Wrangalang Playlist

Photo stolen from Mark Gutknecht's Facebook albums

Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance
Lykke Li - Breaking it up (Punks Jump Up remix)
Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane feat. Au Revoir Simone remix)
Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back
Justin Timberlake - Losing my way

Death

"Yes, this fear's gotta hold on me"
If you know me fairly well then you will know of my extreme dislike for the Toronto electronic duo, Crystal Castles. Reasons for this don't need to be disclaimed on this post. BUT I will give them this: they are apparently really good remixers. They produced a really, really good remix of "Death" by White Lies.

I discovered this remix some time last year so it isn't a new one but I've re-discovered it and I'm re-realizing how good it is. Especially now, after I saw the White Lies live with Friendly Fires. At the concert, I heard the original version of "Death" for the first time ever and I actually like the Crystal Castles remix way more. Maybe it's because I heard the remix first but I feel like it coincides with the lyrics a little better than the original. The original is very 80s-like; therefore slightly a little too happy in my opinion. The remix isolates the bridge and chorus (the best two parts of the song) and keeps them going with an intense beat. And unless Crystal Castles produce another really good remix, I will probably never blog about them again. Yea, I'm a jerk but they asked for it.

White Lies - Death (Crystal Castles remix)

White Lies - Death

In for the kill (again)

La Roux's "In for the kill" and its remixes seem to be on the rise. I previously posted the Skream remix of this song, which is pretty slow. I've come across another remix that is a little faster and made a little better for the dance floor. It's produced by a French artist called Lifelike, formerly known as Ferris Bueller. This artist has done many other remixes, examples of other artists Lifelike has remixed are: Chromeo and The Presets.

La Roux - In for the kill (Lifelife remix)

Monsieur Tellier à Vancouver

Last night, two-thirds of the Brooklyn band, Chairlift, opened up for Sébastien Tellier. Unfortunately, their guitarist got held up at the border. So the band compensated by splitting their set in half with covers and original stuff. They played Chris Isaack's "Wicked Game", Snoop Dogg's "Sensual Seduction" (which was fairly well-done in my opinion) and other great hits. Considering they were missing a band member, Chairlift did a good job making up for it and keeping the crowd somewhat entertained before Sébastien Tellier came on.

Mr. Tellier started his set with "Kilometer", which got some people moving. Not many people in the crowd were grooving to the music. Everyone was just watching him. Maybe it's his successfully marketed image or his unique persona that captivates people and puts them in a state of awe. Though, I was kind of surprised at the lack of people that were there. I thought this show would've been sold out but it really didn't look like it was. Apparently, his fan base needs to grow a little more in Vancouver.

Throughout the concert, Sébastien Tellier was drinking a bottle of white wine to himself. He spoke in between songs about...I don't really know what. His accent was either too strong or I just couldn't hear very well. By the end of the show, he was lying on his keyboard and after the encore he was standing on it. I also think it's important to mention the dry guitar humping that took place.

Most of the songs he performed were from the latest album, Sexuality. But of course, he played his most popular song, "La Ritournelle", which I've been listening to on repeat the whole morning. "L'amour et la violence" and "Sexual Sportswear" were probably my two favourite songs that were performed. I also really liked how the originally four minute song, "Une Heure", was stretched out to a ten minute song.

I would say the entirety of this concert was very good. I thoroughly enjoyed every song that was played and his eccentric characteristics that attributed each song. However, I was a little nervous at how intoxicated he seemed to be. I thought maybe he wouldn't be able to perform as well but thankfully, I was wrong.

Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (Radio Version)

Running 'Round All Sweaty with The Presets

Holy crap. This concert was a serious sweatfest.

We arrived at the end of the Golden Filter's set, which from what I saw and heard sounded pretty good.

The Presets started their set with "Talk Like That", which is one of my favourite songs. We were up at the front for half of this song where the crowd was extremely physical. Once the song started up, everyone began to jump, sway and push. We wanted more room to bust some dance moves so we moved off to the side where I surprisingly took better pictures than I did at the front (probably because at the front, I was getting pushed so much that my camera couldn't focus properly). But after a while I gave up on taking pictures and just danced extremely hard to the music.

With the colourful strobe lights and intense music, The Presets pumped the crowd up very easily. Everyone was jumping and dancing (minus two losers in front of us but we'll pretend they weren't really there). Another cool thing about this concert was that the Presets seemed genuinely stoked on how energetic and excited the Vancouver crowd was. Keep in mind, I think about 50% of this crowd was from Australia, the home country of the Presets. At one point, one audience member got on their friend's shoulders and held up an Australian flag. But almost everyone, including the Vancouver peeps, was jumping and dancing to the music.

My favourite song of the show was probably "If I Know You". It was performed slightly different from the recorded version; this was really nice on my eardrums. I felt like I was lost in the music. Yea, sounds so corny but sometimes you just feel these things at concerts. I'm sure we can all admit to it.

Before The Presets left the stage, they played "My People" which obviously left everyone wanting more because it's such a pumping song. After about a minute or two of persuading the duo back onto the stage, they came back out and performed "Anywhere", which was also performed really well. And once again, I was lost in it.

They played every song from their newest album, Apocalypso, which was awesome. After this concert, I actually felt high and I was completely sober. The lights, band members and music got my adrenalin flowing or something. Or maybe I was just dehydrated and delusional from all the dancing and jumping. Either way, it proves how awesome this concert was.

The Presets - Anywhere

"My People"



"If I Know You"

Dance! Dance!

Most people probably know Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat" from the film, Napolean Dynamite. At the end, Napolean performs a very memorable and sweet dance routine to this song. As we can all see from the film, this song doesn't really need to be remixed for the dance floor because it's so dance-worthy on its own. Though, it's nice to switch it up a bit and give it a different twist. That is exactly what Mr. Calvin Harris did. He attributed additional keyboards and bass to the song; it's pretty groovy. Check out the remix and the original video below.

Jamiroquai - Canned Heat (Calvin Harris remix)

Jamiroquai - Canned Heat

Energetic Friendly Fires

Until White Lies came onto the stage before Friendly Fires, I was pretty confused about who was the headlining band of this concert. I thought the band, White Lies, was headlining and apparently so did the first opening band, The Soft Pack, who introduced White Lies as Friendly Fires. But after looking at other reviews of this tour, it seems the bands switched it up when it came to who was the headlining band. In Toronto, White Lies headlined and the reviewer of CHARTattack claimed that Friendly Fires should've instead. I'm glad Friendly Fires headlined in Vancouver. The only crappy thing about them headlining was that we had to wait until 11:20pm or so to see them (after being there since 8:30pm). But as soon as Friendly Fires got on the stage, their contagious energy spread throughout the crowd and almost everyone was dancing; that was one thing I was really stoked on. I was totally expecting to be one of the few people dancing, but I was wrong. I was surrounded by sweaty, dancing people throughout the entire show.

I saw Friendly Fires open for Lykke Li last October and I was very impressed with Ed Macfarlane's (lead singer) dancing and energy. So I was pretty excited to see what they would do for their show in Vancouver. They definitely lived up to their previous performance with Lykke Li; I would say they even surpassed it. Ed Macfarlane got down to perform and dance in the crowd twice. And the guitarist, Edd Gibson, ran through all of Richard's during the encore of "All I Need." Pretty awesome.

In my opinion, the songs that were best performed were "On Board", "Lovesick" and "Skeleton Boy" (the video for "Skeleton Boy" is pretty sweet, check it out below). I've woken up with these songs in my head since Thursday morning (only two days but still pretty significant in my mind). I think this band does need a little more recognition then they already receive. When people asked me who I was seeing and I told them, Friendly Fires, almost no one had heard of them. So hopefully this post will encourage you to check out their video for "Skeleton Boy" and Myspace. If they come back to Vancouver, I highly suggest attending their concert. It is guaranteed to be full of energy, spontaneity and dancing.

Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy

Little Bit of Hustlin'

"Are you not like working hard?"
Well, I haven't blogged about Lykke Li in a while so I think it is time. First off, her live cover of Rick Ross' "Hustlin'" has been in my head all day, which has led me to the original. It seems I enjoy the original when visuals can't be present but when I'm near a computer, I enjoy watching the Lykke Li live video of this cover. I think she might be my current hero. Apparently, she's in the midst of writing new material but it's going to take some time until the public can hear it. I think all the collaborations she did last year are going to influence her new stuff and make it even more awesome than it probably already is.


Secondly, this post needs to revolve a bit around Death to the Throne and their ability to produce some hcore dance beats. They remixed Lykke Li's "Little Bit" and I think it's the best dance remix of this song. Villains also did a pretty good dance remix but it's almost the same as the Death to the Throne one; just a little tamer. In my opinion, the Death to the Throne remix rocks it more than the Villains one. DttT came before and deserve more recognition.

Lykke Li - Little Bit (Death to the Throne Remix)

Into the Galaxy

This is an old remix but surprisingly, I haven't blogged about it yet so here we go now.

The Australian band, Midnight Juggernauts, released their debut album in 2007, Dystopia. "Into the Galaxy" was the second single from this album. The original lives up to the title of the song very nicely; it's all space-like. The British band, Metronomy, took this song and put their usual abstract, groovy twist on it.

Both are pretty awesome and should be part of your library if they already aren't.

Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy (Metronomy Remix)

Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy


"G-L-O-R-I-A"

L'amour et la violence, encore

"Sucrée-groovée"
After exploring a number of musical genres, the Parisian artist/producer, Allure, has decided to stick to electro. He has been working on a new album that should be released any time soon this Spring.

His remix of Sébastien Tellier's "L'amour et la violence" is great because it can be played on a dance floor! The original and the Boys Noize remix are both beautiful but can't really be played on the dance floor because they are too slow and somewhat sad. This remix, however, can get your body moving.

Sébastien Tellier - L'amour et la violence (Allure remix)

Zero (MSTRKRFT remix)

Let's start April off with a new MSTRKRFT remix of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs single, "Zero", from It's Blitz!. This remix really messes with the original song, example: the lyrics are almost eliminated. Instead, Karen O's voice is manipulated and mainly used as an aid in making the remix nice and delicious for the dance floor, MSTRKRFT style.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero