Search - Buffalo Daughter :: Socks Drugs & Rock & Roll

Rewashed "Socks"

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 09/08/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Electro-rock trio Buffalo Daughter is one of the most brilliant electronica bands to surface in a long time. They are also apparently very fond of remixes. "Socks, Drugs and Rock and Roll" features six remixes of their songs from their "Captain Vapour Athletes" debut, with... um... some mixed results. (Sorry, I had to make that pun)



The problem is that sometimes the remixes don't sound anything like Buffalo Daughter at all. The opener is the worst: "Dr. Moog [The Destroyer Remix]" by Alec Empire. It's a beeping cacophonous mess that has lost most of Buffalo Daughter's musical cleverness, and is marred by distorted howls of "DEEESSSSTROOOOOOY!" If that doesn't kill your appetite, nothing will.



But don't give up. The slower "Daisy [Pushed Up]" by Stock, Hausen & Walkman is a blessing by comparison -- it's not outstanding, but nice. Money Mark peaks the album with "Big Wednesday," a sweepingly odd remix with a languid, spacey tone. "Li303ve [Suzuki Dekard San]" is a very good remix by U.N.K.L.E., a sort of otherworldly bounce sound. "Daisy [Talking Bird]" by 25 Ton is a pleasant listen, if mildly repetitive, and the "Silver Turkey [Raise Your Chicken Mix]" by Sugar is a eerie slice of guitar pop.



With the exception of the opener, "Socks" is a pretty decent remix album. None of the tracks resemble each other; at times it's hard to believe that before the mixing, they all came from the same band, same album. But taken individually, it has some excellent tracks, some decent ones, and one bad one.



Alec Empire bombs with the Destroyer mix. I can only take so many frenzied, distorted yowls against a backdrop of percussion chaos. Money Mark and U.N.K.L.E., by comparison, add new dimensions by their reinterpretation -- they make it a bit richer and sweeter and sometimes more fun. They also don't demolish the electro-rock sound -- instead they give it an acid trip.



Buffalo Daughter makes some truly excellent rock music, and some of the remixes by other artists are just as good. It's the wrong place to start experiencing Buffalo Daughter's music, but fans will love at least half of this EP."