Modular People

I'm old enough to remember when we my parents lobbied together a generation and chased away the Recession Blues of the 1990's with an arsenal of glowing sticks, smiley faces and painful Sunday mornings, soundtracked by the suckling of lollipops and swallowed faces. On the back of this, several economists theorised the existence of an inseparable relationship between Global Financial Markets and Electronic Music. Given the fact we're once again in the deathly grips of a worldwide fiscal depression, it seems only logical that we're due for another resurgence in this Rave The Pain Away movement.

British hair-dying solar hippie, Unicorn Kid, is pioneering this revitalisation. The clip for his steel-drum odyssey, Pure Space, bottles youthful euphoria and joyfully throws it into the face of older statesmen obsessively discussing financial turmoil, visually accompanied by scenes of wide-eyed, carefree juveniles joyfully tripping through the streets of Tropical Berlin.

Unicorn Kid's debut album is out "soon".

Shane McCauley is a New York based photographer and filmmaker. Over the past 7 years, he has globetrotted with Mad Decent boss and friend Diplo to more than 30 countries across the world.

He took so many photos and saw so many amazing things - enough to fill a book. So that's what they did - together he and Diplo put together a tome documenting their adventures. It's called '128 Beats Per Minute' and is, in their own words, 'Diplo's Visual Guide to Music, Culture and Everything in Between'.

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Record Store Day is upon us. A day to spend some time appreciating -and buying - some great records from some great stores.

Rounding out our series we've got some tips from supreme record collectors DJ Kaos, Monseuir L'Agent's Alexis Le-Tan and our very own Beni, and Glen from Modular A&R.

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Continuing our series on record stores, here are some reflections and tips from Canyons, Grace Woodroofe, and Manchester's Piccadilly Records.

Record Store Day is this coming Saturday April 21.

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Continuing our preparations and list-making for Record Store Day this coming Saturday April 21, today we're sharing a couple more stories and sweet tips.

Dinamo Azari from Azari & III, Michaek Kucyk, host of Melbourne's iconic RRR radio show 'Noise In My Head', and Nick Allbrook of Pond / Tame Impala fame all share a special record / store moment with you.

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This coming Saturday April 21 is Record Store Day, a day to celebrate great records and the stores that house them. In anticipation, we've asked some of our well-travelled, music loving friends to tell us about either a record store - or a record - that they love and want to share with others.

Here we have stories from Bag Raiders, Rough Trade, DJ/Producer and owner of Italians Do It Better, Mike Simonetti and Modular's own Shelley to help you discover some great record stores and some gems hidden in them!

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While his band-mates are enjoying a well-deserved rest before embarking on their next album, Ben Browning, bass player for Cut Copy, has released a solo side project.

His debut EP 'Lover Motion' features cameos and collaborations with Architecture in Helsinki's Gus Franklin and Haima Marriott, and Cut Copy's own Dan Whitford and is out now on the band's label, Cutters Records.

Ben's on the road through-out April and May with a string of dates across America, more info here.

Glasgow producer Rustie, the winner of 2011's Guardian First Album Award, delivered a barnstormer mix for BBC1's Essential series this past Saturday night.

With a tracklist that encompasses fellow Numbers alumni Jackmaster and Hudson Mohawke, a trilogy of rap's First Ladies in Cassie, Nicki Minaj, and Destiny's Child, and one extremely bananas rework of his Glass Swords stand-out 'City Star', Rustie's Essential Mix is start-to-finish banging.

You can stream Rustie's Essential Mix here. BBC Radio 1 Essential Mixes are available for one week on the BBC site.

Every year around this time in the lead-up to Record Store Day, little gems start surfacing, hints of what's to come.

One of these is a collaboration between Flaming Lips & Bon Iver, taken from the forthcoming album "Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends" (featuring a diverse range of collaborations including with Nick Cave, Ke$ha, Yoko Ono and our very own Tame Impala). If this collaboration with Bon Iver is anything to go by, the album's going to be pretty special (not to mention the plans for the vinyl to be pressed with a mix of the contributors blood!)

Record Store Day is on April 22 this year, more info here.

In Flagranti have a new late night, dirty disco, party jam called "All That And A Bag of Chips". The video is an ode to their city of New York and fabulous fashion.