It would seem that, given how the whole Indie genre has blown up to the point now where you qualify if you’re refusing to actually produce tracks, standing out from the crowd is easier said that done. Regardless of how you feel about the Teenagers distinctly Parisian whine-rock, having a single with a chorus of ‘I fucked my American cunt’ is moving in the right direction.
Yeah, their solo work will be good no doubt when they pull an album together, and seeing them live at the Unitaur-Tour was great and fun thanks to their lovable French ‘tude. But what few are praising them for is the seemingly consistently high standard of their remixes. I wouldn’t even listen to, for example, the original version of Simian’s ‘It’s The Beat’ if I’ve got the tripple speed, whizzed up Teenagers mix on offer – the Teenagers are to Simian what Crystal Castles are to the Klaxons; much, much better.
It’s worth grabbing most of these together into a mix-disc or playlist or such like, just to get a feel for how they do things. No matter the source, after it’s been teenager-a-fied, there’s this slick air of GLAM! hanging over everything. Their mcfly-touch makes tracks that wouldn’t seem out of place on a re-release of the Cocktail soundtrack; all high notes and synths pitter-pattering from the speaker. Think Duran Duran – “Her name was Rio and I fucked that American cunt”, perhaps.
As a rule, all of the below tracks are dancefloor-friendly. Every possible degree of ‘phat beat’ is here and infectious. Cliche dictates that it wraps its way around your neck like a lover, pulling you into action, but it’d be far easier to say that the magic it holds quite simply affects you on a primal, as well as thoughtful level. You’ll notice when you hear the Simian rework, or even the normally mellow version of Mer Du Japon. AND NYPC! AND GOODBOOKS!
I wish I could hold only praise for them. There are problems. For the most part, there’s a highly repetitive element to every track, as much as there is an energy. Energy and variety are different things; listening to the mixes side by side reveals them to be nowhere near as beautiful as Soulwax, or Justice reworks. It’s not monotonous, but it’s in the same region as Daft Punk – superb, but not all the way there (you heard me). As part of a set, in a club though, this won’t be noticed. Technically, this stands out though.
It may be stating the obvious, but these remixes sound like the Teenagers. When they touch on indie, like The Illness, Face, City and Had Enough, it becomes the same song, but as if they’d got there first. And their Air, Simian, Chromeo and NYPC efforts are…well, something different all together. Worth bearing in mind that Daft Punk themselves began as a humble indie rock band, as did Soulwax – there could well be a future there. Anyway, the playlist runs as follows;
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The Illness – Goodbooks
Mer Du Japon – Air
It’s The Beat – Simian Mobile Disco
Face – The Black Ghosts
City – Lo Fi Fink
The Bomb – NYPC
Had Enough – The Enemy
Bonafied Lovin – Chromeo
