Tussle

Released at the end of 2007 after one massive delay, Tussle’s addendum to their brilliant Telescope Mind album from 2006 is something I felt needed some attention as we turn our sights onto the new year. Masters of finding a groove, holding it and then constructing a series of exploratory mindfucks for climactic effect, these San Franciscans are ripe for a handful of remixes. They’ve donated choice cuts from their second album to the right people, selecting one of the industry’s best in Hot Chip, as well as JD Twitch, Kango and Torkill, and Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid, a band who no doubt had a hand in shaping Tussle’s rhythmic assembly line. All eyes are likely on Hot Chip, who - as we’ve come to know - turn in an epic version of "Flicker 33.3,” which, like their celebrated Junior Boys remix, is a slow build that finds its stride at the two-thirds point. Surprisingly, they strip the original of its elastic groove, going for a subtler more downtempo incline, but come the six-minute mark, they crank up the synths and transform it into a proper space house track. JD Twitch’s "Optimo Fuckhead Mix” is probably the most interesting of all, using the best bits of Telescope Mind for a mash-up of sorts; call it the abridged or Cliff Notes version. Kango and Torkill are the only ones to tackle the EP’s title track and they stay true to its jerky punk funk steppin’. They’re slight propensity towards dub really captures what Tussle are about and should lean more towards in their future endeavours. I gotta say though, getting Dennis Young to thrown in his two cents on "Elephants” is what makes this EP for me though. He could have gone bananas on the song’s rhythm and assembled one monster of a dance track, but instead he slips in some jazzy sax squelching, tribal percussive accents and all sorts of texture at first… and then he totally goes for it at the four-minute mark. All of a sudden he pumps up the volume, adds in more layers (lasers, beats, delayed melodies) and it slowly fades into a chugging, bell-ringing close. Of course, Warning is nothing without Telescope Mind, so go all out and invest in both for maximum satisfaction.

Tussle "Elephants (Remix by Dennis Young)”

Click here to sample to rest of the EP and if you like, even buy the thing.