Pitchfork
February 11, 2009
Link
5.9
I know vampires have been killing it lately, but there is such a thing as too much Free Blood. Though not until after sweat, skronk, drugs, sex, cowbells, toms, cello, saxophone, shrieks, falsetto, and an Obama shout-out. At the start of 12"s compilation The Singles, the Brooklyn duo of erstwhile !!! singer/drummer John Pugh and fashion designer Madeline Davy makes more like Free Beer. Downtown no wave takes the L train to Brooklyn dance punk, buys pills instead of that Polish beer, and basement-punk hedonism warps into a studio-funhouse manifesto. Comedown's a doozy, though: remix after interminable remix working buzz into buzzkill and ending up too drunk to screw. Like Jimmy Buffett fans.
The Singles' six originals would make for a disconnected night out, and no doubt an energetic live show, but they're a wild ride in headphones. The unpredictable twists and turns-- the Jack Johnson acoustic-guitar shambling at the end of bass-centered ode to excess "Never Hear Surf Music Again", or the ear-splitting TV on the Radio soulful-rock futurism of "Weekend Condition"-- don't leave much to hold onto, but they're varied and relatively fun. Most of the time, though, Free Blood are closer to the dub-chamber of Gang Gang Dance or the rangey punk-funk of Pugh's prior band, getting kinky with the piano-plinking rhythmic clatter of "Royal Family" or lost in the layered percussion of "Parangatang". Weird contrasts abound: On "Surf Music", Pugh and Davy chant "I'm high" until it sounds like the name of the Buckeye State. On the suggestively undulating "Grumpy", Pugh exclaims, "Obama!" Maybe Ludacris knows what it all means.
The five remixes drag out Free Blood's free-loving freakout without boosting the booty-shaking factor; it's as if The Singles is taking the new President's "set aside childish things" and getting stultifyingly adult with it. "I'm not playing silly games," Pugh sings on "Quick and Painful", still a nice bacchanalian pastiche, but the Hot Chip remix is painfully absent here. Barfly's "Surf Music" remix separates out the instruments and emphasizes a bit of a rock feel with a bass hook that's part the Troggs' "Wild Thing" and part the Breeders' "Cannonball". Scotty Coats and Wes the Mes recognize the expressiveness of Pugh's "Weekend Condition" vocal, then make a screechy version of Jose Feliciano's "Light My Fire" with it. Brothers' "Royal Family" revamp fares best, frosting militaristic house beats with radioactive synths; "Grumpy (Greg Wilson Version)" is serviceable but sleepy space-disco, and "Parangatang (Tim 'Love' Lee Mix)" sounds like your alarm clock or the guy jackhammering outside. Party too long and it gets tedious (I'm told!). Wake up and it gets worse.
