Digitalism: I Love You Dude

    I enjoy a solid electro house album every now and again, and Digitalism is no exception. These guys are major players in their field. Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, the duo of Jens "Jence" Moelle and İsmail "Isi" Tüfekçi that is Digitalism has been around since 2004, dropping their first full album in 2007, Idealism. At the time, I was a relative newcomer to the genre (I probably hadn't even listened to Daft Punk entirely yet), but I liked a few of their songs, namely "Pogo", which appeared on commercials and on video game soundtracks. I assume most electronica duos collect songs slowly, over time, and once they have enough for an album just compile singles and Ep's they've released, so it wasn't until 2011 that Digitalism put out I Love You Dude, their sophomore release. More recently, April 16, 2012, they compiled a D J-Kicks album, #43 specifically, which is a series dating back to 1995 and includes a long list of notable artists. Most of the album is other artists, chosen by Digitalism as representative of them, but they included a number of their own tracks and remixes as well. You can see their entry here, as well as navigate to others, including Gold Panda's set. An interesting difference between the two sets named above are that Gold Panda blended each track, merging them together as one long session, while Digitalism kept them separate. To my knowledge, each D J-Kicks series is slightly different in some regard, and of course takes into account the strengths and particular style of the DJs involved. Make sure to download the free track, "A New Drug" while you're there.
    Digitalism's style is very in your face (they call it "rough"), pulsating, not quite uptempo, with heavier beats that lean on the dance style spectrum to be sure. The duo uses a lot of sounds that are familiar to French House, citing Daft Punk and Philippe Zdar as influences. Their biggest motivation, however, is the emotional draw of movies and pictures. They are constantly trying, in their words: "to bring back some romance into electronic music. I think our music is a bit romantic as well, a bit melancholic, that's been missing before... there's been so much club music around that’s only functional stuff." I totally agree, in two cases, that there is too much functional techno that has no real vitality and that electro house has more to offer the listener than something to sit back and chill to. I've always preferred the meatier electronica. Read the full interview I took the above quote from at the DCist, here.
    Some of the highlights of I Love You Dude, are the opening track, "Stratosphere", which has a Chemical Brothers or Daft Punk Tron Legacy type of feeling, an epic-ness. I love the synths, the beat and how it draws into itself to the point of no sound before growing again. The next track, "2 Hearts", is really interesting too, because it is a sudden mood change in a way, sound-wise and that it includes vocals. It almost gives the impression of a indie pop track--hopefully that is not an insult. As always, I love a distorted timbre, like Royksöpp uses, and Digitalism does not disappoint, with "Circles", "Forrest Gump" (written by Julian Casablanca of The Strokes), and "Miami Showdown". I should note, another thing you'll hear is "Reeperbahn", which has such a German sound, almost Heavy Metal, but more subdued within the context of electronica; in other words not anywhere near what Pendulum did with their sophomore album, Immersion. Finally, finishing up the album, "Encore" also has a similar vibe to Justice and that's fine with me too. With the iTunes version, there is an extra track, "Harrison Fjord"--a nice play on words, I must admit. And two extra tracks come with the Japanese edition (no offense given or taken, why do the Japanese always get stuff we don't?)
    To listen to the entire album for free, check out Digitalism's MySpace, here. I'd also recommend checking out their SoundCloud, where you can find a few isolated songs (not put together into a set for ease of reference or access unfortunately) from their D J-Kicks album, here. I have linked the song, "Circles" over under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks' for you to get a taste if you're not willing to just jump in full throttle. Enjoy!