Welcome to NEOLOOP


Step in to the Neoloop, have a look and listen!

You'll find a cornucopia of tasty tunes to bounce off your eardrums. I update with new tunes, art and photography every week, depending on what I'm doing and listening to at the time, old and new. I'm based in London UK but I love to travel and discover new music along the way and share my musical journey on neoloop.

Please support the artists and buy their music. If you are or represent an artist being featured on here and want me to remove something, email me.

Happy listening!

Neo

Email: neo@neoloop.com
  Heavy Rotation
  Category Cloud
  Albums of the year
Jan 31st, 2010 21:59pm

Texan outfit Spoon release their seventh album Transference this week in the UK. Who Makes Your Money is hypnotic tune that snakes around your head and keeps your head nodding all day. looping samples and rough edge production feels very organic with an emotional vocal from Britt Daniel. The band formed in 1993, have turned in an enjoyable album that should last well into the summer and beyond. Maybe this one will give them some mainstream success in Europe. Well worth checking this new album and previous long player Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Recommended.

Official site, Buy it on iTunes

Categories: Alternative, Rock
Jan 29th, 2010 01:02am

Another Bobby Womack guest appearance, the original version of Wake Up Everybody is taken from Rae and Christian's second album Sleepwalking. This version is from Nocturnal Activity Sleepwalking Remixed, Bobby had quite a quiet period leading up to doing this back in 2001. Still sound fresh and soulful today, listening to the Gorillaz new tune Stylo reminded of this.

Rae & Christian are Grand Central Records' founder Mark Rae and fellow producer and DJ Steve Christian. Although they never officially split as a group, Rae & Christian released their last material in 2002. Rae also co-wrote tracks with Mr. Scruff.

Like This Try: Nightmares on Wax, Mr. Scruff, Aim

Buy more of their stuff on iTunes here

Categories: Electronic, Soul
Jan 29th, 2010 00:56am

First single Stylo is a quality return from the genius of Damon Albarn's virtual band. Featuring Bobby Womack’s trademark croon and Mos Def, who will join Gorillaz as an animated character named Sun Moon Stars. Damon's unmistakeable soulful tones introduce us to the new style, before Womack enters into the Gorillaz world with a passionate chorus, Mos Def brings the track to a close, subtle in the mix.

The follow up album from the highly successful Demon Days is Plastic Beach due to drop 8th March. Albarn continues to attract stella cameos on Plastic Beach, Bobby Womack and Mos Def are joined by Snoop Dogg, De La Soul, Kano Bashy, Lou Reed, the Fall’s Mark E. Smith, Little Dragon, Gruff Rhys and the Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon all making appearances on various tracks.

Gorillaz will headline the final night of the Coachella music festival on 18 April 2010

Like This Try: Neon Neon, Rae and Christian, Yuksek

Pre-Order on iTunes, Official Site, Bands place in MySpace

Categories: Alternative, Electronic, Soul
Jan 28th, 2010 00:44am

An Epic track from These New Puritans, I've had a copy of These New Puritans new album Hidden for a while and it's a hard listen first few times around. A challenging album that I keep coming back to. It's an ambitious complex affair, full of innovation and intrigue that is sure cause much debate. The song structures are intricate yet expansive. The tune here, their first single off the album, We Want War enters with a slow tribal beat declaring war with a fanfare of trumpets, whispered voices smoke in and the pounding rhythm, the beats slowly building up and gaining speed, like Massive attack fighting with The Prodigy, tribal drumming and chants of 'We Want War' with flashes of samurai swords until the mayhem breaks for some reflective verse, with spiritual voices swirling around the madness, everything building around the dark dramatic orchestral swell and clattering drums, then a sudden swipe of the sword, the battles over and the mood turns quiet and dies in the mist. a captivating epic masterpiece. Now watch the video!

These New Puritans are a British art rock band from the Southend-on-Sea area!

Bands place in MySpace, Official site, Buy the album on iTunes

 

Jan 24th, 2010 12:45pm

Lush Melodic groovy sing-a-long, wonky blips and sound effects, clap your hands to the beat and nod your head to the stomping piano and synths. Danger Mouse has done it again, this time he's not just producing, he's in the band. Broken Bells are a the duo of Brian Burton (Danger Mouse) and James Mercer of the Shins. Everything Danger Mouse touches at the moment is given a seal of quality, jumping from genre to genre it's all about good music. This is the first single taken from their debut album which will be released on 9th March, the rest of the album is much in the same vibe, Your Head is on Fire and The Ghost Inside are two other stand out tracks. Danger's production is exceptional throughout, loads of layers that all dip in and out in perfect harmony and Mercer's vocal soars beautifully with the backing harmonies. RECOMMENDED.

Like This Try: The Shins, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Beach House

Official Site, Bands place in MySpace

Categories: Alternative
Jan 23rd, 2010 20:03pm

Diggin' the scene with a gangsta lean!

After listening to the new Massive Attack album I dug out Blue Lines (1991), a total masterpiece from start to finish, their cover of William DeVaughn's Be Thankful for What You Got features in the middle of the album with vocals by Tony Bryan. Listen here to DeVaughn's original version from 1974, it sold nearly two million copies on its release, reaching #1 on the U.S. R&B chart. Massive Attack's version is a cool and sophisticated update, William DeVaughn's is classic mellow soul groover oozing charm authenticity that still sounds so good, I'm digging his scene with the gangster lean.

Like This Try: Curtis Mayfield, M.F.S.B, Lou Rawls

Buy it on iTunes

Categories: Soul
Jan 23rd, 2010 18:20pm

Woozy organs carry you through the disturbing dubby darkness while Robert Del Naja's hushed rap caresses the moody beats. Yes! Massive Attack return with a new album next month, the duo’s fifth studio album, Heligoland (named after a German archipelago in the north sea) is out 8 February, 7 years after the release of their last album, the disappointing 100th Window. All in all Heligoland is an accomplished album, with their well respected eclectic address book they have pulled in an impressive cast of vocalists, Damon Albarn, Guy Garvey, Martina Topley-Bird, Horace Andy, TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe and Hope Sandoval. Atlas Air is the album's closer, a reworking of a previous live track called Marrakech. I still long for the soulful euphoria of their debut album Blue Lines, that will remain an all time classic, we just have to accept that they were a different band then and it will never be repeated. Heligoland is due for a complete rework from dubstep producer Burial much in the same vein as '95's Mad Professor's remixing of No Protection. Certainly one to look out for.

Pre-Order new album on iTunes, Official Site

Categories: Alternative, Dub, Electronic, Soul
Jan 22nd, 2010 00:13am

I'm Overdosing on old Gil Scott-Heron tunes at the moment, and they don't get any funkier that The Bottle. Definitely Gil's biggest and most commercial tune, Gil signed a one album deal for the Strata East imprint, out of New York, in 1974 with Brian Jackson, and released the album Winter In America, which contained the original version of The Bottle. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. The track features Jackson's superb flute playing and Scott-Heron on keyboards, while singing and rapping about alcoholism, drug addiction, abortion, and incarceration, but it sure is funky.

Scott-Heron later said of the single's success and style, "Pop music doesn't necessarily have to be shit." Indeed!

See that black boy over there, runnin' scared his ol' man's in a bottle. He done quit his 9 to 5 to drink full time so now he's livin' in the bottle.

Like This Try: Roy Ayers, Sly and the Family Stone, Fatback Band

Categories: Disco, Funk, Soul
Jan 20th, 2010 00:01am

Did you feel that rumble, did you hear that sound!

Following Gil Scott-Heron's return to the recording studio I've been prompted to have a dig in the old crates for some old gems. Not a main stream tune, Shut 'Um Down is from the album 1980 released that year, it's all upbeat funk and soul with Gil's protest messages. This is a call to shut down all the nuclear power stations. Gotta work for earth for what it's worth 'cause it's the only earth we've got, shut 'um down! It's from the vinyl, so there's a few pops and crackles in there.

Like This Try: Roy Ayers, Sly and the Family Stone, Dr John

Gil's official site, Get all Gil's old albums on iTunes

 

Categories: Blues, Funk, Soul
Jan 17th, 2010 21:28pm

Me and the Devil walking side by side...

After a lengthy hiatus the legendary Gil Scott-Heron returns in 2010 with a new album entitled I'm New Here. Gil has already made an outstanding contribution to music with his prolific period during the late sixties and early seventies. He is cited as an influence on countless hip hop vocalists and producers, the groundbreaking The Revolution Will Not Be Televised remains one the greatest songs of all time. This new tune is full of man who has lived a very colourful life, in 2001, Gil was sentenced to one to three years' imprisonment in New York State for possession of cocaine. Into his sixties now his voice is one of maturity soaked in alcohol and expression of experience. Haunted beats, glitches and dark sound effects rattle along like Burial conducting a New Orleans funeral march. It's like the blues have been re-invented for a new decade, Gils first new album in thirteen years is released next month on XL Recordings produced by Richard Russell, one for the fans, and for the uninitiated. The video is suitably dark and arresting too. Big up to @bigtwix for heads up.

Like This Try: Benga, Flying Lotus, RL Burnside

Categories: Blues, Electronic, Leftfield, Soul
Jan 17th, 2010 20:12pm

This has an almost lounge vibe to it, with Japanese ladies singing along to the ainu dub beat rhythms. A chilled out Sunday afternoon, kick back and relax to some Japanese dub. Taken from the album Dub Ainu.

Oki is an Ainu Japanese musician. His real name is Oki Kanō (加納 æ²") and he is from Kanagawa Prefecture. Oki mixes traditional Ainu music with reggae, dub and other styles of world music.

Official Site, Oki on iTunes, Oki Ainu Dub Band on iTunes

Categories: Chill, Dub, Electronic, World
Jan 16th, 2010 19:57pm

The skanking grooves keep coming, I'm listening to loads of SKA tinged latin today! Nowadays your latin music can come from anywhere, this is a cracking Mo'Horizons remix of fellow German's Una Mas Trio. If you dig nu-jazz and Latin music check out their MySpace page for some more good shit. Then hop over to Mo'Horizons page for even more!

Like This Try: Mo'Horizons, The Juju Orchestra, Nickodemus

Bands place in MySpace, Mo'Horizons Place in MySpace

Categories: Electronic, Nu-jazz, Remix
Jan 16th, 2010 19:51pm

Another quality remix from NYC's Nickodemus, skanking guitars, banging drums, spanish rap and haunted backing singers all wedged together for a latin feast. You just can't sit still for this one.

Taken from the EP El Micrófono / Para No Vivir Desesperado. The original version appears on the 2007 album Piñata, they released their latest album Soy Sauce last year. Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS; or Instituto Mexicano Del Sonido in Spanish) is the brainchild of Mexico City-based DJ and producer Camilo Lara. Along with groups like Nortec Collective and Kinky, M.I.S. is part of a growing Mexican electronica movement, mixing traditional Mexican music with contemporary electronica sounds. 

Like This Try: Nickodemus, Quantic, Sidestepper, Fussible, Panóptica

Bands place in MySpace, Nickodemus MySpace, Official Nickodemus site, Instituto Mexicano Del Sonido on iTunes

Categories: Electronic, Nu-jazz, Remix
Jan 16th, 2010 16:36pm

Following on from the Waldeck post below, here he is again under the Saint Privat moniker. Saint Privat is Waldeck and fellow Austrian singer Valérie Sajdik.  Pour yourself a Gin and Tonic and soak up Tous les jours, the connoisseurs’ summer hit of 2004 in Germany, Austria and beyond. They have since released the album Superflu, heralding the revival of the “Chanson psychédélique”. Chill out baby.

Like This Try: Waldeck, Pink Martini, Koop

Valerie Sajdik's place in MySpace, Official Site, Saint Privat on iTunes

Categories: Chill, Electronic, Nu-jazz, Remix
Jan 16th, 2010 15:02pm

I was dining in a Polish restaurant last night with a beautiful lady, delicious food, wonderful wine and Waldeck's album, Ballroom Stories [2007] was playing the background, a perfect accompaniment to chilled out evening. This tune captures the vibe of the album, luxurious melodies, jazzy trumpets swing along with the skanking beats, topped off with silky smoky vocals.

Klaus Waldeck, a former copyright lawyer is a driving force in his native Austria’s burgeoning electronica scene, Waldeck is a proponent of the Vienna Sound along with Kruder & Dorfmeister, Count Basic, Tosca and dZihan & Kamien.

Like This Try: Tosca, Gotan Project, Saint Privat, Pink Martini, Koop

Official SiteWaldeck's place in MySpace, By Waldeck on iTunes

Categories: Austrian, Electronic, Nu-jazz
Jan 13th, 2010 01:13am

Sounds like the Stones Roses playing in a chilled out bar in the seventies while Cool bright coloured lights pierce through a smokey atmosphere. No one's got a care in the world.

My Robot Friend is from NYC, AKA Howard Robot his latest album Soft-core, is full of guests including Alison Moyet, Jay Kauffman and Zombie Nation… this track features the vocals of Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta duo. The album is real melting pot styles, old an new. Great tunes for late night listening.

Official site, Bands place in MySpace, Dean Wareham's site, Buy the album on iTunes

 

Jan 12th, 2010 01:19am

Clanging drums and wonky tonk piano... A grand masterpiece of crazy pop... Heaven Can Wait.

Following on from her excellent album 5:55 from 2006, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's daughter has collaborated with Beck to make IRM, her best album to date. Full of Beck's distinctive style and lyrical nonchalance, who himself is massively influenced by Serge Gainsbourg. And it's all in there, it's an eclectic mix of tunes that hang together well, Charlotte is sounding more and more like her mother, although Charlotte does has a better voice, not to say I don't enjoy Jane Birkin's songs as she has made some quality pop with Monsieur Serge.

It's sounds practically like a new Beck album but with Charlotte doing all the singing, Beck does chip in with background vocals here and there, apart from this track which is a full on duet. So Beck plays Serge to Charlotte's Jane, and in true style of the legend they have also managed to maintain Serge's forward thinking pop while plundering from his past. It's very early indeed to think about albums of the year, I just hope come the end of the year it won't be forgotten about as it really is a magnificent album. With such talented parents the expectation bench mark is set very high, Charlotte has a lot to live up to, with IRM I think she has achieved it… The old man would have been proud. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Like This Try: Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Beck, Jean-Claude Vannier, Bertrand Burgalat

Charlotte's Official Site, Beck's Official Site, Buy it on iTunes

Jan 10th, 2010 21:15pm

Enter in a dream-like state, the world of Beach House, atmospheric rhythms, floating soulful harmonies and graceful hazy lazy melodies fulfil a lush landscape of shiny dreamy pop. Magnificent! Beach House are the duo of Alex Scally on guitar and keyboards and Victoria Legrand on vocals and organ formed in 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland (Legrand is the niece of French film composer Michel Legrand and singer Christiane Legrand, cool!) New Album Teen dream is released at the end of this month.

Like This Try: Stereolab, Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer

Jan 10th, 2010 18:47pm

The mighty Ian Brown gets a re-work from The Prodigy on this, his latest single Just Like You. Liam Howlett & Co. give it a scuzzed up electro vibe, letting Ian's original vocal slide over the top. I still like Ian's original from his My Way album with the funky brass section, this remix takes it in an entirely different direction firmly hitting the Indie dancefloor. 

Ian's official site, Ian's place in MySpace, Latest album on iTunes

Jan 9th, 2010 01:45am

Bear's Beat is an infectious little groove, sounds like a bear banging away on an old typewriter in the woods! Written and performed by unsigned artist Eric Dana a multi-instrumentalist from Florida.

Like This Try: Rodrigo y Gabriela, Cornelius, Cassettes Won't Listen

Bands place in MySpace

Categories: Alternative, Lo-Fi
Jan 9th, 2010 01:07am

Been listening to Memory Tapes album Seek Magic quite a bit recently, Bicycle was doing the rounds last summer, but as part of the album released the end of last year I've discovered what a great tune it really is. Skips and bangs along like Metronomy jamming with New Order at LCD Soundsystem's house.

Like this Try: Metronomy, !!!, School of Seven Bells, New Order

Bands place in MySpace, Buy the album on iTunes

Categories: Alternative, Electronic
Jan 3rd, 2010 01:46am

A stunning return from the texan rockers, Children of the Ground is the new Roscoe for 2010.

Midlakes follow up album to the excellent The Trials of Van Occupanther in 2006 is The Courage Of Others, released on 1 February 2010. Their last album was in a territory of relatively untrod ground. However since The Trials of Van Occupanther was released in 2006 other bands such as Fleet Foxes, The Low Anthem and Bon Iver have taken the beardy harmonising MOR to the masses and achieved great commercial success. With The Courage Of Others they have surpassed themselves, this could be the LP that launches them into the arena of commercial rewards. It is an absolute delight, so many great tunes it really is hard to separate them into any single hits. Full of lush folky smoke blowing over the pastoral acoustic guitar picking and a dreamscapes of flutes slowly building into a crescendo of soaring harmonies, utterly captivating. Highly Recommended

Bands place in MySpace, iTunes

Like This Try: Neil Young, Fleet Foxes, Led Zepplin, Bon Iver

Categories: Folk, Rock
Jan 2nd, 2010 21:31pm

Happy New Year to you!

A new Hot Chip tune to kick off the year! Take it in has been around for a couple of months but it is the first piece of new music from the Hot Chipper's in a long time. On first listen it's not quite as instant as previous big singles, it's a bit of a slow burner, but this a good thing, it bears all the hallmarks of what we've come to expect from Hot Chip. Their new album due in February titled One Life Stand on Astralwerks. This is the concluding track on the album, it's an updated version of the previously release of Take it In, which appeared on the Bugged Out Mix album. Added to the original tune is a more uplifting chorus and the more you listen to it the better it gets. Can't wait to hear the album! Hot Chip are touring this year and I'm looking forward to seeing them at Brixton Academy in February.

Official Site, Hot Chip on iTunes, Hot Chip's place in MySpace

Categories: Electronic