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Stream Annie DJ Kicks

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Time for something light and fluffy. I traveled long haul earlier this week and ripped Annie's DJ Kicks on to my iPod. It is surprising that after Annie became a blogger darling earlier this year, this dance compilation has hardly been noticed in comparison. DJ Kicks is a longstanding dance album series that features a different DJ/producer on each release. The Norwegian songstress was invited to put together this latest installment based on her successful DJ gigs.

This DJ Kicks record is an entertaining electro-pop collection with Annie's trademark humor written all over it. She has put together a mix of bouncy tunes that are not only very danceable, but also possess an innocent, child-like quality that makes the disc a sunny escape from the dark days of fall. Death From Above sum it up nicely when they sing "Hold on children, your mother and father are leaving." Without parental control, Annie is just having fun with this record, and so should we.

The opening track is "Rabbit Pushing Mover" by Toy that could be sampled from a Saturday morning kids cartoon. Annie continues her spacey spiel with La Bionda "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and the cheerful Junior Senior mix of Le Tigre's "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo." Annie adds more fun to the mix with the sweeping rockabilly of Alan Vega's "Juke Box Baby" and, yes, '80s act Bow Wow Wow (nostalgia!).

Half-way through the record, the beats tighten with the excellent Alan Brave mix of Death From Above's alt-rock "Black History Month" and Brundlandt & Therson's "Geared Up." With Bumblebee Unlimited, Annie returns to the lighter fare that dominates this record. She also contributes two of her own tracks, "Wedding" and "Gimme Your Money." I've been really enjoying this Annie's DJ Kicks. It has plenty of kick without being pretentious.

Stream the entire Annie "DJ Kicks" album [mirror]
Download Annie "The Wedding" [mp3]

Earlier:
Arjan interviews Annie

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