Mirror Mirror

Clipse featuring Slim Thug “Wamp Wamp (Pistol Pete Remix)” – Judging by the sound of Hell Hath No Fury, the Neptunes must have saved up every last top-drawer quasi-minimalist track that they’ve written since 2003 for the Clipse, most likely because they’d be going to waste with any other talent. The best cuts on the album provide an abundance of negative space to be filled up with the duo’s intricate raps, which are far too catchy and colorful to be crowded out by busy arrangements. Non-rhythmic instrumental motifs are used sparingly, and the most effective of them are basically drones — the keyboard choir that lends an airy vacancy to “Keys Open Doors;” the sluggish synth that drags “Hello New World” into inertia; the sustained high pitched piano tone that rings through most of “Ride Around Shining” like a nagging doubt. In most ways that matter, Hell Hath No Fury is as much the Neptunes’ masterpiece as it is the Clipse’s, and so it’s a bit perverse that I’m featuring a track that pretty much guts their contribution and takes one of the album’s top selections in a very different direction.

When I first heard this mix by Pistol Pete (who most longterm readers will remember for his remixes of Missy Elliott, Ghostface Killah, Dead Prez, and Crime Mob), I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it — I’ve been listening to Hell Hath No Fury more than anything else for the past two weeks, and its rhythms and movements are pretty much drilled into my consciousness at this point, so switching out the Neptunes’ steel drums and atmosphere of cartoonish dread for a hyper electro track required a bit of adjustment. (Hint: Play it very, very loud.) Pete’s arrangement is jittery and quick, picking up its pace as it goes along, ramping up its energy with frantic fills without throwing off the vocals. Whereas the original provides the listener with the vicarious thrill of imagining oneself as a glamorous coke dealer, this mix simulates the effect of the drug itself. (Click here to buy Hell Hath No Fury from Amazon, and here for the Pistol Pete MySpace page.)

Elsewhere: There is an excellent new Charlotte Hatherley song on Chromewaves, and a live set from Giant Drag (Now just Annie Hardy?) featuring two new songs over on the recently resuscitated Rbally blog, which also has a top-notch R.E.M. recording from the Green tour. (Be sure to listen to Stipe’s intro to “Stand” at the end of “Academy Fight Song.”)

Also: The Cold Inclusive provides an outline for a “successful, mutually-beneficial, life-long partnership” with Mary-Kate Olsen.