More House Party Music

Steve Aoki, perhaps better known to the music world as DJ Steve Aoki Kid Millionaire, is the brainchild behind Dim Mak Records, a relatively small label that gave rise to the UK indie-pop hit Bloc Party, and recent artists including Scanners and Klaxons. He also owns a clothing line, and organizes parties at night. He's pretty cool.

In January, he finally got around to releasing a mix tape of sorts for the kind of music that you might hear at these parties called "Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles". Apparently pillowface is some kind of reference to an alter-ego of his that doesn't sleep.

Anyway, this album opens up with a pretty old mix of a Refused song, and sets the tone for what is to come: crank up the music loud and party! The title track pumps you up pretty good, and although you'll probably have to tell everyone at the party to give it a chance before they turn off your iPod (there's screaming), it gets you in the right head set.

Along the way, you'll hear mixes from groups such as Klaxons, The Mystery Jets, and Kid Sister, and guest vocals from Peaches, Kim, and Uffie.

My overall impression of this record is that it's the kind of thing that you want playing at your next post-exam house party where people are drunk and want to dance. However, listening to this in my room at 9:00 in the morning leaves something to be desired (and I'm only a little drunk). With each song flowing seamlessly into eachother, the majority of the record is forgettable, which is good in some respects. Weird Science's remix of Bloc Party's Helicopter is the aural equivalent of putting batteries in pie, cooking it, and then pretending that it tastes good when you cut out a slice later. Also, it's not really any S.U.R.P.R.I.S.E. which Justice song made it here, and it's a little dissapointing that Aoki didn't try to break new grounds by mixing another song of theirs, but at least they used MSTRKRFT's version. Frankly, I'll be happy when someone mixes Justice's Genesis with Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel (you know, the band Genesis).

In a nutshell, put this on if you are too lazy to DJ at your next party, but don't be surprised if it comes off as pretty boring (at least in terms of contemporary indie dance-rock anyway).