Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Don't Stop Me Now

Holy shit, I have some sterling tracks to share with you over the next coupla days. I think a fair majority of them have already been circulating furiously around blogland, but as Freddie Mercury once warned, 'Don't stop me now'. Seriously, don't.



DFA (pictured above) are, let's be honest, an indie phenomenon. Who else in history has found equal favour among the kind of people who bosh mouthfuls of pills and 'chill out' to Plastikman mixtapes, and those who swig bellyfulls of Carling and listen to, like, Bikini Kill rarity collections. But then maybe we're the first generation (I arrogantly propose) that are (almost) equally happy doing both....Of course, LCD Soundsystem has gone from being the brilliantly obscure, world-saving phenomenon they once promised to be (I think of 'Losing My Edge', 'Beat Connection' and 'Yeah'), to being the disconcertingly popular, world-renowned phenomenon that they are now. It would be very unlike me not to suggest that something has been lost in translation. But it doesn't matter. Because, even as LCD play yet another gig with 2ManyDJs to the better class of post-Top Man indie kid in mid-sized venues across the universe and induce another full-body sigh of dejection from Mr Soft, so the ever-expanding DFA family continues to churn out classic after classic, and, most crucially, so the DFA production team nails astounding remix after astounding remix....

After recent unwieldy, epic retellings of tracks by Hot Chip and Goldfrapp, Murphy & Goldsworthy turn their attentions to Mr Sexor himself, Tiga. Now, I haven't actually listened to it yet, but my instinct is that the Canadian fop's LP is something of a non-starter (when the album's recording was announced, like ten years ago, the enlistment of Soulwax as producers seemed like a good idea...now I'm not so sure) - and surely nothing on it could surpass Morgan Geist's HUGE remix of 'Good as Gold'...Well, 'Sexor' was always going to be about the 12"s it spawned, and the next one will feature a DFA remix of 'Far From Home'. Weighing in at a relatively restrained six or so minutes, the mix is appearing in vocal and instrumental form, and it's the latter that's doing the trick for me...Sounding a little like a discofied Neu!, but propelled by that inimitable hi-hat-heavy percussion sound that's DFA's trademark, it's a solid workout which calls to mind a spangly, seventies vision of space travel and ranks alongside the duo's best remixes (and that's some esteemed company). Check it out. I'm guessing a fair few of you are as excited me (that is, VERY) about the Carl Craig mix of Delia & Gavin's 'Revelee' that's headed our way come March...I'd love to say that I've got hold of an mp3/promo, but the fact is I haven't, so if you want a taste (albeit with loveable manchild Tim Sweeney drawling and cooing appreciatively - well, as if he's getting a blowjob - over the top) check the latest show on Sween's peerless Beats in Space site. You will be blown away....As well as boasting the fattest, most acidic, most electroey arpeggiated synth riff that I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot...is that weird?) and a 'Falling Up'-esque, four-to-the-floor rythym which will send the right kind of tremors through the right kind of dancefloor, it's the slightly abstracted piano sounds that emerge halfway through which kill me. So fucking good. If anyone gets hold of an mp3, please tell me.

Download:
Tiga - Far From Home (DFA Remix Instrumental) // PIAS





My experience of Telex has, until now, been limited to Carl Craig's celestial mix of 'Moscow Disko' (or however it was spelt..)...But hark ye, a new EP from the Belgian electro pranksters/pioneers turned up on --- last month, with a remix from the increasingly sporadic Playgroup. Trevor Jackson's been a bit quiet over the last year, perhaps understandably a little resentful at how little he's been credited for the post-electro uprising, and distracted by the financial precariousness of Output's situation (if you saw the fantastically embittered Output 'advert' in Vice or some such publication, you'll know what I mean). Having licensed and reared LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture, his two most successful artists, Jackson has been forced to surrender them to major labels, allegedly without any payoff/thank you. While he waits for Black Strobe to finish their long-awaited (and, let's face it, bound to be crap) LP, the man we sometimes called Playgroup has had to rely on the admirable, but ultimately rather dreary, work of Colder and DK. So I was pretty surprised to see him take time out from indie label hell to lay down an absolute bomb of a remix for Telex, one of the best things I've heard so far this year...All the more surprising because I've never really thought much of Playgroup's past productions, though I dug the ideas and aesthetic. 'On the Road Again' is a cover of Canned Heat's fey, Easy Rider-style psyche-rock classic but Jackson obscures the vocal even more than Telex do, and leaves centre stage to a bolshy, synthesized bass riff and a tidal wave of druggy effects. Class, basically.

Download:
Telex - On The Road Again (Playgroup Remix) // Labels

1 Comments:

Blogger Blackest said...

true saying, logan5, true saying...

2:02 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

site hit counter