- Hearing Reggie Watts crooning over some fashionable disco is a hard pill to swallow if you know him in his day gig as a comic. The last time that I heard him singing over a track as smooth as "Untitled Love," he was teaching women how to give blowjobs. But times have changed, as DFA's James Murphy so succinctly put it in a recent RA interview. Playing real disco isn't a big deal anymore. I'd argue the same goes for the sort of Balearic-tinged beaut that DFA's Still Going craft on the B-side here. Just listen to those guitars on the instrumental version! They practically reflect sunlight. And, thus, Watts—full of the same exact same sentiments as his joke tune, baby, let's get down—somehow works wonderfully here. Even if it's a bit odd.
But I think, on some level, DFA probably enjoys the cognitive dissonance. (If anybody knows about it when they come to listen, that is.) They clearly have a sonic predecessor in ZE Records, even if they don't always have the same fascinating backstories as the legendary New York label.
Either way, the object of our discussion here should be "Spaghetti Circus," which is getting set up as the anthem on the level of "Still Going Theme" by the press release. I'm not sure I buy it. It's a good track. Maybe a great one, with a funky-ass bassline that doesn't quit, and Watts chattering away in the background as a rhythm too. But it's not as immediately indelible as "Theme." Then again, what is? I'll still be busting a move just about any time a DJ drops this over the next few months. And will be pleasantly surprised in a few years when someone thinks to drop it then. Just don't go around wasting it. As Murphy said, "If you kissed everybody, then the kiss is meaningless."
Tracklist A Spaghetti Circus
B1 Untitled Love (Vocal)
B2 Untitled Love (Instrumental)