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As many of you already know, I discovered Andy D when he performed on 'It Gets Hot' by Electric Six and met him when he opened for them during the "Heartbeats And Brainwaves Tour". I'd already seen him perform on Youtube clips and I was excited to see more of him. Andy is a dynamic live performer and a genuinely nice guy. I enjoyed chatting with him and spending time at the show. I bought his first and second albums at that concert and I felt like the first disc, "Name Your Perversion" didn't quite translate from the live performance to the disc. But I had great hopes for this album and I wasn't disappointed. This disc certainly conveys the energy he projects during a live performance.
I don't think it will come as a surprise that most of his songs are sophomoric and over-sexualized. Sometimes he comes across like a teen boy who's just discovered sex and his lyrics come across as rather trivial. But that's more or less where Andy D lives. He's not here to change the world or make a political statement, he's here to party and have a good time. Once again, the instrumentation is quite minimalist and the lyrics simple and straight forward. The first song, 'Playground' is an interesting song about oral sex of various kinds. Um, wow. 'Electric Wilderness' is next and it's got a few funny lines throughout. It's a pretty good song. I like the music on this track and I think he delivers on the vocals. On my CD, Andy wrote "Your magic is real and I believe in you!" Imagine my surprise when I heard that line appear in the song. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and tell you, that autograph actually personalized this song for me and made me listen to it constantly. It's one of my favorite tracks on the disc! 'Hey Tina (Pick Up The Phone)' was probably the track I remember most from his live show. It was highly dramatic. And he delivers it here with just as much enthusiasm. When you actually listen to song you realize the music is actually inspired and borrows elements from George Clinton and his 70's bands like Funkadelic and Parlet. It's actually quite funky and enjoyable. If you don't listen to anything else, check out this number.
'Angels On The Dancefloor' is a song that doesn't offer much musically, yet I love the lyrics on this one. It makes me laugh everytime and I listen to it a lot. 'Wizard' kicks in with some interesting sounds, but when the tinkling keyboards kick in, it starts to sound like early 80's rap. Still, it's cool for what it is. Andy does have an affinity for that older rap and he emulates it with his own material. 'I Wanna Be Your Unicorn' combines some rock metal guitar licks with some funk rhythm guitar. It's a metaphor. His horn is of course his "you-know-what" but the tune is catchy. 'Bump In The Nite' is Andy's Halloween single. Of course, the four letter words strung throughout the chorus means it will never see playtime at kids parties. If it could, this might have been a breakthrough hit for him.
'Moderne Romance' is up next and this one uses lots of drum fills and beats to create a frantic pace. 'Alchemy Of The D' is the obligatory "I'm-all-that" track. Andy proclaims his superiority in many different ways. 'Black Rainbow' is another song with that's highly Clintonesque. It's got a 70's funk vibe and I like the chorus. The final track is 'Ragnarock (Viking Lover)'. This one kinda marches on with a guitar lick playing along with the beat, but it's mixed low in the track. Based on the title, you'd expect something huge and climactic, but it never achieves that build.
In the end, this is a CD that at the very least lives up to the live performance of this artist. The live show is unbeatable. I think it's vastly superior to the previous disc and I'm looking forward to hearing even more. Andy D is a fun listen. My final words: AN IMPROVEMENT WITH THE PROMISE OF EVEN MORE TO COME.
ANDY D PRESENTS THE WEEKEND - SONGS IN THE KEY OF MAGIC
01. Playground
02. Electric Wilderness
03. Hey Tina (Pick Up The Phone)
04. Angels On The Dancefloor
05. Wizard
06. I Wanna Be Your Unicorn
07. Bump In The Nite
08. Moderne Romance
09. Alchemy Of The D
10. Black Rainbow
11. Ragnarock (Viking Lover)
After feeling like I'd recaptured a part of my youth with "Gaslight", I was pleased beyond words that fDeluxe returned with a remix album entitled "Relit". I didn't wait long before ordering the disc. And let me tell ya, it doesn't disappoint. Right off the bat, you get two back to back remixes of 'Sanctified'. The first mix was done by a guy named John Fields and in a nod to The Beatles, he calls his mix the Strawberrius Remix. "Strawberry Fields" is the title and subject of a Beatles song. The tempo seems punched up and the track is really grooving. This is a great number and a lot of fun. The second mix seems to be the product of a number of people but this one is so far beyond funky it's not even funny. With a Linn drum patch fronting the rhythm section, this one is a nostalgic romp to the Minneapolis sound of the 80's. Definitely the best mix of the two and so dang infectious. I should point out, both mixes of this song are actually fantastic.
Next up is Eric Leeds' mix of 'Lover'. Eric's sax is featured heavily in this mix and it's quite lovely. This song was already beautiful and having a romantic jazz version only heightens its edge. Not to be missed, this one stands out as a serious contender for best mix. St. Paul gets credit for the Amsterdam mix of 'Drummers & Healers'. It's an interesting mix bordering on a house beat with minor notes drizzled about for atmosphere. Another base hit for the band. Next up is one of two mixes of the song, 'Over The Canyon'. This mix is exciting for a couple of reasons... 1) it's funky and fun - 2) it uses sounds that seem to date back to early 80's and they're just brilliantly mixed in with the song. I love this one too. Next up is '@8'; which also has another mix later on. This is the Swang mix by someone apparently called Swang. It's a stripped down version with some guitar bits and orchestral swells making the tune sound very much like it belongs on 1986's Prince And The Revolution album, "Parade".
Wendy & Lisa put in appearance on 'Midnight Gaslight' one of the first mixes released to those who pledged during fDeluxe's fundraiser for "AM Static". It's a brilliant mix. Next up is the second mix of 'Over The Canyon' by a guy named Josh Beagley. It's a minimalist mix, but also well executed. It doesn't do a whole lot for the song, but it has got a thumping club beat and that's probably what the band was looking for at this point. 'Beautiful You' gets a remix by artist Steve Parke and his mix partner Jesse Hayes. The vocals are treated with a computerized distortion of some sort and the tune is stripped down to the bare minimum. This is probably my least favorite mix on the disc, but it's still an interesting interpretation.
'@8' get it's second mix by a DJ who hypes the tune by speeding it up. The vocals are slightly sped up and the music is stripped out. Of the two mixes, this is the one I'd say dropped the bomb even though I love the music. The sped up vocals just ruin the track. Would've worked better as an instrumental. 'Gaslight' gets another mix. This one by St. Paul and he demonstrates his affinity for techno mixing once again. This is the track I think has the best chance of becoming a club hit.
'The Vigil' gets an interesting reworking by Ishan Cooper. It's a kinda digital lounge mix. It's laid back, chill and hints of something naughty happening behind the scenes. Like we're all sitting around while the good stuff is all taking place in the green room. 'Gaslight' gets a third and final treatment. Another mix by St. Paul, but this one sounds like some bizarre Spanish/Arabic war time thing. It's really trippy. The final track is an alternate piano version of 'When You Go'. It's lovely and a delicate way to end the disc.
fDeluxe have made another amazing record. So far, I haven't heard a single release from them that's disappointed. They're on a major roll! This is a group that needs to continue to record and release. I can't wait for more. My final words: A REMIX CD THAT DELIVERS THE GOODS AND LEAVES YOU BEGGING FOR MORE.
fDELUXE - RELIT
01. Sanctified (Strawberrius Remix)
02. Sanctified (Neon Romeoz Pajama Party Remix)
03. Lover (Mr. Leeds Mix)
04. Drummers & Healers (Amsterdam Remix)
05. Over The Canyon (MasSheen Mix)
06. @8 (Swang's @85 Remix)
07. Midnight Gaslight (Jackhouse Remix)
08. Over The Canyon (J-Man's Getting Deeper Remix)
09. Beautiful You (Designer ReMix)
10. @8 (Flight To Paris Remix)
11. Gaslight (MMI Remix)
12. The Vigil (Coop DeVille Remix)
13. Gaslight (Yeager Remix)
14. When You Go (Alt Piano Mix)
By the time "We Are The Night" came out I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I was already living in St. George and the only record store was this tiny shop located in a small shopping center next to the Red Cliffs Mall. I pre-ordered it in case the owner wasn't going to bring it in as a new release and when the day arrived, I left work long enough to run over and pick it up when they opened. That's right, folks... I paid full price for this disc! I later found a UK promotional copy with different artwork on eBay so I have two copies of this disc. Hence, the two pics you see for the covers.
Just because I was excited doesn't mean I fell right into the groove with this one. When I first started listening to it, I wasn't feeling a few songs. It wasn't until I'd lived with the album for awhile that I started hearing the whole disc and getting into it. That's one of the things I really love about them. Instead of just throwing a huge wall of beats at you and getting you to dance, they challenge you. The music can be radically different for what you'd expect from a group considered a dance music band. For example, the very first track on this disc, 'No Path To Follow' is sorta creepy. It consists entirely of a distorted, slow voice repeating the line, "There's no path to follow." Eventually, a normal singing voice joins in and sings the line along with the effected voice. Willy Mason is the vocalist and he appears again later on the album and we'll discuss him further then.
A buzzing sound launches us into a strange effect patch of bleeps and blips with a beat playing underneath that is slowly growing in volume. An ex of mine once said he hated electronic music because once the melody and the beat were established, there wasn't anything different. It never progressed beyond that. Although that's quite common with most electronic bands, it's not the case with the Chems. 'We Are The Night' hops all over the place. From the odd "Legend" quote, "Black as blackest night" to twittering birds, this one goes all over the place. It's complex and challenging. For those of you wondering what the heck was going to happen after listening to 'No Path To Follow', the Chems deliver something you can definitely consider a path. It may be random and free flowing, but there's also a lot of structure here. It even has a breakdown about three quarters of the way in. 'All Rights Reversed' features both writing and performances by the Klaxons and Lightspeed Champion. This was one of the songs I didn't really like the first time I heard it. After subsequent listens, it's become one of my favorites. I love the hypnotic feeling it creates with the vocal delivery. The music is aggressive and highly punctuated. It's got an excellent build and flows brilliantly from start to finish.
'Saturate' is up next and this is one of those songs like the original communication from the aliens in "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind". It's got a simple melody that's repeated over and over. And it's a melody that seems timeless. One that's always existed and we've all known it in our heads but never realized it in actual sound until the Chems put it out there. It's a basic scale run repeated, but still incredible. The build of the song happens not in the actual music, rather it happens with the addition or subtraction of instruments and sounds. It's such a dynamic way of composing music and adds a dimension very few artists ever achieve. The Chems seem to look at music and composition from a completely unique perspective. They don't few the music as simple compositions, they see them as artistic structures and things they can apply various scientific principles to. In this case, using instrumentation and sound to create a climax rather than changing a lot of notes. I simply don't have the words to accurately express what they've done here. It's so far beyond what anyone else is doing.
'Do It Again' features Ali Love and was the first single from the disc. It's a great track! The beats are there, the vocals are energetic and exciting... It has all the elements of a fun dance number and it delivers on the Chems reputation for making excellent dance music. It's followed by a song that's not exactly challenging, but thematically interesting. 'Das Spiegel' or the mirror as it would be in English is a mellow beat with all kinds of sound effect patches running throughout. You hear a girl giggling and making noises throughout. At one point you hear someone inhale and exhale. This is a groove you can really just sink into and enjoy. It gives the impression of someone smoking out and just being chill. Fat Lip appears on the next song, 'The Salmon Dance'. If you thought the rest of the album was strange, this song takes you to new heights of wondering what the heck is going on. Fat Lip raps about a new dance he's invented and how he introduces it at a club. All the while an electronic voice appears alongside him quoting facts about salmon. And we're talking facts. Like National Geographic facts. Now just from that description the song doesn't sound cool at all. It sounds kinda nutty and weird. And yet, it's easily one of the best cuts on the disc.
The next two tracks flow into each other and they're a dynamic duo! 'Burst Generator' starts off with a subdued beat and what I can only consider to be the electronic equivalent to vocal scatting. Once the build erupts into the full musical track, the energy leaps out of the speakers like an actual burst! I'm hugely fond of instrumental music with titles you can actually relate to the sounds you hear and this one does it. With natural builds throughout the song, the number is filled with climactic bursts that explode! Like all things that climax, the tune eventually fades out and 'A Modern Midnight Conversation' kicks in. Another incredible number with an awe inspiring tempo and ecstatic beats. The two of these together are simply unbeatable.
Willy Mason appears again on 'Battle Scars'. It starts with the repeated lyric, "There's no path to follow" and now you know where the first cut comes from. This was another track I didn't really like until much later. In fact, this is probably the track that took me the longest to appreciate. And it wasn't until the remix was released later on that I actually discovered how cool it is. 'Harpoons' is an ambient sound wave that just kinda washes over you. An interesting song coming off of 'Battle Scars'. In 'Battle Scars', Mason uses a couple lines that make you think of a beach and this track carries that over. In fact, together the two bring to mind sandcastle kingdoms at war.
The final track on the disc is 'The Pills Won't Help You Now' and features Tim Smith on vocals. Smith was working with a band called Midlake at the time. There's one thing you can say with absolute certainty... The Chems know how to create dramatic musical builds. All of their songs seem to have this organic, natural progression that builds and crescendos. Considering the medium they work in, (electronic music), that's an amazing quality to possess. There are all kinds of standard tricks electronic artists use. It's like a government issued howto manual some of these artists use to compose. They repeat certain counts, use certain beats to transition, etc. etc. Although you can hear things like that from time to time in Chemical Brothers material; more often than naught you hear something different. Something new and inventive. When I hear people compare The Chemical Brothers to other electronic acts I cringe. They're not in the same league as many of these other bands. They're so far ahead of their time it's impossible to categorize them. And this final number is the perfect example of how they create a truly moving and powerful build in a song. Like the final scene of a movie, 'The Pills Won't Help You Now' closes out the album on both a somber and energetic note. Thematically, you may think this is a rather negative record. Some of the songs venture into dark territory and the lyrics are sometimes confusing and at odds with each other. But therein lies the true theme. The night hides all sins. Each one of these songs is a moment happening in the night. Everything from a dance floor revolution ('The Salmon Dance'), sitting around talking ('A Modern Midnight Conversation'), walking along a beach ('Harpoons') to the quiet desperation of a lost soul ('The Pills Won't Help You Now')... Every song could be seen as a glimpse into a life of someone in this fateful night. On the cover, we see a far off mountain range. Our destination? And constellations mapped out in the sky to help guide our way or our destiny. But like the opening lyrics proclaim, we learn that in the night, there really is no path to follow.
I'm not convinced that's a bad thing.
My final words: A UNIQUE CONSTELLATION OF MUSIC BRILLIANTLY DESIGNED AND EXECUTED!
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - WE ARE THE NIGHT
01. No Path To Follow
02. We Are The Night
03. All Rights Reversed
04. Saturate
05. Do It Again
06. Das Spiegel
07. The Salmon Dance
08. Burst Generator
09. A Modern Midnight Conversation
10. Battle Scars
11. Harpoons
12. The Pills Won't Help You Now
This is a weird one because I've more or less stopped listening to Depeche Mode for awhile now. I've been so disenchanted with their recent material and as such, I've kinda shelved their back catalog. I was walking past my CD shelf the other day and I reached out and just snatched a random disc to listen to while I was driving. This was the one. And after listening to it for a bit, I was reminded how much I loved this band growing up in the 80's and how great this music actually is.
If I remember correctly, "Catching Up With Depeche Mode" was the American version of a singles compilation released in the UK. The tracklisting on the US and UK versions are quite different. The US version focuses on the hits, but also includes UK single releases that didn't appear on albums as well as songs the record label felt appealed more to US audiences. The UK version is essentially a singles collection of all their UK single releases.
Now here's the thing about Depeche Mode... Over the years, these guys have been masterful at creating a collectible catalog. Part of what fuels the band are releases and when they don't have anything new in the pipeline, they make sure they stay relevant by re-releasing older material in some way. They'll update remixes or create a new compilation package. No matter how they do it, the average Depeche Mode fan will tell you they've bought a song like 'Personal Jesus' or 'People Are People' dozens of times over in their various official incarnations on various official albums, e.p.'s and singles.
For the average collector who just wants the album tracks, most of these releases are redundant; and let me say, this disc is no exception. Virtually all of this material was released on singles or albums before ending up on this compilation. Outside of the artwork, there's no real value in this disc whatsoever. And yet, I bought it. Way back when.
Because this music shows up on other releases and I'll discuss the songs in depth when I get to those albums, I'm not going to delve into them here. Let me just say because of this CD, more older Depeche Mode albums have ended up in my CD player of the past couple of weeks and so many memories are returning. I feel like I've reconnected to a part of my past I'd lost. It's been a sentimental time.
There's no real reason for me to encourage you to buy this disc and I'm not sure I should. There are many more greatest hits and singles collections released that more thoroughly document the history of this group. And with better sound quality. But there you go... Here it is and my final words are: LOVELY MEMORY BRINGER. LIKE A SPLASH OF COOL, CLEAR WATER ON MY FACE. GREAT COMPILATION IN ITS DAY.
DEPECHE MODE - CATCHING UP WITH DEPECHE MODE
01. Dreaming Of Me
02. New Life
03. Just Can't Get Enough
04. See You
05. The Meaning Of Love
06. Love In Itself
07. Master And Servant
08. Blasphemous Rumours
09. Somebody
10. Shake The Disease
11. Flexible
12. It's Called A Heart
13. Fly On The Windscreen
