Saturday 26 May 2012

Twelve Inches of Pleasure #1 - Prinzhorn Dance School


Prinzhorn Dance School - You Are The Space Invader (An Optimo (Espacio) Mix) [DFA 2007] - Cat# DFAEMI 2189

Glorious reworking of Prinzhorn Dance School's debut single. Optimo (Espacio) (Keith McIvor & Dave Clark) have managed to beef up the original without removing any of what made You Are The Space Invader such a joy in the first place. So whereas the 7" version ran for just a smidgen under three minutes and consisted of a very sparse arrangement (kick drum, snare, huge hi hat sound, augmented with a nice chunky repetitive bass riff, cold guitar and those typical Prinzhorn vocals), the remix manages to keep all of that, throw a few more things in the mix and stretch the running time to double that of the original.

Right from the off there is more percussion (which made me think for ages that this was in fact a DFA remix, which it isn't), and a faster kick drum. In a world where flip sides are dominated by mixes that appear to have very little to do with the original song, this (in typical DFA fashion I should add) is exactly what a remix should be like. It has it's own agenda and yet is sympathetic to the song it's derived from.

My favourite bit is the sudden burst of acid bass and swoops that hijacks the music around the 3.30 mark. It brings to mind the sounds of the classic Atari Space Invader machine that was in every pub and arcade throughout the early Eighties. Which is fitting since Prinzhorn sound like they belong back at the start of that decade far more than being among the games consoles and downloads of our time. To my ears they sound like a braver Young Marble Giants, and should have a RT catalogue number rather than a DFA one. Despite (or maybe because of) all that I think they're great and can't recommend their music enough. You can find this remix easily enough for just a little more than tuppence.





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