philip sherburne

Pleased to note that finally, after long absence, I'll be returning to my Needle Drops column over at Neumu -- expect a new installment later this week. In the meantime, a sneak preview in the form of a link to its subject matter, the first single from Laszlo Beckett and Steve Taylor on new label Hand on the Plow. Go now and download the two MP3s. Quite possibly the best new dance tracks I've heard yet this year, and certainly from unknown artists on a new label. As I note in the forthcoming column, "This feels like a Junior Boys moment. Not just for the unexpectedness of the first hearing -- like the Junior Boys, Beckett and Taylor take on well-familiar strains and slap'em together in a way you'd never have thought to hear'em. (Ezra Pound would be pleased that they'd taken his advice.) Gospel refrains, Herbertian gristle-chomping, Chicago house, SND-style 2-bit pipsqueaks, Akufen skip and Timbaland snap -- Beckett and Taylor graft them all together and then erase only half the seams, until you can't quite decide which sound belongs to what source." Throw in scraps of Isolée and Geeez and Gosh and Dabrye, sprinkle with eggshells, and watch the mulch blossom. These guys can Rototill my lawn any ol' day.