Cajun Dance Party: “Amylase”
It seems remarkable that this band have gone unmentioned in these pages to this point, as they’re one of my favorite things to happen to music in 2007 and have been since they first crossed my radar last spring, but better late than never. Having acquired this at the end of my tenure at XL in the final days of June, I can finally share this, one of my favorite tracks of the year, with you now that it’s finally seen its official release. Cajun Dance Party stormed onto the scene in April with an impressive debut single, “The Next Untouchable”, on Way Out West Recordings coinciding with a massive label bidding war involving nearly all the major players in the British music scene. Though nothing terribly ground-breaking, the track was an excellent, well-crafted debut and the band announced their deal with XL (rumored to be the largest in the label’s history) shortly thereafter. All of this is extremely impressive, especially when you consider their age. Why? These kids are fucking SIXTEEN years old.
Now they return with their first single proper on XL and it’s a whole new ballgame. “The Next Untouchable” was an admirable debut, but new single “Amylase” is truly astonishing. The track initially made the rounds on the band’s now-infamous demo EP in early 2007 and immediately stood out as a single-in-waiting. But six months later that version is completely obsolete, anemic in comparison to the finished product and unable to even come close to holding a candle to the single version.
A crucial factor in the metamorphosis of the track is the replacement of the original’s meager keyboard progression with those massive, sweeping strings that almost single-handedly bring the track to life. No word yet on whether that can be credited to the band or producer Bernard Butler (of Suede fame), but before his Cajun days guitarist Robbie Stern performed as a classically-trained violinist and word on the street is that it’s his boys from the youth orchestra he rolled with back in the day actually playing on record. Regardless of whose behind them, they’re the song’s defining element and they set the tone of the entire track, soaring through colorful fields, racing alongside Stern’s impressive guitarwork while keeping pace with frontman Danny Blumberg’s beyond-his-years vocals and lyricism. Everything here suggests this should be a massive hit, and the song even comes complete with a final bridge tailor-made for crowd participation as Blumberg belts out that curiously anthemic “You’re the catalyst that makes things faster/Amylase will dry up the plaster” chorus over clap-a-long drums before Stern returns one more time for one last guitar hero jam session as the track comes to a close. Suffice it to say, this is probably the best song ever written in a Grade 11 chemistry class.
The B-Side, “Fill The Cups”, isn’t all that great and Butler overdoes it a bit with the production (though not quite to a fault), but you’ll be hard-pressed to find any other faults here. And sure, Blumberg does sound a lot like a younger Luke the Kook, but it seems like the frontman of every new young act in the UK recalls the Kooks’ vocalist these days and the fact remains that the Kooks themselves may never release a track this good. Regardless of your stance on “Amylase” and Cajun Dance Party it’s very hard to deny: this could be the jumping off point of a very exciting career for a group of kids whose future is almost blindingly bright at this point.
MP3: “Amylase” - Cajun Dance Party ((highly recommended))
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
Speaking of underage wonders, how about the Locarnos. I guess the best way of describing them would just be as an even younger Cajun Dance Party (so like 14 and 15 instead of 16 and 17), and while they definitely show their age a bit more than CDP, they also show a lot of promise. They’re sound is still pretty rough at this point, but with some professional tutelage and better production, I can see them doing big things in a few years’ time. They’ve definitely got the industry’s attention, and here are the two best cuts from their self-released debut EP, Get Your Coat On. It’s not too much to write home about now, but just you wait.
MP3s:
“Sticks and Stones” - The Locarnos
“Don’t Give Me A Hard Time” - The Locarnos