Swayzak – Dirty Dancing 6.4

I think this album solidifies my credentials as someone who hung out with too much Eurotrash. Yet, despite its humble origins of wanting to be trashy dance music, it actually works on another, darker level. This is music to listen to before you do your dirty deeds. Hell, it is virtually the soundtrack of bad behavior. 

                “Make Up Your Mind” doesn’t give you an idea of the album at all. It is a misleading opening track; a better introduction would’ve been “Buffalo Seven”. No worries, none of these songs will make you think. That’s not their intention. Rather, they want to capture what happens when someone’s in a bit of a foul mood and has had one too many to drink.

                Yeah, the lyrics are definitely the low point of the album. Avoid absorbing their general cheesiness. The construction of each track is the real draw, how the layers are so well done, so smooth. Pace is the trick, the timing is right. Songs like “Celcius” avoid the awful lyrics. 

                “I dance alone” is the highlight. Here, you get decent enough lyrics (they don’t make you shudder) and the buildup is excellent. A groove forms and the beat is such Eurotrash yet oddly likable.

                By no means is this essential. It isn’t ambitious at all. As a guilty pleasure, you could do far worse. Just please try your best to tune out those dreadful lyrics.

Scion – Arrange and Process Basic Channel 7.8

Normally I dislike remix projects. They reek of egos run amok. Results of their egos usually disappoint, with the mixer thinking “Eh, whatever, I guess I’ll ride this guy’s coattails into fame”. Or the opposite reaction, which is worse, is when someone famous (like Thurston Moore) remixes some good obscure artist’s stuff into something far less interesting. It doesn’t sound good, it feels like charity, like aw, poor unpopular artist. Let me help you.

Scion proves that there are exceptions to the rule. Yeah, they might not be as popular as Basic Channel, but they are very familiar with their records. Part of this might be that the duo actually got released by a subsection of Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, the more accessible part of the Basic Channel empire. Together, they update and tweak each song you are no doubt obsessed with at this point. 

The mix is strong, they include a new song every 2 to 3 minutes, and it is smooth. Every transition is handled flawlessly, and the tracks are updated without eliminating that essence that made Basic Channel so special in the first place. Tempos are jacked up to a faster pace, to allow this to be more of dance music (not that Basic Channel ever discounted the joys of the dance floor).

Not only are the more obvious picks chosen (Enforcement always remained a pretty accessible track) but even that ambient joy of Radiance streams through these tracks. In fact, those two even meet to delirious effect in Part 6. 

Ultimately, this is a great mix and serves as a weird “best of” Basic Channel. Each track that made them legendary has been included. It starts out slow, builds up in the middle, and gradually eases the listener down. This is ideal for anyone intimidated by Basic Channel’s vast discography and wants a tastes of what they really are about. 

Out Hud – S.T.R.E.E.T D.A.D 8.4

Really, I have no idea what this acronym stands for. Nor do these California dance rockers offer any sort of insight either. But since (!!!) came out of this, you should probably realize that it is pretty good.

I prefer this album to their second one for a few reasons. For one, the best song on “Let Us Never Speak of It again” kind of harked back to the weird fests of this one (Dear Mr. Bush, There Are over 100 Words for Shit and Only 1 for Music. Fuck You, Out Hud). Plus, this one doesn’t feel the need to win you over with coy lyrics and other cutesy effects.

Actually, Street Dad has a large amount of instability running through its vein. The song structures in this album are unsound, which is truly a delight once dealing with dance music. Most dance music focuses purely on groove, and tends to avoid these strange sidesteps.  “Dad, There's A Little Phrase Called Too Much Information”. Oh yes, that song sort of sums up their purpose. Grooves are built up only to be overwhelmed with additional blasts of over-distorted drum kicks.

Plus, there is that cello. Here they display it prominently. It adds to the groove, making it almost classical dance music, almost. “Hair Dude, You're Stepping on My Mystique” shows off some very nice cello playing, along with their aforementioned love of instability.

“The L Train Is a Swell Train and I Don’t Want to Hear You Indies Complain” is the best track on here. First, it is kind of a funny name, especially considering how the L train has become the gentrification express rather than something to be worried about. But there’s everything they are good at here: abrupt shifts, actual emotion, grooves, cello, etc. It is amazing how much inspiration they drew for this from the awkwardly named great project "Peter Gordon and the Love of Life Orchestra", right down to the length and classical influences.

I sort of wish that Out Hud continued with their project, but I know that (!!!) gained too much prominence for them to ignore that avenue. Also, many of these players ended up being in the even cooler LCD Soundsystem. Oh well, I guess we still have this to remember them by.