Traks Boys - Starburst / Yellobirds

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  • Prins Thomas has two labels. One is Full Pupp, reserved solely for fellow Norwegians, and the other is Internasjonal, for all the rest. I've never really been sure of the need to make nationalistic divisions, as the musical output on both is by and large analogous. But whatever the reason, the latter makes good on its presumed mission statement: America, Canada, Britain, Germany, Italy and Ireland have all been represented at some point or another in the label's three years of existence. Now it's the turn of Japan—by way of the relatively unknown Traks Boys—to stake a claim to the cosmic canon. It's not hard to see what the Norwegian finds appealing about the duo. The material is as space-weathered as his own. Constant usage of vague celestialisms to describe this particular scene can grow rather tiresome, but when the patiently built plane of shooting stabs and orbiting arpeggios on "Starburst" is finally shattered into a luminous supernova, it's difficult to avoid them. In more earthly terms, it's all about the break. Prins Thomas clearly agrees and in his laconic remix he dispenses almost entirely with elements of the build (indeed with percussion, too) and grants the musical bang an extended encore. "Yellobirds" opts for groove over transcendence. The riff is funky and it's good to hear a native signature in the gently tapped, Oriental-style melody, but TBD's stomping remix grabs most of the attention. Lee Douglas and Justin Vandervolgen currently seem hell-bent on their quest for the big-room and the peaktime, and in their high-octane sonic whirlwind it's just as easy to lose yourself as on that bursting star.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Starburst A2 Starburst (Prins Thomas Remix) B1 Yellowbirds B2 Yellowbirds (TBD Remix)
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