Emika

Ballsy dark synth pop. Emika is part of the Berghain techno palace crew, except not really. This is her debut album out on Ninja Tune, and she mixes a healthy dose of those dark vibes with static and falsetto. There is a cool contrast throughout between Emika’s soft falsetto vocals and the booming drums, bass, and static in the background. Cool stuff. Fans of Hyetal, Zomby, and dark, moody (techno?) sounds should check this out.
Try: 11, 4, 3, 6, 10
FCC: Clean

1) 4:40 Starts out messy, looped. Transitions to dead-simple kick/snare pattern and seductive, manipulated vocals. Piano on outro.
2) 3:33 Twisted synths. Soft vocals on top of industrial reggae. Moody.
3) 3:48 * Tacit intro, very introverted feel. Understated production, solemn feel. Great drum and bass sounds on this one.
4) 4:27 * Heavy production. Static, messed up tremolo vocals. Greeeaaat synth sweeps.
5) 4:01 Backwards counting, electronic bleeps and blops with a guitar hidden somewhere behind the thick veil of static.
6) 4:40 * Dramatic pop song. Really cute, intricate vocals and a matching piano line.
7) 4:15 A heavy, synthetic piece. Lots of drive with occasional synth squeaks.
8) 4:45 Way over the top. The dark electronic diva feel is taken way beyond any point of reason.
9) 3:44 Aphex Twin-ish rushed static mess in stark contrast with Emika’s light falsetto.
10) 3:29 * Cool original production. Great piano sampling. Somewhat dubstep-inspired. That bass sound is deep! Again, great contrasts here.
11) 4:06 ** Surprisingly close to a piano pop song. Adds a whole bunch static, but keeps it sober. I could see this getting big with the cool kids.
12) 2:16 Dramatic piano outro. Time to roll the credits.