Cranes
Submarine
Dadaphonic / Instinct
The obvious problem with listening to a remix album without hearing the original is context. I can’t tell you what songs the producers here butchered, mangled, or diced to new heights. However, though I’ve never heard Future Songs (the album on which this EP’s based), I really don’t have a problem with it. Submarine stands well enough on its own.
The thing that makes this project so palatable is the constant presence of Ali Shaw’s vocals, which are somewhere between April March’s Mickey Mouse histrionics and the seductive husk of Jennifer Charles’ whispery songs. Shaw’s is an ethereal presence that floats throughout every remix carrying on some kind of perverse love affair with the DJs. Whether it’s Saru’s haunting slow drag on “Submarine,” Thin Men=EDs quirky deep house take on the same song, or Greg Long=EDs soulful groove with its extremely ominous textures, something about Shaw makes it intriguing – almost spell-binding. Not to belittle the producers on the disc at all. Dietrich Schoenemann’s deep, throbbing “Don’t Wake Me Up” made me stand up and take notice, and Tripnotic’s driving beat made me do the same on the same song. And Jack Dangers is always the Man. it’s just that Shaw is a siren pulling you evermore perilously into each song, and no amount of re(de)construction can change that beautiful fact.
Dadaphonic: http://www.dadaphonic.com • Instinct Records: http://www.instinctrecords.com
