Thank God for Animal Collective. Deerhunter's Bradford Cox has called them "the most important band of our time", and I'm not far from agreeing wholeheartedly with him on this point. If you haven't heard Merriweather Post Pavilion, you're missing out on some of the most groundbreaking music of this decade. These four boys from Baltimore are the perfect example of a theory I've been working on, which I'm calling the 'bulldozer effect'. What this basically boils down to is an artist's ability to collect all the music from the past and, like a bulldozer, bring it together at one point in the present (or even the future). This is exactly what Animal Collective has done, and while you might think this would result in a whole bunch of discordant sounds that we've heard many times before, the reality is totally opposite. Their music defies classification, creating natural harmonies and organic rhythms from a wide range of eclectic sounds that pretty much everyone, regardless of musical taste, enjoys in some way. And that, my friends, is about as good as it gets.
Animal Collective - My Girls (Gigamesh 'Proper House' Remix)
Small wonder, then, that it's taken so long for anyone to seriously attempt an Animal Collective remix. Gigamesh has bravely risen to this challenge and created a remix that is as impressive as it is tasteful. The original track, one of my favorite songs ever, is still very present in all its glory, but so is Gigamesh, adding a very cool electro vibe which just feels right. The beats add to the track rather than overpowering it, as if they were always there, and that Frankie Knuckles arpeggio in the beginning finally feels fulfilled. It's all in the details, and Gigamesh clearly knows exactly what he's doing in that regard. Not that I expected any less from the dude, having heard a bunch of his stuff before. Mad respect.
Again I say: if you haven't already come across Animal Collective in your musical travels, you need to get on that train. That is all.
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