Ingen elskov

This morning while perusing the Forkcast (to see how many of the artists’ names I actually recognized (not very many)) I found a really disturbing remix of the Teenagers’ song Love No. It was mixed by Delorean, whose name is very similar to that of a Portland band, and I didn’t realize until later that they weren’t. I think that if this confusion hadn’t been the case, I wouldn’t have bothered. Why? I like the song, and I didn’t really know if I wanted to see what a remix would do to it.

I said it was disturbing, and I guess I don’t really mean that in a bad way. I think what unsettled me the most was the fact in the remix, Delorean removed all the unkind, unhappy, not in love lyrics, retaining only the constant refrain “Are you in love?” I think you have to have heard the original version for the significance of this change to really sink in -- but even if you haven’t, five and a half minutes of this sad, isolated voice (because in the remix, that’s largely how it sounds) asking whether you’re in love, even over a dance beat, is just… I don’t know. I didn’t like it for the first minute or so, then -- quickly -- it grew on me. And I became even sadder than before. This is one remix I will never dance to.

The Teenagers’ original version of Love No is sarcastic to the core, and when lead Quentin Delafon asks “Are you in love?” it’s a joke. In the remix, it’s plaintive, almost a plea; he really wants you to say yes. The song is still called Love No, though -- maybe because he’s already been told no, and now he’s trying, again, to see if maybe he can get the right answer, even though he knows it’s futile, but maybe just once…

I’m listening to the original again now, and must say -- as much as I like the Teenagers’ unadulterated (had to say it) version, I think the remix is even better. At least it hits me more.

If you do the Pitchfork thing, you probably heard both of these ages ago, but if not, you can download the remix, and stream the original at myspace.

--DL--
Love No – Delorean Remix (the Teenagers)