Low – “Hatchet (Optimimi Version)” 7”
Sub Pop, 2007
Acquired: Kiefs, New, 2007
Price: $0
I am fairly certain I acquired this on Record Store Day, 2007, which if memory serves correct was the first big RECORD STORE DAY. Back when you could just grab free 7” singles. Back before the regimented high-dollar releases that sapped the joy from Record Store Day. It’s great for the record stores, don’t get me wrong, and people still get giddy about weird/rare stuff, and while I always peruse the list of RSD releases I’m rarely moved (the exceptions were the Limited Edition pressing of the Hold Steady’s Heaven is Whenever which didn’t even come out and the vinyl version of Pavement’s greatest hits collection Quarantine the Past which had a different track list than the CD version and I own and has fucking awesome cover art and I thoroughly enjoy). I’m just set in my ways though. If GBV or the Mountain Goats put out some RSD exclusive thing I’d be on that like my in-laws inbred Labradors on a dropped chicken wing. All that said, I don’t think this was an official RSD release, just something Kiefs had surplus of and blew out the door. Or maybe I’m remembering it wrong, it was like SEVEN YEARS AGO. Christ, I used to be a young pup! Consuming all the new music all the time, never letting up, reviewing 8 new albums a week for music staff. I was definitely overdoing it. The drawback is that there are very few albums from 2007-2009 that really, really stuck with me. Those that did were almost exclusively made by bands I already liked, like Low’s Drums and Guns. This 7” was apparently released with vinyl copies of that album and includes remixes of the breezy, lighthearted “Hatchet” (for me, "Let's bury the hatchet like the Beatles and the Stones" became one of the most memorable lines from any song during the 00s)paired up with the bleak and sinister “Breaker.” That said, the Optimimi Version of “Hatchet” makes the track even breezier with some groovy piano bits and a new vocal mix and “Breaker” only gets bleaker as all but electronic drums, haunted synthesizers and Mimi Parkers ethereal vocals push their way to the forefront with hypnotic results.
I am fairly certain I acquired this on Record Store Day, 2007, which if memory serves correct was the first big RECORD STORE DAY. Back when you could just grab free 7” singles. Back before the regimented high-dollar releases that sapped the joy from Record Store Day. It’s great for the record stores, don’t get me wrong, and people still get giddy about weird/rare stuff, and while I always peruse the list of RSD releases I’m rarely moved (the exceptions were the Limited Edition pressing of the Hold Steady’s Heaven is Whenever which didn’t even come out and the vinyl version of Pavement’s greatest hits collection Quarantine the Past which had a different track list than the CD version and I own and has fucking awesome cover art and I thoroughly enjoy). I’m just set in my ways though. If GBV or the Mountain Goats put out some RSD exclusive thing I’d be on that like my in-laws inbred Labradors on a dropped chicken wing. All that said, I don’t think this was an official RSD release, just something Kiefs had surplus of and blew out the door. Or maybe I’m remembering it wrong, it was like SEVEN YEARS AGO. Christ, I used to be a young pup! Consuming all the new music all the time, never letting up, reviewing 8 new albums a week for music staff. I was definitely overdoing it. The drawback is that there are very few albums from 2007-2009 that really, really stuck with me. Those that did were almost exclusively made by bands I already liked, like Low’s Drums and Guns. This 7” was apparently released with vinyl copies of that album and includes remixes of the breezy, lighthearted “Hatchet” (for me, "Let's bury the hatchet like the Beatles and the Stones" became one of the most memorable lines from any song during the 00s)paired up with the bleak and sinister “Breaker.” That said, the Optimimi Version of “Hatchet” makes the track even breezier with some groovy piano bits and a new vocal mix and “Breaker” only gets bleaker as all but electronic drums, haunted synthesizers and Mimi Parkers ethereal vocals push their way to the forefront with hypnotic results.
"Hatchet (Optimimi Version)" - This remix has an official video! Neat!
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DzjRDfUq4v8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
"Breaker (Dub Plate)" - A bored person's version of a video.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4C8JAkDUrqI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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