Instead of keeping up with my Bombs of the Day, I decided to take advantage of the great weather and my friend's birthday and go drink a lot of wine up in Solvang and Los Olivos. I'd be lying through my grape-stained teeth if I said I knew a damn thing about wine going into it, other than the fact that I like it, and that if it comes in a box, a jug, or costs $2 you'd better hold on to you fucking head, because it's gonna want to run screaming from your body the next morning. After sampling no less than 100 different wines this weekend (miraculously sans screaming head and roiling stomach), I think it's safe to say that I've gone from knowing nothing to knowing exactly as much as I could absorb faster than the wine. That is to say, if I was told about anything past the 8th sample or so each day, you can bet that I wasn't really listening.
As per usual, I made a mix tape for the drive up the coast and through the mountains. I tried to pick some happy, upbeat, sunny songs that would complement an early day drive on a much-needed vacation, and I think that succeeded. My traveling companion, however, is more the turn-the-radio-down-to-inaudible-levels-while-we-talk than the oh-shit-I-love-this-song-let's-tunr-it-up-and-just-talk-louder type. So, given that there really isn't much time when one of us isn't talking, I didn't get to much of it until this morning while sitting in my much less conducive cubicle.
But I do remember one recent download that I put on there that caught my ear Saturday night on our way back from 40 sampled wines, an Italian feast, two beers, and a honkytonk bar, and that was Miike Snow's "Animal."
Miike Snow is a group, not a dude. It's made up of three guys - Pontus Winnberg and Christian Karlsson (also known as Bloodshy and Avant, who are responsible, oddly enough for Britney Spears' "Toxic") and Andrew Wyatt (the frontguy for Fires of Rome). I've found myself singing "Animal" to myself on my scooter off and on since I downloaded it last week, and as far semi-sparse, textured, and earnest electro-pop songs go, it's pretty epic. And if it's not quite epic enough for you, you can check out some pretty sweet remixes by Crookers and Treasure Fingers. It says a lot about the state of pop music today that something created by the creators of wildfire FM mainstream hits such as "Toxic" can also make music that fits right in with the Coachella/All Tomorrow's Parties set...without significantly changing the overall feel of the music! As alternative music goes more toward house, dance, and disco, oddly enough it starts to converge with the light oblivion of mainstream music, then vice versa, until there's not as much difference between the two as there used to be.
I used to listen to Saint Etienne back when I was in college in the 90s, and I remember wondering what it is that makes them destined to fail for general crossover appeal for American audiences. Eventually I landed on the notion that they just weren't ironic or deep (or pseudo-deep) enough for the U.S. At that time there was just no room for a band that just wanted to play unapologetically happy-sounding music that you could dance and sing along to. At that point, even Madonna was trying to take herself seriously for fuck's sake! But, it seems like what goes around comes around. Lord knows, you can't throw your neighbor's baby without hitting a bar or a party or a club still playing the same old tired 80s hits to get the drunks dancing. There's a good reason for this - there just hasn't been as big a collection of accessible, singable, danceable music since then. Maybe now is the time. Or maybe this music will prove to be as disposable as the early 90s rave output. But I do know this - it feels good. And if it feels good, do it.
Miike Snow has just recently (within the last week, I think) built a myspace page, and it's proved that "Animal" isn't just a one-off by any means. "Song for No One," "Silvia," and "Burial" all start out sounding like they could well be Saint Etienne covers themselves, but all built texture and momentum as they go along until you find yourself suddenly listening to quite a symphony of sound. As a bonus there's a remix they did of Vampire Weekend's "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" on there, which - if there are any yous out there to ask me - is a nice improvement on the original.
The full album hits iTunes and stores on June 9th. For now, check them out here:
http://www.myspace.com/miikesnow
Here's a video a YouTuber made for "Animal." All the other posts are the Crookers remix, which isn't as nice at the original, so this is the best I've got. And following is an audio track of Miike Snow's stellar Vampire Weekend Remix.
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