If its 2009 and you have to pick a band to do a remixes album of, Phoenix is a pretty good choice. Their balance of hooky populism and detail-oriented production buzz is right in line with laptop electronica of the time. And this collection reflects that: the populism is more populist in the form of bigger beats; the weirdness is weirder in the form of additional chops, bends, buzzes, and hyperknobtwiddles. Stretching the band in its natural directions! Ideal! The sole 1901 remix, in particular, is delightfully nasty in its clipped skwonkiness.
As a collection it could have benefited from a bit more curation though, running too long, and featuring a Fences version damn near ever third song (literally! 5 out of the 15 remixes are of Fences). Hearing that same whine, again and again and again reminds me of the Summer I worked in London, where the radio in the repro shop played Coldplay's Yellow, that high monument to relentless whinnying, every hour, on the hour, every day, all Summer. A yelping vocal line can only be allowed to slam itself against your head so many times before it, raptorlike, finds the weak spot and runs rampant on the fleshy scientists in your brain.
Still, Fence-weaknesses aside, its everything you could want from a remix album, mostly listenable as a whole, full of individual tracks that are true extensions of the originals' souls 3.5/5
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment