The Knocks EXCLUSIVE

We’ve got a CotP exclusive this afternoon from our friends over at HeavyRoc Music! You can stream tracks from B-Roc and Andrew WK’s collaborative project Damn! The Mixtape in various places and the album will be out soon, but for the moment, plug in your headphones and enjoy.

It’s unclear how to classify The Knocks’ breakout dance jam “Can’t Shake Your Love.” Part of me says it’s electro pop, others nu-house or nu-disco; truthfully, the track’s categorization isn’t important. What is is that the Knocks are consistently putting together some of the best genre-melding creative material right now. Over a few years of working together, B-Roc and Mr. JPatt have developed their sound and made a name for HeavyRoc in the New York scene. I love the house influences on this track and, like Sasha Frere-Jones, I’m a big fan of the re-fixing of house music that’s happening in New York these days. (As an aside, I never, ever feel compelled to dance, my girlfriend hates it, but them’s the breaks. However, “Can’t Shake Your Love” is one of the few recent tracks that has me jamming out in my classroom/office with the blinds drawn.)

In addition to “Can’t Shake Your Love,” the folks at HRM passed along a brilliant remix of Marina & the Diamonds' “Mowgli’s Road.” This is a remix done right: the Knocks took an aspect of the original track (in this case, both the vocals and the bulk of the backing track) and enhanced the experience of the track in turning it into a more danceable, upbeat song. I know I flew off the handle last week about the Pola-Riot Stardust remix. If curious as to how I feel about this remix, re-read my opinions and consider the opposite points of view of all that hate I spewed (sorry for syntax, in a bit of a rush). Yes, it’s really that good. The Knocks tastefully reorganized several parts of the song and it's all for the better. This is all to say, well done sirs.

The Knocks – Can’t Shake Your Love

Marina & the Diamonds – Mowgli’s Road (The Knocks Remix)

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As a final track, I’m loving We Plants Are Happy Plants’ “Apollo.” Our friends over at Binary mentioned them a few weeks back, and since, I’ve been really digging “Apollo” among others. The name and sample at the beginning had me first thinking about outer space, ancient Greece and Rocky, but with subsequent listens, this track strikes me as the kind of song that will be used in the 22nd century film adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy set in modern times to mark the beginning and end of Frodo and Samwise’s journey to destroy the ring. Or maybe just to mark the beginning or end of any epic road-trip, journey or travel stint otherwise.

We Plants Are Happy Plants - Apollo

(By now, I’m sure it seems like I only post when either HRM sends me something or I have some kind of long rant/link dump happening. I assure you that this is not the case, just the way things have worked out this last week. Over and out.)