I'm not sure anyone who reads my blog on just a semi regular basis has doubts about my great Hot Chip affection. I find them brilliant and by far one of the most relavant acts of the last 10 years. Playful and creative are the first words in my mind, but in there should also be fantastic live. A group of nerds banging away at keyboards, guitars and what not is an amazing concept. Had the pleasure of seeing them some 3 years ago in Berlin and I am really looking forward to reliving that experience. (Actually I saw Justus Köncke at that concert as well, which was a big deal I guess, but still).
Funky (in a good way), nodding their heads to prince, these are some of their less played songs:
Seriously, the gloves are of now! I could go over and over like a monkey with a minature cymbal about these guys. This is an absolut must at Roskilde - Go, or Hot Chip will break your legs, they will put you down.
Ghostface Killah has undergone the blogosphere heroes remix treatment. He's brought in just about anybody who's anybody to remix single 'Charlie Brown'. Normally, you'd be forgiven for being a bit sceptic about a venture like this, but bare in mind this is Ghostface! It's not like he is trying to reach out to the new kids - It's them begging a king, and a king who nods and says: "Yes, you-whom-i'm-not familiar-with, you may remix my single - Now go before I change my mind!"
It's a pretty nice lineup of remixers: DJ Mehdi, Yuksek, Orgasmic and Guns'n'Bombs. Not bad, but seriously the king isn't really taking any big chances either. The track for you to preview, is the bit generic, but hyper effective Guns mix. It's what you'd expect in a good way. I bet first time you hear this in a club, you'll be going: "OMG WUT!" - in other words, highly recommendable.
This last year has been a Hot Chip year for this blog. It's not that I'm stuck in the same groove, but seriously, just when you think it's going to be quit on the 'Chip front there's a new remix. This time by other blog favorites Supermayer.... What's a boy to do.
Enjoy this quality remix which for some reason reminds me of the classic Erol Alkan remix of Boy from School. This mix is what would epitomise that feeling of "We should be going home now - right after this tracks is done"-feeling. It's infused with just a dab of techno, I can't ask for more. Enjoy:
A reoccuring theme on this blog is getting disapointed with the line up at Roskilde Festival. I'm not sure whats going on in the bookers' minds - It's gotta be something along the lines of: "Ok, they've proven themselves in the 90's or been playing live for the last 5 years on various festivals - Now we can book them". It's not impressive what they've got on the poster by now. The Chemical Brothers are as relevant as me at a car show. Or so I thought, lo and behold, I actually like their latest collaboration with Spank Rock. It's back into familiar drone techno territory, chunky beats and the Spank riding them like surfers on the perfect wave:
Finally there's a couple of really good Todd Terje mixes floating round the good ol' interweb these days. Firstly there's a really good remix of Chaz Jankel part of post punk kings the Blockheads. It's from a career retrospective worth checking out! The piano loop in the second part of the song is stellar:
Second track is from Jose Gonzales and is just a perfect example of scandinavian branded space disco. It sounds like a Studio release, long echo effects, roomy and with just a bit of ice crystals:
So like any self respecting blog I'll post my end of year tracks. Actually this is sort of the best time of year for blogs - If you surf around a bit, you'll find all the good tidbits of the year. Not sure if it's been one of the better years, but a lot of good stuff has surfaced. Considering this has been a year of the clash I'm amazed at the relatively few classics that have been born of that genre.
Without further delay the top 15 for 2008:
15 - Wale - W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E. In a year dominated by Justice this was clearly the best version of twee-house classic D.A.N.C.E. Wale effortlessly rides the beat in way normally reserved for Michael Laudrup dribbling down the center of Nou Camp - It's so natural you wonder why they don't do all music this way. The tracks is from the excellent Nick Catchdubs mixtape by the way - Find that if you haven't already.
14 - Rex The Dog - Circulate (JBAG Edit) It wasn't the year everyone was hoping for - Rex didn't conquer the world with easy digestible eighties electrobeats. The natural crown prince of Mylo didn't have a huge output and ended up being forgotten. This track is fire though - Great buildups and hopelessly lost in 1984!
13 - Junior Boys - Like a Child (Carl Craig) A remix that only the Craig could provide - One of the best structures of a song for years, the little freak out at the end pure genious.
12 - Copyfokking - Knippelsuppe Knippelsuppe is Danish for a police beating with night sticks which is the perfect description of this song. Slow and powerful, it's gonna beat you into submission. Like an evil mute twin of the Knife's Heartbeats, it comes sneaking up upon you and whammo! Down you go.
11 - Rufus Wainwright - Tiergarten (Supermayer Remix) The Supermayer was not as good as I'd hoped, but this track makes up for that. It's delicate and done with the utmost sensitivety. The sneaking beat, Rufus' voice, the point where the bass drum kicks in, the sound of rain, the highlights are numerous, if this song had been released earlier this year, it would have been my number one.
10 - Kleerup feat. Robyn - With Every Heartbeat Seems like we have to have one good song about a beating heart every year from one of the Nordic countries. I'm not complaining, if they can keep up this standard then it's a good tradition.
9 - Superpitcher - Lick The Pipe This was the perfect start to the year (or maybe end of last year). Superpitcher remains vital, interesting and of tune. It's understated as hell, while still maintaining a powerful beat. It's not peak-hours, but I'd love to listen to it anytime.
8 - Junior Senior - Headphone Song The grocely unnoticed Junior Senior EP Say Hello, Wave Goodbye had what I rate as some of JS's best material. Finally they deliver their B52's promise of protein positive dance rock. This song is one long chorus which you wish would never end.
7 - R-Kelly - Real Talk do I know your friend who? at a club? who was there? Girl I wouldn't... wait a minute, calm down. I was at the club with who? Get tha fuck...man, u know what. Girl I'm not about to sit up here and argue with you about who's to blame. I call no names, real talk. See girl, only thing I'm trying to establish with you is not who's right or who's wrong, but what's right and what's wrong, real talk!
6 - M.I.A. - Paper Planes M.I.A.'s was anticipated by quite a few blogs, communication managers, fashion designers, music magazines and other people peddling hot air and trends. Thankfully these balloons of hot weren't as hollow as one could fear, and Kala was actually almost better than the first album. Paper Planes with it's Straight to Hell sample and cash registers and gunshots the stand out track.
5 - Burial - Etched Headplate Burials new record was tremendous. This is the best sound of the big city I've heard in years. Etched Headplate is the prime example of the soulful twist of the new album, and it's the sound of England anno 2008.
4 - LCD Soundsystem - All of My Friends Great album which should have lodged them in popular mainstream, more funky than Le Chic and more electronic than Kraftwerk. All of My Friends the happy killer song on a killer dance album - in the future all music will sound this way! Honorable mentions go to Get Innocuous of this album as well.
3 - Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor Do it, do it, do it now, say it, say it, say it now. I'm totally excited by the prospect of a new Hot Chip album - on iTunes my most played song this year is still Over and Over which is pretty telling. This is the preview of the album released in January I think.
2 - The Field - A Paw In My Face Everyone loves this song. It's easy to digress into some intellectual discussion on the Lionel Ritchie ending, but in all fairness this just a perfect piece of pop-music. It's like racing down and uncoiling a ball of yarn, finally you succeed, and you're left hanging there in mid-space. Best ending of a song this year.
1 - Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running One my top highlights of this year was this song at an otherwise pis wet Roskilde Festival. Exuberant, joyful, catchy like hell.
Now if I could just get rid of the feeling of having forgotten something... Oh yeah and for the zombie lovers among you: sorry, couldn't find a link between Mike Ness and Distortion Disco.
And for those of you who missed it - Bruce delivered Magic this year!
In the seemingly never ending saga of Bloc Party remix, one has really stood out lately. It's by dubstep man of the moment and general UK music king Burial. It's Where is Home a B-side to Flux, and it's brooding, dark and the perfect sound of november. Hypnotical, druggy and mellow, it's in other words the perfect metropol soundtrack. I haven't done any posts on Burial yet, which is mistake on my part, but this remix will set you up perfectly if want a nice entry point into the grim world of dubstep - Go here for an interesting interview in the Guardian. Oh, and I really like the artwork for the whole Bloc Party album and it's singles.
If you're a regular reader you know I've been championing Hot Chip for long now. Though they are rather old on the circuit by now, they still manage to sound more fresh than out-of-the-oven bread. They are about to release a new album which of course causes tremendous shivers of joy in my mirrorballs. It's called Made in the Dark, and you can here a preview of Ready for the Floor on their Myface, which is first single of the album, released on January 28th 2007. It's nothing less than stellar sounding - go here for an interview. I can't wait, I'm ready for the floor!
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