Encounter #73: Turn back the clock albums for the afternoon.

Yup, ten years is turning back the clock for me. This afternoon I happened to listen to both of these albums, back to back, thanks to the simple beauty of iTunes. Funny how much my interest in electronic music has changed since my early high school years. First of all, I still swear by Daft Punk. Second, I rarely think to listen to Bjork. I think it's because Bjork is so damned serious all the time while Daft Punk went on to make one of the greatest party albums of all time that, even when it's serious, is always teetering on the edge of plain silliness. But those guys are too smart to get bogged down in big emotional statements. Not that I don't appreciate emotional music. Heck, I listen to that Fred Falke remix of The Whitest Boy Alive almost daily. And since last week I've been listening to Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours almost non stop.

Cut Copy have perfected blending Talking Heads and New Order and My Bloody Valentine and the Italodisco feel of Daft Punk and French Touch/Club into something so smart, poignant and fun that I can't help but smile. Truth be told: as soon as Homogenic ended I threw on In Ghost Colours and was happy again by the middle of the first song. As I said in the post below, my affinity is motivated by more than just the music. Both of Cut Copy's albums are very self-aware "concept" albums that constantly comment on themselves, song to song. Both albums are "about" eternity and love and lights and music and all kinds of cool stuff I find in my own philosophy (my life). Music is still very much about identification for me, to a certain extent, and how things impact me on a gut level. So to hear myself echoed in this music is kind of how it felt when I, like so many, got so turned on by OK Computer and Homogenic back in the late 90s. Except, you know, I'm a little older now and have different fears and goals and lovers and friends. In a basic sense, things are better now than they were in high school and that is reflected in the music I choose to listen to--now I prefer less melancholy, more joy. I prefer Daft Punk, even in its early noise-house era, to Bjork's (rather perfect) album of dirges for lost loves and limbs. I prefer my BPMs upwards of 110 and my songs to pop with passion, not march with ressentiment. Cuz even when Cut Copy are singing another love song it's usually about love songs -- even if it's a sad love song it's smart, and joyful. --RWK


Daft Punk - Indio Silver Club


Bjork - All Is Full Of Love


Cut Copy - That Was Just A Dream (not from the new one but I already posted the "Lights and Music" video earlier)