New music to listen to this week: Ekkoes
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Your support makes all the difference.London electronic act Ekkoes are taking cues from the likes of New Order, Human League and Years & Years; crafting bubbly pop music with plenty of energy.
They're kind of Euro-pop and that's not a bad thing - their new video for "Heaven" has this slightly surreal feel to it - very 80s and pretty catchy - while Rosaelee O'Connell and Jon Beck get some beautiful harmonies into the mix.
Establishing a reputation as remixers for the likes of Joy Forbidable and Lana Del Ray, you'll also be able to catch them supporting Human League on the UK and European tour later in the year.
Take a look at the video for "Heaven" below and let us know what you think:
Q&A with Ekkoes
What have you been listening to recently?
Dave is obsessed with a brand new all-girl trio from LA called MUNA, who have released two amazing bittersweet electro tracks in the last six months.
They're quite similar, songwriting-wise to what we're going for and they're absolutely brilliant. Jon's really into an artist called Elohim from LA at the moment - she’s done a load of amazing dreamy synth-pop tunes and all of her artwork has her with an animal mask on, which is a little strange.
Jon also really loves a track called Haunted Beach by a band called Way No Way - check it out; it’s 2 1/2 minutes of shoegazing perfection. Other than that, Curtis Mayfield's Superfly and What's Going On by Marvin Gaye, because you can never go wrong with classic soul.
What are your plans for summer 2016?
Our album comes out in May, so we'll be playing some shows around the UK to support that, hopefully a festival or two, and then getting ready for our autumn UK and European tour with The Human League which will be pretty special.
We'll definitely be heading to Citadel Festival in London to watch Sigur Ros and we've blagged some tickets for the Pet Shop Boys show at the Royal Opera House, which - you would expect - will surely be pretty spectacular. If the pointy hats don't come out again we'll be pretty annoyed. Other than that, we're looking forward to England disappointing us in Euro 2016 once again.
What was the first gig you ever played, and what's been the best so far?
Funnily enough our first gig was awesome - we supported the brilliant Matt & Kim at a sold-out Garage a couple of years ago, which was something of a baptism of fire (in a good way).
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The best so far? Definitely opening up the second stage at Bestival in 2014. It was insane to play a stage that big and live out a few rock star dreams. It's an incredible festival generally too - the best we've ever been to with amazing acts and a great atmosphere.
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