DOWNLOAD: Alpines - Cocoon (xxxy Remix)
There are certain phrases that just make my ears prick up, and I like xxxy, because he knows what they are. The original version of Alpines' "Cocoon" is one of those pop songs made to soundtrack dark ceremonies; woman wail abandoned in a panic of percussive trip-hop snaps and gaseous, arcane synth exchanges. (Think Portishead, Zola Jesus; more recently Esben & The Witch.) The important part when it comes to this remix, as I alluded to earlier, is that said woman wails the lament: "I want you more than I think you do." It might not seem like much—what, nine everyday words?—but pluck it out, set it to a propulsive beat, and you've got yourself a track that's spirit's kindred to a zillion other UK club hits all enriched by the sadness of a woman. It gives it lineage, a history of sadness, and the latest millimetre of frayed nerve to be sliced from UK clubland's wounded heart arrives August 22.
