still rememberin'

photo by jason

Bloc Party "I Still Remember" (SebastiAn remix)(from goodweatherforairstrikes.com)
Bloc Party "Two More Years" (MSTRKRFT remix)
Here are two great, great remixes of just kind of alright Bloc Party songs, one a year old, and the other brand new. MSTRKRFT and SebastiAn substitute the plaintive guitar strums and playful bass lines of the originals with a much more driving, heavier bass sound and drums which stomp where the original merely shuffle awkwardly. They excise dodgy lyrics, like "You've cried enough this lifetime, my beloved polar bear" from "Two More Years," and bring pretty vocal parts from bridges and refrains to the forefront.
Both of these songs are about love lost and regret and memory and all that. Dance music gets a rep as shallow, but by filling these tracks out with energy and swagger it makes them more relatable, and easier to get drawn in. Furthermore, this isn't "just" dance music. These tracks are as crisp and raw at the same time as any great rock number. But this is rock and roll for those of us who find solace in moving our feet, and catharsis in hand claps, and not listening to sad British boys who have been basically repeating themselves for 40 years.