Kid Loco
Jesus Life For Children Under 12 Inches
(Yellow/EastWest)
Even if you don't think you've heard of Kid Loco, you still may have very well heard his work. Although he's fairly new on the scene, he's remixed a ton of artists, many of which appear on this compilation of 12 remixes that he's done. Like Kruder And Dorfmeister (having some of the same stylings as K&Ds kick-back extravaganza Sessions), he not only remixes the work of others, but most of the time completely breaks it down and re-works it from the ground up. By doing this, the songs that he works retain some of their original sound, but are most often in a completely new and exciting form.
Although you may be somewhat mislead by the name Loco, all of the tracks on Jesus Life For Children Under 12 Inches (I hope I'm not alone in thinking that it's a really great album title) instead have a laid-back style to them, including some very inspired use of beats and interesting choices of sound.
The first track to get a re-working is "Viaduct" by The Pastels. When I listened to the track, I knew I'd heard it before, even though it's a very slight variation of the mix that is on the Pastels remix disc called Illuminati. The track takes on a completely dreamy quality with a slack beat structure and some loops of the original guitar work while breathy vocals drift over it all. Things fall into a more hip-hop sounding groove on the remix of the track "You Who Are Reading Me Now" by Uriel. Once again there are some quiet looped guitars, but this time some nice chimes and keyboards accent the sly beats.
After solid mixes of both Polar and Talvin Singh, things go into a super laid-back mode with "Le Chambre" by Kat Onoma. With a very quiet beat and other mellow effects, the spoken-word French vocals make the track sound like some sort of weird coffee house collaboration before a strum of louder guitars makes its way into the mix. Ramping back up into hip-hop-esque sounds is "Les Reprouves" by Tommy Hools. With shakey guitar work that sounds like it could have been pulled from an old western and some saxophone, it's as smooth as butta (because butta is smoother than butter). Although the reworking of Pulp's "A Little Soul" is probably the least interesting on the disc, it still doesn't sound out-of-place, and the re-working of Mogwai's "Tracy" (that also appears on their Kicking A Dead Pig remix disc) is a total classic. Like many of the songs on the disc, it's not only as good as the original, but is different enough that it provides a great compliment to it. The slick piano part and utter weird-ness of Cornu's "Youpi" will not only have you laughing, but bopping along with it as well.
Overall, this is a super-solid batch of remixes from Kid Loco. As you listen to the 12 tracks, it's easy to detect that there is a definite style to his work, but it really just makes things sound more cohesive and the album flows like a dream. The beats and sounds are put together just so, and it makes for a good listen whether you're winding down some night or you're looking for some subtle beat-driven stuff to get you going in the morning. That, and there's a picture of a bunch of naked women on the cover (if you're into that sort of thing).
Rating: 7.75
