It’s Vaguely Dance-ish Vaguely Pop-Like Vaguely Retro-y Day! And naturally it starts with a ’90s R&B interpolation…
[Video][Website]
[5.90]
Scott Mildenhall: When even Yolanda Be Cool get in on the act, it’s clear the “song from the ’90s or whenever gets updated or backdated or something (in a housey fashion)” thing is very much a thing. Judging on his extensive two-song catalogue of hits, Le Youth at least has his own hallmarks: tropicality as much as topicality, a lightness of touch on his evidently many-buttoned sampler and a leaning toward androgyny. That was suggested by the “C O O L” video, but here it’s in the vocals, rendering TLC genderless. Mildly interesting, but it doesn’t get you points; seamlessly merging frantic with fragile does.
[7]
Will Adams: The novelty of classic R&B vocals pitch-shifted and looped against early-hours deep house loses its luster pretty quickly. “Dance With Me” is the genre’s least compelling offering so far, mincing its TLC sample to incoherent bits and shoehorning a merely OK verse from Dominique Young Unique.
[4]
Abby Waysdorf: I like Art of Noise, and I also like this new version. It’s even got a period-accurate slightly awkward rap section.
[7]
Rebecca A. Gowns: A tepid synthpop number with a grafted foot of 20 seconds of Dominique Young Unique. Her verse is unusually weak, but unlike the rest of the track, her delivery at least has some personality — although it comes in too-little-too-late.
[2]
Alfred Soto: It’s got a house beat, I can dance to it, and a rap worthy of Freedom Williams. Personality it doesn’t have, but it doesn’t keep me from moving.
[7]
David Sheffieck: Less in line with the interpolated TLC lyric than the Jermaine Dupri hook, this seems designed as a gift to DJs everywhere, the perfect warmup track for a weekend set. If anything, the repeated “All I wanna do is make you dance with me” is almost too on the nose: luckily for Le Youth, the dancefloor is one place where subtlety is unnecessary.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: If I were to pick an R&B lyric to embiggen my Lincoln Log house track, some enticing enigma to pulverize and decontextualize, it would probably not be “you live at home with your mama.”
[4]
Megan Harrington: This is the exact sort of sound that Simon Reynolds would dog as “doubled nostalgia” for invoking Technotronic and TLC at the same time, but I subscribe to the belief that time is a lock-groove. There’s no nostalgia here because there’s no acknowledgement of a bygone era (even as it’s sampled), much less any expression of preference for the past. All these eras, genres, and sounds occur simultaneously on the flat circle.
[7]
Brad Shoup: It would’ve been nice to hear something like this 15 years ago. Sure, it drips like an acrylic waterfall, just like the last one, but pitch shifting doesn’t change the brunt of the text one bit. But maybe it could’ve spiced up a full DYU contribution?
[6]
Anthony Easton: As joyful as Pharrell’s “Happy,” which keeps growing on me everywhere I hear it, but with skeletal beats and an interest in pure house maximalism. All I want is to hear this until St. Peter calls his angels home.
[8]