Alex Banks – Revolution

Taken from the album ‘Beneath The Surface’ out 06/06/19.

Alex Banks – Chasms EP

‘Chasms’ is the lead single from the poignant and personal forthcoming album by Brighton-based artist Alex Banks. ‘Beneath The Surface’ is an eloquent, cohesive collection of tracks showcasing Banks’s unwavering ability to manipulate sound. The album features two collaborations with Icelandic singer Ásgeir, including lead single ‘Chasms’.

Gusgus – Featherlight (Alex Banks Remix)

HOWLING – Short Line (Alex Banks Remix)

Having already exploded onto the scene with their accidental hit single of the same name, Howling released their debut album Sacred Ground in May to international acclaim and fed the flames with subsequent sold-out live dates across the world, as well as impeccably curated remix packages.

Their ascent continues with new mixes, led by Alex Banks’ take on album favorite “Short Line”. Alex Banks – previously lauded for his remixes for Bonobo, Andreya Triana and Husky Rescue among others — works within a familiar palette of human warmth in a stark electronic landscape, but leaves a mark all his own.

Out 20th November on Monkeytown X Counter Records.

Max Cooper & Alex Banks – Eve

Max Cooper has just uploaded the 6th and final part of his ‘Quotient’ series to Soundcloud. A collaboration with Alex Banks the track is now available to download for free.

‘Eve’ is released just a couple of weeks before Max brings his immersive and handcrafted Emergence audio-visual show to Village Underground in London on October 9th. He will be supported on the night by Aiden Doherty and Throwing Snow creating a full night of gorgeous electronica. Tickets here.

The Acid – Ra (Alex Banks Remix)

Minimalist electronic trio, The Acid’s new single RA (released this June via. Infectious) has been given the Alex Banks rework.

The Acid are back with RA, the next release from the bands debut album Liminal, released earlier this year via Infectious Music/Mute Records in North America, to widespread critical acclaim including the likes of NME, The Independent and DIY.

With his take on RA, artist/producer Alex Banks injects layers of atmospheric percussion into the acoustically driven original for a dreamy down tempo edit, looping in the soft cooing vocals. Brighton native Alex Banks’ rework is a genre-blurring journey through house, trip hop and deeper ethereal beats.

The Acid came together as a partnership between Brit Adam Freeland, L.A and producer Steve Nalepa. First appearing in 2013 with their debut self-titled EP, the group quickly followed up with the release of Liminal, a sonically drenched body of work with clear nods to artists such as Portishead, Aphex Twin and Thom Yorke, that crosses over a range of genres, which include everything from techno and R&B to deep house and beyond.

Alex’s re-work of RA drops as part of a wider series of remixes, with other reworks coming from David August, Weval and Olaf Stuut ahead of their summer gigs and festival dates including Appletree, DE and Secret Garden Party, UK.

No. 3: Alex Banks – Illuminate #blogovision2014

“Illuminate incorporates all the music that excites me,” says Alex Banks, “I’ve always found the idea of making an album in any one style too limiting. I wanted to explore the most cutting edge production techniques technology allows but with an emotive human warmth. I want it to sound current but have enough substance for people to still listen to it in ten years time.”

Gernot Bronsert (Modeselektor / Monkeytown): ”It’s really rare to find an artist who has never released something before and who comes up with such a great album!” (spotify link)

Jaust – We Need A New Life feat. James Dean Wells EP

Following his lorded debut single “Feel the Smoke Rise“, enigmatic producer Jaust takes the next steps towards his album “Definites”. Wearing an entirely different set of colours, “We Need a New Life” sees Jaust channel his passion for indie and 80’s synth pop. Featuring the vocal talents of James Dean Wells from he Gay Blades, this track will no doubt be finding itself fans in many corners.

Heading up the remixes, Monkeytown Records multi-instrumentalist Alex Banks rewires We Need a New Life in his own unmistakeable style. Taking influence from kaleidoscopic electronica and the LA beats movement in equal parts, his remix sits in no genre camp and is all the better for it.

Portuguese producer Xinobi runs with the remix baton for a 4/4 makeover. As the lead vocals take front and centre, hooking in from the get go before an infectious bass synth jumps into play. This one will take the doors off a disconcerting disco.

Mainlining noise and electro, Shengi makes We Need a New Life her own. Constructing a remix that retains the heart of the original, but opens the curtain to new landscape.

Completing the journey, pushing the limits as he did with Feel the Smoke Rise, Jaust himself grapples We Need a New Life. A cut up style that owes as much to Soulwax as it does to Aphex Twin, try putting this in a box and you will be hard pressed. Jaust is a producer writing his own rules.

Out November 17th 2014 on Human label. Pre-order here.

Alex Banks – All You Could Do EP

The new ‘All You Could Do’ EP from rising Brit electronica star, club musician and DJ Alex Banks see him exploring similar territory to his eclectic Monkeytown label bosses Modeselektor, fusing techno crunch with the electro-indie songwriting suss of groups such as Animal Collective.

Picked acoustic guitar comes together with pulsating machine rhythms, all made emotive and human by the melancholic vocals of Alex’s Brighton associate Elizabeth Bernholz of Gazelle Twin. As well as the original ‘All You Could Do’, in all its moody fierceness, there’s a beautifully stark pulsating remix by German DJ-producer Phon.o, a haunting slow techno ‘Alternate’ take, and a brand new tune called ‘Phosphorus’ that comes on like the mighty Crystal Castles raving it up at a Polish warehouse party.

All in all, it’s a package that presents Banks as a name to watch and makes his new album, ‘Illuminate’, all the more eagerly anticipated. Below you can watch the official video for the original track and stream the Phon.o rework. Illiminate will drop on May 30th 2014. The All You Could Do EP is out now.

Video: Alex Banks – All You Could Do feat. Elizabeth Bernholz

Taken from Alex Banks‘ "Illuminate" LP, out on May 30 on Modeselektor’s Monkeytown. Pre-Order: http://tinyurl.com/l28squf. Directed by Thomas Brown.