I first started getting into electronic music in 2005. I listened to “Discovery” before that and, if it counts, “The Hampster Dance” (WHO DIDN’T? RIGHT? ANYONE?), but didn’t start listening to new productions until I cut my long hair and emerged from a 70s metal phase.
Hype Machine had just been created, and it allowed newcomers like me to delve deep into the nascent music blog network. Those were the days when the HM feed was filled with weird Euro bangers and complete unknowns.
One blog I linked to was Blue Walrus, a new, eclectic blog that occasionally posted electronic tracks. I checked in from time to time. In 2007, site founder Tim Dickinson posted a mixtape (which became a multi-part series) called “Clap Your Hands to the Electricity,” which featured tracks and remixes by Justice, Boys Noize, Sebastian, and The Klaxons among others. One track was Dragonette’s fantastic “I Get Around,” here remixed by Australia’s Van She. I fell hard for that track and still listen to it as a pregame amp anthem.
I dug deeper into the catalogues of all of those artists and, well, now they are all household names among a certain sect of music aficionados. Except for Van She.
The band started in 2002 in Australia, and never really broke out. I never was a big fan of their original music, but as remixers, they were and are some of the best in the game.
The track I’ve selected to share today is Van She’s remix of Martina Topley Bird’s “Poison.” The sultry vocals of the original are lifted from a sparse jungle drum beat and layered atop Van She’s trademark rhythmic guitar plucking and aggressive synth revs. The result is straightforward, sexy and fun. A stand up through the sun roof kind of jam. Hope you enjoy it.
