I (heart) Pitchfork
God bless Pitchfork. Here are some snippets from their review of Plaid’s Parts in the Post remix compilation:
Based on my limited knowledge of Rolling Stone interviews, musicians are beset by mounds of corrupt execs, massive mergers, treasonous KaZaA-crazy toddlers, and the aesthetic discomfort of the new $20 bill. As if those mattered. All those afflictions were dropped into Malibu and Bel-Air by the CIA in the mid-80s to distract them from the actual problem: Warp Records. When will people learn? Between Autechre and Aphex Twin alone, this simple and poorly worded aphorism should have been memorized by kindergartners: If you have a new song, DO NOT send it to Warp. Wave after wave of demos and masters are quickly deposited in the clammy hands of madmen. If the original artists are a song’s parents, Warp remixers are those babysitters with gold eyepatches, tracks down their arms, fu-manchus, and babies speared on meat hooks in the basement.
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But of the material I take issue with here, the two Nicolette tracks, “No Government” and “Wholesome”, are by far the most disheartening. I have no fear of the ruling elite. My opinion still stands: Nicolette is in a league of intolerability with Breakbeat Era’s Leonie Laws or Lamb’s Louise Rhodes. And what’s really frustrating? They’re two of the best tracks on the album, which wins them the dubious distinction of being perhaps the most stunning remixes of atrocious source material since Kruder & Dorfmeister’s “Bug Powder Dust”. “Wholesome”, in particular, is transformed into one of the best Plaid songs ever, managing to litter pockets of orchestral pop amidst a tense dub, and even finding room for a quick sample of The Meters. Why the hell did they have to put “Love is wholesome/ Love makes babies” at the beginning of it?
For the record, I think Parts in the Post is much better than their new album Spokes.