Opinon Piece: The Black Ghosts

Now I'm well aware that this post isn't about to win me any friends, not from Black Ghosts devotees, Southern Fried, or basically anyone who loathes long-winded posts and simply wants to get the juicy MPFreeeziezz. But yet I am compelled to write this. After all, I do like to masquerade as a journalist now and then, so it should seem only natural that I should have something to say about another Internet buzz band. Of course, that topic today is The Black Ghosts, UK dance-synth pop-electro-rockers. You probably all know something about these lads; it's two dudes, Simon Lord of Simian fame and Theo Keating (who does just terrific stuff in the Wiseguys). They burst out onto everyone's blogspot page last year thanks to truly wonderful singles like Face and Anyway You Choose To Give It, as well on the notoriety of the slew of great mixes turned in for said singles (by the Teenagers, Kissy, Switch, the Whip and Fake Blood). I have to say, I really liked them. I was more and more excited to hear more of their stuff, especially when they started doing some very tidy remixes for Trabant and the Dykeenies.

Well, we can forget about that. Is it just me, or are the Black Ghosts just getting progressively shitter? It can't just be me. It can't. The output since those two terrific singles has been lackluster to put it one way. To put it another, it has been awful. Let's start with the first offender, It's Your Touch. Yeah, it's kind of groovy, but kind of groovy in a "I just walked into the first club on the strip at 9PM on a Friday night, saw an empty dancefloor with this pumping loudly and I immediately wanted to leave" kind of way. You dig? It's one of the most stupidly syrupy songs I've heard all year. Dreadful. Dreadful dreadful dreadful. Let's just say that I wasn't even sure if I'd bother hosting this on my server it's so disappointing. But I'll let you all judge for yourselves.

The Black Ghosts - It's Your Touch

Next we have the band's recent remix efforts, including spins for The Gossip and also this one for Charlotte Gainsbourg. Now, I know people who find it unbearable enough to listen to Ms. Gainsbourg's originals, but were they to hear Lord and Keating's take on 5:55, well, they'd probably try to throw the iPod or themselves out of a high rise window. Just saying. Whatever delicacy there was in Air's (always) exquisite production on the original has been traded for some languid, coma-inducing dub shtick. I don't know if you could even call it dub. Whatever it is it's no good. You've been warned.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55 (The Black Ghosts Remix)

I now point you in the direction of Exhibit C; the Black Ghosts' latest single, Some Way Through This. Whilst it is certainly a major recovery from the hefty chunk of cheddar cheese that was It's Your Touch, on this latest joint, the duo have really gone all out on the melodrama. It's got none of the playful exuberance of Face, Anyway You Choose To Give It or even their Let's Get Physical cover. Nope. It's incredibly self-serious and quite possibly one of the more overblown things I've listened to since that bloody Foo Fighters record. A spade is a spade, people.

I won't go posting the MP3, because that'd just be overkill, but you can check out the (admittedly completely brilliant) video below to see/hear what I'm talking about.



Sure, I may sound bitter and like a really cynical fuckhead, but in reality I'm just a fan lamenting what I see as the loss of a great group's charm and spirit. Maybe it's just me. Or maybe the pair are moving in an entirely new direction that they want to take the band. If so then more power to them and my best wishes. I just won't be listening.

What I shall be listening to, mind you, is some classic BG's material. Here's their GREAT Olivia Newton-John cover, which I've loved for a very long time as well as this sensational Anyway... remix as done by fellow Southern Fri-ers, the Whip, who manage to improve on the original with some dirty, grinding synths and bouncing beats. Get them while they're here, peoples.

The Black Ghosts - Let's Get Physical [HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION]

The Black Ghosts - Anyway You Choose To Give It (The Whip Remix) [HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION]

You can pick up all kinds of Black Ghosts goodies, old and new, right here. There's a slew of remixes on offer, so that may redeem the tunes. Maybe.