Modernaire are a four-piece band from Manchester who formed in 2008. The band is made up of Chesty La Rue (vocals), Cruella de Mill (vocals), Oscar Wildstyle (music) and Ollie Austin (drums).

Oscar Wildstyle says: "When we came to university in Manchester we just started making songs for fun in our bedrooms. I played a track I'd done on my laptop and we finished the song for it in about half an hour. We recorded it right there in the bedroom. As soon as we put some tracks up on our MySpace page, we started getting offered local gigs and then from around the country."

After being personally invited by The Ting Tings (also from Manchester) to join them on their UK tour, Modernaire saw a spell of support shows from Friendly Fires, Metronomy, Who Made Who, The Whip and Hot Puppies.

Modernaire have also produced remixes of Metronomy, Empire of the Sun, Daggers, The Hot Puppies and The Holloways songs.

'Faites Vos Jeux' is their new single, which has a clean, crisp electro sound. It comes with three mixes; 'Faites Vos Jeux', 'Faites Vos Jeux (Patrick Alavi Radiox)' and 'Faites Vos Jeux (Patrick Alavi Rerox)'.

The first track has a cheeky feeling to it with its upbeat and feel good tempo. I love the fresh vocals; they have a raw edgy sound to them and keep this song real.

The eclectic mix of electro beats keep you moving from start to finish. Truly mesmerising.

The Patrick Alavi Radiox mix has a darker grittier feel about it, which I just love. At 1 min, 44 secs. it moves to a more emotional level with the use of the keyboard. The chords, I feel, make this ‘the Daddy’ version of the single and one for all the sophisticated ‘underground’ parties to bounce out to.

The Patrick Alavi Rerox feels much more like an experimental piece. It doesn’t flow as well as the previous tracks, it seems too messy and the electro is all over the place. There is too much going on to be able to enjoy the music. Everything in this is heavily synthesized and it just doesn’t work.

As long as this band keep it real and don’t try to overfill their songs with too many different sounds then I can see them going far. As for the experimental sounding pieces, well I think they should be kept hidden under the bed.

8

Helena Rea