Towards the end of last year we featured Kovak's slick synth work-out Radiate on the blog - loving all things 80s, as we do, it's fair to say we were a bit infatuated by the group's sound. And turning to their more flirty, playful side, they deliver once again on new track Killer Boots.
In a gloriously decadent anthem to hedonistic fashion, Kovak boost the colourful and bright factor up to ten and let fly with a flashy electro anthem that feels like the Human League in their prime. I mean, the video even has one of those drum-pad things in it, you can't get more 80s than that!
All the sugary sweetness of concentrated pop essence, and then some.
Last month we featured up and coming electro-poppers Kovak on the blog, and if their assortment of fizzy synth gems haven't already won you over, we reckon their brilliant new track Radiate certainly well.
Coming on like a refined distillation of Gary Numan and everything else brilliant about the 80s, it brings the glories of electronic past into the shining prospects of sci-fi future.
Radiate not only packs the band's most irresistible chorus to date - all Goldfrapp-esque sultry vocals - but it also stands as a statement of a new, slickly refined sound. Radiate is the band at their most streamlined and clinical, and its pop credibility is there for all to see, glittering and shimmering away under the neon lights.
With the overbearing wave of precision engineered club music sweeping the charts right now, it's refreshing to hear that there's still those fighting the cause for a more hand-crafted, authentic kind of electronic pop out there. Enter Kovak, the Brighton-based band bringing back all the synth delights of the 80s to pair them with an intelligent contemporary pop outlook.
For the most part, their music beats with the essence of groups like The Human League and Yazoo, but the nostalgia is always tempered with a sleek 21st century refinement.
I Love The Dancefloor is a gloriously up-beat party number, sharp guitar stabs punctuating a bratty Brit-pop vocal. It's like Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out piped through the spirit of Blondie and a gallon of vodka shots. Meanwhile, Living The Dream is half Eurythmics, half Sophie Ellis-Bextor, a glamtastic strut through the trendiest of neon-bathed nightclubs.
The group's girl singer/three guy musicians aesthetic and electro/rock blend also recalls the likes of Garbage. For those who might mistake the synthetic love-ins for a sign of fluffiness, think again - this group has real bite. With Kovak, it's not just the music that's stylish, they look stylish too.
Above all, Kovak's tunes feel good. So often, bands are so concerned about giving off an impenetrable serious stance that they forget one of the core ethics behind music - its ability to touch the emotions. In Kovak's case, they're pushing all the buttons marked, joy, happiness, fun - and we love it.
