Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Acting my age


Given that my clubbing days are quite far behind me, and even my regular gig-going habit has been slowed to a trickle by the responsibilities of fatherhood, I’m probably not the best person to be commenting on the new Kitsune Maison compilation. The uber-cool French label (and now shop) is up to its fifth genre-defining compilation, and the latest has made its way to my CD player. If you’ve heard any of the others, you’ll know what to expect – the usual blend of angular guitars mashed up with synths and beats and blended seamlessly together. As well as providing the dancefloor action, they seem to do a good job of giving exposure to some decent new artists – this time the likes of Friendly Fires and Late of the Pier could do well with the extra kudos.

Aside from over-hyped averageness like Does it Offend You Yeah? and the Teenagers (though the remix of their track on the comp is actually quite decent, proving it is possible to polish a turd), there’s plenty pleasures to be had – the mid section of the mix in particular is really rather good. And though I’ve enjoyed listening to it whilst washing the dishes and sitting at my computer, I can’t help but think that I’m missing out somewhere. Surely this sort of thing is meant to be heard coming full volume out of gigantic bass bins in some cooler-than-thou club. But then again, what do I know?

Download: Friendly Fires – On Board
Download: autoKratz – Pardon Garcon

Buy Kitsune Maison Compilation 5 from Rough Trade.


No comments: