We’ve all more or less recovered from last month’s Boards of Canada easter egg hunt, which eventually resulted in the announcement of their first new album in 8 years, Tomorrow’s Harvest, out next month. But the saga won’t end til we hear the music. That moment arrives imminently as BBC1 will play a new BoC song on Zane Lowe’s show this evening between 7 and 9pm UK time (around 7:55pm, according to Lowe); ostensibly, this will be the world premiere airing of their first single from Harvest. This week, another mysterious video transmission, much in the vein of last month’s, appeared at Tokyo’s Shibuya Junction, leading yet again to feeling of a burgeoning announcement or revelation from the Brothers Sanderson. Watch that video above and tune in to Zane Lowe NOW.

Update! Here’s the song and video!

“Good evening, ladies and gentleman,” a vocoder intoned dramatically in the dead of night at Brooklyn’s new club, Output “My name is Giorgio Moroder.” And so began Monday’s premiere of Moroder’s DJ act — believe it or not, the 72 year old’s first ever North American DJ set. It was all the cosmic disco you could hope for – the stuff he invented (Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” “Bad Girls,” “Love To Love You Baby” among the titan songs) and the spawn of those sounds, including his latest, “Giorgio By Moroder” with Daft Punk. Having been there, we can say it was truly inspiring to see a man old enough to be our grandfather still connect to the youth with his personal arsenal of hits; he understands the art and science of musical experience better than almost anyone alive. Listen to the crowd vibe along here, and you can’t deny it.

Photo: Will Deitz

The reality of Kanye West taking the Saturday Night Live stage with a scorching anger shook up the sound grids, for certain. And there’s no doubt, he’s taking a risk by performing the eviscerating harsh noise-rap of “New Slaves” and “Black Skinhead” on the nation’s most iconic late night show. But West has never been one to take the path of least resistance; we salute his provocations. Even more interesting: he sampled “The Beautiful People,” which means Marilyn Manson is due for re-evaluation any day now. Get ready for Pitchfork to declare him an underrated pioneer. Whoever West says is cool becomes cool to sell – it’s the trickle up effect.

Anyway, if you like where West is heading with his martial rap, here are some other contemporary artists who have expertly experimented with noise, industrial, and hip-hop — years before West’s tirade. There’s also artists like Death Comet Drew who did this DECADES before, but we’ll leave that discussion for West’s album release. Three key influencers below:

Saul Williams – “Explain My Heart”

Death Grips – “The Fever (Aye Aye)”

These New Puritans – “We Want War”

Sad news this past weekend: Romanthony, an influential, under-the-radar dance artist who contributed the vocal hook to Daft Punk’s crossover hit, “One More Time,” has died at age 46. He died May 7th of unknown causes, according to a Facebook post by his sister Mellony:

“My baby brother Romanthony AKA Anthony Moore passed away 7 May 2013 at his home in Austin TX.Our family is shocked with grief. A memorial service is being planned for a future date.”

Romanthony worked within the world of deep vocal house, but will best be remembered for his collaborations with Daft Punk on Discovery. In the Nineties through 2000, he released his excellent self-produced albums, Romanworld and R. Hide In Plain Site along with a handful of influential singles. He was allegedly due to collaborate with Boys Noize in the future. Above, his 1994 track, “Let Me Show You Love.” Timeless.

For those who fell in love with the seductive, noir disco sounds of Italians Do It Better acts Desire and Chromatics through the Drive soundtrack (or later, the semi-related Symmetry release, Songs For An Imaginary Film, blatantly penned by IDIB’s Johnny Jewel), we have good news: your sounds of a synth summer have arrived. After many delays, the new Italians Do It Better compilation, After Dark 2, arrives digitally this week. It features tracks from Johnny Jewel allies and aliases such as the aforementioned Chromatics, Symmetry, Glass Candy, Desire, Mirage, and more, and is destined to be a keeper. The CD hits stores next month and the vinyl is out in July. Check out Chromatics’ cut, “Cherry” above. Other inclusions below:

01 Glass Candy: “Warm in the Winter”
02 Desire: “Tears From Heaven”
03 Mirage: “Let’s Kiss”
04 Appaloosa: “Fill the Blanks”
05 Chromatics: “Looking for Love”
06 Symmetry: “Heart of Darkness”
07 Chromatics: “Camera”
08 Twisted Wires: “Half Lives”
09 Glass Candy: “The Possessed”
10 Chromatics: “Cherry”
11 Glass Candy: “Beautiful Object”
12 Farah: “Into Eternity”
13 Appaloosa: “Intimate”
14 Mike Simonetti: “The Magician”
15 Glass Candy: “Redheads Feel More Pain”

Yesterday, we took a glance at Google’s new upgraded music streaming and gaming plans, as well as Daft Punk and Giorgio Moroder’s new shoot for Dazed & Confused, and today brings serendipitous news that nicely dovetails these developments. Google have commissioned man-of-the-hour Moroder to soundtrack their new Chrome game, “Racer” (its demo premiered as part of yesterday’s I/O conference). Today, the legendary Italian dance producer uploaded the song to his Soundcloud — yes, Giorgio Moroder has a Soundcloud, amazing! — and we like what we here. He clearly still gets it: gets the mechanics of current EDM trends (the crescendoed drum fills and drops, the impatient pacing) while not straying far from the slow elegant suspense he built into disco and synthpop decades ago. A fantastically accelerated tune.

The many, under-publicized benefits of the multi-media Nexus mobile and tablet experience are going to the big leagues, Google announced today. During its Google I/O developer’s conference today, the innovative giant announced a new Android gaming service and a subscription-based music streaming service, “All Access.” Nexus users have been privy to this service (which can also house all your own music in your Google cloud), but now the streaming platform aims to compete with Spotify and Pandora as a paid library and discovery tool. Calling it “radio without limits,” Google will release the feature through Google Play. The company also announced a range of new APIs and services for its Android developers, including a plan to launch a Nexus-inspired Galaxy S4.

Eighties synthpop giants Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark (O.M.D.) are back on track with English Electric, their well-reviewed comeback album released last month. It’s geared straight for the tender metal hearts of their E-Mu loving fans, and provides plenty of hooks. What we’re digging the most right now, though, is art direction for “Dresden,” the band’s new video which The New York Times premiered last week. Remember Susan Alinsangan’s colorful, breakthrough iTunes ads featuring the moving, grooving silhouettes from a decade ago? How they singlehandedly defined the Apple empire and exhibited the mighty power of good design?

“Dresden” goes there pretty specifically, evoking a strange dual nostalgia for both 2003 and 1983. But it’s visually stunning and satisfying, a lovely treat from the vintage future, much like O.M.D. themselves. Watch the video above and stream English Electric here.