Every so often we'll embark on features to keep readers (and writers) entertained. This one's takes you back in time by reviewing and highlighting songs we love, be it back by just a year, or by 50 - we're here to take you there, and to review while we're at it.
Year: 2009 née 1965
"Walkabout" by Atlas Sound has always been a memorable song. The single taken from their second album Logos features a more than capable Noah Lennox of Animal Collective, more commonly referred to as Panda Bear, singing collaboratively with Bradford Cox. Individually, they're both giants of their own electronically rocking sound. 60s sampling together with hip-hop beats has always been iconic for the golden age artists such as Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys. Though its not the beat or vocals Cox / Lennox sample, it's the make-shift synth work and ambiance from The Dovers' "What Am I Going To Do". And there's more to "Walkabout" than its 60s sample - the theory and feel of "Walkabout" runs deep in the veins of The Dovers' original, replicated and reassessed in the 00s for Cox / Lennox to share their nostalgia: "Forget the things you've left behind, through looking back you may go blind." With lyrics matching the poetic child imagery of the music video, Cox and Lennox knowingly create a moment, a period - like the golden age both admire.
The Dovers' "What Am I Going To Do" was used as inspiration instrumentally and lyrically - " If you were seventeen, I'd still feel the same way. Well there's nothing in this world that will make me change my way." It may read like a lost love letter from 1944, but the meaning and nostalgic perception of "What Am I Going To Do" seemingly mirrors "Walkabout" lyrically, and musically given the sample Cox / Lennox used. When you put the lyrics of "Walkabout" with its messages and past inspiration, the outcome becomes a hit single out of the reach of RedOne's capabilities - nostalgic memory: "What did you want to see? What did you want to be when you grew up?
~Eddie Gibson