We first stumbled upon the moonlit & moody sonatas of Bishop Morocco at the most random venue ever: Toronto’s rather trendy Drake Hotel. Having quickly read the Canadian duo’s bio, we were surprised to find that one of its members is Jake Fairley, a techno producer best known for a rather ballsy Kompakt album (2004’s Touch Not the Cat) and 12-inch singles for such reputable dance imprints as Border Community, Echochord and Traum Schallplatten. And then there’s his partner-in-post-punk, Jim Sayce, who’s played with everyone from the Deadly Snakes to Tangiers–bands that have counted current and former members of Guided By Voices, the Hives, the Reigning Sound, and Sloan among their ranks.
Not exactly the type of guys you’d expect to fall right in line with Factory Records and the many descendants of Morrissey, but it works quite well on Bishop Morocco’s self-titled debut and makes perfect sense once you play the following crowd-pleasing mix.
Wire – “Mannequin”
Clinical Wire post-punk with “la-la-las.” Good combo.
The Smiths – “Half a Person”
Amazing melody–a nice track because Moz isn’t stuffing his cleverness down your throat. His delivery is relaxed, nostalgic.
The Cure – “All Cats Are Grey”
Has to be one of their best. So simple. So good.
Slowdive – “Here She Comes”
Not the best lyricists, but they had great guitar sounds.
Shreikback – “Evaporation”
First heard this in the film Manhunter. You could release this now and it would sound fresh.
Trentemøller – “Shades of Marble”
Not really into most of his stuff, but this track is great.
Matthew Dear – “I Can’t Feel”
Weirder than other techno-pop dudes. Production is close to perfect.
Holy Fuck – “Stay Lit (Bishop Morocco Remix)”
Bishop Morocco’s first official remix for our pals Holy Fuck.
Wild Nothing – “Bored Games”
Sometimes it’s tough to get behind blog-rock , but these guys are so good that it’s tough to find fault with it.
Girls Names – “Graveyard”
This track has great momentum and sort of floats along nicely.
Little Girls – “Youth Tunes”
Best dudes, best band.
Beach Fossils – “Daydream (7-inch Version)”
This version is kind of creepy compared to the album version.
Ego Express – “Aranda”
The standout pop song from an otherwise pretty straight-up techno band.
Beach House – “Lover of Mine”
When we were making the record in Groningen, we took the train to Utrecht to see these guys play. It was one of the only times we felt some connection with North America while over there. They don’t have any bad songs.
Blank Dogs – “End of Summer”
He’s always good.
Luke Abbott – “Brazil”
Luke is great and this is one of his best. Beautiful modern Kraut music.
