- How could the same group have made each of the CDs in this package? The attention to detail, ear for the oddball groove, and skill at keeping a vibe going that makes disc one of A Bugged Out Mix such a sharp, fleet dance mix would—you might imagine—also apply to disc two's back-to-ours/whatever-we-want selection. Obviously any group with five members isn't going to see eye-to-eye or hear ear-to-ear all the time, as Hot Chip's A Bugged Out mix makes clear.
But to be honest, so did Hot Chip's volume of the DJ-Kicks series two years ago, which began and ended with show-offy, clumsily segued runs—Grosvenor into Positive K into Gramme to start, Joe Jackson into Ray Charles to finish—but in between featured a mix that moved nicely even when it was flaunting its own eclecticism, as when Young Leek and Black Devil Disco Club flanked an old Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto blues.
Disc one of A Bugged Out Mix is like that long middle reconstructed with mostly techno tracks, but with all of its canny turns intact. The mix is full of stuff a laptopper, a dance floor purist and a pop fan with an adventurous ear could love equally: the floridly playful Dandy Jack & the Queen of Mars remix of Conrad Schnitzler's "00/346 & 00/380" moving into John Tejada's gurgling, bounding "Torque" is a prime example. Tracks from Cosmic Sandwich, Ican and Kollektiv Turmstrasse match bulbous low end and colorful keyboard riffs that make the whole mix feel like a day at the beach.
Disc two announces its intentions up front: "Let's have a disco with all of these people in our front room," begins The Pictish Trail's "Winter Home Disco (Hot Chip Remix)." In this case, that means abrupt, sometimes distracting segues, as when Greco Roman's "Party Rhythm" comes to a crash as Osborne's "16th Stage" begins, or Osborne gliding uneasily into Man Like Me's "London Town" or the drastic slowdown to join Gramme into Gang Gang Dance (remixed by Hot Chip). Worse, it can inspire you to try "blends" as ill-fated as Dizzee Rascal's "Fix Up, Look Sharp" over Terrence Trent D'Arby's "Wishing Well" here. Jesus, this is tedious—what were they thinking? Good thing Eddie Floyd's great "Bring It on Home to Me" ends things—otherwise you might think twice about going back.
TracklistCD1 - Bugged Out
01. Gas - Nah Und Fern
02. Theo Parrish - Space Bumps
03. Extrawelt & Morelle - Schmedding
04. Joseph Capriati - C'est La Vie
05. Philip Sherburne - The Claim
06. Armando - Don't Take It (Thomos Edit)
07. Harry Axt - Deliberately Selected
08. Florian Meindel - Blast
09. Conrad Schnitzler - 00/346 & 00/380 (Dandy Jack & The Queen Of Mars Remix)
10. John Tejada - Torque
11. Pig & Dan - Hope
12. Peverelist - Junktion
13. Cosmic Sandwich - Cosmic Sandwich (Cosmic Sandwich Remix)
14. Hot Chip - Take It In
15. Mark Henning - Moody Bastard
16. District One aka Bart Skils & Anton Pieete - One2One
17. Mory Kante - Yeke Yeke (Afro Acid Mix)
18. Ican - Chiclet's Theme
19. Dominik Eulberg & Gabriel Ananda - Eucalypse Now!
20. Alex Cappelli - Bloody Notes (Butch Remix)
21. Kollektiv Turmstrasse - Blutsbruder
22. Marc Romboy - Karambolage (Oxia Remix)
23. International Pony feat Khan & Snax - Bubble In The Bottle (Pepe Bradock Remix)
24. Max Cooper - I (Long Version)
CD2 - Bugged In
01. The Pictish Trail - Winter Home Disco (Hot Chip Remix)
02. The Andrews Sisters - Rum & Coca Cola
03. The Esso Trinidad Steel Band - Apeman
04. Bravo & Zongamin - Street Liming
05. Greco Roman - Party Rhythm
06. Osborne - 16th Stage
07. Man Like Me - London Town
08. Fleetwood Mac - Love In Store
09. The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes
10. Gramme - I Can't Resist (Sick Of My Music Mix)
11. Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (Hot Chip Remix)
12. Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
13. Dub Narcotic Sound System - Shake A Puddin'
14. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
15. Terence Trent D'Arby - Wishing Well with Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp
16. Biz Markie - Just A Friend
17. Sparks - The Number One Song In Heaven
18. Robert Palmer - Looking For Clues
19. Zapp & Roger - I Wanna Be Your Man
20. Eddie Floyd - Bring It On Home To Me