- For the second installment of their ‘Leave Them All Behind’ mix-n-compile series, the Modular people selected a bunch of indie dance semi-classics and asked fellow Aussie gang bangers The Bang Gang (a.k.a. Dangerous Dan, Ajax, etc) to mix them together. If you already fell for The Bang Gang’s genre-bending techniques, their wild eclecticism and perfectly executed podcasts (now stuff of online legend), then you’re set for honest disappointment here.
Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with the track selection, but overall, ‘Leave Them All Behind 2’ feels mundane and pretty unoriginal. I mean, do we really have to go through another airing of ‘Standing in the Way of Control’? Aren’t we all done with Van She’s remix of ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’, MSTRKRFT’s rework of ‘Woman’, and Digitalism’s re-rerub of ‘Skip to the End’, tracks that even your grandmother enjoyed and got tired of a while back?
And Waters of fucking Nazareth? *Yawn* already.
Then they choose, quite unexcitingly, to finish the whole thing up with Erol Alkan’s otherwise epic and elegiac remix of Hot Chip’s ‘Boy From School’. Now we all loved and fell for this truly gorgeous and rousing version when it came out more than eighteen months ago, but frankly, it has already graced the ending of no less then three different mixes in the past few months (Heidi’s ‘Monza Club Ibiza’ for Get Physical, Alkan’s free ‘Disco2006’ CD for Mixmag, and Simian Mobile Disco’s also free ‘Dancefloor Distorsion’ mix for NME). Come on now, this is awkwardly asking you make love and listen to…the sounds of everyone’s summer of 2006! Sorry, but I came already.
On the second, unmixed CD, you’ll get more or less of the exact same in a different order, although the ‘it’ factor is somehow more effective because of a few exclusivities thrown in for good measure: Erol (him again) Alkan’s Carnival of Light rework of Scissor Sisters’s ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’ fully deserved another airing (mostly because it got rid of Jake Shears’s irritating self-parodic whine), as did the Alan Braxe & Fred Falke funky oldskool rendition of Kelis’s ‘Bossy’. But in the end, you already downloaded these tracks, did your cardio to them, and the playlist they belonged to on your iPod got deleted a while back.
No doubt about it, Modular is usually on the trendy side of things, but they somehow got it really wrong on here by aiming for generic and too well-known indie dance numbers mixed in a surprisingly straightforward way instead of going hunting for more compelling underground stuff (Michoacan, Crystal Castles, Curtis Vodka or Eats Tapes come to mind in that genre). Cool label, cool bands, cool songs and very cool DJs. But ultimately – and unfortunately – this is just not a very cool release.
Tracklist1 CSS - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above
2 The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control
3 Shakes - Sister Self Doubt
4 Mystery Jets - Boy Who Ran Away (Riton Mix)
5 Futureheads - Skip to the End (Digitalism Re-Dub)
6 Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (Van She Remix)
7 Wolfmother - Woman (MSTRKRFT remix)
8 The Presets - Are You The One (Club Mix)
9 MSTRKRFT - Street Justice
10 Jenny Wilson - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward (The Knife Remix)
11 The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cheated Hearts (Peaches Remix)
12 Justice – Waters of Nazareth
13 Cut Copy - Going Nowhere (Sebastian Remix)
14 Ali Love – K-Hole
15 Peter Bjorn & John - The Chills
16 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion
17 Love Is All – Talk Talk Talk Talk
18 The Rakes – Binary Love (Loving Hand Remix)
19 Hot Chip – Boys From School (Erol Alkan’s Extended Re-Work)
CD2 Unmixed
1 New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
2 Softlightes – Girlkillsbear (Lo-Fi-Fnk Remix)
3 Jenny Wilson - Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward (Knife Mix)
4 Malcolm Middleton - Loneliness Shines
5 The Go! Team - Ladyflash [Simian Mobile Disco Remix]
6 CSS - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above
7 The Shakes - Sister Self Doubt
8 Kelis - Bossy (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix)
9 The Rapture - Get Myself Into It
10 Mystery Jets - The Boy Who Ran Away [Riton Re-Rub]
11 Franz Ferdinand - Outsiders [JD Twitch Club Remix]
12 Wolfmother - Love Train (Chicken Lips Remix)
13 The Rakes - Binary Love [Loving Hand Remix]
14 K Hole Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin' (Erol Alkan Mix)