Video: Dlina Volny – Tomorrow

New tears from the capital city of Belarus. Dlina Volny announce the track list for their new album “Dazed”, via Italians Do It Better on November 5th. Mixed by Dean Hurley, the trio employs the mechanized action of motoric rhythm machines, vintage synthesizers, & Post-punk bass lines to put their spin on classic Dark Wave. Masha Zinevitch lights the rain-soaked streets of Minsk with her contralto swoon in a post-soviet reality of fear, love & rebellion. Watch the short film for the album’s incredible closer “Tomorrow”, directed by Yauheni Sinichenko.

ITALIANS DO IT BETTER release 20 track Madonna covers album

ITALIANS DO IT BETTER
– Release 20 track Madonna covers album
– Executive produced by Johnny Jewel featuring 19 artists incl. Desire, Glüme, Jorja Chalmers, Sally Shapiro, JOON & more

Since 2006, listeners have been curious about the origin of our label name Italians Do It Better. Some say it’s an homage to Italo Disco, others guess it’s related to ancestry, but in fact it’s a nod to the iconic T-shirt Madonna wears in the “Papa Don’t Preach” video circa 1986.

Fast forward to a world pandemic last year… To encourage creativity & lift spirits, Italians Do It Better President, Megan Louise asked every artist “If you could cover your favorite Madonna song…What would it be?”

As a tribute to their label muse & the impact Madonna’s music has had on the world around us, Italians Do It Better are sharing a compilation of covers simply titled “Italians Do It Better” on Madonna’s birthday, August 16, 2021. One of the tracks (“Lucky Star” by Club Intl) is even produced by Max Kamins, the son of Mark Kamins, the New York DJ who helped break Madonna in the early 1980’s. From the experience he says “Dance music was the soundtrack of my early childhood. Working on “Lucky Star” reconnected me not only to my father, but also reminded me that a good song is timeless”.
 
Executive produced by Johnny Jewel, the compilation is a passport to 20 covers from the bedrooms of 19 artists across 10 different countries. 

Get into the groove…

Listen here on Spotify:

Listen via other streaming services here:https://idib.ffm.to/italians-do-it-better

Track list:
1. Joon – Papa Don’t Preach
2. Desire – Angel
3. Sally Shapiro – Holiday 
4. Dlina Volny – Hollywood
5. Farah – Gang Bang
6. MOTHERMARY – Like A Virgin
7. Club Intl – Lucky Star
8. Love Object – Frozen
9. Orion – Into The Groove
10. Number One Popstar – Hung Up
11. Double Mixte – La Isla Bonita
12. Juno Francis – Beautiful Stranger 
13. Glüme – Material Girl
14. In Mirrors – Addicted To Your Love
15. Causeway – Crazy For You
16. Jorja Chalmers – Justify My Love
17. MOTHERMARY – Like A Prayer
18. Pink Gloves – What It Feels Like For A Girl
19. Lou Rebecca – Burning Up 
20. Bark Bark Disco – Borderline 

Video: Joon – Whisper

After signing to Italians Do It Better recently and releasing her debut album ‘Dream Again‘ last week, Maltese musician and producer Joon has shared a new video for her standout single “Whisper“.

‘Dream Again’ arrives fully formed ten years after she began writing songs, after a life-changing car accident clarified her musical ambitions. The 12 cuts of glacial synth pop on Joon shimmer with positive affirmations, heralding a new star in the Italians Do It Better cosmos. 

Joon is inspired by dream worlds, mysticism and the supernatural, from her ethereal vocals and celestial synths to her self-directed music videos that take cues from B-movie tropes. Her lyrics are peppered with messages of hope for her listeners, which glide around cushioned beats and woozy layers of electronic sound, making her essential listening for fans of Fever Ray, Grimes and Molly Nilsson. 

Growing up in Malta, Joon (aka Yasmin Kuymizakis) had no female role models for making electronic music. It was when she moved to London to study that she took a sound production course on a whim, and was encouraged by a tutor to pursue her own music. Soon after she suffered a devastating breakup and then a serious car crash which she was lucky to survive, a series of events which snapped her ambitions into sharp focus. “The car crash was a wake-up call,” she says. “It made me realise that life is precious. We only have one life – I started living the one I felt was worth living.”

Now, making music is a process Joon uses to overcome negative feelings and emotional pain, from loneliness and heartbreak to the need to belong somewhere: “During the writing of most of my songs I was sad about something – but I was dealing with it through making music. I make music to give advice to myself and to be optimistic. I’m trying to make myself feel better, by helping myself come out of that pain.”

The album opens with the irresistible extra-terrestrial ‘E.T.’ – a story of alienation via heartbeat dancefloor pulse and space-age laser melodies, where Joon flips between the fierceness of Karen O to the ice cool uncanny of The Knife. ‘Watch The Sky’ glitters with city lights on midnight drives, and the silky night-time pop of ‘Good Times’ takes airy cues from K-pop, flexed through a Julee Cruise soft late night lens. ‘Meaningful Life’ is a reflective manifesto for love and living well, sung with breathy melancholia and ‘Home’ is a song to the unknown stars, carrying radio echoes of Laurie Anderson’s legendary O Superman in its synth-soaked vocal lines and the hazy ‘Feathers’ dances on the edge of sleep in soft pastels. 

Joon now lives in a town on the highest point of Malta, an island nation between Sicily and North Africa with a population of just 500,000 people, and where in her teenage years she could see no path for herself in music. After deciding she couldn’t sing, she instead began buying unimposing quirky instruments – a Stylophone and a small beatbox, among other things – to play around with for her own pleasure. Now, a decade later, she has upgraded to a Moog and a Korg, taught herself the software she needs, and has come to love her distinctive singing style.

After returning to Malta from London, Joon found only one other woman making electronic music on the island. Driven by a desire to make music possible and accessible for the next generation of women in a way she did not experience, she and founded the Maltese Sound Women’s Network with composer and academic Jess Rymer in 2017 (inspired by the Yorkshire Sound Women’s Network) aiming to encourage and support other women making electronic music in Malta. Now, the group has over 800 members in its online network.   

Executive produced by Italians Do It Better’s visionary Jonny Jewel, Joon’s debut is a new star in the label’s glittering universe, an inspirational and a much-needed dose of inspirational pop that processes the bad and looks forward to the good, giving us all a way to move forward with hope for the future without ignoring the past. “There are always running themes of love, hope, and positivity in my songs,” says Joon. “Even if I’m sad or heartbroken, I remain optimistic. I want to grow old with no regrets.”

Dream Again track list:
1. E.T
2. Watch The Sky
3. Just Can’t Get Enough 
4. Good Times
5. Whisper 
6. Meaningful Life
7. Wait
8. Home
9. Orqod (video)
10. I.You
11. Me & My Sea
12. Feathers 

Video: Desire – Ghosts

Directed By Kirill Nong

Video: Juno Francis & Alejandro Molinari – Symmetry

Directed By Marcus Spitta

Video: Dlina Volny – Bipolar

“There’s a dark side to each of us. At some point we are on the precipice of having to choose whether to embrace it. But what is it like being on the border?” – Dlina Volny

Video: BARK BARK DISCO – GET UP & RUN

You’ve Got To Get Up Run For Your Life Now Baby Get Up Run For Your Life Now Get Up Run For Your Life Get Up Run For Your Life You’ve Got To Get Back Down To The Other Side There’s Nowhere To Run, There’s Nowhere Left To Hide No One’s Getting Out Alive You’re Gonna Run Or Die, Put The Love Aside Running Around, Running Out To The Wild Fools Killed Out Of Pride You’ve Got To Get Up Run For Your Life Now Baby Get Up Run For Your Life Now Get Up Run For Your Life Get Up Run For Your Life Turn Their Love Aside For Another Lie There’s No More Regret, What You Get Is To Divide Pushing Out To The Side You’ve Got To Get Back Down To The Other Side There’s Nowhere To Run, There’s No Where Left To Hide No One’s Getting Out Alive You’ve Got To Get Up Run For Your Life Now Baby Get Up Run For Your Life Now Get Up Run For Your Life Get Up Run For Your Life

Video: Chromatics – Shadow (Maceo Plex Remix)

Acclaimed U.S live electronic band Chromatics announce remix package for their classic single, Shadow. Featuring remixes from Maceo Plex, Dean Hurley, Melawati, Acorne and two new edits of the original version, Chromatics – Shadow (Remixes) is out now via Italians Do It Better.
 
A collection of remixes which takes the much-loved original in a new direction from the dancefloor to cinematic-sounding reworks, Shadow was originally released in 2015 and swiftly became one of the standout entries in Chromatics’ impressive discography. Picking up early and key industry support from the likes of Pitchfork, Shadow rose to fame in late 2016 when Chromatics performed the track in David Lynch’s cult tv series, Twin Peaks (Season 3). The band took to the stage at fictional venue, The Roadhouse and in turn catapulted the track to mainstream success. 

Leading the remixes, Maceo Plex transforms Shadow into a euphoric dance floor production. One of the many avenues of his vast musical skill set, Maceo Plex is the figurehead behind the seminal underground label, Ellum Audio, and has released four studio albums, mix compilations for London’s fabric and !K7’s DJ-Kicks series, along with productions under his Mariel Ito and Maetrik aliases. Also curating several BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix’s and gracing the cover of many a magazine from Mixmag to DJ Mag, Maceo Plex has provided official remixes for artists including Coldcut, Röyksopp, GusGus, DJ T, Maribou State, Perry Farrell, Faithless, New Order and more.
 
With the release of today’s new remixes, Chromatics pay tribute and honour the death of Twin Peaks’ fictional character, Laura Palmer who was originally portrayed by Sherly Lee. Laura Palmer was found murdered at the age of seventeen, on the morning of February 24, 1989. An event that shook the small town of Twin Peaks to its core and prompted an investigation by protagonist and FBI agent, Dale Cooper.  
 
The release of Shadow (Remixes) marks Chromatics’ entrance in 2021 with the full EP now available to purchase here.
 
Tracklist:

Shadow (Maceo Plex Remix)

Saturday (Dean Hurley Remix)

Shadow (Melawati Remix)

Shadow (Michel’s Runway Edit)

Shadow (Last Dance Of The Night Club Edit)

Windswept (Acorne Remix)

 Chromatics – Shadow (Remixes) – Out now via Italians Do It Better

Video: Glüme – Get Low

After recently signing to Italians Do It Better, Glüme is sharing her new single & video “Get Low”, which is taken from her upcoming debut album ‘The Internet’, due later this year. 

“‘Get Low’ is about the high of falling for someone & how it effects your brain chemistry & nervous system. With autonomic dysfunction & a heart condition, it makes the love ride feel like a roller coaster. I get down even trying to let myself fall for someone. So I try not to… But, I’m not very good… So baby get low.” – Glüme

Watch & listen to “Get Low” above. Listen via other streaming services here: https://idib.ffm.to/getlow

Video: Desire – Zeros

Desire are sharing a video for their single “Zeros“, which is out now via Italians Do It Better. 

Shot in the desert in Palm Springs, the video for “Zeros” was directed by Kirill Nong and stars Megan Louise of Desire and model Soo Joo Park burying their past. Park also plays keyboard on the track and will feature more on upcoming Desire releases. 

“As the calendar pages fly by, we are all reaching for a new normal on what sometimes feels like an endless loop. The cyclical music echoes flashback sequences of a recurring dream, chanting “Falling like a feather…Never touch the floor”. We sampled the incessant strike of a grandfather clock, stopwatches, & digital alarm clocks to keep the time. From sunrise to sunset, every single is day adding up…” – Desire