As the title implies, what’s on offer here is a bunch of remixes (on the A side) from the recent West LP on Thrill Jockey (with one new track on the flip). Sadly, everything about this screams ‘cash cow’ – The artwork is uninventive, the typography bland and the songs lack inspiration.
Sure it fits in with Ripley’s original mission statement to make psych danceable, and the opening track (a remix of Crossing) would probably have a good majority of ravers bobbing their nods in the Balearic’s (even the cover art pays homage to the famous sunset chill out bar Café del Mar in San Antonio, Ibiza) but this is where the whole ethos seems to have gotten a little lost in translation…
When Wooden Shjips broke onto the scene there was everything to love in the way they infused Krautrock with danceable riffs played on traditional instruments. Who can help but feel this on those early Sick Thirst releases? Shrinking Moon For You, Dance California, SOL ’07, Vampire Blues, Death’s Not Your Friend and even the eggnog fuelled Holiday cassingle O’Tannenbaum/Auld Lang Syne.
Big name Andrew Weatherall does a good enough job on the title track, though I doubt those who love the Shjips for what they started out sounding like would be rushing to rave about them if this had been their debut release. Tracks two and three - Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 fame offering up some Wiking Stew and Kandodo (Simon Price of UK psych outfit The Heads) adding some home studio treatment to an unfinished Ripley jam Ursus Maritimus (Last Bear’s Lament) – both fail to ignite any sort of spark, and drift along until the faint scratch of the run out groove signals the end.
And as for the Shjips, I just thought they were going to it differently by pushing those sonic boundaries like they did up until Dos, with those few pure instruments they were trained/not trained to use so well. I’m still a huge Shjips fan and head out to see them whenever they stop in the UK – I’m just hoping that pretty soon they’ll get back to what made them great in the first place. Bring back those heavy, trance inducing, heady, psych brews and leave the pop aethstetic and the dancing to Moon Duo. Maybe release a live record? As therein lies some of the magic still.
All filler, no killer…
