Finding the Rhythm

I was listening to newly-arrived promotional music over the weekend, and was struck by the almost uniform badness. Listen, ponder, click “next;” listen, ponder, click “next;” and so on. Then, as if inevitable, a track stuck out, not unlike the entire chunk of sidewalk pushed up by a tree root that almost caused me to face plant yesterday while walking to lunch.

That song comes from the Italian team “Eleze,” confusingly both a project, and the vocalist. “Eleze” the project is Matteo Esse and San, who have been involved with a number of efforts with which I’m not familiar, and Eleze the vocalist. “Eleze” the vocalist hails from Palermo, and its her hypnotic vocal that partially got my attention.

The song? It’s a remake. And I know in saying so, some will groan. I’ve blogged about covers a lot, and I won’t go there again at the moment, except to say that good songs are good songs, good production is good production, and I don’t really care that much whether the track in question is a cover as long as it’s well-done.

Anyway, the song is Teardrop, originally recorded by Massive Attack with the vocals of Elizabeth Fraser, best known for her work with Cocteau Twins. I wouldn’t really know Massive Attack from a hole in the ground, frankly, but I’ve heard the name, and I think you’d have to live in a cave not to have heard this roughly decade-old song with its laidback sound and feel. I do like the original, and I absolutely love this new cover.

Eleze have retained everything that makes this song work, building upon it rather artfully to give it a great dance floor vibe.

I say Eleze have, but frankly, I think a lot of the credit for why I love this track so much actually goes to Aaron “Fonzerelli” McClelland, the Irish producer who created the remix that got my attention. The other available remix I heard, by the frequently awesome Robbie Rivera, leaves a lot to be desired in my view; Rivera’s mix is club-friendly, to be sure, but emphasizes the usual clubby rhythms, rhythmic patterns and filter sweeps over the substance of the song, and in almost completely dropping the vocals, falls very flat for me.

In any case, I can’t stop listening to it, and I’m not likely to stop playing it for awhile, either.

You can hear a sample on Eleze’s MySpace page. The track has apparently been signed to Ultra here in the U.S., so it should be available for purchase soon if it’s not already.