May 23, 2007 | Posted by mark at 11:45 AM

When I Would Pretend To Sleep

Sly Hats - Vampire Sips (muslces remix).


This song needs to be ten minutes longer. Then it would be perfect. Right now it has everything: a gorgeous melody sung just barely out of their range, dreamy female harmony vocals, and the least-cheesey cheesey house synths I've heard in years. At two minutes and 20 seconds though, it's a lesson in tension and frustration. But those seems to be the colors most often dipped into from Muscles' pallette. He loves to keep things short, leave us wanting more. There's something to be said for missing pieces.

With each new jam he unleashes we learn a little bit more. This is the second remix of his I've heard (the first was a rejected remix of Architecture in Helsinki that is absolutely ridiculous), and already we can see his focus. This is also the first time I've heard a Muscles jam that didn't have "HOOOOOOOOO...AHHHHHHHHHH" in it, which is oddly disappointing. Still - it's not his song. It's a Sly Hats song.

Who are Sly Hats? Well, it's really this guy Geoff and some friends from Australia. Sly Hats do that layered beach boys thing without being too cliche. Rumor has it that they're currently recording a cover of Muscle's "Ice Cream" for his first 12" on Modular. Perfect. I'm excited.

At any rate, I have no idea what release this is available on. I do know that Sly Hats' album is quite good, and I know that Muscles' current 12" is revelatory. So, do yourself a favor and pick them up.

Comments

http://brokeyaneck.blogspot.com/

Posted by: at May 23, 2007 4:30 PM

http://brokeyaneck.blogspot.com/

Posted by: me at May 23, 2007 4:30 PM

Just to clarify Sly Hats is on the Nervous Jerk label (White Rabbits???) and Sly Hats' take on Muscles' 'Ice Cream' will be a remix rather than a cover. Mega early preview of this remix which we'll hopefully issue on wax shortly. more info at www.myspace.com/nervousjerkmusic. The Sly Hats album is amazing - dreamy home pasted calypso pop from this modest genius. Thanks for the coverage Mark.

Posted by: Michael K at May 23, 2007 9:36 PM

I used to be friends with Muscles, and although he is a nice bloke his formula for producing music is really predictable. There is only so many ohh and ahh vocals you can put in a song before people start to realise how limited your songwriting capacity is.

The singer from Sly Hats is from a band called the Crayon Fields, who I really enjoy but he has has an awful voice live, can barely sing

Posted by: blake at May 23, 2007 11:07 PM

This is so great, kind of unexpected gold!

Posted by: awesome at May 24, 2007 7:10 AM

Yo Blake forget ice cream, Muscles is going to save the day. This Muscles kid is BANANAS -
that's B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Bury it.

Posted by: FlyBy at May 24, 2007 8:55 PM
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