Seminal 90's electronic group from Manchester 808 State have made some questionable recordings in their career. I think this is one of them. I don't mean that it's bad, per se… just… well, questionable, as in I'm questioning whether I like it. If the title sounds familiar, it's because this is a remake of the UB40 classic by the same name. I know you're cringing, but hold on.

In some ways, this version works better: the breaks give it more manic propulsion, and the reworked bassline is more insistent. And while it keeps the occasional steel drum synth jab and the chorus vocals, it loses much of the ominous flavor of the original. UB40 were a Brit band bent on establishing reggae as a viable pop form for the rocker whitey. Their version of "One In Ten" is a rather laid-back reflection of early 80's pre-millenial disgust with poverty and brokenness, but with a little drunken stupor thrown in. With 808 State's remix, we hear a repetitive strain:

I am the one in ten,
A number on a list.
I am the one in ten
Even though I don`t exist.
Nobody knows me
Even though I`m always there.
A statistic, a reminder
Of a world that doesn`t care.

With the synths and samples, perhaps the repetition is a little more fitting. A chilly, breakneck-paced anthem with a voice that seems to have been brainwashed by all the environmental and sonic traffic into thinking that he is, in fact, the most important thing to himself but the least important to whoever lies outside his personal realm. Trudging up the sidewalk late at night, he's punctured by his isolation when a thin saxophone quote from an old song inside a bar manages to creep in past the earphones of his iPod.

ESG - "Dance." It took me forever to find this song, namely because I didn't know that Universal Sound had released an ESG compilation. South Bronx Story features the best work from this lo-fi funk/soul/disco band. The vigorous Motown tambourine, the jumpy post-punk bassline, and street corner vocals make for a song which, quite honestly, serves to make you do exactly what the title clearly intends. The hooting, the rhythm, the hooting!

The truth is that I love this song because a handsome young man with big glasses and a neckerchief requested this song one night during my final days in Austin. It gave me a good reason to talk flirt with him. Sadly, I used the same tactic the other night when I was drunkenly ordering a burrito. My waiter had just chosen a new cd, and when this song came on, I got maybe a little to excited and waved him over to my table to congratulate him for catering to all my tastes—not just my gustatory ones. Music makes you do the darnedest things. It also makes you regret them.

Currently: dancing all through my office.

I want to dance!
[Dance, dance, dance… ]
Yew, yoot!
Whoop, woo, woo!

Cex - "Furcoat" Some people seem to have way too much time on their hands; others have refreshingly little. I'm actually in the process of getting a life, and it looks like I've become too busy to keep posting mp3s while writing lengthy backstories on them, so bear with me as I try to figure out what, exactly, I have time for. I definitely will keep posting. Just what will accompany the mp3s, I don't know.


Mmm, remember how cool we were in 2001 with our laptops?

I'm the man with no clothes,
Underwear
Fur coat,
Chillin' in the alley.

Who's that man with no clothes,
Underwear,
Fur coat?
He's brandishing knives!