Elevato 2009 pt. 2

I forgot to add some more faves to the previous post. I figure a whole new post would be easier than constantly adding stuff to an already posted thing. I'll either keep adding things to the end here or make a new post.

Part 1 is HERE

Fever Ray: "When I Grow Up"

When I Grow Up from Fever Ray on Vimeo.
One-half of The Knife, Karin Dreijer Andersson, broke out to be Fever Ray. The beautiful and pretty weird and synthy sounds with processed vocals are still there, but becoming more creepy and intense. Awesome! It was hard to pick out a Fever Ray track for this, but i let the line "When I grow up, I want to be a forester / Run through the moss on high heels" guide me. This track is relatively playful with lyrics indicating a mind growing restless with being in a house alone that's taken a life of its own in her mind. I highly recommend checking out her other videos from the Vimeo link above. The videos run from weird to creepy to scary. So good!

Neko Case: "This Tornado Loves You"

Neko has an amazing voice, which is never in doubt. The lyrics with their metaphor is spot-on. It makes me okay to end this brief description by saying: Neko Case is a force of nature. duh.

The xx: "You Got the Love" (Florence + The Machine cover/remix)

The song has a long history, sung originally by Candi Staton and THE SOURCE, winding its way through different versions and remixes since the 1970s. Wikipedia and Pitchfork can shed some light on it. I was introduced to the Now Voyager version of the song through the finale of the Sex and the City HBO series (yeah, i admit it, and it kinda made me tear up. dammit). It is an effective dancefloor filler because while the lyrics have religious overtones, they are easily transferable to reflections on strained relationships leading to dancefloor catharsis. Florence + The Machine covered this last year, staying pretty faithful to the sentiment and drama of the original. The video portraying her as a diva in Studio 54 testifying to her flock. The xx remix and cover this using their "sexy, smooth, understated" vocal style and minimal 2-step garage beats. I'm also a bit amused at what could be conceived as their lampooning of Florence's rather self-important vocals and music video.

Memory Tapes: "Bicycle"

(You can go to their MySpace page and listen to it straight up. There is no official video for the song, the only thing that comes close is this dance routine I found).
The guy behind Memory Tapes definitely knows which buttons to push to make joyful dance music. You can hear everything from David Byrne to New Order as the track builds up and coasts into a mesmerizing sunset.

Fuck Buttons: "Surf Solar"

(this is a 3:45 minute edit of the full 10+ minute experience).
What a great title. The slow burn of the synths pushing the samples along makes you feel like you're surfing the electromagnetic field of the sun which you are able to feel while buffeted with distorted radio signals from Earth. Which your translate into sound. A great marriage of noise with house rhythms.

jj: "Ecstasy"

Swedish act jj's A great reworking of Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" as a tribute to taking ecstasy. Bienvenido a Miamiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.............

Joy Orbison: "Hyph Mngo"

Was one of my favorite dance tracks (apparently it's dubstep. i would not have been able to pick that out). Just like "Surf Solar" above, this track was amazing how you can feel like the whole of the track through its splintered and stuttering parts. The beats and a Janet Jackson(?) sample keep the heart of the track beating.

While the video for their track "BRKLN CLLN" (DOLDRUMS)" was one of my favorite videos. I have memories of these parades from when I was 4-5 years old. Freak the hell out of me. I might as well have been tripping.


Basement Jaxx: "Raindrops" (possibly NSFW)

Yay! Welcome back, guys.

Smith Westerns: "Be My Girl"

Lo-Fi, but not putting their levels in the red. You have to turn up the volume. It kind of annoyed me. Still, they take advantage of the fidelity by making the song sound like a 50's rock orchestral masterpiece covered by T.Rex. that you have to pick through the fuzz.


and for some pop trash that I can't really justify but was an effective earworm:
Cascada: "Evacuate the Dancefloor"

It's really the chorus that ingrains itself. The Germanic insistence of the slightly nonsensical lyrics. Featuring MC Carlprit (get it? Carlprit). Europop continuing its never ending insistence on inserting a German rapper who sounds funny rapping in English, whether by accent or lyric. "Yo lady! yo baby!"