Pitchfork

[Posted Thursday, September 18th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Josh Bauchner and Will Bryant report:
After a summer of festival appearances, The Streets (a.k.a. brandy-sniftin' geezer Mike Skinner) are readying an Internet-only mini-album chock full 'o' remixes, instrumentals, and rare material-- all part of this complete breakfast. The album will be available for download from "the industry's leading on-line retailers" for a small fee on October 14th.

In keeping with 2002's Original Pirate Material theme of multiple-personality disorder, All Got Our Runnins features both Skinner's "introspective" and "debaucherous" sides, and you know just how debaucherous it can mean when you read that on a press release. The remixes dabble in many styles, including a house track courtesy of producer Ashley Beedle and the now ubiquitous garage and two-step from Dizzee Rascal's old crew, Roll Deep. Tracklist:

01 Streets Score [instrumental]
02 Give Me Back My Lighter
03 All Got Our Runnins
04 Let's Push Things Forward (The Streets remix featuring Roll Deep)
05 Don't Mug Yourself (Mr. Figit remix)
06 Weak Become Heroes (Ashley Beedle's Love Bug Vocal)
07 Has It Come To This (The Streets vs. High Contrast remix)
08 Streets Score

And yes, we are aware that most of these cuts were previously spread across the shamelessly skimpy UK singles for "Let's Push Things Forward," "Weak Become Heroes," "Don't Mug Yourself," and "Has It Come To This?" not to mention the budget domestic EP for "Don't Mug Yourself." But we have it on pretty good authority none of these songs have ever been converted to the MP3 format, downloaded and/or swapped via file-sharing-- much less for like the last two freakin' years.

In the more immediate future, The Streets will be on a three-date jaunt around the fine state of California, including a stop in L.A. to play the Shortlist Awards show along with fellow nominees The Black Keys, Bright Eyes, Cat Power, Cody Chestnutt, Damien Rice, Floetry, and Interpol. The show will be taped for an hour-long special to be aired sometime in mid-October on MTV2. The Shortlist show is sandwiched between Skinner's only other announced fall dates.

10-04 Los Angelos, CA - Avalon
10-05 Los Angelos, CA - Wiltern Theater (Shortlist Awards)
10-06 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore

And if your insatiable anglophilic thirst for bad teeth and two-step has not yet been quenched, Skinner expects to finish his next full-length in time for an early 2004 release on Vice Records.

In the meantime, you should attempt to track down a copy of Grafiti's "What Is The Problem?" Supposedly the work of an Italian producer "who wants to remain nameless," the UK dancefloor smash is widely speculated to be Skinner's work, though he's steadfastly denied any involvement with the mystery act. Well, for one thing, Grafiti and Skinner share the same label and publicist. For another, the vocalist sounds about as Italian as Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

Regardless, the single (originally on Safety Pin) was just reissued officially via 679 Recordings on sharp twelve-inch vinyl, with two remixes and a suitably mysterioso silhouette subbing for a photo of the artist. You can listen to a RealAudio or Windows Media stream of the single or any of five remixes on 679's official site linked below and decide for yourself.