DOWNLOAD: The Ladybug Transistor - Clutching Stems (DJ LGBT Remix)
(Photo: Kenji Kitahama)
DJ LGBT—Michael O’Neill of both Men as well as the band in question—transforms The Ladybug Transistor’s "Clutching Stems" from a pretty anthem in the vein of Arcade Fire into an intensely percussion-driven epic that just barely carries the suggestion of club music. O’Neill raises the stakes by excavating the song’s darkness, latent in the lyrics. “It’s all coming apart,” Gary Olson sings and instead of a delay-drenched guitar sounding off, the song’s melody cuts out, leaving only the rhythm of the ominously clanging thump of the drums.
