Optimus Prime - 127 Steps

Yesterday, we looked into the past at the 80's relic that was Stan Bush. Today we look into the future, with a young, anonymous Serbian man, who goes by the alias Optimus Prime. His dreamy, slow paced electronics lead us through the night with a grace and fragility that is often absent in good techno. OP's composition contain an organic quality that emerges out of the synthesizers somehow. The music has absolutely nothing to do with Transformers whatsoever, but it is kind of fun to think that maybe if the cartoon Optimus Prime were ever to make a mixtape for his pals, that this Optimus Prime's music would fill both sides and inspire emotion underneath all those wires.

Optimus Prime - 127 Steps

Optimus Prime - Underwater Night

Stan Bush - The Touch

With all the miserable reviews circulating about Michael Bay's absolute destruction of one of my childhood's sacred totems, I figured today might be a good day to revisit a musical moment in Transformers history that no true fan-boy could ever forget. I speak, of course, about the moment towards the beginning of the absolutely amazing Transformers: The Movie, when Optimus decides to sacrifice himself for the sake of the Autobots. As he rides down a ramp into certain doom, Stan Bush's "The Touch" emerges for no good reason and soundtracks Optimus's launch into the sky, his beatdown of intercepting Decepticons and his final battle with the evil Megatron. In the end, it's Optimus's good will that does him in, and he bites the big one.



Later in the film, Hot Rod assumes the mantle of leader before fighting Megatron's new form, the super-evil Galvatron. And wouldn't you know it? Stan Bush is back!



This corn-ball approach, and not Bay's loud and obnoxious interpretation, is what was always the best part of Transformers. So today, we should all raise our Energon Cubes, toast our fallen leader, and rock out to "The Touch".

Stan Bush - The Touch

Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs (Valerna Remix)

Valerna's original music is just a little too much. Their take on ye olde MSTRKRFT school of house is overtly grating, and lacks the fun it wants to inspire. Valerna's remix work is another story entirely. Of late, they've taken to tackling some of older stuff from the 90's with an overwhelming dose of glee. The best of these tracks is Valerna's over-the-top reworking of Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs". They somehow keep the original rhythm, distort the original keyboard part, and maintain a marginal amount of Reznor's vocals and turn it into a blistering, punched-in-the-face thrasher. I am totally curious what would happen if this came on in the middle of a DJ set. I foresee the disco dancing devolving into a full-on mosh pit.

Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs (Valerna Remix)

Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

Florence and the Machine sound a whole lot like Florence, but couldn't sound further from a machine. Gears aren't churning here, and the only thing that is might be the jangling dulcimer that rotates on as "Dog Days Are Over" lilts and spins into a chaotic flurry of hand-claps. Florence's vocals go from a near whisper to a chorus of beaming chants, all signals that the bummers of the past are just that. Florence's new album, Lungs, arrives mid-July with all the accompanying artsy costumes and hype that seems appropriate.

Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

Vega - No Reasons

It's Summer. We need Summer music. This works.

Vega - No Reasons

Bloc Party - One More Chance

The much maligned Bloc Party have rushed another single out to listeners. Similar to their pre-Intimacy strategy of releasing the one-shot "Flux", "One More Chance" is most likely the harbinger to a fourth album. But "One More Chance" inspires more questions than anticipation. The band has painted themselves into a corner in a sense, since fans who have been looking for a purist follow-up to the near-perfect debut, Silent Alarm, have gone wanting. While detractors thought A Weekend in the City uneven, more headscratching followed with last year's big-beat inspired Intimacy. It seemed Bloc Party had strayed too far from their indie rock roots with crashing Chemical Brothers' style loops and synthesizers. (I, for one, found a lot to like on Intimacy, despite how its multiple release formats made it difficult to decipher what the actual tracklist was.) "One More Chance" pushes the band nowhere in particular. The song could be a b-side from the last album, but the lyrics are what's truly puzzling. Although obviously a post-breakup love song, Okereke's pleas for another chance sound just shy of pleading with his fan base to stick around to see what's next. What most people probably need from the band is a reassurance of confidence. With this new single sounding somewhat thrown together and rushed out to release, fans will wonder why the band doesn't take the time to privately figure it all out, instead of grasping for the spotlight. To demonstrate that Bloc Party are fully capable of such confidence in recent memory, please enjoy the thoroughly wonderful "Flux".

Bloc Party - One More Chance

Bloc Party - Flux

Veronica Maggio - Måndagsbarn (Le Prix Remix)

There's something appealing about not knowing exactly what you're listening to lyrically. Of course, this can be a problem. If I happen upon some really great international hip-hop, there's every chance in the world that the lyrics might be calling for my death. But in the world of pop and love songs, it's nice to not worry so much about message and listen to a singer's phrasing and enunciation for once. Veronica Maggio is apparently a big deal in Sweden, and in Sweden she will probably remain, as she never records in English. Good for her, I say, Bad for us though, because Maggio has a beautiful voice and writes some great material that is difficult to get stateside. Her new album is not available in the U.S. now, but if you go on iTunes and Amazon you can pick up her 2006 release Vatten Och Brod , from which our second song of the day, "Dumpa Mig", is taken. First though, a solid remix of Maggio's new album single "Måndagsbarn" by Le Prix who do a nice job of throwing her into the club with some dashing synths and shooting stars that totally complement all those cooing vowels and hard consonants.

Veronica Maggio - Måndagsbarn (Le Prix Remix)

Veronica Maggio - Dumpa Mig