Dance tracks for the dance-music haters
By NICK SYLVESTER | August 1, 2006
Here are a few dance tracks that you otherwise normal, dance-music-hating people should give a chance — in the ear, the club, the car, wherever, as long as it’s air-conditioned.Delia & Gavin,“Relevee” (DFA Remix)
The duo make spacy/spacious synth-arpeggiated meditation music, for lack of a better term — one-trick tracks that deepen in meaning with repetition. Reverent toward the song’s at-peace, the DFA don’t stick a punk-funk beat on “Relevee” so much as tease out its inner dance.
Dondolo,“Dragon” (Shit Robot Fire Breathing Mix)
The original is an unintended parody of post-punk punk funk, with Dondolo’s feeble guitar stabs and even feebler kicks and zero hooks making a solid case against digital equipment and the democracy of musicmaking. Trashing most sounds and fronting his own hiccupping, overdriven bass line as the focus point, remixer Shit Robot reworks “Dragon” into far better Chicago-house shape.
Escort, “Starlight” (mp3)
New disco and decidedly not neo-disco, Brooklyn’s Escort apparently worked years fine-tuning “Starlight,” a ’70s-time-capsule-perfect cut of baroque yet restrained Philly International disco: meticulously arranged strings, close vocal harmonies, the works. Leave your critical hang-ups at the door.
The Faint, “Paranoiattack” (Dave P and Adam Sparkles Remix)
Last year these Philly producers splashed big with their Cure-inspired remix of Bloc Party’s “This Modern Love.” It’s the only Bloc Party remix or song worth hearing, and the duo’s unreleased remix of the Faint’s “Paranoiattack” makes a similar case: heaving guitar distortion, bubbly acid-house synth flourishes, and tom-tom stomps the band probably wished they’d thought of first.
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