The boys are back in town

The boys are back in town - V

Posted by V

Sure to make my Top of 2008 list is Cousin Cole & Pocketknife’s (aka Flagrant Fowl) Tambourine Dreams, a mellow-meets-danceable journey of folk and acoustic remixes from Feist to Springsteen.

The boys are back in town with an exclusive mix for Allez-Allez humorously titled Party Allez Time. In signature Flagrant Fowl style, classic jams are mingled with original remixes. Don’t let the title fool you, Cousin Cole & Pocketknife have left the party behind with a sophisticated, thoughtful cross-genre mix. In a sea of PBR and neon lights, Party Allez Time is a bottle of Veuve, shared over a dimly lit table for two. Keep your ears perkedâ€”the boys have slipped in some new exclusives from the forthcoming Canyon Dancing EP on Flagrant Fowl (due out Halloween).

Check out the tracklisting below. I appreciate that Cousin Cole & Pocketknife took the time to provide commentary on their track selections:

COUSIN COLE’S SET:

Apocalyptica – Sad But True
Apocalyptica did a record of string covers of Metallica songs that was also the soundtrack for Your Friends & Neighbors â€”which was a particularly awkward first date movie for me a couple years ago.

Frank Hebly – De Tuinslangboogie
A fantastically weird record from a couple years ago that I know absolutely nothing about.

Rolling Stones – Can’t always get what you want (Soulwax Remix)

Graveleaf – The Crusade
Graveleaf is Mike B & Omar Doom’s joint project and The Crusade is a hell of a debut!

George Kranz – Bass Drum Ma Bass Drum
I hadn’t heard Cosmic Disco? Cosmic Rock! yet when I started working on this mix, but Baldelli was definitely an inspiration, especially in this section.

Axel Bauer – Cargo

Vastkustska Ryggdunkarsallskapet – Town Out of Order
An edit of Stockholm by Pugh Rogefeldt.

Sly Mongoose – Bad Pulse

Dude ‘n Nem – Feet on Fire
Just the chorus but I had to throw some rap in. Love this song.

Gang – KKK (dub)
I only used the drums but this is a really great song.

Divine Edits – Sermon (Seratonin Edit)
No idea what the story is on this one, but it somehow makes cut up vocals seem totally 80s.

Matthew Dear – Sound and Vision
This version blew me away when I first heard it and I knew I had to figure out how to fit it in here.

Arbeid Adelt – Death Disco (Todd Terje edit)
Back to the dancefloor (somewhat). I’m a huge fan of Terje, and I was super psyched when he used my Bruce Springsteen remix in his mix for Resident Advisor.

Slab! – Mars on Ice

Photonz – Trembler (Discodeine remix)
Discodeine is Pilooski and Benjamin Morando. This track is just beautiful.

POCKETKNIFE’S SET:

Glissandro 70 – End West
I like how open this song is at the beginning with the loose animal sounds and polyrhythmic percussion. I love when that hard drum drops in over the tapestry and the afrobeat horns come in just after. I can’t help but think that the title is a play on West End Records given that the album artwork is an interpretation of the famed label’s cityscape logo. My loose joints are getting looser!

Yeasayer – Sunrise (Pocketknife’s Rise and Shine Remix) White Label
Promo alert! All of the Pocketknife remixes that appear in my section of the mix will be on an upcoming EP entitled Canyon Dancing. This remix keeps the structure of the original, but just adds the right elements to get the beardos & hippie-sters prancing around. I’m a big fan of what this band is doing.

Soft Circle – Earthed (Pocketknife’s Terra Cotta Remix) White Label
Hisham Baroocha is that dude. When I heard the bassline of this track it immediately reminded of old Chicago house. I decided to really push those tendencies, but keep the tribal nature of the original. My favourite part is the drum workout in the middle.

Gang Gang Dance – House Jam (xxxchange Remix)
Gang Gang Dance has got a great set of diverse influences and they add up nicely. It’s my kind of “world music.” When I saw that xxxchange had remixed them I about fell out of my chair. I love his work with Spank Rock and as usual he turns in another great remix.

Twilight Circus Dub Sound System – Kik
It took me awhile to figure out how to get a Twilight track into a mix, but at last here it is. I like the dub update that Twilight has produced and you can still hear some of the industrial music influences the dude was involved with before. Gang Gang has riddim influences, so it seemed great to create that little connection between the two. The transition into this song is my favourite one of the mix.

Liars – A Visit From Drum (Pocketknife’s groÃŸer Kessel Remix) White Label
These dudes I would sacrifice a lamb or Williamsburg virgin for. They’ve managed to keep their sound evolving and Drums Not Dead is one of my favourite concept albums. I’ve wanted to remix a Liars song for a while now and this one had a nice pagan symmetry (with incredibly mic’ed drums!) that allowed for a great reworking.

Jandek – Your Other Man (Secret Frequency Crew Remix)
My man Adrian aka Michna, hooked me up with his crew’s Jandek remix. Adrian normally drops classic electro heat, but here he takes the original and adds the right elements to give the song an additional haunting character. The 7″ actually comes with a facsimile of the correspondence they had with Jandek who gave the official thumbs up for the remix.

Gameplayers – Henri Texier White Label
I stumbled upon these Belgian dudes while looking for other peeps who had remixed Beirut. Their remix of the Henri Texier song, Le Piroguier, is minimal, but so effective. The metronomic percussion/claps adds to the overall hypnotic quality of the original and I dig the added sound effects as well.

Patti Smith – Ghost Dance (Pocketknife’s Arms Out Remix) White Label
There are a handful of Patti Smith songs that I think are incredible. I don’t listen to her music on a regular basis, but she’s a pioneer and I respect that. I dug through her catalogue in hopes of finding something with remix potential and this song’s ceremonial chants jumped at me. I’d like to think that the Bowery has a lot of ghosts dancing past CBGBs late at night.

Bat For Lashes – Trophy
Natasha Khan is the girl you wanted to roll with in art school. Her entire concept for the band is great (videos, visual identity, and most importantly the music). When I heard her album, it sounded like something that I would have liked to produce. I love handclaps, marching rhythms, harpsichords and tambourines â€“ it’s all there in her world. This werewolf would love to steal her gold coins!

Cousin Cole & Pocketknife – Party Allez Time (263 kbps VBR)

Here a couple tracks from Cousin Cole & Pocketknife of their personal work. Though stylistically quite different, I equally love both their takes on mainstream classics:

Garth Brooks – Friends in Low Places (Cousin Cole Edit) (263 kbps VBR)

Alicia Keys – No One (Pocketknifeâ€™s Songs In the Life of Keys Remix) (320 kbps)

And finally, since I never got a chance to post about Tambourine Dream, here is a unmixed version of one of the best tracks on the album:

Joanna Newsom – The Book of Right On (Pocketknifeâ€™s Scowling Owl Remix) (128kbps) (via Panda Toes)