For those who aren’t as late on the ball as I am, LA noise rockers HEALTH have released their second remix album, appropriately entitled “Disco2″, giving a refreshing new look into one of my favorite albums of 2009. Below, you can find the fourth single from that record which has found its way on the web, a 70s discoteque ready reconstruction of “Die Slow” done by fellow LAers Nite Jewel. Also included are a pair of live videos shot by the University of Minnesota’s campus radio station (Radio K) at one of HEALTH’s recent Minneapolis gigs — one for “Die Slow” and the other for a new song called “Drugs Beach” (via: TMT).

HEALTH // Die Slow (Nite Jewel Remix) [via: WOW Mag.]

Burgerville is a Northwest based fast-food chain. Mean Jeans is a Portland punk band. Combine the two, and you have one very envious Ronald McDonald.

LA based Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino has been steadily releasing 7” and singles since early 2009 (one of which winded up on my Best-Of List), and she’s back in the studio recording for another Black Iris release. Here’s a vid of her in the studio throwing down some vocals/guitar with a baby crawling around.

If it wasn’t for Jens Lekman and his freakishly eclectic tastes, I don’t know where I would turn to get my off-the-wall music:

M.I.A. is back and when she’s not lambasting the NY Times, she’s videotaping unofficial versions of tracks from her forthcoming as-yet untitled album. For “Space Odyssey” you get 4+ minutes of Ms. Arulpragasam dancing in front of a spotted green laser light while her music is playing on some terrible speakers in the background. Somehow this has wound up with over 100,000 plays in less than a week.

I think the world would be a much happier place if Ezra Koenig danced all the time. We certainly would at least laugh a lot more, that’s for sure. Here is his and The Very Best’s official video for their track “Warm Heart of Africa”:

Rising up my list of my favorite French music sites, Wow Magazine has been releasing some great stuff lately. Here is a video they recorded at a recent Beach House show in Paris:
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Finally, a video recap wouldn’t be complete without a La Blogotheque mention and this sweet 12 minute video, shot also in Paris, of LA’s HEALTH blazing through four tracks is just the right one (I recommend full screening this one):

Seems like HEALTH has recovered fully from their SXSW adventure and have put out a new track via the awesome music site muxtape. Shedding the experimental quite a bit, “Die Slow” is more of a dance-able track than anything from You Will Love Each Other. Personally, I’m loving it — it seems like a bit of the HEALTH // Disco remix album has worn off on the original band.

Also, the Pictureplane remix is just as stellar. Cloaking the song in repetitive loops and infectious bongo drums, it’s a nice twist on the original. If you got a muxtape account (don’t worry you can sign up for free with an e-mail), you can stream the two tracks here. Enjoy!

During my time in Denmark, I caught a couple of minutes of an unexpected HEALTH show. I went to a Man Man concert in the modern day hippie colony smack down in the middle of Copenhagen (otherwise known as Christiania) where, to my surprise, HEALTH was also listed as being on the bill. Due to an unexpected cancellation of their show in Finland, the group decided to change course and play in Denmark, unbeknownst to pretty much everyone in attendance. Unfortunately, they were scheduled as the closing act which most people going to a Man Man show didn’t care to stick around and see. People (including myself – I was with a group) filtered out after a couple of songs which left the whole venue sadly bare.

I was able to catch three songs of theirs before leaving and feel like between that and the countless other videos I’ve watched online, I have a fair understanding on how their live act is. Certainly not meant for the unadventurous concert go-er, seeing HEALTH live shows them doing what they do best: make a lot of racket by twisting and turning distortion knobs, slamming guitar strings, and using the exotic Zoothorn which links the microphone with guitar pedals. It’s not all audio muck though as a lot of songs begin with a fair amount of direction mostly due to the driving drum beats courtesy of BJ Miller. Take the aforementioned “Crimewave” – one would never know from the Crystal Castles mix that such precise and insanely complex drumbeats are present throughout the original song.

The best example that epitomizes this feeling of “quasi-song” has to be “Triceratops”. Starting off with an echoed choppy guitar and symbol bangs on, AGHAST!, downbeats, the song abruptly morphs into a din of experimental sounds that, when seen live, had the group hitting the floor to tinker with effect dials and knobs. However, just as quickly as the song slips into chaos, it comes round full circle and closes with the same guitar and drums as it started with.

Now to say all songs have some sort of structure is grossly inaccurate. Pretty much every third song on their LP You Will Love Each Other finds the band just messing around and experimenting with a wide array of sounds. “Girl Attorney” is a mind-melting sub one-minute song that I could imagine being the soundtrack to insanity. “Perfect Skin “ has the group experimenting with tempo, dragging out each phrase uncomfortably long, while I have no idea what the hell is going on with “Lost Time”.

So if you feel adventurous this SXSW season, you can catch HEALTH at Mohawk Patio at midnight on March 21. So far that is the only scheduled date, but more will likely be added soon.

HEALTH // Triceratops

HEALTH // Crimewave

HEALTH // Crimewave (Crystal Castles Vs. HEALTH)