February 1, 2004

The Best of the Dean Remixes

OWARD DEAN On the morning after that fateful night in Iowa, the candidate got to work, trying to convince the nation that he was no screaming meanie. And a small army of freelance remixers got to work, too, creating musical parodies by sampling and splicing bits of Dr. Dean's infamous performance. Most of the remixes on www.deangoesnuts.com are clumsy cut-and-paste jobs, but "Dean Throws It Up for America" is an inspired exception. The music comes from "Throw It Up," by Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz featuring Pastor Troy from the album "Kings of Crunk"; in the original, Lil Jon shouts out a list of Southern cities and states while a mob chants, "Throw it up!" Replace Lil Jon's list of places to conquer with Dr. Dean's, add his post-caucus war whoop and you've got the crunkest concession speech of all time.

ANGEL MOLINA This Spanish techno D.J. has just released "Pasada Profesional" (Red); it's not too early to call it one of 2004's best mix CD's. Mr. Molina raided the archives of the great Argentinian electronica label Frágil Discos, and the result is an intoxicating arrangement of blips and sighs and thumps and whispers. He's constantly fiddling with the volume, so that the beat always seems to be advancing or retreating — and sometimes, somehow, both at once. There are no recognizable voices and hardly any melodies, and yet this is a lush, intimate disc, perfect for late nights or lazy afternoons. And at 47 minutes, it's just the right length to be swallowed whole. (Visit www.forcedexposure.com to buy it online.)

MISSY ELLIOTT There's plenty of competition, but no matter: Ms. Elliott's current single, "I'm Really Hot," is the funkiest record on the radio. While Timbaland's retro-futurist beat hurtles forward, clacking and pinging like a pinball machine, she adds nimble taunts and jokes. The video (currently in rotation on MTV and BET) was directed by Bryan Barber, who stages a gangland battle between warring dance troupes. Halfway through, Ms. Elliott shouts, "Who house is this?," and suddenly she's rhyming over a different "hot" dance record: Pal Joey's 1992 house track "Hot Music." After one more chorus, she commands, "Stop," and everything does. A gun fires, fingers snap, a neon sign buzzes to life, the star pops a huge bubble of gum — then back to the music.

THE WALKMEN At his yowling worst, the Walkmen's singer, Hamilton Leithauser, sounds like a drunken Bono imitating a drunken Bob Dylan. But his bandmates know how to revivify a well-worn chord progression, and when he connects, Mr. Leithauser's glazed fury is transfixing. On Tuesday the Walkmen release their second album, "Bows and Arrows" (Record Collection/Warner Brothers), an audacious collection of bleary convulsions and beery lullabies. On "The Rat," Mr. Leithauser sputters, "You've got a nerve to be asking a favor," while the drummer Matt Barrick strikes up a furious, petulant rhythm. And "My Old Man" is a swaggering dose of restrained resentment; Mr. Leithauser sneers, as if the only thing between him and a fight were his band's imperturbable beat.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS A less clever indie-rock band might mock the clean-scrubbed exuberance of teen-pop, but the New Pornographers are wise enough to pay homage instead. Blaine Thurier, the group's keyboardist, directed the high-spirited video for "All for Swinging You Around," which is even more sugary than the song. (Watch it on the band's official Web site, www.thenewpornographers.com.) In a brightly lighted gymnasium, a cheerleaders' pajama party merges with a punk-rock double-dutch exhibition; there's no reason this shouldn't become a "TRL" smash, although it probably won't.

AUGUSTUS PABLO Shanchie Records has just reissued "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown," Augustus Pablo's 1976 masterpiece; the album deserves a chance to charm and befuddle a new generation of listeners. King Tubby knew how to "dub" a reggae track into oblivion, reducing vocals and instruments to snippets and echoes. And Pablo played an instrument ideally suited to Tubby's reductive approach: the melodica, a breath-powered keyboard that most people would call a toy. The music still sounds great (this "deluxe edition" adds four tracks), although the liner notes aren't exactly "deluxe." Among the things you won't learn: Pablo died in 1999, at age 46.

`HEY YA!' It's now clear that this unclassifiable classic, by André 3000 (of OutKast), is that rarest of things: a song that nearly everyone seems to love. No surprise, then, that "Hey Ya!" has already inspired a slew of tributes and take-offs. There's "Hey Allah!" (www.liquidgeneration.com/poptoons/saddam_outkast.asp), starring Saddam Hussein, and "Hey Ya, Charlie Brown!" (www.venisproductions.com/movies/heyyacb.html), starring the "Peanuts" gang. Meanwhile, alt-rock acts from Saves the Day to Ben Lee have started performing "Hey Ya!" live. But the definitive indie-rock "Hey Ya!" has to be the clap-along version by Tilly and the Wall, an emerging band from Omaha that has a tap-dancer instead of a drummer; it's the only one that might make André 3000 jealous.