HEALTH Die Slow (Nastique Rmx)

It's hard to call an album eagerly awaited without sounding like you're selling something. Especially considering  the band's last album came out only nine months ago. But I promise I have been waiting for this remix extravaganza since before Get Color even came out. Like the first HEALTH//DISCO, HEALTH::DISCO2 is just as wacky and unpredictable as Health and the flock of characters they got to do the remixing are. Non-disco Health fans don't tend to jive well with the dance-track-only crowd, but I hope this album offers up some reconciliation. Health (noise) is my favorite band after all, and I just can't seem to get enough of these disco nuggets.

The stems of the original tracks are buried in their somewhere, but each tune is a opportunity for the remixer to show his style, rather than an attempt to turn Health's grinding noise into something suitable for the dance floor. Even though the album just got an official release this month the standout tracks have been widely available for a while.

CFCF magically turns the eerily throbbing "˜Before Tigers' to a day on a tropical beach, Tobacco spits out a very Tobacco sounding redo of the once thrashing "˜Die Slow,' and Pictureplane puts his cool touch on that same track. Health also put a very solid new original, "˜USA Boys,' as the opener. However, the highlight of the first Disco, Crystal Castles, drops the biggest disappointment with their take on "˜Eat Flesh.' I was already beyond content with my newly acquired piece of plastic when I discovered I got 12 extra remixes just by sticking the CD in my computer.

The tracks by Nastique, Pink Stallone, and Baron Von Luxxury are particularly banging, and the bonus materials give new fans a great introduction to Rainbow Arabia, Clipd Beaks, and Nite Jewel.