We Are Standard originally emerged in 2007, releasing 3000v-40000w alongside extensive touring and playing major European festivals including F.I.B, Eurosonic and Popkomm.

Known in their home country as “Standard”, The Basque Country five piece’s remix album of their second LP is an intriguing transformation of the original, which was released some two years ago. The original reference points of driving Euro-indie, recall Soulwax and Phoenix. In some ways they follow template of “music girls can dance to” ideas mid noughties Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand espoused, augmented with the suggestion of dance beats and keyboards.

There’s not even a suggestion of Spanish accents to the vocal work, which eschews Latin for an English language vocal, nodding towards the bands’ influences. The use of two drummers in the lineup also adds to the intensely rhythmic feel in their original work, but also points the direction towards this dance oriented alternate take on their songs.

In the context of this remix record, the original songs like ‘Don’t Give Up’, ‘Don’t Let The Children Play Around’ and ‘The First Girl Who Got A Kiss Without A Please’ are transformed into a much cooler, Balearic downtempo post-club experience than their indie counterparts. Remixes from the likes the legendary New York Attic DJ and New Order producer Arthur Baker, fellow Spaniards The Requesters and Anoraak are largely stripped of analogue instruments and reconstructed with dance beats, sampled guitars and synth sounds. Madchester style happy piano sounds pop up on ‘Other Lips, Other Kisses’, recalling the original marriage of indie and dance that occurred during that era, this time filtered through a strong European influence.

On the whole it’s this marriage of British indie-dance and European Balearic house that makes The Golden League a compelling listen for indie fans and clubbing aficionados alike.

HEALTH‘s edgy, discordant music seems tailor-made to receive the remix treatment, and on Disco, the rough edges of the band’s self-titled debut were smoothed out quite a bit while the hypnotic, beat-driven melodies were creatively reimagined by other artists. It was a highly enjoyable listen that only served to add depth and atmosphere to the roiling originals, while also clearly influencing HEALTH’s recording process on their follow-up, the toned-down but no less dynamic Get Color. Now those highly inventive songs get the remix treatment on Disco2, to similar favorable effect, with heavy-hitters like Tobacco, Gold Panda and Crystal Castles all taking stabs at reinventing these spirited numbers. The album is remarkably cohesive considering how varied both the source material and the remixes are, playing out more like a fluid, polished mix-tape than a collection of mixes, which is a testament to both HEALTH and the talented producers behind these reconstructions.

The album opens with ‘USA Boys,’ a brilliant unreleased original from HEALTH, which forms a perfect spellbinding entry point for this collection, easing the listener into the moody ambience that the rest of the album only builds on. HEALTH’s sound is as much about temper as it is about tone, and these songs do a great job of recapturing or building on that essence, with CFCF giving ‘Before Tigers’ (remixed three times on this collection) a wistful, nostalgic sense of longing, while Javelin turns ‘In Heat’ into a South Beach-style club anthem. But the real banger on this album was always going to be the remix of ‘Die Slow,’ the original of which just kills on Get Color, and remains the best song the group has produced. The track gets two disparate mixes on Disco2, with Tobacco’s stellar version building on the propulsive swagger and underlying funk of the original, while Pictureplane goes for a more ethereal, glassy approach. It’s a perfect illustration of how layered the music of HEALTH is, as both mixes grasp at different threads woven within their sound, fashioning remarkably different takes on the same track.

The same can also be said for ‘Nice Girls,’ and ‘Before Tigers,’ each given multiple remixes on Disco2. Blondes and Little Loud rework ‘Nice Girls,’ which originally is a hyperactive, drum-driven freak-out, but here it’s reimagined as tranquil, entrancing dance numbers that soothe rather than sear. The fact that these two mixes hardly resemble the original doesn’t matter a bit, as the tracks effortlessly transport you to places just hinted at in the authentic version. In addition to CFCF’s version, ‘Before Tigers’ also gets reworked by both Gold Panda and Blindoldfreak, with the former providing a shimmering instrumental take, while the latter turns in an evocative, minimalist version that adds tension and space to the captivating vocals. Again, there are hints of the spirit of the prototypes present in the work, but ultimately these are new, unique works in their own right, which makes this project far more appealing than your standard cash-grab remix experiments.

You’d figure that Crystal Castles remixing a HEALTH song called ‘Eat Flesh’ would produce something dissonant and downright unnerving, but the Canadian duo reign in their somewhat sinister instincts and deliver a relatively tame mix that doesn’t unleash any real fury until the agitated drums kick in halfway through. Salem’s mix of ‘In Violet’ is far more memorable, turning the song into a haunting, stirring number reminiscent of both jj and the xx. Ultimately, the beauty of this whole project is that HEALTH are unselfishly offering up their songs to be reinterpreted and reworked by other artists, who in turn take how they hear this music and what it means to them in fresh, unconventional directions, while crafting new sonic experiments in the process. In order for something like this to truly work, the songs themselves must be solid and resonant enough to both inspire the artists and carry their new versions to another dimension entirely, and HEALTH clearly have created songs that have depth and energy to spare. Where they take their sound in the future is anyone’s guess, but given the wild new directions the artists on Disco2 took the band’s sound, we best be listening, because it’s bound to be compulsively innovative and always open to further interpretation.

Something a little different to tickle your ivories this sunshine-filled Friday afternoon.

We’ve got an early-bird exclusive on this… The brilliant Monarchy have got DFA newbies Holy Ghost to remix their track ‘Love Get Out Of My Way’, chugging this into a soul-filled, synth-tastic pop-classic that’s destined to soundtrack parties the entire Summer.

Monarchy: ‘Love Get Out Of My Way’ (Holy Ghost! [featuring Dixon] remix)

The single ‘Love Get Out Of My Way’ is released on July 26th with album to follow.

If you’d like to sign up to the bands mailing list, you’ll get the the DUB and the Monarchy remix of Kelis’ ‘Accapella’. Click here for that booty.

Bit of an exclusive here ladies and gents – we’ve had an email from the Efterklang guys unveiling a new remix they’ve done, and a remix by a fellow Danish band, Turboweekend, of one of their tracks!

So, we have a remix swap between Efterklang and Turboweekend. They’re very different bands, but both from Copenhagen… in fact Rasmus and Morten are squash buddies. How sweet!

You can download the Efterklang remix of Turboweekend’s ‘Sweet Jezebel’ here. Listen to the original over at Turboweekend’s website. This is only the second ever remix Efterklang have undertaken… their first one was for Grizzly Bear back in 2005.

On the flip side, you can download Turboweekend’s remix of Efterklang’s ‘Full Moon’ here! You can stream the original on their website too.

Something a little different for you to download this Thursday afternoon. A couple of remixes that’ve been pushed our way.

Grum Remix
Raised on French house, Italo disco and new wave, this Scottish dance whiz spins lush retro-futurist discotronica and sprinkles his charm on the new Owl City track, Umbrella Beach. A VERY fine remix.
Owl City – Umbrella Beach (Grum remix)

Deluka Diamante Remix
Deluka are a British electro/rock four piece, think sleazy guitar riffs, throbbing bass, heavy beats and razor-sharp synths topped by wildly powerful yet blissful vocals. However, they’re remixing a track by Band of Skulls…
Band of Skulls – Death by Diamonds and Pearls (Deluka Diamante remix)

For years Noisia have arguably been the D&B crowd’s weapon of choice. Since they have continued to gather momentum through the packed ranks of today’s producers, the Dutch trio have been putting their sticky fingers into other areas, from album production for shitty indie/electropop bands to remixing tracks by The Prodigy and Moby. Doing these remixes is certainly one way of getting noticed, but Noisia have been “noticed” for years, and it is about time that they put out their first full length titled Split The Atom.

Sometimes when artists release a lot of single releases over a period of time, whenever they get round to putting out a full length, it can sound almost like a compilation of “greatest hits”; but this doesn’t. There’s plenty of new material and enough diversity to edge them away from other D&B albums and firmly put themselves ahead of the game with other artists such as Breakage and Kryptic Minds. Album opener ‘Machine Gun’ is a definite example of how the ‘Noisia sound’ has changed over recent releases. It is mix of D&B and breakbeat, with their trademark snapping snares and heavily filtered and obnoxiously phrased synth sounds that flood your earholes and make you want to contort your face in such way that makes you look ridiculous – and not wholly different from the faces Noisia ‘pull’ on the album cover.

Hidden amongst the full length tracks are snippets of experimental electronic abuse. It’s as if these tracks are the leftover pastry cut off from other tasty tracks and then used again so not to waste anything that they have created. The “interim” tracks range from squelchy slabs of sub bass to glitchy electronic – for example on “whiskers”. It certainly bolsters the track numbers up – there are a whopping 19 on the album – but do not really serve much purpose.

Noisia have also cleverly released and divided the album into 2 x 12″ releases, with the more D&B orientated tracks on one release (Vision EP), and the electro/break tracks on the other (Division EP). The more electro side of things includes title track ‘Split The Atom’ – yep, that massive chunk of breakbeat from their FabricLive mix. In fact, there are a few tracks that have crept on this album from their Fabric release, such as ‘Diplodocus’, ‘Stigma’, and ‘Square Feet’. The D&B orientated 12″ is diverse considering its length. You have everything from ‘Brainstitch’ and ‘Facacde’ era tech-step on ‘Sunhammer’ and ‘Shellshock’ – the latter which verges on something that could be put out on Breakbeat Kaos, to Teebee style atmospherics on ‘Thursday’, and Photek induced minimalism on ‘Hand Gestures’.

But what separates Noisia from their counterparts is their distinct and what used to be highly sought after techniques in creating mesmeric sounding synth lines. Noisia have spilled the beans on their techniques a number of times, and their overall sounds haven’t changed too much, it is just that they are now embracing other areas and pushing other artists in different directions, which can only be a good thing.

My Brightest Diamond’s A Thousand Shark’s Teeth spent six years in evolution. Conceived as a voice and string quartet affair, the finished record, released in 2008, spanned sonic and emotional extremes, guitars and orchestration flourishing throughout with Shara Worden’s stunning vocals at the helm. Shark Remixes consists of four EPs, with Alfred Brown, Son Lux, Roberto C. Lange and DM Stith re-conceiving the record.

Brown’s re-conception draws on Worden’s initial ideas, taking them to neo-classical realms: inspired by Shara’s numerous references to the heavens, Brown splices vocals from across the album to build a narrative involving an astronaut isolated from communication – his contemplations beaming out into the universe. The result is stunning, shimmering with fear and wonder, bringing instrumentation often buried into the mix back into the light. ‘black!Black!BLACK!’s dramatic forefront fades to sorrow before borrowing ‘Bass Player’s vocal melody. Strings breath into a drone of condensation and harmonium on ‘The Loneliest Man In History’ – as if onto the astronaut’s helmet.

Son Lux and Roberto C. Lange’s segments draw more from electronic and funk elements. Son Lux’s ‘Apples’ is dressed with horns and that ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ hit-hat; ‘The Diamond’ reaches Spiritualized levels of gospel equanimity for its brief eighty-eight seconds while ‘Inside A Boy’ is a little saturated with beeps and blips – the only real sore point of the first disc. Lange’s offering starts with a tropical drenching of ‘Apples’ (‘Manzanas’) – though the ephemeral mood strays into the downbeat electronic – ‘Queen’ gradually building a rhythmical surrounding to Worden’s vocals; ‘Ester Pluto’ and ‘The Zircon Prince Edit’ are finely minimal, recalling Hot Chip’s Coming on Strong.

Worden’s close collaborator DM Stith’s remixes work unsurprisingly perfectly. David’s unique guitar-work is just as divine as on the criminally underrated Heavy Ghost, and his voice backing Shara’s is even more ethereal. ‘If I Were Queen’ and ‘From The Top Of The World’ comfortably sprawl to eight minutes – the former switching its core backing between guitar and strings with hints of chiming piano, whilst the later is tragically lost as sea, Worden’s refrain “through storms we will sail” looping alongside Stith’s windswept vocals, building to an orchestral jettison, leaving the electronics, a fog-horn saxophone and a pair of howls to save the vessel.

The remix treatment of Shark feels rather organic and sublimely cohesive in comparison to MBD’s first album. This deserves to be heard by audiences familiar and new – there are so many ideas to reward repeated listening. It’s an excellent example of just what is possible in remixing.

Ulrich Schnauss has announced plans to release an album of his most recent remixes. Entitled Missing Deadlines – selected remixes, it will be released on March 15th.

The man himself has this to say about the project:
“Essentially what makes me really happy about this album is the fact that it’s a selection of the – in my opinion – best mixes from a musical point of view, rather than a compilation of the commercially most successful ones, or the tracks that have the biggest names associated with them. In all cases, the original songs are already great in their own right – which made it really inspiring to work with them.”

Tracklisting
1 Howling Bells: Setting Sun
2 A Sunny Day in Glasgow: Ghost in the Graveyard
3 Katharina Franck: Faithful Friend
4 Madrid: Out to Sea
5 Asobi Seksu: Strawberries
6 Dragons: Remembrance
7 Aus: Halo
8 Mahogany: Supervitesse
9 Lunz (roedelius & tim story): Lunz
10 Rachel Goswell: Coastline
11 High Violets: Chinese Letter
12 Mark Gardener: Story of the Eye
13 I’m Not A Gun: Make Sense and Loose
14 Mojave 3: Bluebird of Happines

Liars have announced details of an expanded edition of their eagerly awaited fifth studio album, Sisterworld, out on 8th March 2010.

This version comes with a second CD of remixes and reinterpretations of all 11 tracks on Sisterworld from artists including Thom Yorke, Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter / Atlas Sound), Melvins, Alan Vega (Suicide), Chris & Cosey (Throbbing Gristle) and Blonde Redhead. Full tracklisting to follow in the coming weeks.

Says Angus Andrew, “On this project we wanted to help develop and expand the role of the remix, particularly to engage artists less acknowledged for their work in the field. They were asked to ‘re-interpret’ the song by any means necessary and the result is definitely the most exciting collaborative effort we’ve been involved in.”

Looks pretty special to me… More news when we get it folks.

We have an exclusive remix to warm your cockles on this cold December morn!

Polly Scattergood – Bunny Club (Remixed by Tara Busch)

We all know and have warmed to Polly’s distinctive female singer/songwriter charms this year, whilst Tara Busch’s remix credits include Tori Amos, Annie Lennox, Bat For Lashes and Polly Scattergood’s “Nitrogen Pink”. Busch is renowned for the use of classic analogue synthesizers and beautiful backing vocal arrangements in the style of 1940’s Disney movies and Pet Sounds – era Beach Boys.

Says Tara of the remix:
“I felt we could build a sort of sonic funhouse for Polly Scattergood’s ‘Bunny Club’, painting an alternate world inspired by the drama of ’70′s disco, sugary sweet, Disney inspired backing vocals atop crunchy electronic drums, vocoded vocals & a bass line that can only be described as ‘what rubber popcorn might sound like when it pops’….all the while retaining the dark undercurrent.”

Enjoy!

More about Tara Busch:
Her debut album ‘Pilfershire Lane’ and limited edition box set available on Tummy Touch Records, and you can find her Blog here and Twitter here.

Saint Etienne released Fox Base Alpha in 1991, when I was aged 5. And I’m sad to say, that for the rest of my life the album passed me by. However, this does, in a way, make me the prime target audience for Richard X’s remix of the album –updating a classic album with a new lease of knob-twiddling life.

So when it comes to what’s been added, taken away, nipped, tucked, surgically enhanced or simply desecrated, I really couldn’t tell you. Judging the calibre of the artists involved though, I can’t imagine that there’s any kind of defilement going on.

Sarah Cracknell is the proud owner of one of those effortlessly alluring voices that turn men folk into gibbering wrecks and give girls someone decent to aspire to (step back Cheryl Cole, Lily Allen et al). On the ethereal ‘London Belongs To Me’, Sarahs sweeping multi-layered vocals wash over perfectly like a summer breeze, and on ‘Spring’ she’s the perfect pop princess.

From the glorious ramshackle ramblings of Countdown, sweets, buses, and gangster films in ‘Wilson’ and ‘Etienne Gonna Die’ to the moody Massive Attack-esque ‘Carn’t Sleep’ to the city shuffle of ‘Spring’ , the influences on Fox Base Beta wander across genres and decades. But from all of them, there’s a definitive Saint Etienne sound carved out from it, which Richard X has added to rather than distracted from.

At 13 tracks it’s the perfect length for an album that literally does take you on a journey (a rather cheap taxi ride, in fact) in a meandering sort of way – you’ll giggle at the film and tv samples, float away on a sea of synths, and be moved by heartbreaking lyrics and scratch your head at others.. It’s chill-out music when chill-out music meant trip-hop and lo-fi, not Zero 7, and an album that paves the way for the indie-dance genre.

If you’ve never heard this album before, or indeed Saint Etienne, this is a perfect starting place. And if you have, no doubt that this will bring a classic album into a whole new light thanks to Richard X.

Saint Etienne on MySpace

SRVC, the Swedish record label for the discerning consumer, have announced release details for the debut album by Korallreven. It’ll see the light of day in Spring 2010 and be titled The Truest Faith.

To celebrate, they’re giving away a remix of Korallreven’s 2009 debut single ‘Loved-Up’. You can grab it HERE.

Nhessingtons (part of the Stockholm based collective Force-Majeure), were asked to take on remix duties. Turning the original on its head, Nhessingtons have created something as fresh and pure as the tidal wave that adorns the ‘Loved-Up’ artwork. Watery.

On 7th July, 2005, a series of terrorist attacks rocked London.

In October 2008, London-based musician, Nitin Sawhney, released London Undersound as a reaction to perceived post-terrorist tensions in the capital. Now in 2009, it would appear that Londoners have just carried on as they would have always done. Though possible to capitalise on misfortune, by no stretch of the imagination did this ever appear to be Sawhney’s intention.

2009 also sees London Undersound Instrumentals and Remixes surface, its need somewhat undetermined. With cover art designed by artist Anthony Gormley, the bold red-and-white colours that comprise the wartime ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster come similarly emblazoned on the CD.

With remix albums generally servicing the requisites of DJs, it’s strange that Sawhney has felt the need to release this – particularly because, since ‘Beyond Skin’, Sawhney’s music over the past decade has never really been fit for dancefloors. Generally, his productions have been polished with such slavish focus, they’re more suited to designer coffee outlets than Fabric or Cream. If ever (and let’s pray this never happens) Richard Curtis put together a new romantic comedy, entitled it ‘Southall’ and cast Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts as lead roles, Sawhney would be first in line to write the soundtrack.

Nevertheless, this instrumental and remix album demonstrates that Sawhney isn’t completely out of step with his past. Now, deprived of the awful, mawkishly insincere vocals that plagued ‘London Undersound’, the instrumental pieces are given necessary space to shine. The space reveals Sawhney’s dedication to music, and, thus, his true talent. Choosing artists like Paul McCartney, Natty and Imogen Heap may have seemed a good idea last year, but this instrumental album only highlights their complete lack of interpretive ability.

Without miserablist and daft lyrics ruining the music, the new London Undersound becomes a pleasure to listen to, and the listener can now gauge what it is that Sawhney himself envisaged when initially composing these frequently emotionally fulfilling pieces. Extras on the disc include five youthful dubstep and bassline remixes that may appeal to DJs, along with four quite unnecessary slices of glittering tosh masquerading as alternative vocal versions of the original songs.

Nevertheless, the new London Undersound has an appeal far wider than the original and, though it will service listeners on yoga retreats and those with Land Rovers well, it will stay with me a lot longer than its predecessor which should, I believe, still be under the rails of Clapham Junction’s platform 12.

Buy album from [itunes link="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/days-fire-instrumental/id333959945?uo=4" title="Nitin_Sawhney-London_Undersound_Instrumentals_and_Remixes_(Album)" text="iTunes"]

The much loved Vetiver return to return this month with new single “More Of This”. The new single will be released on limited edition 12” vinyl on Monday 30th November and will be backed Andy Cabic’s (the brain behind Vetiver) very own remix of “More of This” – a jam that takes the original, strips it to the bone and then soaks it in some lazy ass African and Hawaiian rhythms. Ends up sounding like a cut from the latest Phoenix record – which is obviously a very good thing indeed. Download the remix below…

Vetiver will play Jazz Café, London on Thursday 10th December with Bees and Fruit Bats.

mp3:> Vetiver: ‘More Of This More Of This (Neighbors RMX)’

DFA Records/Parlophone will release a new collection of remixes of the LCD Soundsystem musical epic 45:33 as a series of vinyl 12″ singles this Summer before dropping the whole set as a CD/Download album on September 14th.

45.33 was originally a one off collaboration on iTunes for Nike, but was subsequently released on and expanded CD & Vinyl in its own right in Nov ’07 due to overwhelming demand for it to physically hold.

James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem, DFA Records founder etc) is currently in the studio recording the follow-up to 2007’s massively critically acclaimed Sound Of Silver album, which is set to drop in early 2010. Watch this space for details and news over the coming months…

45:33 Remixes:
1. Runaway Remix
2. Prince Language Remix
3. Prins Thomas Diskomiks Remix
4. Theo Parrish’s Space Cadet Remix
5. Trus’ Me Remix
6. Padded Cell Remix
7. Pilooski Remix
8. Riley Reinhold Remix

Bloc Party’s frustratingly ill-realised third album Intimacy needed an overhaul, but Intimacy Remixed is not the overhaul it needed. If the original album was the band leaving their rock origins largely behind in a dramatic but alienating shift towards electronica, then Remixed represents the band surrending the entire Intimacy project to a group of electronica remixers to do with it what they wished. It isn’t the first time, of course – Bloc Party did the same thing with their spiky rock debut, but far more so than Silent Alarm Remixed, this is a key chapter in Bloc Party’s transformation not only as a band but also as an ethic and a concept.

The remixers are a varied bunch, from Armand van Helden to Mogwai, joined also by Banjo or Freakout, Bloc Party pal and producer Paul Epworth (AKA Phones) and various others. You wouldn’t be able to tell which track was remixed by whom without it saying in the track titles, so homogenous a mess is Intimacy Remixed. It seems that the first task approached by each remixer, though, was to swiftly excise almost all the Bloc Party in the tracks, and then to mostly fill those gaping vacuums with groaning, bassy synths and endless looping beats, with scarcely any regard to what the songs originally sounded like in terms of tempo, mood, or meaning. Vocals have been largely expunged, the remainder being mercilessly slashed to ribbons and looped so that Kele Okereke’s words are devoid of all context and emotion. The songs have been extended in most cases, stringing them out into soulless, synthetic “bangers” that will prove passable for clubs and almost unlistenable in any other context. Think less “remix”, more “cannibalism”.

No Age’s treatment of ‘Better Than Heaven’ turns it into an absolute mess, but perhaps the most strikingly dreadful butchering here is van Helden’s efforts on ‘Signs’, which was originally a sparkling album highlight and is now an abomination, divorced from everything that made the original track good and – stunningly – basing the shredded vocals around one of the most spectacular of the album’s several lyrical clangers.

Most bands would be horrified if they heard their music treated like this, and for this to be put out as a commercial release with the band’s name on it is just baffling. Knowing that this wouldn’t even exist without Okereke and co’s backing, its release not only confirms that Bloc Party have made a major change of genre, but also indicates they seem to have lost any sense of integrity and logic. A parade of both Bloc Party’s and electronic music’s worst and most cynical excesses, Intimacy Remixed is musical car crash too horrific to be worthy of even the briefest bit of rubbernecking.
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Bloc Party on MySpace

Hockey, one of the most talked about bands in 2009, have just finished a sold-out tour with Friendly Fires, but you can catch them playing two shows at this weekend’s Great Escape festival…

Did you see their recent performance on Jools Holland? What did you think our beloved TLOBF readers? Their latest single, ‘Learn To Lose’, is released on 1st June.

In the meantime, we’ve got it first, you can download the Labyrinth remix of the new single below! For free!

Learn To Lose – Labyrinth Remix

One of my favourite pop songs of the year has had the DFA Remix treatment. Yes, Tim Goldsworthy has morphed Swedish pop sex kitten Lykke Li’s breakthrough single ‘Little Bit’ into a nine and a half minute floor filler. Pretty good it is too. Download link below. Lykke Li’s debut album Youth Novels is out now.

mp3:> Lykke Li: ‘Little Bit (Loving Hand Remix)’

“Before we go any further I’d like to show you all a game I made up. This game is called “Sounds Of The Studio” and it can be played with any record, including this one”

The above vocal sample is from Hot Chip‘s contribution to this collection of Digitalism remixes, and serves as a neat summary of the album’s ethos. Two things that it would seem to be highlighting are the playful nature of the remixing (“a game“), and the eclectic selection of artists included (“it can be played with any record“). On both scores, it’s fairly accurate.

The 25 tracks included here are all skilfully mixed so that one merges into the next – sometimes so seamlessly that you don’t spot the join. With careful repeated listening you begin to be able to make out the moment on a track when a riff, sample or tempo-change heralds the arrival of the following track – an effect only slightly spoiled, for me, by my iPod’s intrusive habit of making a deliberate split second pause to mark the actual point of changeover.

Some tracks, indeed, feel like they have mainly been included to serve as handy transitions from the ones either side of them – Zongamin‘s ‘Tunnel Music’, Zombie Nation‘s ‘Filter Jerks’, I Scream Ice Cream‘s ‘Closing Time Closing In’, for example – rather than on their own merits. Others are more obviously standalone, and work in their own right (contributions from The Kills, Hercules and Love Affair, B-52s, The Presets and more).

Stylistically, whilst the whole album is very obviously rooted in dance, there is still nonetheless quite a large amount of variation. So you get: disco-revival from Mawkish, Hercules and Love Affair and The Jonzun Crew; Ibiza-style house vocals on Proxy‘s ‘Dance In The Dark’; a touch of funk (Zongamin, Who Made Who); echoes of Daft Punk on the heavily vocodered vocal from Hey Today!; and a couple of nods to ‘80s chart electro courtesy of the Human League contribution and Calvin Harris‘ sampling of Visage’s ‘Fade to Grey’ – all this thrown into the mix along with the main glitchy dance beats. As is customary, there are a few dance-drug references thrown in, mainly the “Peace, Love, Ecstacy, Unity, Respect” chant on Muscles’ ‘Sweaty (Shazam Remix)’ and Who Made Who’s reference to the “Friendly folks” who “have floated their joy pills to Happyville“.

The best things here include the quirky camp fun of The Jonzun Crew (“He’s bad, he’s number one / He’s a space cowboy with a laser gun!”); The Midnight Juggernauts‘ animated if slightly over-long ‘Ending Of An Era’; The Presets – all hipster oh-so-bored vocals and frankly filthy lyrical innuendo; and the ace Hey Today! track: one of the most successful mixes with a genuine sense of coherence and exhilaration. Hot Chip manage to sound both sultry/sexy and slightly disturbing; but best of all is In Flagrenti‘s ‘Business Acumen’. Highly rhythmic, with cowbells and real (as opposed to machine) drums, this percussive album highlight is as contagious as it is enjoyable.

Less enjoyable (for me) were Calvin Harris‘s soulless ‘Get Some Colour On’; critical-darlings (why?) Late Of The Pier – overuse of a supremely irritating and OTT riff marred this track for me; and the desperately eager to please-sounding B-52s.

In all though, Digitalism‘s “studio games” have definitely proved well executed and worth “playing”. They’re also well worth a listen and, for the more daring amongst you, a bit of a dance.
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Links
Kitsuné Music [official site] [myspace]
Digitalism [myspace]