Sam Taylor-Wood - 'I’m in Love With a German Film Star'

British artist Sam Taylor-Wood makes her proper recording debut with this gem of a single, a cover of a minor early-'80s hit for The Passions. Having worked previously with the Pet Shop Boys on two promo-only tracks under the name Kiki Kokova (the first a cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s still-scandalous “Je T’aime… Moi non plus,” the second a full-throttle Hi-NRG tackling of “Love to Love You, Baby”), Taylor-Wood enlists the Boys for production duty here as well, and the result is the kind of synth-pop godhead one expects when Neil and Chris are involved in a project.

The Radio Edit, PSB Extended Symphonic Mix, and PSB Symphonic Dub all utilize the same elements, creating a work that is respectful to its '80s progenitor, but at the same time playful and willing to change things up a bit, especially with a rather swoony acid house undercurrent that comes into the foreground in the song’s second half. Gui Boratto’s Mix sounds most usable for standard house/electro clubs, with a smooth and persistent bass pulse that surrounds the listener, serving as a nice contrast to the Mr. Oizo-ish bleeps that proliferate throughout. It’s still subtle, though, and could well become an early morning mainstay.

My personal favorite is Mark Reeder’s ‘Stuck in the '80s’ Mix. A perfect fusion of '80s attitude and style and contemporary technology, Reeder makes the song into a masterpiece of lush keyboard programs and jagged drum rolls, framing Taylor-Wood’s voice with production simultaneously futuristic and out-of-date. It has a remarkable amount of energy to burn, which is quite unusual as it has a fairly relaxed BPM. The original song was never (and couldn’t really be) a hands-in-the-air anthem, so the first odd marriage between Pet Shop Boys and the folk at Kompakt pays off masterfully, with pop hooks and chilly atmosphere in heaping and gorgeous amounts.

Released October 2008 on Kompakt Records