When the 2000s Clashed: Machine Music for a New Millennium

Compiled by Jonny Slut of the influential mid-week London club night Nag Nag Nag, When the 2000s Clashed: Machine Music for a New Millennium anthologizes the hipster club scene of the decade, starting with the electroclash movement and moving through dance-punk revival on to blog-house. Electroclash stapes like Peaches, ADULT., Fischerspooner, and Ladytron all appear on the first two discs, which also feature neo-electro classics like Vitalics vampire-rave bloodcurdler "Poney Pt. I" and Legowelts sublime "Disco Rout." The haunting vibes continue with a remix of Golden Boy and Miss Kittins "Rippin Kittin" and Pet Shop Boys remix of Atomizers "Hooked on Radiation," while the likes of Detroit Grand Pubahs "Sandwiches" and Avenue Ds "Do I Look Like a Slut?" revel in sleaze. Theres also a cool Wire cover (Adam Sky and Crossovers "I Am the Fly"), industrial schaffel from T.Raumschmiere, electro-disco from Metro Area, and Zombie Nations stadium favorite "Kernkraft 400." The third disc moves toward the indie rock and post-punk side of club culture, with Pitchfork-approved hits from the likes of LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and Hot Chip all present (though sometimes in remixed form, such as Daft Punks like-the-original-but-noisier version of "Take Me Out"). By the end of the disc, weve moved on to electro-house and fidget house, with Kid Cudi vs. Crookers "Day n Nite" and the Count and Sindens "Beeper." The fourth disc dips into Ed Banger-style French electro and new rave, from Justice vs. Simians "We Are Your Friends" to Boys Noizes Feist remix, plus other big hipster dance favorites of the era, like New Young Pony Clubs "Ice Cream" and CSS "Lets Make Love and Listen to Death from Above." For more left-field picks, theres a glitchy Trentemoller remix of Mobys "Go" that sounds like neither artist, a perky gem from Battant called "Jump Up," and an electro-house track from drumnbass group Noisia. The icing on the cake is the fifth disc, which compiles the types of new wave and post-punk tracks from the 70s and 80s that influenced the later movements anthologized on the previous discs. This includes minimal synth classics like the Normals "Warm Leatherette" and Fad Gadgets "Rickys Hand" as well as EBM from A Split Second, throbbing dance-punk from Spizzenergi, and NDW from ZaZa and Die Doraus und die Marinas. Not to mention selections from big names like Kraftwerk, New Order, the Human League, and Sparks. Jimi Tenors "Take Me Baby" seems like an outlier because it came out in 1994, and it would actually fit much better among the electroclash tunes on the first two discs. It all fittingly ends with the club nights namesake, the industrial synth punk anthem "Nag Nag Nag" by Cabaret Voltaire, which never gets old and still sounds ahead of the time all these decades later. ~ Paul Simpson