Aeroplane, "Whispers"

Aeroplane, "Whispers" (feat. Kathy Diamond) - As a man who owns up to his own prejudices, I will freely admit that my contempt for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song of the same name kept me from ever investigating Aeroplane before now. (Sadly, this is by no means the stupidest snap judgement to affect even my recent life; it has taken me until the middle of May 2008 to get past my internal talking point that There's A Riot Goin' On sounds "too washed out and hazy", no joke.) To be fair, given the vast preponderance of tedious nu-Balearica to spring up in the wake of Studio and Prins Thomas busting a nut all over last year, I was also looking for a reason to be prejudiced against Aeroplane in the first place; good as the best representatives of that genre may be, the bad stuff doesn't just gaze at its navel, it damn near falls in, and I am of course far far far too busy to ever be bothered with sorting out what's what. Besides, this way gives me yet another opportunity to hate on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and it is always good and proper to do the Lord's work.

Thankfully, however, Aeroplane have taken it upon themselves to come up with a song so intransigently awesome that not even my ridiculous ass can resist its charms; having discovered "Whispers" during a shuffle-assisted stroll through everything I've culled from other blogs recently, I see absolutely nothing wrong with putting it on the same level as "Happy House" or "No Matter What" or "Young Love" or "Drive My Car", which is a long way of saying that this song is one of the very best things I've heard this whole year. It hits literally exactly the same retro-disco vein Escort's been shirking ever since "A Bright New Life", riddled with sly little drum fills, glistening little synth flourishes, and one BIG MOTHERFUCKING ASS star turn for Kathy Diamond who does a better job of making me like her on this one track than anything from Miss Diamond To You ever managed. She plays so coy and sultry against the relentless gliterball assault of the track itself that I can't imagine anyone but the stuffiest of disco purists ever wanting a dub; the breathy archness of her voice just lends too much to Aeroplane's hired-gun session-musician precision (note: this is in no way a condemnation). In any event, Aeroplane certainly has my full attention now. The Red Hot Chili Peppers can, of course, continue to suck it. (Click here to buy the "Whispers" single from Juno)