- If you're not happy about the straightforwardness of some edits, the ones on this release on Art Department man Johnny White's No. 19 label might be up your street. They're by Lee Foss, which should prick ears of those who enjoyed his treatment of MGMT's "Electric Feel" on 2009's Hot Natured Edits. He's gone for the same thing here on all three: aggressive bandpass filtering of the vocal lines, stuttering them with some kind of gating effect, and then panning them about, and underlaying a phat bass that does pretty much its own thing and an unfussy and homely disco drumline. Except here, the basslines are more unlikely and sit off the beat in a deliciously wobblesome manner, and the drums are techier, with more crack and complexity. The shards of glass flying around on the title track and stuttering hi-hats on "Real Love" increase the idiosyncrasy and charm—it's deep in a glitchy way (if that makes any sense at all).
There's less charm to the edit of La Roux's "I'm Not Your Toy"—or maybe it's just the poppy, light nature of the original material which in my opinion doesn't lend itself as well to this deconstructive, left-of-centre method of processing (although it might make a decent anthem for the right time and place). It's a different story for the other two, though; "Cold As Ice" is damn funky and cool, like neon through a kaleidoscope, and "Real Love" has a fragile, chatoyant voice contrasting with an uncontrollably obese bassline—they're great examples of well-measured innovation.
Tracklist A1 Cold As Ice
A2 Real Love
B Lee Roux