‘To even to so much as suggest Animal Collective’s Centipede Hz LP of yesteryear was patchy would be at best a rich compliment, for truth be known it was by and large rather more miss than hit. We suggested then that it was one which needed more time to develop and grow on you tumorously, for it initially seemed ridden with larval earworms (earcentipedes, perhaps) in need of further fertilisation. Though as Brian DeGraw of albeit all too modest Gang Gang Dance fame tonks in with a viciously compelling reworking of the otherwise drab Monkey Riches, it becomes apparent that all it needed was a severe rethink as the Manhattan wunderkind ferociously severs the once grating vocals of Avey Tare, only to reaffix ‘em in weird ‘n’ overtly wondrous places. It’s thus a track akin to that disconcertingly multiplicative complex of your average earthworm – hack it up however many times, and you’ll have however many more. And, well, DeGraw just made this one immoderately more listenable, appreciating Monkey Riches exponentially with warm synths and boinging soundbites upraising the track to all new, and newly euphoric heights. It sounds like an older incarnation of AnCo, and not that newfangled breed they’ve become of late which, you know, is no bad thing…’
DeGraw’s radical overhaul is taken from forthcoming AnCo remix EP Monkey Been to Burn Town, which is itself expected May 27th on Domino.
Posts tagged Gang Gang Dance.
‘I guess were we to extract some form of reality from all this intangible internet coding and such, the one truth would be that everything artistic is in some way reactionary and can, by default, never be entirely original. The same can of course be said of music: whether a proverbial (or indeed literal) kicking against something – whether that be social inequality, or a Britpop mainstay who just so happens to be a thoroughly antagonistic prick (a Brick, if you will), or perhaps a dearth of anything in many respects alright – one solitary provocation can usually be pinpointed as the reason for most things. And certainly most musical stuffs to have dribbled out of mainland Europe over these past few decades feel very much responsive to what our musicians or, more often than not, what our transatlantic adversaries are up to. I’m unsure as to whether Amsterdam were ever in need of a rejoinder to the gritty brilliance of Gang Gang Dance. I mean Bougatsos et al. were genuinely majestic at Utrecht’s Le Guess Who? twelve months or so ago, though taken at face value the impression engendered by said show now appears all the more lasting. And that impression may be said to manifest itself in the slippery guise of Mineral Beings: a triple act comprising vocalist Merinde, a seemingly enviably adroit synth wunderkind named André, and their resident percussionist Aleksei they’re well worth writing a couple postcards home about. Consider this the one that made it through…
The two below come lifted from a 4-track entitled Bliss which was outed earlier on in the year by Zoology Records. Up first is Rain, and this is the one that pitter-patters with splats of that once seemingly inimitable Eye Contact effervescence. Merinde here imitates Lizzie with striking semblance, as humid and primordial rhythms which in turn prop up glistering synths power an intensely memorable slo-mo dance track. Though the trump in the naff, marijuana-endorsed pack is Careful. “There’s a world outside your mind/ But you still can’t close your eyes/ It’s all a mystery”, Merinde coos with an increasingly aloof allure. It’s rollicking electropop with a darkened heart thudding away within, momentarily wobbling Flubber-like and as the Yuletide times approach, we’re letting this one roll right on through to 2013.’
‘Blue Hawaii’s Blooming Summer kept us warm throughout a bitter winter a couple years back, and the pairing comprising BRAIDS’ Raphaelle Standell-Preston and Alex Cowan, the acquaintance that instantaneously became accomplice, here return with their most polished spheres of impeccably rounded sound to date. Thankfully, they’ve a full-length a little more full due out early next year by the name of Untogether, and to tide us over ‘til then we’ve this two-parter into which we may dive, to which we may jive, and again chase away the frostbite. The first segment of In Two takes a tenderly processed vocal – Standell-Preston sighing: “Oh God/ Has left me/ In two/ Not knowing where to go” as further harmonies oscillate about her inimitably peach-soft tones – only to soon break out into a grubby, tribalistic skulk. Immediately evocative of both Eye Contact and Visions it’s a finely tweaked and meticulously honed composition of unconventional, yet in no way underdone lo-fi techno. Standell-Preston’s vocals hem the thing into place – they’re the perfect fit; both versatile and vulnerable – although that they’re largely absent from its second part allows the seemingly Jiaolong-inspired R’n’Beat thriller to speak up for itself. Arbutus are onto another winner, or so it’d prematurely seem with, with Untogether.’
DOWNLOAD: Blue Hawaii, In Two / In Two II.
‘NYC duo Teengirl Fantasy’s 7AM proved an intoxicating concoction of vigorous house and a discernibly D.I.Y. approach as they reinserted some honest musicianship back into dance ‘music’. Motif therefore seems a quite appropriate reintroduction to the swirled-out worlds frantically spun about on loose-set axes by Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss, as it comprises everything from minimal techno plops, the intimidating glint of Gang Gang Dance-styled synths and veritably Mediterranean drops robust enough to sink Formentera. This couldn’t sound more like the essence of Sónar were you sat on the steps of the CCCB with a caña of Estrella in hand the first time you heard it…’
