Before 2008 slips through our fingers, we have anniversaries to commemorate. Ten years ago, The Big Lebowski showed us that a steady diet of White Russians and bowling is a superior way of dealing with the vicissitudes of modern life; and 20 years ago, UK DJ Danny Rampling launched Shoom, the London club night whose Balearic house sounds and plentiful ecstasy lit the fuse of the British rave movement. Now Balearic is back, and The Dude would approve.
Unlike old Balearic, which was more diva-ish, nu-Balearic sounds a little like classic house slowed down to a funky, loose-limbed Loft-era disco shuffle. It’s not quite Europe’s answer to screwed ’n’ chopped hip-hop, but you can imagine it going well with cough syrup. To get schooled immediately, get on your laptop and download Belgian duo Aeroplane’s “Airspace Mix,” which opens with Todd Terje’s essential remix of Kaoru Inoue’s “The Secret Field.” There’s also Sweden’s Studio, whose “Information Mix” for Pitchfork is so smooth, it should come with its own captain’s hat and cream-coloured blazer.
Neither of these mixes is strictly Balearic, since they include plenty of space disco and a little electro. For a truly thorough introduction, you’re going to need the Ministry of Sound’s unbelievably slinky two-disc Fred Deakin–mixed comp Nu Balearica, which is the first word on this emerging scene, and hopefully not the last. Hey, we were all excited about electro-house for about 10 minutes, too —?thanks a fucking bunch, Pete Tong. (Aeroplane: http://tinyurl.com/5qbdpj; Studio: http://tinyurl.com/5du397)
STREAM OF THE WEEK
Deerhunter, On Platts Eyott Island: In case this week’s two studio albums of Deerhunter material isn’t enough for you, 4AD are streaming a characteristically hazy session made by Bradford Cox in a specially-outfitted UK studio. That concludes this week’s trippy-drug-music edition of Totally Wired. Tune in next week, when we go back to ridiculing Cobrasnake. (www.4ad.com/features/deerhunter/)