Medicine"
06:30pm: Ava Luna (Brooklyn) // MP3: "Clips"
07:30pm: Oberhofer (Brooklyn) // MP3: "Away Frm U"
08:30pm: Devin Therriault (Brooklyn) // MP3: "I Don't Think I"
09:30pm: 1, 2, 3 (Pittsburgh) // MP3: "Confetti"
10:30pm: Grouplove (Los Angeles) // MP3: "Colours"
11:30pm: The Postelles (Manhattan) // MP3: "123 Stop"

Once again tickets are $12 (BARGAIN) and available online HERE. There's also a Facebook event page up over here, and you can stay up to date on all further updates via our official Neon Gold Records twitter feed here, which to be honest you should have probably already been following anyway.

GOLD020: STARSMITH

We've been driving the Starsmith bandwagon for as long as we can remember, so it's with great pleasure that we finally announce his hotly-anticipated debut solo single on Neon Gold, coming this October 18th. Two sides of scorching club electro, his debut 12" features lead track "Give Me A Break", a massive, club-swallowing anthem built around a huge Richie Family sample (from their track of the same name) that would have lit the clubs up all summer long had it seen a release six months ago. On the flipside we've got "Knuckleduster", an aggressive instrumental that provides the perfect compliment to it's A-side counterpart. Together they're the perfect teaser for his more vocal-based and pop-oriented solo work, set to drop in the new year with his debut album as he readies his debut album for release in 2011. From what we've heard from it, it's shaping up to be one of the fiercest debut albums of the year, so cop this 12" while you still can as Starsmith looks set to be killing the game for many, many years to come.

MP3: "Give Me A Break" (Radio Edit) - Starsmith [exclusive]

The record is available for preorder from the Neon Gold Shop and Puregroove now, and to celebrate the release Starsmith's curated an amazing line up for his single launch party, being put on by Scandalism at The Queen of Hoxton on October 23rd. Featuring a live set from Neon Gold favorites Clock Opera, as well as DJ sets from the amazing Russ Chimes and Alan Braxe - not to mention Starsmith himself - this looks like one of the best lineups London will see all fall, so anyone in town would do best to get involved. Full line up and ticketing information can be found at the Facebook event page for the night here.

IN THE CITY WHERE I'M FROM.

For a while now we've been making a strong case for Wolf Gang as the most underrated band in the UK, but with considerable love starting to come in from Pitchfork and his debut single proper slated for release on Atlantic next month, it's looking like that's starting to change. The single in question is the brilliant "Lions In Cages", a song we've been head over heels for since creative mastermind Max McElligott first sent us the demo over a year ago. The finished version is nigh-on perfect, a galloping technicolor epic Max recorded with the legendary Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT) that comes off like Arcade Fire covering "Viva La Vida", all ringing church bells and breathtaking strings arrangements. He's come along way since releasing his self-produced debut 7" with us back in 2009, and with his debut album finally within reach and penciled in for an early 2011 release, we couldn't be more excited for a band that's been fully deserving of rampant widespread praise for a longgg minute now.

MP3: "Lions In Cages" - Wolf Gang

And what better way to celebrate than with the band's first ever NYC shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn next week? First up next Wednesday we'll be putting them on downstairs at Santos Party House with support from Emil & Friends live and The Knocks on the 1's and 2's (not to mention a special live guest opening things up), before they head across the river to our friends at Bridge Club playing Glasslands on Thursday night. But not only is our Wednesday night show one of the more exciting lineups of the fall, it's also COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY FREE. That's right. $0. Free. No cost. Whatsoever. You have quite literally no excuse not to attend. Doors are at 7pm with the first band on shortly thereafter, and all you have to do to ensure your entry is RSVP at rsvp@neongoldrecords.com so you don't get turned away on the night if it reaches capacity. Come out, have a drink, have a dance, and join us in celebrating one of the best young games in the band right now.

PERILOUS THOUGHTS.

We got over trying to figure out how Penguin Prison manages to churn out remixes of such an insanely high caliber like every other week a while ago. There's no explaining it, it's just one of those natural phenomena you have to get past questioning and just enjoy, like the northern lights or the impossible attractiveness of girls in New York City. Here's his latest, this time for The Temper Trap's "Resurrection", off their upcoming remix album Conditions Remixed.

MP3: "Resurrection" (Penguin Prison Remix) - The Temper Trap

LET'S TOAST TO THE YOUNG BLOODS.

The Naked & Famous. Chiddy Bang. Together at last on the Neon Gold exclusive remix just in time for Friday night. Throw this on your stereo and turn your speakers up loud, your weekend just got a whole lot fresher.

MP3: "Young Blood" (Chiddy Bang Remix) - The Naked & Famous [exclusive]