The first thing that strikes you of course is the title, a reference to the trend of requesting unidentified track names on Soundcloud with a simple: ‘track ID anyone?’ You can only assume it’s a satirical dig at the way we now consume music: instead of mixes and sets enjoyed at face value, our right-here-right-now culture means a desperate scrabbling around for the latest over-hyped, unhaveable track.
Is this a new trend? Do all tracks titles now need to make some sort of knowing, post-modern comment about society? It comes in a month where both Joy Orbison and Four Tet have done something similar, the latter with his mouthful of a title: ‘The Track I’ve Been Playing That People Keep Asking About And That Joy Used In His RA Mix And Daphni Played On Boiler Room’?
Pretentious and cynical? Or just a playful joke? Either way, here it is a distraction – and one that has seen me drone on for more than two paragraphs – from what is another gorgeous release from Pampa Records. The label has been putting out decidedly oddball house for almost three years now and this is no exception.
Caribou’s Dan Snaith provides wistful vocals that only enter in the latter half of the track, sitting hazily in the background, vaguely discernible amidst a bendy, languid synth line, at once eerie and warm. But the first half – without the vocals – is more compelling: the cutesy croon simply getting in the way of the track’s crowning glory, that peculiar and remarkable groove.
Here’s to hoping that Pampa sticks with its satisfyingly unconventional approach.
Pampa | Release: March
