John Roberts' songs straddle a thin line between uplifting and dejected. His sleeper hit album, last year's Glass Eights, was dance music, but for what club? For what dancer? Maybe a mermaid in Atlantis, Keith Haring in the afterlife. There's something murky about his production, drums that never snap tight and keys that fade forever. He brings that same ambient teeter to his incredible remix of George Fitzgerald's "Silhouette," out next week on AUS. All the equipment sounds half-broken, slowly whirring to life. Even the vocal samples, happy Yeah yeahs sounds as if they're cheering groggily. But it sounds hard, analog, built tough, but built in the garage. Dance music for particular mechanics, dance music for drunk karate choppers.
Stream: George Fitzgerald, "Silhouette (John Roberts Remix)"