Send "The Big Pink " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The first installment in !K7's Tapes series, curated by the Rapture, was an eclectic mix of retro and recent club-ready material that shed light on the band's feral beginnings as well as their more carefully pruned popwise output. It established a precedent for the Berlin-based electronic label's series: at their best, these compilations serve as both a living document of the artist's inspirations and the progression of their sound, as well as a testament to their tastemaking abilities.Milo Cordell, one half of the post-Britpop duo the Big Pink, uses this second entry in the Tapes series as an introduction to the sounds gathered under the loose banner of witch house. Showcasing bands like Salem, GR†LL GR†LL, oOoOO, and Balam Acab, Cordell mostly proves just how hard he's pressed his ear to the ground in 2010. For the most part, he picks some of the juiciest bits of the syrupy, spooked-out electronic movement: From Balam Acab's gorgeous, ethereal "See Birds (Moon)" to the monstrous, chillingly drab early Salem cut "Dirt", it's clear that Cordell is no casual listener, able to prudently pluck from several sides of the sound's spectrum. When he's at his best, his curatorial skills may even provoke a bit of second-guessing from the genre's naysayers-- the appeal of this music is easy to understand. The problem is, the music is presented with a blend of other styles; it's too haphazard to define a clear statement. Cordell himself admits that much of this music "has never been released on a CD, it's just out there on the Internet." And yet he fails to grasp the irony of combining such diverse elements here: This is not music crafted for a DJ-style mix; its chilly sound is simply better suited to floating in the cold, crystalizing ethers of cyberspace. By haphazardly lumping it in with material that has nothing to do with witch house per se, a lot of its impact is lost....full text |
| Punkrockistnichttot |
| Ah, the mixtape. The teenage boy’s number one weapon in an arsenal compiled to win over the girl of his dreams. The mixtape was a lovingly compiled carefully chosen compilation of songs that were not only unbelievably cool but also gave an insight into your personality, generally emphasising your sensitive side. If you were really lucky it might even contain a song or two that was relevant to you and the target of your affections. Of course in real terms such things no longer exist, cassettes are almost extinct and putting together a selection of mp3s involves so little effort that it’s just not as impressive. Nonetheless Milo Cordell from London electro rock duo The Big Pink has decided to give it a go, and so tries to woo us with his own mixtape ‘Tapes’. Cordell apparently found many of the 17 tracks while trawling Myspace and as such some of them here are so new they haven’t even been released yet – now that’s upping the cool ante! Being that this has been compiled by a member of the Big Pink it is no surprise that the tracks here are all electronica in some form or other but mostly dance orientated. However there are two problems here. Firstly the quality of the tracks is varied and unfortunately most of them are at the bottom end of the scale. Some of them, especially opening track ‘Slow Dancing’ by Grill Grill, don’t even seem to have a discernible melody, while others, like Balam Acab’s ‘See Birds’ are just repetitive noise. It’s not all bad though, I really like ‘Let Go’ by JJ, ‘Ego War’ by Gang Gang Dance is pretty good, and the bizarre ‘No Bra’ by Minger has some interesting percussion though I’m not sure what household objects they’re using to produce it. The best track by far though is ‘Shallow Tears’ by Light Asylum who are probably the only band here that I would actively seek to hear more from....full text |
| State |
| There’s always a hint of romance behind a ‘mixtape’ lovingly compiled by a pal (or more likely a potential suitor), and in this case it just happens to be Milo Cordell, one half of 4AD poster-boys The Big Pink. Look, he’s even designed the psychedelic cover for you, his fingers all gooey with sellotape and pritt stick, and maybe even left in the biro scribbles where’s he’s made a mistake with the tracklisting. Caught up in the current wave of cassette fetishism, K7 have made a bit of a meal of this being a proper old school compilation instead of a ‘regular’ four-to-the-floor dance CD, but the German label has already been dropping quality eclectic mixes in its DJ Kicks series for years, from the likes of Four Tet, the Glimmers, Kruder & Dorfmeister and (personal favourite) Playgroup’s 2002 effort. Crass comments aside, Tapes is a useful entry ticket into a few current buzz subgenres – worlds away from The Big Pink’s own commercial electro-rock swagger. Don’t judge it by its day-glo cover and Disney font – it’s a woozy flit through so-called ‘witch house’ (sorry), glitchy dubstep, hazy dream pop and other zonked-out tracks by folk who sound like they’re on some cool drugs we haven’t heard of yet. Imagine David Lynch as a guest DJ on Rinse FM and you’re getting there. The xx make a fleeting appearance with ‘Fantasy’, and Joker’s lush ‘Snake Eater’ is almost like a Bond theme rattling through the bassbins. There’s even a hymn-like floaty interlude with Light Asylum’s ‘Shallow Tears’, but most of the other tracks writhe around in a paranoid fug, spectral vocals buried under cavernous beats and swampy synths. Standouts are the dirgy chants on Salem’s ‘Dirt’, the stuttery fright-fest ‘Mumbai’ by oOoOO and Balam Acab’s ‘See Birds’, with its weird-kid-in-a-horror-film vocals. A few duds knock it off course slightly – from No Bra, Sewn Leather and The Big Pink’s own tune ‘Velvet’ – but overall it’s a gripping mix that’s informative, eclectic but stays on theme – even if that theme is slightly unnerving....full text |
The Big Pink lyrics Music videoclips
|
| ||||||||||||||||
