Review: Messrs Tennant and Lowe come with the third single from recent 14th album 'Hotspot' - the third on the bounce produced by Stuart Price, AKA Jacques Lu Cont/Les Rhythmes Digitales, who's credited as co-writer on this track. You know what the Pet Shop Boys sound like, though, so it's all about the remixes here. The Prins Thomas Diskomiks blends classic house and disco influences and will go down a storm on slightly older, high-camp floors, but the surging, pulsing bass and vocodered vocal on the Friend Within Remix - still paired with pianos beamed in from 1991 - make that probably the better bet for house spinners more generally. The melancholic 'At Rock Bottom' completes the tracklist.
Say It To Me (Stuart Price Alternative mix) - (3:34) 117 BPM
Review: Legendary British duo Pet Shop Boys are back with another instant club anthem on "Say It To Me". Neil Tennant's unmistakeable vocals are backed by an early '90s hi-NRG style arrangement that's sure to bring the house down, with its piano rolls and big breakdowns. "A Cloud In The Box" shows off Chris Lowe's studio mastery, as he plunders the vaults of classic 90s dance once again on this epic, retro trance journey. Finally "The Dead Can Dance" is more like the Pet Shop Boys we know on this gentle, flowing and catchy pop ditty. Finally, they save the best for last with the equally legendary Stuart Price and his alternative mix of "Say It To Me".
Review: Ever popular synth-pop duo, Pet Shop Boys, recently completed a successful residency at the Royal Opera House and one of the show's standout tracks was "Inner Sanctum" (from their most recent album, Super). Here in the wake of this spectacle Neil and Chris keep the party going by bunging out a remix of said anthem by none other than the mighty Carl Craig. The result is electro-fying - featuring seven minutes of pulsating Funky Town arpeggios. Its hiNRG trance that's okay to like, but as is typical with pop remixes, the vocals are retained which might put some potential admirers off.
Review: Given the bizarre and sometimes dubious choices of remixers for Pet Shop Boys releases, it's good to see Tensnake stepping up to rework their latest attempt at reconnecting with their dance music roots. Whereas the original (not included here) is a cheery celebration of weekend-long hedonism featuring raps from Example (clearly a better mic man than occasional rapper Chris Lowe), Tensnake's version is dark and hypnotic, all warped basslines, delay-laden vocals and bleary-eyed afterparty chic. If the original is all about excitement for weekends to come, Tensnake's remix is all about still being up on Monday morning, dancing in some dingy Berlin basement. That's no bad thing.
