let's talk about Armand Van Helden

Is it 'cuz 'e is black?

never heard any Armand album properly but search his remixes of:

Genaside II 'Narra Mine'
Apollo 440 'Aint Talkin Bout Dub'
New Order 'Bizarre Love Triangle'

all good

sampleslaya is really good ruff DJ tools for hip hop but crap in any other way

I seem to be alone in thinking Ghandi Khan was a pretty good spin. The title track is about as good as any of his "I'm really not gay" overcompensatingly vag-worshipping moments (though, again, part of my reaction could've been due to its juxtaposition with that whole Kandahar thing). "The Robots Are Cumming" is the sort of non-musical mind-numbing repetition-happy house (a la Daft Punk's "Rock 'N' Roll" or "Rollin' & Scratchin") that is my guilty pleasure.

Regarding the original question. If they're bargain-basement copies, and they have "Flowerz," "U Don't Know Me," "Summertime," and "Mother Earth" on them... just buy the damned thing.

For about 3 or so years just about everything the guy did just fucking killed; the Tori and Pimps remixes are two of the best dance trax ever, 2 Future 4 U is one of the best house albums I've ever heard (the only weak spots are the answering-machine interludes and suchlike), "U Don't Know Me" is one of house's great "I'm fabulous, fuck you" anthems, and "Flowerz"--Jesus, it's completely awe-inspiring, as obsessive and gorgeous as any record ever made. (Play it next to any track from Vocalcity or the Perlon label or Superpitcher's remix of Dntel's "This Is the Dream"--it sounds like protomicrohouse.) He was the king of the bassline--for a while there, no one could touch him for bottom-end funk/stomp. (Listen to "The Boogie Monster" off 2 Future.) The Repro compilation of his remixes (DJ-mixed by him and/or a ProTools machine) is a great introduction, also.

Then...he believed his own press, or something, because Killing Puritans is horrible, one of the worst follow-ups to a classic ever. (Sorry, Tim, I can't stand "Koochy," though "Full Moon" does sound fantastic.) I actually enjoyed Gandhi Khan--it's Puritans with a sense of humor and/or an actual fuck-it attitude ("I don't care what people think of this") instead of a pseudo one ("I'm going to act like I don't care what people think even though I do"). That 8/10 review in Spin is one of the worst critical miscalls in recent memory. I gave Khan a 7 when I reviewed it for Spin; it got dropped to a 6 because no one else liked it, which mostly proves that dance fans tend not to like absurdity unless it's Underworld-style "ranting lyrics" bore-turge.

L.I.T.T.L.E.B.L.A.C.K.S.P.I.DE.R.S. . .

I don't know, it's so rough. It appeals to me. The sound levels are all over the place on that record. Although I genuflect before the greatness of "U Don't Know Me." I am curious about this Gandhi Khan of yours, Matos.

Arm*nd V*n Helden. That's a money name. Like, Arm*nd V*n Helden, please come to the front and pick up your cool two million dollars . . . Arm*nd V*n Helden, your mansion has just been painted . . .

He makes me want to go to South Beach for the Winter Music Conference!

The track I like the most is the one where he "covers" The Kinks, growling "Yeah, you really got me going" through distortion. It's godd rowdy fun, and that NY-disco loop underneath is lovely; unfortunately, it's just repeated ad nauseam for several minutes and starts to grate. There are a few more good tunes on the album, but really, it all sounds piss-poor and lame when I remember what earth-shatteringly awesome stuff the man has made in the past.

More goody vintage remixes to gain first mentions in this thread:
Nuyorican Soul - Runaway (Mongoloids Mix) - BASSLINE!
Aaliyah - One In A Million (Armand's Drum & Bass Mix) - shockingly good ruffneck jungle

Felicity--I'll bring my copy of Ghandi Khan to the FAP on Saturday

"Trance sucks in case you need an update. It's white. Too white. Republican Nazi white."

Whatever. OTT is beauty, beauty OTT -- that is all ye know on eath and all ye need to know.

M Matos -- no kidding about Armand being a lame DJ. Have you heard his mix of "Big Love" with his own "Summertime"? Not pretty.

Felicity -- You quoted my second favorite Armand line. First fave: "I'm lookin for them female ejaculates / Spreading that cootchie with the masturbates."

plus, AVH has a spectacular ability to piss my friends off - i got in a lot of trouble walking around mumbling the hook from koochy, and 'u don't' has sent more than few of them screaming from the room. so, k-classic.

two non-ILM people have recommended this to me. anyone else? It's got Company B "Fascinated" on it!

His new track is FUCKING AWFUL, by the way.

I must get that mix so Spencer, that's recommendation enough!

This is one of the greatest tracks to dance to of all time.

I love and have absolutely loved "Hear My Name" for some time. Damn. The timing on that vocal track is really good. And I love the spanking video, really. Really.

new stuff is so 'meeeeeh'

I happened to be listening to Witchdoktor when I saw this thread pop up in the new answers... weird... "Coochie" remains one of my all-time favorite dancefloor-destroyers, given the right crowd. it's so very mixable, too.

^^^ Ahhh christ what I meant was the b-side to Koochy (now spelled correctly, long as I'm making matters right), which is "Phreeknik", a huge breakbeat / siren / shaker percussion freak-out of a track.

Koochy's just warmed-over-electro-pop comparatively. Now I can sleep.

No-one has ever ever ever agreed with me about the brilliance of "Conscience" - Armand why did you ruin one of your best tracks by putting some boring taped rant at the beginning of it? :-(

New album people!

I specifically love "Touch Your Toes", "This Ain't Hollywood" and the Company B-esque "Still in Love".

my interview with Armand is here:
http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid40223.aspx
red foxx's new vidvite featuring "I Want Your Soul" is here:
http://www.virb.com/electro/videos/12191
f.w.i.w.

just realized "Flowerz" is a sample from donald byrd's "think twice"

such a beautiful section, from the last minute of the song

not something you would think to turn into its own song tho, really great selection by armand here ... you can tell its the kind of idea you'd have after wearing out the grooves on 'steppin into tomorrow'

seeing this thread just now made me pull out my 'witch doktor' 12", which i don't think i've listened to since i bought it. it sounds great! kinda wild-pitch-y.

i really like 'ghettoblaster', but it's so SHAMELESS in it's recycling of 80s club styles. although i guess that's the point. like for each song you can pick out, 'oh there's debbie deb, there's adonis' etc. but it's a fun listen.

witch doktor is unimpeachable

re: "Flowerz," had that realization a few months after first hearing it myself.

But, yeah, pretty much it's the best deep house song ever.

So between doing "Work Me Godamit" and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va6IFx9Ge7I

I'm pretty convinced he is or was gay for real.

Just sayin

gay "for real"?

I never copped that Bonkers (Dizzee Rascal) was by him til a few days ago. that is an awesome tune.

I put "Hear My Name" on a CD-700 for someone this morning. Fantastic song.

As opposed to not gay for real (i.e. "Kootchy").

I don't really think he was/is gay, actually, but it's odd how much of a bona fide interloper he was in the early/mid 90s.

What really annoys me about Killing Puritans is that the sleeve has everything listed in this funny code, with symbols for letters - it was a complete mindfuck when I first got the album and I couldn't just put it in Windows Media Player to get the names up