Yikes! London Elektricity

Yikes! London Elektricity

"Yikes!" is the brand new album from London Elektricity, brimming with beautiful vocals, intriguing instrumentals and sumptuous compositions, it's a step out of the box, but stands for music LE knows and loves.

From the soothing contemplative lilt of piano-driven, vocal-led 'Elektricity Will Keep Me Warm' through the energetic, uplifting cuts like 'The Plan That Cannot Fail' with its soaring synths, rock n roll tear out pieces like the eponymous track of the album 'Yikes!' and back again to the down tempo, vocal led intro of 'Invisible Worlds' and 'Fault Lines', London Elektricity's signature style is stamped indelibly into each track, but as so often is the case, it is as a whole that 'Yikes!' is made a timeless classic.

'This is my first release for three years, and features the vocals of Elsa Esmeralda who graced 'Just One Second' from my last album 'Syncopated City'. Elsa features on seven tracks on 'Yikes!', and I can safely say this is easily my best work to date. 'Yikes!' has been two years in the making; I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!' - Tony Colman, London Elektricity.

The founding father of the Hospital imprint and mouthpiece of the multi-award winning, chart topping Hospital podcast, London Elektricity is a name that should need no introduction. Since starting the label in 1996, Tony Colman has carved out a fearsome reputation as one of the pre-eminent names in D+B and is at the forefront of the UK music scene today.

Swedish vocalist Elsa Esmeralda plays a crucial role in shaping the sound of the album. Her tender, soulful voice is poignant and powerful, yet deeply intimate.

Each track from the album is depicted in cartoon form on the album artwork by graphic artist Trickartt. Striking and characteristically quirky, the cover is composed of a simple head shot of London Elektricity with cartoon vehicles crawling along the rim of his iconic glasses.

Animated videos have been made for a number of the tracks on the album, and provide an integral part of the promotional campaign, with a new video being unveiled to view on londonelektricity.com every week before the album.


The Word
1. Elektricity Will Keep Me Warm
Despite the title making it look like an advert for a brand of pikey single bar electric heater from Argos, my singer Elsa Esmeralda had already written this song before we started the sessions for Yikes. I went through a load of different drum tracks but the original 'Think' break worked the best. This is probably the simplest track I've ever made, and all the betterfor it!

2. Meteorites
On 12th August 2010 I was in my road looking up at the Perseid meteor storm. I saw loads of shooting stars, and the Chairman found a hedgehog on the pavement. After putting the kids to bed I started a sketch in the studio and called it, naturally enough, Meteorites. It took Elsa and I four months of hard graft to come up with lyrics that fit the theme, but we got there in the end!

3. Had A Little Fight
This was the first track I finished for the album and it's not actually about domestic violence or hitting children. It is however about the feeling of euphoria you get straight after a massive argument with your loved one that has been brewing for months finally comes to a head.

4. The Plan That Cannot Fail
This tune came together really fast in the studio, and is one of those tunes that wrote itself. I read Alan Sugar's autobiography while it was writing itself. I think it's the best instrumental D&B tune I've ever made. The fact that all my other D+B tunes have vocals in is neither here nor there. The title is a phrase I really liked in one of the Rastamouse books.

5. Yikes!
Probably the most straightforward dancefloor D+B tune on the album. The lyrics 'I'm too high' and 'feel so good' and the title 'Yikes' in no way condone the use of class A drugs whilst climbing scaffolding after the pub shuts.

6. Fault Lines
No jokes here folks, this is a song I'm dead proud of and it uses the metaphor of tectonics to describe how fragile our relationships really are. no talking at the back, or I'll report you to David Sylvian.

7. U Gotta B CrazyThis is just a fun tune thrown together using some German death metal drums at half tempo. No message in this one folks!

8. Round The World In A Day
The first minute of this tune was recorded in 1978 by me on an Akai real to real tape recorder. It languished in a box of tapes until last summer when I finally got round to finishing the song! Elsa contributed nice lyrics about leaving Sweden to come to England (possibly via USA but I can't bring myself to ask her that). This song is a guitar frenzy and it has Pendulum's drummer KJ Sawka playing very live drums.

9. Love The Silence
This is about having a house party that is so crowded the floor starts giving in, you get claustrophobic and you see Viking warriors with bows and arrows and stuff. Don't lie to me, we've all been there.

10. Flesh Music
I made this after listening to Deadmau5's 'Random Album Title' album. Not sure if you can tell though, it's old school jungle.

11. Invisible Worlds
One of my favourite composers is Arvo Part, an Estonian modern classicist. The music in the first section of this track is inspired by him. The tune kind of explodes into the second section which is a bit more of a rumpus. Elsa wrote a brilliant lyric about how people exist in totally different worlds. She recorded it with a very heavy cold which adds to the sonics of her performance.



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