Daedelus: Something Bells
Plug Research

Daedelus's latest 12” offers radical overhauls of three Of Snowdonia songs. “Something Bells” gets three versions (two instrumental and the third a backdrop for some rapid-fire riffing from Busdriver and Pigeon John), all of which wisely retain the song's buoyant splendour and candy-coated jubilance. Bolstered by an impassioned chorus of rabid voices and frenetic beats, the song's yearning melody of glistening stutters sparkles throughout all three. Elsewhere, Busdriver raps over tumbling beats in “Was Waiting” while, less successfully, Subtitle's “Dumbfound” remix reduces the original to a hallucinatory blur. The disc's peak, though, is the deep clanking-and-whirring funk mix of “Dumbfound” by Planet µ's edIT. Something Bells is distinguished most of all by the surprising twists Daedelus's guests add to the songs.

October 2004