The Lord Works Through My Postman

Can't I do one simple GIS for "postman" without being bombarded with mail-on-mail action?

All things considered, I had a pretty good week last week. My boss gave me a raise out of the blue; it won't be enough to keep me working at that soul-killing death factory one second longer than I have to, but hey, free money. datA and the bafflingly-named MY!GAY!HUSBAND rocked shit at IHEARTCOMIX Saturday night, despite datA being hampered by some truly disheartening tech diffs (bass cutting out right when he's dropping into his remix of "Minuit Jacuzzi"? BOOOOOOOO). Above all else, however, the mailman handed me a package full of singles from Rough Trade that I'd been waiting on for months. This particular order was notable for being unusually chock-full of twelve-inches; I usually stay away from them since I have to save SOME money SOMEtime I guess, but over the last few months a few just proved too tempting to pass up. And thank god for that, because lord almighty did I turn up some gold. Let's recap.

Findo Gask, "Va-Va-Va" - There are few things on this world or off it which I treasure quite so much as a pop song which makes me say - out loud, in my empty apartment - "what in the FUCK?!", and it's been an awfully long time since a song's made me say it quite so loud as this one. I mean, it took me three test runs before I felt confident that I was playing it at the right speed, and even then it wasn't until the second track before I completely stopped worrying. Can you blame me? Songs don't usually come galloping out like this, throwing apparently tangential hooks around like that cat lady on the Simpsons; it could have been a 78 for all I knew.

And then KABLOW comes the chorus, and when I say KABLOW I say it after having spent five minutes carefully choosing the bluntest, most juvenile way to represent the rapturous stupidity this chorus is going to evoke in you. This is a heart-stopper, folks - when the backing melodies erupt and all those inexplicable little through-lines come together, the effect is flat-out transportative; you only wish all songs had a part like that. It's like Johnny Boy's "You Are The Generation" only turned on its head - same sense of the climactic moment, same supernatural ability to deliver, only instead of trafficking in the inarguably unobjectionable signifiers of Phil Spector, Findo Gask choose to go upside your head with searing little No Wave flourishes and jerky rhythms before plugging directly into your vein. The best part, I might add, is that in the process of getting through the meat in order to get to the pudding, you start to develop a real jones for the meat itself; there's some real intricate work being done here which takes some time to reveal itself, even after y0u've come to terms with the fact that a song with parts like that can actually come together like that and be that good. I mean, I guess; I've had this record for about three days and I'm still having trouble coping with the fact that it actually exists. (Click here to buy the "Va-Va-Va" 12" from Rough Trade. It should be noted that the other two songs really aren't anything like "Va-Va-Va" - they're good, but the A2 is some weird little lo-fi experimental thing while the B-side is an extremely pretty little song which stretches to like seven minutes thanks to a four-minute M83-ish outro. They're both good songs which recommend the band quite highly, but do be prepared to feel like you've bought "Trains To Brazil" all over again. Also, note that there's a really kickass "disco mix" available on the label's website - and that the label in question is an Optimo side project. God DAMN this turned out to be a long parenthetical.)

Filthy Dukes, "This Rhythm" - I'm honestly not sure quite where to shelve the Filthy Dukes in my mind; their body of work is both relatively small and all over the map in terms of methodology. Don't get me wrong - it's all pretty solid (particularly their mixes for Trabant and the Maccabees), but it's like trying to find a general classification for Soulwax' remixes before BOSH BOSH BOSH took over (note: in no way is this a dis on BOSH BOSH BOSH).

Sadly, "This Rhythm" does little to make things any clearer; it is simply so good as to force the issue, because if they're going to be turning out songs this amazing we need to know which pile to put them on top of (SORRY). "This Rhythm" is totally unlike anything they've ever done before - it wrecks your shit gracefully, elegantly, like a beefed-up Pet Shop Boys song, as effective an 80s 12-inch extended-dance-mix pastiche as we've seen since the rise of Richard X. I'd even go so far as to say that I like the vocoder on here alone more than I like any evocation of any stupid 80s touchstone on Sebastian Tellier's Sexuality - to my ears, it sounds like it completely and justifiably works even in a non "LOL, VOCODER" sense. (Also, let's give it up for the little run Samuel Dust's currently enjoying - in addition to providing vocals here, he's also better known as LA Priest and lead vocalist for Late Of The Pier. God, to think - I actually picked the Video Nasties to be the big band out of that scene. Why does anyone listen to me ever?) (Click here to buy the "This Rhythm" single from Rough Trade)

Martin Solveig, "C'est La Vie" (The Bloody Beetroots remix) - Technically this is a Beatport exclusive download-only EP rather than an actual 12", so you'll just have to allow me a little thematic leeway to discuss my new favorite thing from the Bloody Beetroots ever GOD PEOPLE WHY DON'T YOU GET OFF MY ASSSSSS. The Beetroots have been on my radar since that remix of "Miscommunication" last year, but I've never heard them release a song like this before; there's just something about the way that bassline seethes back and forth that almost seems to overcrowd the track - almost. And god, does it make the track move; it practically seesaws back and forth uncontrollably until, almost out of nowhere, these perfect little melodic footholds appear out of nowhere to allow you to regain your footing. The cool thing is how it all seems to work in negative space; it sounds like the Beetroots are pulling the sounds out of a vacuum, and that the track we get is just a recording of their struggles against the void. Compelling shit, just utterly and all-consumingly compelling; I cannot WAIT until they make it to LA next month. (Click here to buy the "C'est La Vie" EP - which has plenty of other kickass remixes, including a MURDERER from Goose - from Beatport)

The Real Ones, "Outlaw" (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation) - The Real Ones' original version of "Outlaw" is yet another one of my favorite songs of the year, and I was inordinately disappointed to discover that I'd have to keep hitting up their MySpace to hear it since it didn't make it onto the 12" - that is, of course, until the Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve version rendered it all but inconsequential. My favorite BtWS remixes are the ones where they simply pick up where the original artists left off - the prime example up to now being their epic take on Midlake's "Roscoe" where they fabricate three more minutes in which to soak up that song's overwhelming prettiness out of whole cloth - so, as you can imagine, I was TOTALLY STOKED BRAH to hear them doing exactly that to "Outlaw": giving all the Indian instrumentation free reign to run around justifying itself, adding layers of synth distortion just to momentarily throw the listener (although I say this as someone who counts "Platitudes" among his favorite Long Blondes songs), and above all else, teasing that piano with the same devastating efficacy as every girl I've ever dated. I mean wow do they bring that shit in well; now when I listen to the original I catch myself wishing they'd do it with Messrs. Alkan and Norris's seemingly reflexive grace. As far as I'm concerned, this is the official version of the song. (Click here to buy the "Outlaw" 12" - which also contains one of the most relentlessly hypnotic Prins Thomas mixes I've ever heard - from Rough Trade)

ELSEWHERE
- THIS