Pitchfork
January 5, 2010
Link
7.6
"We have a world of pleasure to win, and nothing to lose but boredom." That manifesto shows up a few times on the Tough Alliance-run Sincerely Yours label's website. As is the Gothenburg, Sweden-based electronic pop duo's habit, the words are borrowed, in this case from Belgian author and Situationist International member Raoul Vaneigem. You could think of TTA's music as sort of a living shrine to pleasure: unabashedly catchy, defiantly emotional, with gaudy synthetic beats and fuck-you bravado. But nobody can stave off boredom forever.
In fact, TTA have been conspicuously quiet lately. Since releasing A New Chance, their second full-fledged album, in 2007, co-conspirators Eric Berglund and Henning Fürst have put out precious little new material under the TTA name: a pair of covers, a remix of Victoria Bergsman's Taken by Trees, and various remixes by other people of their own songs. The six TTA remixes collected on the mp3-only Prison Break EP are uniformly solid and occasionally revelatory dancefloor fare, well worth any Swede-head's $5.35. But Prison Break is an exceptionally weird release. As good as it is, this EP should have the duo's fans growing only more and more impatient for the next album or single-- unknown pleasures, still.
In early November, Sincerely Yours mailing list subscribers received a typically enigmatic message, with one link to a new track by jj, and another to information about this EP. "Better late than never," the linked page says; digital music seller Klicktrack lists Prison Break's release date as Oct. 31, 2008. The fuck? What's more, these remixes don't change the title of the original track, a naming convention that's usually standard for the Sincerely Yours crew ("Now That's What I Call Indulgence", not "Indulgence (The Tough Alliance Remix)"; "The Sweetness of Air France", not "Sweetness (Air France Remix)"). One possible clue: Two of these remixes, a ravey "Neo Violence" by Dutch DJ/producer Laidback Luke (grab his remix of Robin S.'s "Show Me Love" with Sweden's Steve Angello) and a dubby space-disco "Neo Violence" by L.A.-based DFA/Rong signee Woolfy, came out in 2008 on Modular-- not Sincerely Yours. Regardless, rounding out a trio of "Neo Violence" takes here is a fine Daft Punk-style electro-house reworking by Perth-based Shazam.
Whatever Prison Break's origins, the people you expect to be the heavy-hitters pretty much are. Barcelona's El Guincho is a TTA kindred spirit, sharing their yen for sunny globe-trotting, but his chiming, euphoric "First Class Riot" gets overshadowed a bit by jj's absolutely radiant "touch of jules & jim" version. Taking a name from 1962 French film Jules & Jim, jj's remix puts a hushed female voice alongside TTA's, which jj chop up and toy with like marionettes (or like that Grateful Dead sample on "What Would I Want? Sky"), making TTA shout out "touch of you" and then a sublimely dumb "da da" melody atop girlish giggles and John Williams-grandiose orchestration. The Juan MacLean's "A New Chance", meanwhile, remains near perfection, ensconcing the original in the finest techno-house marble for future generations to marvel upon.
"It's not a question of understanding it, man. If you feel it, you feel it, stupid." That quote, from a John Cassavetes film, shows up more than once on this EP, and it's still the best encapsulation of the Sincerely Yours spirit. We could quibble about the absence of Brooklyn duo Tanlines' highlife-meets-Whigfield "A New Chance" remix, or California krautrock-disco duo Windsurf's "Neo Violence (Windsurf's Neon Violet Dub)", or other DJ-ready TTA remixes by Alvy Singer and Stevie Tech Nicks. But those are all pretty easily downloadable at this point. More urgent: The Sincerely Yours catalog description for Prison Break mentions that TTA are "on short term leave." We have no new(-ish) TTA to listen to but this. Until the next random-ass listserv email.
In early November, Sincerely Yours mailing list subscribers received a typically enigmatic message, with one link to a new track by jj, and another to information about this EP. "Better late than never," the linked page says; digital music seller Klicktrack lists Prison Break's release date as Oct. 31, 2008. The fuck? What's more, these remixes don't change the title of the original track, a naming convention that's usually standard for the Sincerely Yours crew ("Now That's What I Call Indulgence", not "Indulgence (The Tough Alliance Remix)"; "The Sweetness of Air France", not "Sweetness (Air France Remix)"). One possible clue: Two of these remixes, a ravey "Neo Violence" by Dutch DJ/producer Laidback Luke (grab his remix of Robin S.'s "Show Me Love" with Sweden's Steve Angello) and a dubby space-disco "Neo Violence" by L.A.-based DFA/Rong signee Woolfy, came out in 2008 on Modular-- not Sincerely Yours. Regardless, rounding out a trio of "Neo Violence" takes here is a fine Daft Punk-style electro-house reworking by Perth-based Shazam.
Whatever Prison Break's origins, the people you expect to be the heavy-hitters pretty much are. Barcelona's El Guincho is a TTA kindred spirit, sharing their yen for sunny globe-trotting, but his chiming, euphoric "First Class Riot" gets overshadowed a bit by jj's absolutely radiant "touch of jules & jim" version. Taking a name from 1962 French film Jules & Jim, jj's remix puts a hushed female voice alongside TTA's, which jj chop up and toy with like marionettes (or like that Grateful Dead sample on "What Would I Want? Sky"), making TTA shout out "touch of you" and then a sublimely dumb "da da" melody atop girlish giggles and John Williams-grandiose orchestration. The Juan MacLean's "A New Chance", meanwhile, remains near perfection, ensconcing the original in the finest techno-house marble for future generations to marvel upon.
"It's not a question of understanding it, man. If you feel it, you feel it, stupid." That quote, from a John Cassavetes film, shows up more than once on this EP, and it's still the best encapsulation of the Sincerely Yours spirit. We could quibble about the absence of Brooklyn duo Tanlines' highlife-meets-Whigfield "A New Chance" remix, or California krautrock-disco duo Windsurf's "Neo Violence (Windsurf's Neon Violet Dub)", or other DJ-ready TTA remixes by Alvy Singer and Stevie Tech Nicks. But those are all pretty easily downloadable at this point. More urgent: The Sincerely Yours catalog description for Prison Break mentions that TTA are "on short term leave." We have no new(-ish) TTA to listen to but this. Until the next random-ass listserv email.
