Search - The Free Design :: The Now Sound Redesigned

An unexpected treat.

S. Coulter | San Francisco, CA | 08/20/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"(...)



"The dated but delicious sunshine pop of a little known 1960's family act called The Free Design just got a makeover from the good folks at Light in the Attic Records, and the result is one of the best, most unexpected albums of the year. Using the lilting melodies and lush arrangements of the original tracks as a base, 21 "now sound" performers get busy reinterpreting, updating, and just generally playing with The Free Design's catalog in a devoted but totally inventive way.



Now keep in mind, The Free Design was a kind of real-live Partridge Family: two brothers and two sisters from upstate New York who formed a baroque folk group that became popular on the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, so their music is super...uh, white. Maybe that's why it fares best in the hands of urban stylists like Dangermouse, Murs, and Peanut Butter Wolf, who furnish edge and counterpoint to all those too-immaculate harmonics... a little bitta coffee for all that cream.



Koushick and Dudley Perkins give "Don't Cry Baby" a super cool urban sunshine sound--like Sesame Street for grown-ups--while Kid Koala and Dynamite D. put down slow beats and scratching so good in "An Elegy," it'll make you throw the phrase "trip-hop" around like it's 1995. Indie types like Stereolab, Caribou, and Super Furry Animals make a strong showing as well, and the European outfit Mellow trip out expertly on a remix of the unbelievably titled non-parody by The Free Design, "Kites are Fun."



Best of all, everyone here steers clear of the overweening irony and camp that has turned so many tribute albums into little more than novelties, and hipsters though some may be, they're too busy taking this gentle music seriously to bother posturing. Who knows? Maybe cynicism had become so de rigueur that it got boring and innocence became intersting again. The music did too.""

Free Design get worked over by scores

somethingexcellent | Lincoln, NE United States | 11/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Free Design were a somewhat lesser-known sunshiney psychedelic pop band from the late 60s, and last year the Light In The Attic label decided to pair the recordings of the group with some of the more well-known artists and remixers of the current day. The idea turned out to be a good one, as many of the remixers and artists had heard of the group and some even wondered how they'd rework the music of a favored obscuro pop group.



The Now Sound Redesigned is the CD release that collects the whole series of remixes and sequences them along with some interludes and other tracks that didn't find their way onto the original releases for a nineteen track, almost hourlong album of mixes that take the flowery group and turn them into everything from instrumental hip hop to drawn-out free jazz. The release opens with an intro track that actually does a pretty good job of explaining the group in a a short amount of time before Madlib drops an excellent remix of "Where Do I Go" that somehow keeps the original track fairly intact while at the same time transforming it into a rumbling beatfest. Peanut Butter Wolf goes mashup style on "Umbrellas," mixing in some Steve Miller Band and other tracks alongside the original Free Design effort for something that mostly works.



The Stereolab/High Llamas (each at times have sounded like the logical progression of the Free Design) version of "Harve Daley Hix," which layers in dense harpsichord and pinging electronics alongside the original, while Chris Geddes of Belle & Sebastian turns "2002 - A Hit Song" into a cheesy 4/4 dancefloor track that somehow works quite well. Styrofoam teams up with Sarah Shannon on the warm IDM-pop remake of "I Found Love" while Kid Koala and Dynomite D work "An Elegy" into a stuttering hip-hop/jazz beast that like the Madlib remix keeps much of the original track around while taking it somewhere completely different.



The Biz Markie-ish re-imagining of "Don't Cry Baby" by Koushik and Dudley Perkins is funny but feels a bit out-of-place on the release, while the Danger Mouse & Murs reworking of "To A Black Boy" completely breaks the flow of the release with its dark production and heavy lyrical content from Murs. Fortunately, Caribou provides a gorgeous, epic nightcap on the release with the nearly nine-minute free jazz reworking of "Dorlan Benediction," mixing melodica, chimes, vocals from the original track, and just about everything else as it feels like a hippie-style jam around the campfire. If you've never heard of The Free Design and are looking for somewhere to start, you should pick up one of the re-released versions of their original albums, but if you've already discovered the group and are looking for some (mostly) inspired remixes of their work, The Now Sound Redesigned is an entertaining little release.



(from almost cool music reviews)"

Dangermouse & Madlib & Stereolab oh my!!!

Mike Felsey | Tucson, AZ USA | 08/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow people...who would of though that anyone could nail down the soft-psych easy touch of this obscure group The Free Design?

But, in this remix album, there isn't one track which doesn't pay homage to what the Free Design were all about! That lovable jumping/flying/rolling/zesty feeling of life that we all love to feel. It's really cool to hear what blunted out Madlib does with "Where Do I Go", along Stereolab's totally freak out Free Design medley! And Kid Koala & Dynomite D's mix of "An Elegy" about made we weep for our lost brethren of war! This is one you need to pick up!







"