Indie- and alt-rockers have always had a difficult relationship with dancing. But the new wave of new wave has given new life to the idea of finding a groove and going with it, as has the cross-pollination that’s taken place of late between the DJ/electronica underground and its more rockist counterpart. With that in mind, I went looking for a new indie-rock dance track and checked in on a couple of old-timers to see where they were at.
Blowoff, “Hormone Love”
Remember when you could barely hear anything after a Bob Mould show, whether it was with Sugar or Hüsker Dü, because the guitar was so damn loud? Well Mould’s changed all that in his new project, Blowoff, a collaboration with DJ/remixer Richard Morel. This is a conventional, upbeat dance groove with Mould’s trademark overdriven guitar way down in the mix. Mould doesn’t quite have the voice for this sort of house-like soul, but part of being post-punk is not letting limitations like that get in the way of what turns out to be a really pleasant dance track.
Robin Guthrie, “Monument”
On his own in France or somewhere, Guthrie is doing what he’s always done, which is build walls of textured guitars and layered synths all treated to cathedrals of reverb. The sound of the architect behind the Cocteau Twins dream pop is immediately recognizable here. It’s, uh, monumental. And pretty. Real pretty. But you can’t help wondering where are those vocals — those gorgeous vocals. Someone’s doing something vaguely vocal in the background, but this is a song in need of a singer.
The Rapture, “Alright — Yeah . . . Uh Huh”
Not sure what went wrong on their major-label debut, but the Rapture are back with something a little quirkier and a lot more energetic. “People don’t dance no more/They just stand there like this . . . ” You can just see Luke Jenner posing, hands on hips, looking too cool for words. Then again, some of that was Jenner’s own fault — he’s the one who made an album that virtually required remixing. With this hard-driving dance track, the Rapture seem to have learned a lesson about dynamics, and they’ve come up with something that doesn’t need a DJ’s attention before it hits the dance floor.
