Justice Remixes

Franz Ferdinand, "The Fallen (Justice remix)"

Mr. Oizo, "Nazis (Justice remix)"

I personally can't get enough of this shit right now, which means you will get way more than enough over the next few days. I can think of no better way to infuriate the right wing wackjobs who pick fights from their keyboards than to devote a post on the Fourth of July to Paris, France and its music. To top it off, I am writing this while enjoying a nice helping of Freedom Fries wrapped in the flag. Delicious!

I feel like Justice, the Parisian newelectro duo, have made their biggest statements with remixes. They definitely made a name for themselves with the first song above, their remix of Franz Ferdinand's "The Fallen." They took one of the better tracks off the lackluster second FF album and made something way better. Actually, they destroyed the original and made it into something a whole lot more interesting. Most notably, they chop up the vocals, turning it from normal to trippy quite easily. You also get that vocoder sound that is their trademark, and what you get is something that outshines the original.

The other track comes from Ed Banger labelmate, Mr. Oizo, and the Justice boys rework this one. Give it a listen, as it sounds totally different than what you expect their remixes to sound like that. Instead of a banger, they slow the original down a little bit, make it much more of a grinding tune now.

-I also love celebrating and spending the day watching World Cup football, that most un-American of games. I mean, they won't use their hands, for g-dsakes! Two amazing semis, Italy vs. Germany is going down right now (0-0 at half.) I am obviously pulling for Italy, mainly because I could never ever cheer or root for a German anything. Plus, the cafe I do a lot of writing at, Hausbrandt, is an Italian one and they get a great turnout of expats to watch the game. The big match goes down tomorrow, and we'll have some goodies in honor of France vs. Portugal. [Ed. note: I originally wrote this while the game was on, took forever to get the songs up. Suffice it to say, Italy won on two of the sickest goals I've seen this tournament. More on that later.]

-For all the creative types, head over and check out this contest at YouTube. Make a 20 second promo for NBC's The Office, winner's spot will get shown on the air. This is mainly a chance to let everyone know, thanks to TIVO, that this is my new favorite show, a decent enough replacement for Arrested Development. The show has really come into its own this past season, Steve Carrell is a genius, and the other characters have stepped their games up. Catch the reruns this summer, Thursday 9:30 PM, great chance to get caught up. Read Dwight Schrute's blog, Schrute-Space. Oh, and don't forget, we stole the idea from the British.

-Law and Order marathon on TNT all day, 'nuf said. Jerry Orbach is the greatest American who ever lived.