HEALTH Before Tigers (CFCF Remix)

Everybody I've met who has listened to HEALTH's three full length album's all the way through vehemently agrees that HEALTH is the best band in the world. Unfortunately, while hipsters and ravers worldwide were shaking their booties to HEALTH//disco, relatively few have been able to sit through their self-titled debut and their newest, "Get Color". The noise may be grating at times, but with every new release HEALTH is doing more with sound and music than most artists probably think is possible. And not only are they knocking down boundaries, but achieving a modicum of success while at it.

Purists may find them tame compared to noisier experimental acts, and it's true, "Get Color" doesn't seem quite as forward thinking as their 2007 debut. But what this album lacks in grinding, looping, reverberation it makes up for in technique and melodies that make this album a touch less difficult. And that's not to say the dark grind doesn't exist in this album; even the most accessible single, die slow, is heavier, darker, and weirder than most rock bands probably care to go.

The clincher with this album, as expected, is the disco versions the band inexorably releases. Get prepared for the entire album to get the remix treatment, but until then let CFCF blow your mind with his edit of 'Before Tigers.'

HEALTH, a ravenously ambitious quartet that walks a knife's edge between lacerating noise and uncannily pretty textures, is certainly not the most enjoyable band in L.A. Most pop fans would probably find about half of their new album, "Get Color," bordering on unlistenable. There are bands that write better songs, bands that will sell more records, and bands that better fulfill the prevailing winds of influence in L.A. But if you look at a band's worth -- different from that of a singer, songwriter or producer -- as its ability to create something new that's greater than the sum of its irreplaceable parts, then nobody else in Los Angeles even touches Health - l.a. times music blog