Matthew Dear is a longtime HUGO Tracks favorite, so we were super excited to hear that he’s got a new album coming out on August 28. (It’s called Beams, and it’s being released by Ghostly International.) The lead single from the LP is called “Her Fantasy,” and it’s amazing. Leaning slightly toward the tropical sounds that seem to be omni-present in synthier electronic music today, it still maintains a distinct Matthew Dear sound –  especially when his trademark raspy vocals come in.

Johnny Jewel can do no wrong in my book. Slowly the genius producer and mastermind behind projects like Symmetry, Glass Candy, Desire and Chromatics has built his label, Italians Do it Better, into being one of the most interesting outputs for electronic indie music – with that signature Italo disco twist. The Chromatics latest album, Kill For Love, is easily the best so far in 2012.
I have had the pleasure of playing DJ sets before a couple of their live shows over the years, the latest one having been at the beginning of their current European tour, at Distortion Festival in Copenhagen. They are indeed as great on stage as on record. The setting in a majestic glass building right on the Copenhagen harbour didn’t make it any less of a great experience. The track “These Streets Will Never Look The Same” is one of my favorite songs off the album. If you didn’t buy it yet, hurry up – and try to catch them on the road as well.

Once again live from sunny Copenhagen, heeeeeere’s Kasper! Our dear friend Kasper Bjørke has been rather pampering us with his nordic generosity lately, in terms of frequently posting his favorite tracks du jour on our pretty blog. Avid followers will notice that it’s about time for our monthly podcast again and we figured, well, having a man of such great taste and sophistication at hand (who, to top it all off, hosts his own weekly radio show called 4/4 on National Danish Radio DR P6 Beat): Why shouldn’t two great things come together? So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, please go right ahead and enjoy this month’s HUGO Tracks podcast curated, compiled and hosted by the one and only Kasper Bjørke, featuring handpicked releases by such amazing artists as The Rapture, Trentemøller, Chromatics, Hot Chip, Raptile Youth and many many more…You can download the podcast directly here and of course on iTunes. So don’t you dare touch that dial!

Sweden-based producer/DJ Martin Brodin runs his own imprint, MB Disco, where he has released in the past Giorgio Moroder classics along with new cosmic disco stuff from the Scandinavian scene. He’s about to release his own solo album as well, including remixes by Headman and myself. I asked Martin to deliver an exclusive remix of my latest single “Deep Is The Breath” (feat. Jacob Bellens and Emma Acs) for the HUGO Blog – and here is the great result, entitled Martin Brodin & Copycat Dub Mix. Be quick… the first 100 get a free download!

Follow Martin Brodin and MB Disco here:
www.facebook.com/martinbrodin
www.soundcloud.com/martinbrodin

Locussolus is a project consisting of my long time hero, Harvey, along with Sam Fox and Tara Selleck, ably assisted by Josh Marcy. They record their music in Venice Beach – and you can sense the Californian sun in the vibe somehow. Their first album was acclaimed and lauded as well as being included in many of 2011′s ‘Best Of’ lists. Now they are back to give you more with a great twelve-inch, two-track single. ‘Berghain’ is an anthem track to play out as a DJ – named after the legendary Berlin nightclub – and ‘Telephone’  is more of a disco boogie FM radio-hit-style track, the other side of Harvey that I really enjoy as well. If you ever have the chance to catch Harvey playing as a DJ, you are in for a treat. He is known across the globe for selecting and blending eclectic music in a way like no one else.