Pitchfork

Draw the lines, she says, don't sweat it either. What Annie's made clear with her entry into the DJ-Kicks series is it ain't difficult to see where Anniemal came from or what she's all about. The punk-funk savants ESG ("My Love For You") anticipate the story behind "The Greatest Hit", Annie singing over her producer boyfriend's Madonna loop for kicks and ending up with a career in in(die)ternational pop. Adams/Carmichael disco (Bumble Bee Unlimited's "Lady Bug") nails her high camp chic, while the Mu inclusion ("Paris Hilton") hints she feels more akin to mutant pop than her vocal similarities to Kylie or Rachel might suggest. And despite her barefaced pop-for-rockers plan for world domination (cf. Braxe and Falke's filter remix of the mini-metal outfit Death From Above 1979's "Black History Month"), Annie doesn't forget she's from the small town of Bergen, Norway, and she generously reps her home on this mix too (electro-pop Toy and fey disco-pop Datarock begin and end the mix respectively). One disc, the influence game is out, so too any doubts re: Annie's big-eared, wide-eyed listening habits.

Now granted, over the years the mirror has ruined a few. So Annie's own contributions take on increased significance, existing partly just because, partly for the posture of non-posturing, but entirely as proof that her conscious penchant for the off-kilter hasn't strangled her sound. "Wedding" may come off a bit high-low: Röyksopp's uncharacteristically sinister bubble plop electric production grinds harsh against a song whose chorus is "Will you marry me?" followed by "I do, I do, I do." But Annie's better than that. Her verb tense fuck-up (should be "I will") effectively timewarps past fiancehood and flower arrangements and all those stupid fucking pre-Cana meetings, straight to the vow-- funny, if you play along.

Same thing with the Timo Kaukolampi-produced "Gimme Your Money", a Cristina-meets-Madonna needy-girl song that tellingly comes between "Lady Bug" ("Just let me be your lady bug") and Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy" ("I want candy"). Annie knows where she fits into these traditions, but even more, she still finds room to install local character. Her vocal contribution to Norwegian producer Brundtland and Therson's debut "Geared Up" tackles that cold, lonely "Poor Leno" pop sound, while Kaukolampi's Motivii Tuntematon's "1939" plays like a Vitalic track at half speed-- perhaps the start of this country's own brand of swisha-"house".

Like Kompakt's Michael Mayer said about his Fabric mix, Annie clearly loves her tracks more than the art of loving her tracks. Mixing is merely functional, tracks play long. There is one blatant and unforgivable fuck-up though: Datarock's crosseyed chicken-scratch disco closer "Fa-Fa-Fa" is buried three minutes into the last track because of a cueing error with the Mu track before, which will disorient people not familiar with the songs.

Regardless, the mistake feeds into the mix's biggest appeal, its amateurism. Annie's has more of a friend-to-friend feel than any other Kicks entry, the kind of mix with messages to be decoded, biography to be considered. Can't say the same for most DJ mixes, really, and definitely not for artist full-lengths. Whether in character or inadvertently, Annie invites weirdly personal reactions, as anyone she's pointed at in concert can tell you. Anniemal was the first date, and now she's making us mixes. Oh, she wants to be my lady bug-- well that's just great.

 

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