A Crooked Smile is the latest offering of Dappled Cities Fly material for those fans needing another fix after the band’s successful debut album in 2004. Aware of the crossover interests between indie and electro kids, this remix album should allow Dappled Cities Fly to more easily feature on the dancefloor of indie nightclubs.
It also seems fitting that Sydney’s youthful purveyors of pop deconstruction, would offer up their own tunes for further deconstruction. Of course there are many ways a song could go, and it seems viable to explore these interpretations.
A Crooked Smile is a collection of re-mixes by established Sydney artists who have at some point in the last 12 months, shared stages or experiences with Dappled Cities Fly. The remixes are the complete creative control of the artists, with DCF preferring a hands-off, respectful approach to the process.
The wash up is a fairly routine remix EP, with mostly experimental electronic tendencies. Six out of the seven tracks are twisted, stretched, squashed, and take on a tangle of high pitched electro squeaks and spacey tempo variations. The primary outlet for this release will be radio, as familiar songs can usually find their way into multiple programs on the airwaves. People will dance in indie clubs but most likely from familiarity of the originals, rather than new found enjoyment.
Decoder Ring open the EP and set the pace rolling with a re-mix of ‘Peach’. The lyrics speaks “We live in the future…”, and this is the element they run with. Decoder Ring turn the track into an ethereal and ambient experience, in the same vein as their recent Somersault soundtrack. It’s a more futuristic take with lots more wailing and sparkling effects. The stomping march and vocal section at the end feels more technologically dark and oppressive than the original.
‘Die in Your Eyes’ appears twice, remixed by both Dave McCormack and Spod. The tracks are quite different to one another, with Spod surprisingly ending up more bland. McCormacks’ version is heavy in electronic layering and plodding dreamy persistence, with a concentration on the lyric “Take a chance, be romantic”. Spod keeps the lyrical delivery similar to the original but adds vocal effects, bleeps, horns and extra reverb. Spod also re-mixes States in the same spacey, bleepy style, but with a better dose of electro disco to make it more interesting.
C Wolf, aka Chris Ross, aka Wolfmother also has a go at re-mixing States, adding a good bass line, but ultimately making a fairly unremarkable, ping-pong sounding remix. Track 3 is ‘Cream’, remixed by Paul Mac and Seymour Butz. Their version is pleasantly whispy, and progressively builds momentum throughout. It’s a carefully crafted piece of layered electronica, with minimal use of vocals. This is probably the best remix on the album, although no surprise coming from dance music extraordinaire Mr.Mac.
What did come as a surprise, and a pleasant one at that, was Jack Ladders’ remix of ‘League of German Girls’. Armed with an acoustic guitar and piano, Jack turns this song into an alt.country swagger reminiscent of an era long gone. This is the only track that has a re-recording of the vocals, and therefore probably more of a cover than a remix. Nevertheless, it breaks the album up and delivers a different perspective all together.
A Crooked Smile is an interesting listen with some good interpretations of Dappled Cities Fly material. It will succeed in building a bridge until the release of their second album (due out 2007), and with little effort from the band itself, this is quite a smart move.
