Photo by Michael de Leon

You can’t tickle yourself. It’s laughter born from torture. It is the sound of forced glee with an undercurrent of pain and vulnerability. We’re all tied to tickle machines, and it’s high time to acknowledge and redefine our relationship with the fingers.

Electric Tickle Machine would like you to know that their name is not a euphemism for a vibrator. They use is as a reference to the mobius strip of humanity, technology and our tabloid nation. So who are they? 3 downtown kids (shout out to the East Village!) united under the ETM monker in 2008 and have been building up reputation for sweaty live gigs ever since. They cast an infectious spell over audiences that tends to inspire general mayhem and random hookups. It’s like that fairy tale The Red Shoes except the Chuck Taylor version on Avenue A. We’re talking curfew-breaking music.

This exclusive mp3 they were kind enough to provide us with recalls Enrico Morricone scoring a Band of Horses duel, Charles Bronson stubbing out a cigarette in Death Wish combined with a dash of the crowd euphoria - the kind that was in the air when the barriers collapsed at the Black Lips Brooklyn Pool Party show last summer. Liberated bad ass martial law. You can’t help but give in.

Electric Tickle Machine: Honest Injun by SUPMAG

After 2 awesome years of sharpening their teeth on the DIY scene, ETM’s debut album Blew it Again drops June 29th on their own label Science Diction. We’re giving away a vinyl copy of the album and a pair of tickets to their Northside Festival gig at Shea Stadium on June 25th in Brooklyn. Just email abbey@supmag.com with ETM in the subject line. Be sure to include your fave Charles Bronson flick and whether you’re in the market for the concert tickets or vinyl in the message. EASY. US residents only please.

Words by Nik Mercer / Re-hosted via ‘SUPmag for Hype Machine circulation purposes!

Pop music, it seems, tends to operate on a loose “rule of 20″: after a couple decades pass, the current generation of musicians tend to look back on their fathers’ record collections for inspiration. The early 2000s were all about a 80s post-punk revival, and now, in the second decade of the 21st century, we find ourselves buried under a pile of bands that espouse dream pop like its 1993 all over again.

Alba Lua is one such group. The Bordeaux-based trio represents a refreshing turn within France’s otherwise mutilated house music-focused scene―tranquil, elastic guitar strums replace face-melting distorted and compressed synths; soothing, airy female vocals stand in lieu of vocoder-filtered lyrics; and uplifting wall-of-sound bass gushes reside where spastic, warbley percussion riffs normally would.

At times, the band’s Ballad of Joseph Merrick EP sounds like an even gentler Spaceman 3 or more innocent and blissed-out rendering of Galaxie 500. The vocals add to the mystique of the trio: their childish timbre evokes memories of 90s Japanese artists like Kahimi Karie and could just as well be fronting a jazz combo playing through a bossa nova tune. This is the soundtrack for those lazy, overcast Sundays you spend sprawled out on your neighborhood green with a joint in one hand and a 40 ounce in the other.

Alba Lua’s Ballad of Joseph Merrick is set for release on June 28th via Satellite of Love Records. Right click the arrow on player to download the exclusive premiere of “Valley of Abra.”

Alba Lua: Valley of Abra by SUPMAG

Rehosted as requested by ‘SUP!

How’s about a little Friday pick me up then? Fresh from blowing our little minds at Primavera Sound last week, Yeasayer have been remixed by new electro duo on the block, Clancy & Build, and we’ve been given the exclusive mp3 to download.

We’ve been dancing throughout the spring to the afrobeat joyness of “O.N.E.” and now it’s been chopped up and given a jolt of synths and electro stylings, making it even more perfect for the dancefloor.

And it’s a ‘SUP exclusive as it’s the first track that remixer/DJs Clancy & Build have produced together. Both producers have been blowing up the blogs with their previous ’80s-tinged remixes for the likes of Empire of the Sun, Phoenix, Delphic and Annie, and their first outing together is a match made in electronic heaven. As two heads are always better than one, non?

Yeasayer: O.N.E. (Clancy & Build Remix) by SUPMAG