Posted on: July 23, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

“Argument: blogs are killing albums. We cherry pick the best songs for you to download bypassing the need to buy the album. We could debate that argument and whether we’d like to admit it or not, there is some truth to it. But the bigger truth is blogs are not killing albums any more than CDs did in the 80’s. Albums are evolving, changing and being shaped into something new. HEALTH’s HEALTH//DISCO is interesting — for a few reasons, but most noteworthy: many of the songs on the album had been posted on blogs months and months before release, probably even before the idea of a release had been conceived. In blog years, this collection is ancient. Yet somehow it is pulled together in a way that seems fresh — and more importantly — feels like an album. In fact, I would argue that this is the first album I’ve heard this year that feels like an album in the traditional sense. There are highs and lows. It tells a story. It needs to be heard straight through and without pause; on repeat. There are so many different producers — Acid Girls, CFCF, Curses!, Pink Skulls, Crystal Castles, the list goes on — yet it is a total cohesive album. Honestly, this disc shouldn’t work in this way. Remix albums never work as albums. They’re a hodgepodge of ideas; a somewhat unflattering juxtaposition of sounds. The perfect excuse to cherry pick. And let’s not forget, remix albums are disposable… an afterthought. But HEALTH//DISCO isn’t a remix album. It’s an album in its own right and it works and is anything but an afterthought.” – Big Stereo (LINK)

HEALTH’s HEALTH//DISCO is a album of remixes of songs from HEALTH’s debut. This is not your typical remix album. Every artist on the record was hand selected and commissioned by HEALTH with the hope of combining their sounds and musical ideas with those of electronic artists they admire, across the globe from Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, Canada and the US – with several of them doing remixes for the first time. This is an album and should be listened to as one. HEALTH//DISCO was released via Lovepump United on May 27th and is streaming on AOL Spinner this week (LINK). HEALTH are currently touring Europe and will be celebrating their return to the states by playing the blog curated After the Jump Festival (LINK) in Brooklyn, NY. Here, you can download a remix from HEALTH//DISCO of ”Triceratops”by Montreal, Canada’s own CFCF (MP3).

“What I’m trying to say is that the overtly dancefloor DISCO//DISCO+ is a whole other thing from HEALTH’s previous output, and yet, it works…. Some of the remixers employ only one processed and reverbed ‘clonk!’ from HEALTH, yet others use the original work’s entire structure as an undergirding. HEALTH//DISCO’s basic arc is: begin close to home, drift (albeit aggressively) through decades of electronic music, rest for a metronomic eight-minute piece by C.L.A.W.S. to wonder what the point of life is, and backtrack to a computer simulation of HEALTH’s OCD assault for a finale. Amateurish DJs might score respect by playing the Acid Girls remixes, because their constant, exciting shifts will leave the impression that you’re blending multiple tracks. Thrust Lab’s epic ‘Problem Is’ comes off as somehow funny and ominous, tonally coasting from Vangelis’ Blade Runner score into Giorgio Moroder into some Weather Report fusion, landing on (duh) M83. CFCF’s take on ‘Triceratops’ (MP3) picks up that dairy product and trumps it by adding Oldfield/Exorcist-y ‘Tubular Bells’ jive, and some of that Steely Dan shit that Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric mock/celebrate, all with a sick pulse reminiscent of so many 80’s horror movie jams, including Hot Ice’s ‘Theme From Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D’ –Pitchfork (8.0 – Pitchfork Recommended) (LINK)

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