Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) - The Whitest Boy Alive

The 20: May 2008

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Featured Review #14

Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)

The Whitest Boy Alive [Modular]

#14 in this month's The 20

Section: Music Reviews Topics: The 20
Written by: lizwarner

Erlend Øye first made his appearance on the music scene with a contemporary folk act called Kings of Convenience.

It was to the surprise of many that music released afterwards under his own name was laden with electronic beats, but still contained some of that infectious appeal of Kings of Convenience.

The Norwegian-via-Berlin musician went on to be a part of the prestigious ‘DJ-Kicks’ mix CD series on K7 records — again, turning heads with his vocal enhancements to some of the best cuts of the day.

In recent days, he’s helped to formulate the outfit known as The Whitest Boy Alive, still featuring his lazy but somehow poignant vocals.

And now you may be surprised to learn that The Whitest Boy Alive started in the effort to create electronic dance tracks but now features a full band with acoustics as the primary focus, but with more groove than Kings of Convenience had ever emphasized.

The question now becomes how to put the result into a dance music environment.

The answer lies within Fred Falke [pictured], a French producer with a penchant for house.

Falke knows his stuff when it comes to pop music, having done production work previously with Goldfrapp, Röyksopp and Jamiroquai, so his rework of ‘Golden Cage’ seems to flow effortlessly.

The emphasis goes from an intimate setting to a big room club feel on Falke’s version, which, as you may have guessed, is an entirely different feel.

But what’s a successful remix if it isn’t a new look at the original cut?

Assigning Falke to ‘Golden Cage’ continues Øye’s alignment with the dance music scene, while giving added insight into the artist’s newest project in continuing to discover his mantra.