Remix Party!

Album Review

Dave Gardner and Tim Digulla, who record together under the name Tipsy, have produced one of the strangest remix albums of the year with this collection of kitschy international funk. Every track is informed by the ironic retro-hipster lounge sound that became so popular in the late '90s, and the artists whose work is presented here in remixed form are, for the most part, obscure enough that it's a bit difficult to judge the remixes, not having heard the original versions; they come from scenes and cities as far-flung as Brussels, Zurich, St. Petersburg (Russia, presumably, rather than Florida), and Seattle. Taken on its own merits, though, this stuff is, for the most part, lots of fun — the kettle drums on Seelenluft's "Something Tropical," and the cheesy organ and polka beat on Messer Chups' "Hey!" provide just the right whiff of 1960s nostalgia, evoking images of go-go dancers and day-glo flower decals. But there are also moments of relatively challenging experimentation, as on the High Llamas' "Sweet Cinnamon Punch," and the vaguely countrified "Reverse Cowgirl" by People Like Us. Recommended.