The Whitest Boy Alive "Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)"

When I saw the title of this song in a club playlist, the first thing I thought was "hooray!!" Shoegazing emo + dance music = emotional dance music, i.e. one of my favorite genres, thanks to New Order. One of the many fantastic projects from prolific Scandinavian Erlend Øye, The Whitest Boy Alive's album "Dreams" never ceases to please me. Its quiet, mellow tones and Øye's unmistakeable soothing voice, always make me wonder why I don't listen to as much indie rock as I used to. Until I remember that I traded in my indie rock and it's associated angst for dance music and the resulting endorphins.

Fortunately for me, producers like Fred Falk exist; the Frenchman knows the ins and outs of that genre that lives somewhere between indie rock and dance music, having remixed the likes of Royksopp and Goldfrapp. Now, two years after the release of "Dreams", he's putting his respectful but recognizable stamp on "Golden Cage," handling the original the way a skilled jeweler would placing a vintage stone into a new setting. This single was unsurprisingly released on Modular, a label which, in my humble opinion, is the heartbeat of 2008, the same way that Because was the pulse of 2007.

In the same vein as Cut Copy, Fred Falke's remix is completely in line with the nostalgic, shimmery, sentimental dance sound that signifies a Modular release. A little bit of disco ball pizzazz, as well as 80's synths give "Golden Cage" a sprinkling of fairy dust to make it shiny and new all over again. And thank God.

Because Music did a beautiful thing - they crafted a sound to reach out to the indie rock kids and remind them that dancing was for everyone, not just the tools with glowsticks (sorry ravers). But after a year of screams, found sounds and distorted vocals, I found that I was missing something from my dance music, and that was a bit of heart. And I don't think I was the only one, which is why there is a sudden demand for this sort of music that hearkens back to the 80s, when everyone's favorite indie rock band became their favorite dance band.

You can stare at a golden cage and hear the tune, or just buy the mp3 off of Beatport.

The Duke Spirit's "The Step and the Walk"

This band is so quintessentially cool it's painful. 1) They are from London. 2) Their frontwoman Liela Moss is a)hot and b) sings with an audible British accent. 3) The band met at ART school and 4) they've been extolled in flavor of the month NME magazine.
Of course none of this is a guarantee that their music is any good, but like the nice popular girl you want to hate but just can't, The Duke Spirit is both pretty AND nice, figuratively speaking. All these cool factors really do contribute good things to their music. The accent is a welcome change from the gentrified American tone that so many Brit bands adopt, art + music = good (think how cool Beck is), and despite being a hype machine, NME has a good nose for sniffing out decent indie bands.
Aside from all the cool factors, their music hits the ear in just the right places. Smoky voiced Moss has that Nancy Sinatra coolness and sass, but distortion and dirt brings a bedhead sexiness with a fantastic 70's flair. Mmmm.