MNDR rocked this year CMJ Levi’s/FADER Fort.

Bushwick-lamping pop knob-squelcher MNDR only played second in the line-up of our daylong Levi’s®/FADER Fort celebration, but by that time it was already a sweltering sweatbox. No matter: MNDR powered through, peppering her technicolor synths and amazing warble with abstract and angular dance moves that we loved. Check out “Sparrows” in this video—it’s kind of an office favorite, but one in a series of anthems we simply can’t shut off.

The FADER

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fyMBzGLxcM&feature=player_embedded#

WonderSound artist MNDR featured on Fader TV talking in the studio with producer Peter Wade about her music.

Studio Time with MNDR
Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

Right now MNDR is our favorite electronic pop singer/producer and gear head who crafts effervescent jams we simply cannot shake from our brains while posting the deepest, nerdiest, most pocket protectorly posts about synthesizers on her blog. When she’s not performing her “Pon de Floor” remix with Major Lazer at our parties or playing with addictive Oakland mind-gardeners tRIANGLE, she’s recording her debut album in a Chelsea studio with her colleague Peter Wade. We stopped by to hear some amazing new songs and talk to the duo about synths, patches, grindcore and unicorns.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zc6hydDEps&feature=player_embedded#

MNDR’s “Fade to Black” reviewed by The Fader. For more about the song’s creation check MNDR’s Blog.

It’s tempting to picture currently-NY-based producer/vocalist MNDR 24-7 surrounded by hotwired gear, Frankensteinian drum machines and patched together pedals, a sort of musical robot extension of her arms—her crystal-clear pop voice and gleaming beat sequences just invokes that shit. “Fade to Black” is a total iPod burner, completely anthemic in a song-of-the-summer style with an outburst chorus that evokes the bigness of “Kids in America” or Pat Benetar’s “Invincible”—which is not to say it’s retro, just that it makes us want to walk down the street with our crew, amassing unrelated passersby until we have like a Puerto Rican Day Parade-sized posse following us down Madison, all singing the chorus of this in unison. So maybe MNDR is secretly Ferris Bueller? Listen to it on her MySpace, along with another epic, the wobbly new “Jump In.”

* Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

For the full article check The Fader.

“Reggae Got Soul” Various Artists Riddim Album

“Reggae Got Soul” is a traditional reggae riddim album with a number of artists each voicing unique mix-downs of the same rhythm track. The beat is based on a Casio CZ101 bassline, reminiscent of 1980’s digital dancehall, laid over thuggy hip hop drums and punctuated with various skanks and FX. Produced by Peter Wade and Jason Poras at WonderSound Studios NYC with some feature guests recorded in Jamaica and Italy.

A number of new up-and-coming artists are featured on “Reggae Got Soul,” alongside classic DJ’s and singers including the legendary Sugar Minott, and iTunes 2008 #1 artist, Jahdan Blakkamoore. Other features include rapper Izza Kizza (Timbaland, Missy Elliot), NYC’s notorious 77-Klash, and Jamaica’s gravel-voiced DJ Lion. A number of American top-of-the-pop hit songwriters also lent their voices, including Andrea Martin (Leona Lewis, Monica, En Vogue), Shelene Thomas (Nas, Santana, Tan-Yah Records) and Michelle Lynn Bell (Mary J Blige, Jennifer Lopez, Lynn & Wade LLP, Miley Cyrus). Also look for hard cuts by New York rude-boy King Django and Philly’s master of gangster chat, Stamma Ramma.

If you don’t believe us, check out this review at The Fader.

WonderSound’s “Reggae Got Soul” is now available worldwide!

Spotlight: Shelene Thomas (From Reggae Red)

Artist and professional songwriter Shelene Thomas has got one of the best voices out there. Voicing incredible tunes “I Don’t Wanna Leave You”, and the smash duet “Can You (give me what I need)” with Andrew Bell for Phillip Smart’s Tan-Yah label established her on the New York reggae scene as a force to be reckoned with.

A queen of reggae styles, Shelene says “I love Reggae. I love Jamaica though I haven’t been. Somebody take me please!”

As a songwriter, you can find Shelene Thomas’ name on albums from: Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Tyrese, Music Soul Child, Santana and Nas, for whom she wrote and recorded the hook for “Oochie Wally”.

Shelene’s version of the “Reggae Got Soul” Riddim “It’s You (featuring Roaring Lion)” was the riddim’s first recording and set the stage for the stack of wicked tunes to come.