EY Tune of The Week: Niki & The Dove - The Drummer
Words: Babooshka
Emika Unleashed
Words: Orac
08/10/11
Very serendipitously, I was only bemoaning lack of exciting Niki & The Dove news in more than one quarter this week so with much elation share this new single 'The Drummer'.
Niki fans have been a little starved of videos from the duo but when they do treat us, it always penetrates the mind, this one particularly for its near channelling of some of the dance moves from the wonderful Kate Bush ' Running Up That Hill' classic but with Malin's own internal battle. It is strangely interspersed with what could be a little reminder of the eccentricities of visuals used in 'The Mighty Boosh' a few years back too; intriguing and a little bonkers really.
Check out the quirky choreography going on in this clever track that's brimming with glitch pop sounds and backing that sounds like it's going the other way into some strange spell of coded message. For me, it is definitely the strongest this year from the Nordic pairing accompanied by an interestingly styled video that is close to breaking my love affair with the trapeze courtship of 'DJ, Ease My Mind'...but not quite.
Enjoy the big hair, even bigger shoulder pads and ribbons absolutely everywhere; Malin's accessorising matches up to the eccentricities of the pair's stand alone electro.
An album very close to the hearts of EYHQ was finally unleashed this week via the Ultra-cool Ninja Tune label here in Blighty. Emika's crispy radiophonic debut album was released on CD plus double delicious Vinyl and was embraced by UK broadsheet The Guardian who wrote:
'This long-gestating debut by Emika, a UK-born singer and producer of Czech origin currently residing in Berlin, is an intriguing work: dark, seductive and as hard to pin down as its creator. Her atmospheric sound, slow-burning and bass-heavy, owes a debt to Bristol, Emika's former home, and the influence of Portishead can be heard in her crystalline vocals, but it doesn't define her.'
The full review can be read here whilst you feast your earlobey thingies to mine and Babooshka's choice track from Emika's debut 'Common Exchange' that reminded us of the intro to Depeche Mode's 'The Sinner in Me' for the menacing and relentless pulses - a DM gem that was one of the highlight tracks on the better side of 1995's 'Playing The Angel'.
The BBC have also been quick to praise the 'disconcerting but bewitching debut' from Emika describing the latest EY fave as a 'sound junkie' whilst praising the 'sheer intensity of the whole package that seduces' Jump here for the compete review.
We've found our very first sound alchemist of the new decade with a delectable bob...so grab a glass of red, marvel at the textures, the lovely vox and enjoy! We're betting our spare pennies on Emika being nominated for next year's Mercury Prize....
There was a rare televisual feast of high quality drama over on BBC-1 last Saturday with the stunning 'Dr Who' finale and the return of 'Merlin' with both shows providing warmth and joy to those of us who detest all the light entertainment X-Factor bollocks that blights UK TV...and the music industry (when oh when will Gary Barlow simply f**k off and retire?).
EY's Babooshka casts her beautifully devouring electro witch eyes over 'The Wedding of River Song', the gloriously creepy Silence and the return of knights with perfect teeth in the surprisingly spooky season premier of Meeeerlin (as pronounced by Sir John Hurt)
