SLAG PATROL

Panic! at the Disco – The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Remix)
Sugababes – Good To Be Gone

EF, the EF sis and I went to see Panic! live a couple weeks ago, and despite our lack of black eyeliner (and sadness about everything–emo!), we had a pretty good time. The band put on a good show, though the covers of Karma Police and Tonight Tonight were uninspired, and Brendon or Brandon or whatever his name is didn’t exactly go for the high notes (making me think: autotune on the album?). In any case, this remix actually slows down and ‘electro-fies’ the original song, and it’s very good. And the Sugababes–I somehow missed this one (as a single). Don’t really like the opening guitar twang, but then it starts sounding like Goldfrapp, which is almost always a good thing.

Melody Club – Fever Fever
Beyonce – Deja Vu (Freemasons Radio Mix)

I thought Melody Club were alright a couple summers ago when they had a pretty big single with Wildhearts. Fever Fever (brought to my attention by Catchy Tunes of Sweden) has raised my estimation of them a great deal. Love the bouncy guitar, punchy piano chords, faux strings, and hand claps (!). What else does a good pop song need? And this Beyonce remix turns Deja Vu into an almost entirely different song. While not as “menacing” or “sinister” as some of the remixes I’ve posted here (see Paris and Sugababes here), it really does turn what was a fairly mediocre song into something urgent and great.

Moby feat. Mylene Farmer – Slipping Away (Crier La Vie)
Elize – 100%

Edward on Enthusiastic But Mediocre mentioned this version of Slipping Away a while back but I haven’t heard it until now, and it’s great. The album / remixed versions I heard before without Mylene Farmer’s vocal were nothing to write home about–they were pretty typical of Moby’s output post-Play: mediocre-to-okay songs that lack the emotional kick (not to mention the samples) that made Play so great. But Mylene Farmer is fantastic and her vocal really makes this song beautiful. And Elize–her album came out recently, and after hearing and loving Automatic and Into Your System as singles, I was a bit disappointed by the album as a whole. This is electropop but Elize is not Rachel Stevens. But 100% is good–it starts out sounding very Kylie and soon launches into a very catchy (if slightly cheesy, in an 80s movie sports montage kind of way) chorus.

Nelly Furtado – Maneater (Live at the MTV Europe Music Awards)

A new version of this year’s anthem.

Universal Poplab – Heart Apart (Timo Raisanen Acoustic Remix)
Shiny Toy Guns – Rainy Monday

Universal Poplab do really good electropop. But this “acoustic” remix of Heart Apart improves on the original by replacing the synth with a low key guitar that just fits perfectly. It’s so catchy that Alex was singing along to it in the car on her first listen. And Alex only sings along to the good stuff. I heard about Shiny Toy Guns recently from the Popjustice Chart of Truth. In contrast to the title, Rainy Monday almost shimmers, in a good way.

Scissor Sisters – The Other Side
The Killers – Read My Mind

Stereogum called The Other Side “20% Supergrass / 80% Duran Duran” and I agree. It’s brilliant. Slick and dark and beautiful. And Read My Mind is my favorite off the new Killers album. Much better than Bones, the new single. Perfect mix of yearning and almost blasphemous synthesizer.