The Phenomenal Handclap Band – Baby (remixes) review

Artist: The Phenomenal Handclap Band
Title: Baby
Label: Gomma
Genre: Disco/Nu-Disco
Format: Digital
Buy From: Juno Download

After dropping their sparkling debut album last year, the nine-piece funky behemoth known as The Phenomenal Handclap Band are back with new single “Baby”, as well as these exceptionally good remixes. Parisian electroclash survivors Black Strobe smooth out the rough edges of the organic-sounding original on their mix, reinventing the tune as a cosmic disco odyssey complete with lush layers of gliding synths.

Daniel Haaksman takes a different approach – adding a heavy dose of funky bounce to his mix via some Baltimore-flavoured drums and cleverly chopped horn stabs. There are big builds with white noise billowing all over the place that drop into a beat that has good times embedded in it’s DNA.

In short, it’s required listening. Clock Opera (aka producer Guy Connelly) is getting a lot of great press at the moment and his take on Baby will have you firmly in his fan club too. A truly mesmerising disco fantasy that keeps the clanking guitars and rocksteady drums intact, and then adds delicious side-chained synths that fit like a glove around the vocal. Like LCD’s “Something Great”, the fluttering keys ramp up the emotion no end.

Yet another unique reimagining of Baby comes from Italian remixer Rodion, who drops the bpm down slightly to a midtempo strut and puts the horns centre stage, turning it into almost a reggaeton styled beat. With so much variety on these mixes, there’s plenty to charm listeners across a wide variety of styles.

Review: Oliver Keens