The L.A. production duo and walking typo-bait Nguzunguzu has been cranking out a string of increasingly ambitious remixes and mixtapes of late. A typical track makes a mangle of tribal drums and bleary synths and stretches it out into a crescendo that flails at the ledge of danceable but doesn't fall over.
And lo, does the newly Kompakt-approved local duo Rainbow Arabia get the treament here. Nguzunguzu, which has served as M.I.A.'s tour DJs, takes the drum-patter heart of "Without You" and splays it out with house-inspired vocal echoes, more drums, a madcap marimba, more drums, pitch-shifted vocals and, yep, even more drums. You know some scientists want to combat global warming with artificial robot trees? This sounds like a jungle of them.
Here's a party anthem for the weekend, offered by Pop & Hiss for no other reason other than it stands a good chance of seeping into your subconscious and throwing a little internal dance party while you cruise the streets of Los Angeles.
The remixer: Señor Coconut, born Uwe Schmidt, also records under the pseudonyms Atom Heart, Geeez 'n' Gosh, Lisa Carbon and about three dozen others. As Coconut, Schmidt virtually invented the subgenre "electrolatino" with his classic reworking of both Yellow Magic Orchestra's and Kraftwerk's oeuvres. Below, Senor Coconut tackles label mate Tom Tom Club's dance-floor classic, "Genius of Love." Tom Tom Club, of course, is the funky rhythmic half of Talking Heads -- Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth -- and has been concocting dance-floor shakedowns for more than three decades now.
Chances are you'll enjoy the results all weekend long. Listening note: Pay particular attention to how they chant the name "Bohannan" over and over. It's a beautiful moment.
