Review of Remixes Album by The Phenomenal Handclap Band

The Phenomenal Handclap Band aren't especially phenomenal, and their music doesn't feature too many handclaps. They aren't even much of band, insofar as that term suggests a unified, hermetically sealed group of like-minded musicians; the sound of their debut album was shaped by the contributions of a multitude of guest-stars, including members of Amy Winehouse's backing band and TV On The Radio. The critical reaction to that record's lazy, aimless disco-funk was so thoroughly lukewarm that it's hard to see the point of this remix album, unless it's an attempt to reinforce the group's already impressive reputation as consummate networkers.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band Remixes Album

Eleven remixers have been persuaded to try and work some magic with the unpromising source material. Most of them are, like The Phenomenal Handclap Band themselves, disco-savvy funky pop types. Their reworkings run the gamut from sleek, house-influenced dance to day-glo electro-rock; for the most part, these mixes strive to add some urgency to the original songs, to wake them from their slumber. This has an odd levelling out effect on the originals. The worse tracks, like the over-long space funk jam 'Dim The Lights' and the soulless soul song 'Baby', are greatly improved by the emergency CPR performed on them, but the best moments don't need tweaking, and lose some of the qualities that made them fun. This is especially true of the original album's stand-out moment, perky pop gem '15 To 20', a sparkly, glitter strewn celebration of nothing in particular dominated by Lady Tigra's cutesy sung-spoken vocals. The vocals recall Debbie Harry's engagingly silly attempt at rapping on Blondie's 'Rapture' and Cansei Ser Sexy's fabulously twee 'Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above', and the band do their bit with a neat funk riff and commendably liberal use of cowbell. It's hard to see how this can be significantly improved on, and remixers 80Kidz and Den Haan don't come close. 80Kidz is especially culpable in this regard, burying parts of the track under ugly squalls of electronic noise, a move which gains nothing but destroys the original's clean-cut catchiness.

The remix album's best moment is Clock Opera's revitalisation of 'Baby', a simple and effective mix which sacrifices the original's cloying cosiness in favour of a mechanistic momentum built around a urgent synth sound. Stallion's handclap-driven take on 'Tears' is also a success, as are Munk's house-tinged version of 'You'll Disappear' and Snack & C'mish's disorientating realignment of 'Give It A Rest'. This success is relative, however. With the exception of the genuinely excellent Clock Opera mix, the best contributions here simply take weak songs and make them palatable. It seems harsh to criticise the efforts of the remixers given the challenge facing them, and the point made at the start of this review bears repeating: why commission and release a series of remixes of such an unexceptional album? This seems more like a vanity project than anything else, and is unlikely to appeal to anybody who isn't inexplicably desperate for more Phenomenal Handclap Band material.

Nick Gale


Site - http://www.phenomenalhandclapband.com/

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