Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Tapes & Money
27 April 2012
I’ve been a fan of TEED for two or three years now, playing his music at various Trouble nights. But, having latterly heard that the solo artist behind it (the magnificently christened Orlando Higginbottom) hails from the same part of the world as me and is also the progeny of an Oxford academic (something else the two of us have in common), my respect and admiration for him has been confounded by a mild sense of envy. Well, i’m only human. In fact, Mo Wax/UNKLE impresario James Lavelle hails from exactly the same place (and also went to the same school as him, albeit about fifteen years earlier) and i’ve never been that envious of him. Well, maybe back in the heady days of Mo Wax (although that was more awe than envy), but look at him now: hardly anyone cares about Lavelle any more – a definitive example of hubris and its consequences? I imagine he was quite flush after flogging his baby to the majors but i wonder how he really feels about all that these days….?
Anyway, i digress. This post is really meant to be about how TEED makes fantastic dance music with great, poppy hooks in it that are guaranteed to put a smile on everyone’s face and how his new single does this in a very big way. It’s also about how he/his label (Polydor) have employed some of contemporary dance music’s most exciting talents to provide remixes (including John Talabot, Eats Everything and Casino Times – with C.T. also from Oxford, no less) and, unsurprisingly, they’re all decent, too.
However, the best of the bunch has been provided by MJ Cole, himself an ex-pop star of the club/dance music variety, following his timeless and peerless Sincere record (originally released in 1998 and consequently picked up by Gilles Peterson for his, now-defunct, Talkin’ Loud label). Cole had been absent from ‘clubland’ for a while but re-emerged about two years ago with (among others) a floor-slayer called Volcano Riddim, itself a bona fide anthem at Wonky.
You can grab a copy of MJ Cole’s remix of Tapes & Money via the man’s Soundcloud. TEED’s original dub, available here, is also a very handy club weapon.
