'A' IS FOR ASTRALWERKS

PLAYGROUP/PLAYGROUP: Well, Playgroup is really a man named Trevor Jackson, and he has been making music for longer than I have been alive. This record has the same name as the group. It is his first for Astralwerks. I had never heard anything like it before. My daddy was listening to it with me and said that it reminded him of a cross between early ‘80s dance music and the old Zaxxon video game for ColecoVision. I listened to this on my dad’s expensive stereo (which he says kicks A-S-S!!!), and I could feel all of the bass in my chest. I haven’t shaken my booty more since I was flirting with Joel Kopp on the playground! My favorite song was “Bring It On”, so I played it 147 times in a row. Daddy took it away from me after that.
MY HOUSE IN MONTMARTRE: This is what people call a “sampler.” They take a bunch of different songs from a bunch of different people and put it on one record. This one has Stardust, Minos pour Main Basse (Sur la ville), and DJ Mehdi. This is a record full of house music, which means that you can only listen to it in your house and not in your car. That’s fine with me because I can’t drive for another ten years! I liked some of the songs on here, like the Stein House Remix of “Modular Mix” by Air, and the Bibi and Dimitri From Paris remix of Alex Gopher’s “Party People” (They said the F-word in this song!!!). But for the most part, I didn’t like it a whole bunch. Daddy says that’s because I am not heavy into the “drug scene.”
RAREWERKS II: This is also a “sampler.” My daddy already listens to a lot of artists on this record, like Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and The Beta Band. But this record has remixes on it. What that means is that people take OTHER peoples’ songs and change them. Now, I had already heard most of these songs from my father, and I have to say that I like the original songs much better. I especially think that the Beth Orton song, “Central Reservation” was perfect the way it was. The only song I really liked was a live version (that means they taped the band playing it in front of people) of “Dirty Trip” by Air.
LAZY DOG VOLUME 2: We have a lazy dog. I named him Barkley. My dad calls him Shithead. That has nothing to do with this two-album record from Ben Watt (who is from a band called Everything But The Girl) and DJ Jay Hannan. They made Lazy Dog Volume 1 before this. People liked it, so they made another one. There are a few guests on this record, like Miguel Migs and DJ Dixon. This is more of the house music that I was talking about above. A few times, I thought the record was skipping. But then it was explained to me that dance music is “repetitive.” If that’s true, I’m not sure I like “repetitive” music. Some of the sounds are catchy and I did find myself tapping my foot to them. But overall, I just found this record to go on and on and on and on.
DIMITRI FROM PARIS/AFTER THE PLAYBOY MANSION: Ooooooo! Playboy! I know what that is. That’s the magazine where you can’t see any pink. At least that’s what I hear. DJ Dimitri did a record before this one called A Night at the Playboy Mansion. This album is the next one after it. Like 102 Dalmations is to 101 Dalmations. DJ Dimitri mixed a bunch of other peoples’ songs together to make one album. Or in this case, TWO albums. There are some really good songs on here like a mix of De La Soul’s “(It Ain’t) All Good”, and “Lust” by Rinder & Lewis. My father said this one is different from Dimitri’s earlier record titled Sacrebleu, because Dimitri is more concerned with mixing other people’s music than making his own. I do like this record, but I think Sacrebleu is more fun than this one. Still, it is a nice record to add to my collection.