Twenty Reanimated Songs
Twenty Songs, 7 January 2007
So. A new year a new set of Twenties and we're going for a full house this year kids, come hell or high water. Though it doesn't bode well that we're already three days late with the first one but that's not technically our fau... ah screw it. Enough pre-amble, these songs are boss.
A good bunch indeed this week, my word yes. It's bursting with goodies. Take opener and pretty much the only surprise this week, Sick by Giddy Motors whose album was one of our favourites prior to the systems crashing and remains a fine body of one even given the slew of music that has influxed since. Sick is the standout of that bunch, all stretched virginskin-guitar work and screaching. We then fly off to Digitalism for Jupiter Room (Martian Assault Edit) which is a pretty massive slab of electro house battering, switchign all over the place before decending on earth like the invasion it is so clearly is. Also, inexplicably (and in testiment to how good a chart it is) propping up the place is Animal Room by Simian Mobile Disco, which holds the distinction of people possibly our least favourite Simian Mobile Disco track. Which is like a Gunners fan saying his least favourite match in the season Arsenal didn't lose a game. We're talking degrees and the fact is, this is a bit of a beast and somehow is still only a b-side for this genius duo.
The same can be said for Golden Skans by Klaxons who, as we keep saying, were joint artists of the year with Simian Mobile Disco. Golden Skans represents their "white boy R&B" or whatever they call it and as such isn't as instant and exciting as the others. Still good and still catchy as rabies. Not so catchy but still ultra slick is the latest b-side by another cannot-do-wrong type, Union Of Knives, whose OhSpace blog reads more like a LiveJournal than a tour bus diary. Still, Every Treasure is carcrash downtempo for the hard to please, dun rite.
Which brings us to Tiga, whose Soulwax featuring, Alkon oriented, sleaze-house-disco-a-thon is still riding high in the charts like the dancefloor temptress it is. Elsewhere, Epic Man and Plan B's first appearance with More Is Enough gives us another show of Paul Epworth's higher end production skill, something we were doubting but are now not, not so much. It's also quite garage-y for the bleep-based man. Introducing the dub-end of the charts, the warbling gait of Pinch's Punisher continues to let you know, when we come we're comin' like a dubstep heart attack. Fat as.
The first remix proper of this chart, one surprisingly low on remixes, comes from Spank Rock and their Bump (Switch Remix) and while we didn't go for it at first when you get into the mini epic with all the things Switch does to the record you can't help but get involved. Similarly, while we weren't sure about the Slightly More Mature Blood Red Shoes of You Bring Me Down, we're pretty much sold now and still all full of love for the bedroom duo.
Into the top ten and Skream gives us Emotionally Mute (Outro), which is the best thing on his album, an album that features JME no less so you know it must be good. It's repetitive done right, with a real sense of purpose to the music and a core you can identify with. While more reliably GoodBooks 'fess up the goods with Leni, another little pop indie treat with their trademark solid basslines and twinkly bits. It's still a little more Mystery Jets than it needs to be but at least the Kent lads have the songwriting bit sown up, even if we'd prefer a bit more post production to the whole jobbie.
Not something we'd level at Maps, whose Don't Fear is a massive studio effort. Although possibly done in a small studio, it would've more than filled it with it's grand sweeps of melancholy and hugh weigh of the world on its strong little shoulders. In a similar way Thomas Tantrum tackle that feeling of being small in a big world but rather than bulking up, they reflect the minutia, the tiny individuality of it with their intricately constructed avant indie gem. Finally, before we enter the top ten, Wonder's first appearance is with Virus Syndicate in the form of Can't Stand It with all the quality you expect from those two plus the line speak up man you're mumbling, how did you get so shit? How indeed.
We get into the top five and it's back to Plan B and his Epic Man produced (then remixed) More Is Enough (Sinden Remix). This is a funky track that throws around a party, definitely the best of the remixes we found for Plan B anyway. It doesn't seem to change the structure of the original a great amount though, to begin with. To begin with. Then we get the best bit of maybe any song ever? The big gash breakdown. More gash! gash! gash! gash! gash gash gash!. Yup. That's what we wanna see. More gash gash gash. Hahah. Unstoppable.
On an infinitely more subtle tip we behold Various Production. This track, Soho, from the sumptuous The World Is Gone LP, is all dubstep and downtempo and trip hop and just fuses everything together with a cinematic quality and a sense of film noir that absolutely commands respect - and that's before the hefty bass is dropped in a minute down the line. Our respect, anyway. This track, again, could've been any from this album. Next up is another dubby crossover guy in the form of Wonder who is apparently a Roll Deep alumni, something we would never have guessed to be honest. This is grime production of the highest order, the type that makes all its guest stars sound good, including Faction G's interesting tale of schizophrenia It's All. Wide and heartening, this is also dark as a world without sun. Nice.
We find ourselves in the world of Ed Banger for our top two tracks. It was a hard choice with both of these artists because all of what they've released (both singles) seem so utterly on point it seems a shame to pick a winner. There was a winner, though, for SebastiAn and that's Ross Ross Ross. Carcrash house at its finest, all wickedly wrong beats and things jutting out like the ribcage of a dinosaur attack victim. You can still smell the burnt petrol on it the dancefloor wreckage is so fresh.
Slightly harder was deciding that Ross Ross Ross had to come in second to this beauty. It's like Parisian house garage soul with a renegade cheerleader rapping over the top. That's right, Uffie's Pop The Glock, as produced by Feadz, is the top track this week by virtue of being so, so easy to listen to so often for so long and bringing so much joy. It's not exactly Ibiza uncovered, it's too slow and subtle and laid back for that but when it gets under your skin (give it thirty, fourty seconds) you know you're at home. We didn't know if we wanted to like Uffie, she seems a bit gimmicky but, well, when the music is this good, sometimes you don't have a choice. If Hitler released this record we'd still be bumming it. We should consider ourselves lucky, really. Slick.
So. A new year a new set of Twenties and we're going for a full house this year kids, come hell or high water. Though it doesn't bode well that we're already three days late with the first one but that's not technically our fau... ah screw it. Enough pre-amble, these songs are boss.
A good bunch indeed this week, my word yes. It's bursting with goodies. Take opener and pretty much the only surprise this week, Sick by Giddy Motors whose album was one of our favourites prior to the systems crashing and remains a fine body of one even given the slew of music that has influxed since. Sick is the standout of that bunch, all stretched virginskin-guitar work and screaching. We then fly off to Digitalism for Jupiter Room (Martian Assault Edit) which is a pretty massive slab of electro house battering, switchign all over the place before decending on earth like the invasion it is so clearly is. Also, inexplicably (and in testiment to how good a chart it is) propping up the place is Animal Room by Simian Mobile Disco, which holds the distinction of people possibly our least favourite Simian Mobile Disco track. Which is like a Gunners fan saying his least favourite match in the season Arsenal didn't lose a game. We're talking degrees and the fact is, this is a bit of a beast and somehow is still only a b-side for this genius duo.
The same can be said for Golden Skans by Klaxons who, as we keep saying, were joint artists of the year with Simian Mobile Disco. Golden Skans represents their "white boy R&B" or whatever they call it and as such isn't as instant and exciting as the others. Still good and still catchy as rabies. Not so catchy but still ultra slick is the latest b-side by another cannot-do-wrong type, Union Of Knives, whose OhSpace blog reads more like a LiveJournal than a tour bus diary. Still, Every Treasure is carcrash downtempo for the hard to please, dun rite.
Which brings us to Tiga, whose Soulwax featuring, Alkon oriented, sleaze-house-disco-a-thon is still riding high in the charts like the dancefloor temptress it is. Elsewhere, Epic Man and Plan B's first appearance with More Is Enough gives us another show of Paul Epworth's higher end production skill, something we were doubting but are now not, not so much. It's also quite garage-y for the bleep-based man. Introducing the dub-end of the charts, the warbling gait of Pinch's Punisher continues to let you know, when we come we're comin' like a dubstep heart attack. Fat as.
The first remix proper of this chart, one surprisingly low on remixes, comes from Spank Rock and their Bump (Switch Remix) and while we didn't go for it at first when you get into the mini epic with all the things Switch does to the record you can't help but get involved. Similarly, while we weren't sure about the Slightly More Mature Blood Red Shoes of You Bring Me Down, we're pretty much sold now and still all full of love for the bedroom duo.
Into the top ten and Skream gives us Emotionally Mute (Outro), which is the best thing on his album, an album that features JME no less so you know it must be good. It's repetitive done right, with a real sense of purpose to the music and a core you can identify with. While more reliably GoodBooks 'fess up the goods with Leni, another little pop indie treat with their trademark solid basslines and twinkly bits. It's still a little more Mystery Jets than it needs to be but at least the Kent lads have the songwriting bit sown up, even if we'd prefer a bit more post production to the whole jobbie.
Not something we'd level at Maps, whose Don't Fear is a massive studio effort. Although possibly done in a small studio, it would've more than filled it with it's grand sweeps of melancholy and hugh weigh of the world on its strong little shoulders. In a similar way Thomas Tantrum tackle that feeling of being small in a big world but rather than bulking up, they reflect the minutia, the tiny individuality of it with their intricately constructed avant indie gem. Finally, before we enter the top ten, Wonder's first appearance is with Virus Syndicate in the form of Can't Stand It with all the quality you expect from those two plus the line speak up man you're mumbling, how did you get so shit? How indeed.
We get into the top five and it's back to Plan B and his Epic Man produced (then remixed) More Is Enough (Sinden Remix). This is a funky track that throws around a party, definitely the best of the remixes we found for Plan B anyway. It doesn't seem to change the structure of the original a great amount though, to begin with. To begin with. Then we get the best bit of maybe any song ever? The big gash breakdown. More gash! gash! gash! gash! gash gash gash!. Yup. That's what we wanna see. More gash gash gash. Hahah. Unstoppable.
On an infinitely more subtle tip we behold Various Production. This track, Soho, from the sumptuous The World Is Gone LP, is all dubstep and downtempo and trip hop and just fuses everything together with a cinematic quality and a sense of film noir that absolutely commands respect - and that's before the hefty bass is dropped in a minute down the line. Our respect, anyway. This track, again, could've been any from this album. Next up is another dubby crossover guy in the form of Wonder who is apparently a Roll Deep alumni, something we would never have guessed to be honest. This is grime production of the highest order, the type that makes all its guest stars sound good, including Faction G's interesting tale of schizophrenia It's All. Wide and heartening, this is also dark as a world without sun. Nice.
We find ourselves in the world of Ed Banger for our top two tracks. It was a hard choice with both of these artists because all of what they've released (both singles) seem so utterly on point it seems a shame to pick a winner. There was a winner, though, for SebastiAn and that's Ross Ross Ross. Carcrash house at its finest, all wickedly wrong beats and things jutting out like the ribcage of a dinosaur attack victim. You can still smell the burnt petrol on it the dancefloor wreckage is so fresh.
Slightly harder was deciding that Ross Ross Ross had to come in second to this beauty. It's like Parisian house garage soul with a renegade cheerleader rapping over the top. That's right, Uffie's Pop The Glock, as produced by Feadz, is the top track this week by virtue of being so, so easy to listen to so often for so long and bringing so much joy. It's not exactly Ibiza uncovered, it's too slow and subtle and laid back for that but when it gets under your skin (give it thirty, fourty seconds) you know you're at home. We didn't know if we wanted to like Uffie, she seems a bit gimmicky but, well, when the music is this good, sometimes you don't have a choice. If Hitler released this record we'd still be bumming it. We should consider ourselves lucky, really. Slick.