the fyrehaus

I am rediscovering The Hype Machine this morning.

Awesome things I have found: Hot Chip’s new single, “Ready for the Floor” is unexpectedly awesome, even for them! The video is up at Partizan here. The video is also awesome, although I’m still not sure how The Joker fits in. And the cleanup must have been brutal for those poor dancers. If you dig them, you should hit up Berkeley Place for their surprisingly faithful cover of Paul Simon’s “Graceland.”

Also, there was an amazing period in ‘97 and ‘98 when the remix exploded, dragging rock, rap and electronica (remember electronica??) into a big ball of technojoy. I loved that period. I loved bands like Nine Inch Nails remixing Bowie songs and Dave Grohl somehow getting involved in a Puffy remix. And now there’s a remix DJ, Terror Dactyl, whose stuff sounds like that! Versus posted a sample of his stuff here. (His original stuff kind of makes my ears bleed.)

You can hear songs from The Raveonettes’ forthcoming album at Hot Biscuits. Please ignore the fact that the writer calls it their “debut album.” Maybe he’s just a really big country fan.

A Plague of Angels has tracks from the new Louis XIV album up. I know its cock rock, but I like it! It’s good for feeling sleazy. Or wearing leather pants and thinking you look hot. “Misguided Sheep” has huge bombastic strings and great backing, but weak vocals. “Tina” is all about letting the whole band shine as singers, even the girly one that looks like Cheryl Tiegs.

Less than awesome things I have found: Broadcaster House posted a whole live Of Montreal concert here and it includes a cover of the Fiery Furnaces’ “Tropical Iceland.” I figured this would be either awesome or terrifying. It is, in fact, neither. It keeps Of Montreal from being as crazy as they wanna be, while also being less fun than the original. The original is fun mostly because its so unexpected from the Furnaces, and with OM, you just expect more. I did like the bit toward the end where it spontaneously turns into “And She Was” by the Talking Heads for 15 seconds. That would be a kick ass cover.