Ryan ChartrandI want to get something out of the way before I start this review. The new Modular Records compilation, a DJ set entitled “Leave Them All Behind 2,” does nothing surprising. It doesn’t break any new boundaries or go into experimental territory. We don’t get a Girl Talk mega-mix or Diplo crate-digging or Clipse beat-stealing mixtape territory. Seriously, it’s the equivalent of making out with an 18-year-old girl drunk off the 10 shots of Lemon Smirnoff she took in her dorm room before heading to Hump Night and grinding you in the cage. I mean, there’s like 50 other guys in the other room who have done the same thing and reflexively regret it on some level.
With that out of the way, it doesn’t mean that actions like these don’t say anything and, when done properly, can’t at least be enjoyable and entertaining for those around you. The compilation is entirely a statement of what it means to be nu-rave in the late 2000s. The Gossip barks in as Lovefoxxx of CSS shimmies and shakes next door. Blasts of noise from Justice mega-hit “Waters of Nazareth” knock in when Karen O tells us she’s “bigger than the sound” on Yeah Yeah Yeah’s hipster smash “Cheated Hearts.” Throw in some Peter Bjorn and John, Klaxons and MSTRKFT remixes and you’re more ready for the club than a Frenchman with a cigarette, tight jeans and neon clothing. Oh, and nothing tops the end. Erol Alkan’s remix of Hot Chip pushes “Boy from School” into anthemic territory allowing thousands of hipsters to push themselves into the Urban Outfitted honey next to them and whisper, “We tried, but we didn’t find love.”
I may seem to be maligning the album, but seriously, I’ve had it on blast for car ride after car ride. It’s a perfectly mixed hipster top 40. It’s the KCPR equivalent of Wild 106’s five o’clock mixdown. Come on, I know we’re assholes, but even hipsters need the time to get down to dance songs we know without criticizing everyone who does something completely expected.
On an additional note, it comes packaged with a lovely extra CD of unmixed songs. Cut and paste! Be your own DJ. Do you think a Simian Mobile Disco song would go well with New Young Pony Club? It for sure will. And then when you mix it, the rest of us hipster children will adore you and you’ll be king of the ball for a night just like the DJs who put this compilation together. Hey, it’s hellsa easy. But whoever said being easy wasn’t fun?
Graham Culbertson is a journalism senior and a stacks director for KCPR, San Luis Obispo, 91.3 FM. He’s also completely full of it.