The New Music

Who: Phoenix; Animal Collective

What: Parisians that sculpt pop into a stylish, meticulous and intelligent product… that you can dance to!; Psychedelic powerhouse often recognized as the most influential band in the universe for pushing the boundaries of what pop music can be.

Sounds like: The choppy guitars of The Strokes, the seamless musicianship of Steely Dan and the synthesized nuances of Art of Noise - but French; Brian Eno’s sprawling mix of pop and ambient, The Flaming Lips’ bombastic take on psychedelia and pop, and well, the Animal Collective.

RIYL: Umm… Phoenix and Animal Collective.

Need to know: Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion are both real contenders for 2009’s best album of the year for many critics and fans alike. You can grab more remixes of Phoenix’s stuff over at their official journal, including one by Devendra Banhart, another by A Fight For Love & 25 Hours A Day and yourself! Also check out the very cool Friendly Fires’ remix of “Fences.” And if you’d like all of the remixes in one nice, tidy package, well, Phoenix will be releasing a 15-track companion to their album appropriately titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Remix Collection) digitally on October 13th.

Track: “Love Like A Sunset” is arguably the standout from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The original is a two-part epic that stretches to nearly eight minutes, which winds down with Thomas Mars’ soft vocal ushering in a warm, humming coda. But AC along with “former” member Deakin have transformed it into a creation of their own. Soaked in layers of voice, reverb, delay, pedal effects, looping synths and scattered polyrhythms, the elements converge in the final minute to produce a dizzying, kaleidoscopic collage.

Buy: It’s free. You can download it here. Or wait two weeks until (Remix Collection) drops.

- Cam Lindsay