After a brief pause this column returns! Oh joy! First, before we go back to the “the week in blogosphere action” kind of thingy, first a look back at the past few weeks (Christmas and advent I think) to cherry pick what came out in the time this column was on temporary hiatus.
Track of the week:
Van She – Don’t Fear The Reaper (Holy Ghost! remix)
Best.Friggin’.Thing. E—well, not ever, but this definitely takes the cake, crown, and other words beginning with a “c” as far as the past few months go. The lads from Holy Ghost!, who will be dropping their debut album somewhere this year, recently released a mixtape with some of their remixes, and it really is superb. This one came into the blogosphere not too long ago, a remix of Van She’s cover of a Blue Oyster Cult song, and it just rolls. It’s dancey, little bit retro disco, and above all it is catchy to boot. It just flows so smoothly and it got my head bobbing the whole time, and you can easily start singing along the chorus after the second time it kicks in. And who wouldn’t want to do that with such a stellar song? Just a lovely, lovely track that is like honey to my ears. The mixtape as a whole, downloadable from the DFA website, is a treat as well.
http://hypem.com/track/993180/Van+She+-++Don+t+Fear+The+Reaper+Holy+Ghost+Remix+
‘The Future Will Come’ by The Juan MacLean (Canyons remix)
I absolutely adored the album by The Juan MacLean last year, though sometimes I feel I was the only one. I guess the people who didn’t like it might like this track, but too be honest, I’m not really into this Canyons remix, another of those young DFA bands who hopefully soon will be releasing their debut. Canyons as a whole is a bit hit and miss for me, this remix definitely belongs in the latter category for me personally. There are some nice bits in it, but Canyons does take the flow right out of it, or so it seems to me. Some of the instrumental bits I do love, but it is the basis beat I really can’t get around, and so whenever the instrumental bits that run over it aren’t that great the track falters a tad. The distorted vocals, I’ve got nothing against distorted vocals, but I’m not really feeling it on this track. It is a reimagining of the original song though, I will give them that, and that instrumental bit that usually comes immediately after the vocals is inspired. The rest of the track I could’ve lived without.
http://hypem.com/track/1005736/The+Juan+MacLean+-+The+Future+Will+Come+Canyons+Remix+
‘Stick to My Side’ by Pantha du Prince feat. Panda Bear
*In his best Rodney Dangerfield impression* My God, it looks like a zoo around here! Not that Dangerfield would every say anything like that, but oh well. Pantha du Prince, endorsed by the people of Fact Mag, is going to release an album this year, and the minimal artist has enlisted Panda Bear for this song, he from Animal Collective. I love that hypnotic beat for the first few minutes, however I’m not really into the vocals. They sound a bit distant, as if it is in between musical layers instead of on the foreground, and I don’t know if that really helps with these vocals in particular. Then again, maybe it would be even worse if it was on the foreground. The vocals do not trigger anything within me, and as a musical layer I don’t feel that it really adds a lot to the song. It is too bad, because I do believe Pantha du Prince can knock that minimalist beat thing right out of the ballpark, but, despite the distance, the vocals they still very much have the song in their grasp.
http://hypem.com/track/992408/Pantha+du+Prince+Panda+Bear+-+Stick+To+My+Side
‘MCs Can Kiss’ by Uffie
Though I’m not saying that I liked the track prior to it, but whenever an artist references to “Wave your hands like you just don’t care”, frankly, I’m out. It sounds to me like a mix between The Go! Team and The Beastie Boys, and I like both better. Because I’m also not crazy about songs that stop to incorporate a kissing sound. “I’ve got something MCs can kiss” I also find not too inspired a lyric, which really can be said about the whole song. The sax on the end, maybe I’m too much Jazz (and not enough experimental/fusion Jazz) to really like that bit at the end. It sounds the way she sings; chopped up.
http://hypem.com/track/982105/Uffie+-+MCs+Can+Kiss
‘Looking for What?’ by Lindstrom & Christabelle (Sally Shapiro remix)
To be honest, I have no idea whether this album by Lindstrom & Christabelle is a 2009 or 2010 album! It’s so strange, maybe it is a continent thing. Anyway, Norwegian space disco wizard Lindstrom teams up with Christabelle, and this time for a whole album’s worth. Italo chanteuse Shapiro remixed one of their songs, ‘Looking for What?’, and I’m loving the results. It starts really atmospheric and fragile, and then it gets a bit more of a beat to it and it becomes a bit more dance friendly. The vocals of Christabelle really mix well with both the first and latter part, and especially how well it fitted within the first part really surprised me, how well that sounded. As said, it really builds up in terms of pace and how much you can dance to it, and when the track is seven minutes long it is okay to have such a build-up I think, DJs can cut out the first part anyway, and already start a new one during the minute long outro which solely seems to consist of a distant drumbeat. Nice remix and a whole other take on this Lindstrom and Christabelle song.
http://hypem.com/track/976050/
‘The High Road’ by Broken Bells
It is funny, because I’m not really that into The Shins, but I do like James Mercer’s vocals. He really knows how to inject a sentence with a certain atmosphere. Look out for the sentence “To each their own” for example, which he delivers in such a way to evoke a certain feeling. I also really like Danger Mouse, but I just don’t know if this really will “stick”, that is, I often find I think a song is nice or even good, but it simply doesn’t stick. With this song I have the feeling I can listen to it and really like it, but that I also can not listen to it and in the mean time do not feel that I want to listen to it. Which is, admittedly, a strange way to judge a song, but what I do in this column is not really judging, it is more a quick take from the blogosphere and a little bit of “people who like such and such a sound might appreciate it, I personally did or did not, and these are the main reasons for that”. So I like the vocals, I like how he brings the lines, I like the Danger Mouse accompanying music, but with the exception of certain phrases uttered in a certain way I do not find it all too special or all too memorable.
http://hypem.com/track/1007333/Broken+Bells+-+The+High+Road
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