Ready for the Remix.

In 2007, Calvin Harris managed to produce an extremely diverse, interesting, fun and (suprisingly) billboard charted house record to the masses - more importantly, the (North) American mainstream. For whatever reason, Canadians and Americans alike choose the most bullocks overseas trash (Amy Winehouse) to import into their hearts, rather than indulge in some talent that is well, good. Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Blur - all that aside we don’t truly embrace or try to decipher the good from the bad. The perfect example is that the Kings of Leon were huge, filling venues all across Europe before anyone in America took them seriously … and it took the worst record of their career to gain that trust from their fellow countrymen.

Anyways, surprisingly enough, Calvin Harris managed to skip across the pond. After the 2007 release of ‘I Created Disco’, which spawned two top ten hits in the U.K., ‘Acceptable in the 80s’ and ‘Girls’, Harris is back at it with the release of ‘Ready for the Weekend’ – and I got to say, with the mentality towards European music, his stay here wont be too long.

The reasoning for this is that the album lacks the Calvin Harris signature sound. The type of sound you would here in tracks like ‘Merry Making at My Place’ heard on ‘I Created Disco’, or the notorious bass lines he produces on remixes such as Passion Pit’s ‘the Reeling’ or the Ting Ting’s ‘Great DJ’. Aside from the blatant Euro-club influence, it is lacking another key ingredient to any electro song -the hook. The record is missing the sweet combination of beats and gimmicky catch phrases that make you want to light up the club floor like a sidewalk under MJ’s heels. In a recent interview Harris sheds some light on to why this might be …

"Every song is a song and it’s not forced in any way. I tried to keep it interesting to listen to but it also retains features of dance music that we all know, so I’m just trying to update all my favorite parts of dance music for 2009. It’s basically the best that I could do and if you don’t like this then you don’t like me."

The album as a whole reprises that European house music scene with a modern twist. It is remonstrant of those slow, monotone rave tracks that have you on the edge of your seat waiting for a climax, or for something to happen at least, but it just never comes. The quality of singles lack enough to lose what little airplay this young DJ could possibly get in this clusterfuck of a Western market. The title track and featured single, ‘Ready for the Weekend’, lack the balls needed to keep the interest of not only radio listeners but, club goers and scenesters. The second single ‘I’m Not Alone’ is a good easy going track to hear but not necessarily one to provoke a party and/or dance floor. The tracks you want to look out for are ones called: ‘You Used to Hold Me’ and (maybe) the previously leaked song ‘Dance Wiv Me’ featuring U.K.’s newest hip hopper sensation Dizzee Rascal. Or just wait and check out the next single (to be released in the U.K. anyways) called, ‘Holiday’ and let me know what you think – but don’t get me wrong, I love Calvin Harris and I’m not mad … I’m just disappointed. It's got a lot of potential though, I think I'll just have wait for the dozens of remixes to surface instead.

http://www.calvinharris.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/calvinharristv