Good Weather For Airstrikes

[front cover art adapted from the work of Jasper Goodall]

Here it is, the second installment of M3 Volume 12. Yes, it’s a day or two late, but it’s Christmas; I got shit to do. It’s not like anyone else is blogging anyway. On that note, I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas and got what they wanted - I personally scored pretty big with a bundle of gift vouchers to Rough Trade (schwing!) - and that you all were able to enjoy your break as much as possible.

So yes, consider this a belated Christmas gift and the perfect mix to keep your feet moving well into the new year. Whereas disc one was all about dark, brooding guitar-pop tracks, this mix has a similar vibe but opts for electronic hotness over that of the organic variety. It’s got a definite party vibe though, in fact it’s probably the closest thing to a party mix I’ve posted here since the M3 Dance Dance Edition days. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I’m busy planning the most ridiculous New Year’s party the modern world has ever seen, or maybe it’s just because the ridiculous amount of partying I’ve been doing since coming home for winter break is beginning to manifest itself in my music choices. Who knows. Anyway, it’s shit-hot and you’re going to need this if you’re trying to do it up right this New Year’s Eve.

Onto the tracklist then, where Mancunian electro-duo the Whip get this shit off to an absolutely bangin’ start with their incredible debut single, “Trash”, followed closely by what is possibly the illest track of the year, Epic Man’s “More Is Enough”, which features Plan B spitting his verses over Paul Epworth’s clinically-insane beat. Next up is Ed Banger superstar SebastiAn with his greatest track to date, the completely out of control “Ross Ross Ross”, which flies along at a frantic pace, chopping and screwing frenzied samples along the way and proving itself to be one of the greatest electronic singles of 2006. Newcomers Does It Offend You, Yeah? keep things going with their hit-in-the-making, “We Are Rockstars”, featuring that fantastic vocoded chorus and an assload of other synthetic hotness, followed by motherfucking Daft Punk’s “Crescendolls” because let’s be honest, no party mix is complete without a little Punk of the Daft variety. Continuing the French electro-hotness is 25 Hours A Day’s awesome remix of Phoenix’s “Long Distance Call”, one of the year’s stellar remixes that smacks of a distinct Discovery-era Daft Punk influence and actually manages to upgrade Phoenix’s excellent original mix. Vocalist Simon Lord (formerly of Simian fame) makes his first of two appearances on the mix up next on “Face”, the debut single for his new band, The Black Ghosts, which is followed by Klaxons’ incredible upcoming single “Golden Skans”, which is sure to make a dent in the UK charts when it sees it’s proper release next month.

The ooh-ooh-oohs of “Golden Skans” give way to Metronomy’s INCREDIBLE remix of Dead Disco’s “The Treatment”, which is one of two of his remixes vying for my Remix of the Year award along with his incredible revamping of Klaxons’ “Atlantis To Interzone”, the same track that ultimately brings a close to this 15-track slab of hot fire. The Knife drop by to say hi with “We Share Our Mother’s Health”, the ultimate accomplishment of their career so far and one of the elite electronic singles of ‘06 (*cough* top 25 tracks of 2006 *cough*), and Australia’s Midnight Juggernauts keep the international flavor alive, following that Knife ish with some vocoded electro-hotness of their own in “Tombstone” and giving a nod to Daft Punk’s “Technologic” along the way. Next is up is a couplet of electronic tracks showing off a pop sensibility not found on the rest of the mix, Patrick Wolf’s brilliant new single “Accident & Emergency” and Christian Falk’s incredible “Dream On”, which features Robyn stealing the show on vocals. Simon Lord makes his second appearance on the mix, reuniting with fellow ex-Simian-ers (hyphenfest!) Jas Shaw and James Ford on SMD’s most accessible track to date, “I Believe”, before James Mount (aka Metronomy aka the greatest remix artist in the world) rounds things off in flawless fashion with what is possibly the highlight of his entire career (remixing and otherwise), his reinvention of Klaxons’ “Atlantis To Interzone”.

Merry Christmas and shit.

High Resolution Artwork: [Front Cover] [Back Cover]

DOWNLOAD: M3 Volume 12 (Disc Two) [follow link]

M3 Volume 12 [Disc Two]:
1. “Trash” - The Whip
2. “More Is Enough” (ft. Plan B) - Epic Man
3. “Ross Ross Ross” - SebastiAn
4. “We Are Rockstars” - Does It Offend You, Yeah?
5. “Crescendolls” - Daft Punk
6. “Long Distance Call” (25 Hours A Day Mix) - Phoenix
7. “Face” - The Black Ghosts
8. “Golden Skans” - Klaxons
9. “The Treatment” (Metronomy Remix) - Dead Disco
10. “We Share Our Mother’s Health” (Radio Edit) - The Knife
11. “Tombstone” - Midnight Juggernauts
12. “Accident & Emergency” - Patrick Wolf
13. “Dream On” (ft. Robyn & Ola Salo) - Christian Falk
14. “I Believe” - Simian Mobile Disco
15. “Atlantis To Interzone” (Metronomy Remix) - Klaxons

Oh and hey, MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS: THERE’S A NEW ARCADE FIRE SONG. And it’s not “Intervention”. Check it: “Intervention” is supposed to be released as a charity single tomorrow on iTunes, with all proceeds going to the extremely worthy Partners In Health organization. However, someone at Merge fucked up big and not only posted it two days early, but they posted the wrong song. But if it’s not the most epic, beautiful-sounding mistake I’ve ever heard then I don’t know what is. “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations”, as it’s called, is an absolute epoch of darkness and emotional intensity. The band said the new album sounded like “standing by an ocean at night”, but in this case they’re screaming at the ocean at night and the lyrics and feeling of the song get at a hopeless futility as pointless as the act itself. Shane over at The Torture Garden nailed his description in one sentence, furthering the ocean motif saying, “the first half is a lighthouse, the second half is all panic”. Regine opens the song with a beautiful verse over swirling strings and a driving percussion section, but it’s Win’s verse in the second half that serves as a resounding reminder that Arcade Fire are still the greatest band in the entire world. The final refrain is unbelievable; possibly my favorite lyrics of the year: “Stop now before it’s too late/we’re eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate/Nothing lasts forever that’s the way it’s gotta be/there’s a big black wave in the middle of the sea”. AMAZING. Anyway, I’m not going to post it (but trust me, I’m dying too) because it’s for charity and I don’t know, that doesn’t really feel right. BUT, you can still go to iTunes and get it (it’s labeled “Intervention” though, and the album is listed as Intervention - Single), which you should do like NOW before it’s blocked. The song link below will take you directly to the iTunes page where you can download it. And be sure to check back there tomorrow when “Intervention” is officially released and we finally get to her the proper, non-radio rip recording.

iTunes: “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations” - Arcade Fire [follow link]

And the image below is taken from the CD-single artwork for “Intervention”. Beautiful. I’ve cropped it down to a smaller size and cropped off the top and bottom, but you can see an organ looms ominously in the background just as large as it is in the song. The radio rip of “Intervention” is available below as well.

MP3: “Intervention” (BBC Radio Rip) - Arcade Fire ((highly recommended))

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 at 9:17 pm and is filed under M3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.