The Now Sound Redesigned

The Free Design | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 2, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Light In The Attic
• ASIN: B0009WV2VU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,152 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Three years in the making, The Free Design Redesigned series comes to its logical conclusion. Compiling all three vinyl-only volumes of the critically acclaimed series and including a number of excellent bonus tracks onto one CD, The Now Sound Redesigned features a stellar selection of today’s finest music makers. All have risen to the challenge of reworking classic tunes from ‘60s soft-psych masters, The Free Design. Mixed and sequenced by DJ Nobody (Ubiquity/Plug Research), the group’s mellifluous sounds—that explode with angelic vocals, funky grooves, and hook-heavy songwriting—have been clearly pushed into the 21st century.

The Now Sound Redesigned contains 13 radical reinterpretations for the club, home, or hi-fi. Highlights include Stones Throw’s official beat conductor Madlib, who turns "Where Do I Go" into an Afro-funk celebration. Belle & Sebastian’s Chris Geddes envisions "2002—A Hit Song" as a four-on-the floor stomper and Grey Album mastermind Danger Mouse & DefJux legend Murs make their debut collaboration with a wicked twist on the unreleased Free Design track "To A Black Boy". Caribou (formerly Manitoba) delivers an 8-minute free jazz psych opus while the Super Furry Animals and Stereolab & the High Llamas celebrate their love of the group with their trademark sound. Previously unreleased works include exclusive cuts from turntable virtuoso Kid Koala with Beastie Boys/Modest Mouse remixer Dynomite D., Morr Music’s Styrofoam with Sarah Shannon (formerly of Velocity Girl), and Stones Throw artists Koushik & Dudley Perkins.

Far from being another boring tribute piece, Redesigned’s musical testimonials speak for themselves. Everyone involved has sought something deeper than your average remix; obvious testaments to The Free Design’s unique brand of feel good pop-psych. The CD features hand-drawn illustrations/artwork and comes housed in a special die-cut Digipak that maintains the high standard of quality that music lovers have come to expect from Light In The Attic. The Free Design has arrived! Please dig in…

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected treat., August 20, 2005

By 

S. Coulter (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Now Sound Redesigned (Audio CD)

(...)

"The dated but delicious sunshine pop of a little known 1960's family act called The Free Design just got a makeover from the good folks at Light in the Attic Records, and the result is one of the best, most unexpected albums of the year. Using the lilting melodies and lush arrangements of the original tracks as a base, 21 "now sound" performers get busy reinterpreting, updating, and just generally playing with The Free Design's catalog in a devoted but totally inventive way.

Now keep in mind, The Free Design was a kind of real-live Partridge Family: two brothers and two sisters from upstate New York who formed a baroque folk group that became popular on the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, so their music is super...uh, white. Maybe that's why it fares best in the hands of urban stylists like Dangermouse, Murs, and Peanut Butter Wolf, who furnish edge and counterpoint to all those too-immaculate harmonics... a little bitta coffee for all that cream.

Koushick and Dudley Perkins give "Don't Cry Baby" a super cool urban sunshine sound--like Sesame Street for grown-ups--while Kid Koala and Dynamite D. put down slow beats and scratching so good in "An Elegy," it'll make you throw the phrase "trip-hop" around like it's 1995. Indie types like Stereolab, Caribou, and Super Furry Animals make a strong showing as well, and the European outfit Mellow trip out expertly on a remix of the unbelievably titled non-parody by The Free Design, "Kites are Fun."

Best of all, everyone here steers clear of the overweening irony and camp that has turned so many tribute albums into little more than novelties, and hipsters though some may be, they're too busy taking this gentle music seriously to bother posturing. Who knows? Maybe cynicism had become so de rigueur that it got boring and innocence became intersting again. The music did too."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Free Design, The - The Now Sound Redesigned, April 7, 2011

By 

scoundrel - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Now Sound Redesigned (Audio CD)

When does the underground go overground? For years, The Free Design's original LPs have been sought-after collector's items -- with no small reason. The intricate harmonies and careful songwriting have garnered praise on their own, not to mention the use of their component parts in hip-hop circles. So here, on _The Now Sound Redesigned_, the Free Design gets a modern makeover from both the hip-hop and indie communities. So while Madlib and Peanut Butter Wolf give some uptempo breaks to "Where Do I Go" and "Umbrellas," respectively, Stereolab and The High Llamas bring in their own modular pop sensibilities, even as the track drifts into an odd atonality. Styrofoam, on the other hand, go for a more straightforward rework, but with more droning. And there's some bubblegum self-referentialism in Chris Geddes' chopping of "2002 - A Hit Song." Sure, there a few lackluster mixes (particularly the Sharpshooter's version of "Don't Turn Away"), but the hazy psychedelia of Mellow's "Kites Are Fun" or the Nobody's swirling "Girls Alone" quickly pave over those tracks. Danger Mouse and Murs put a modern political spin on "To a Black Boy," telling the story of Marcus Dixon, and unfairly imprisoned young man from Georgia. But some of the musical contrasts are stark here: the bubbliness of "The Proper Ornaments" (as fiddled with by Super Furry Animals) with the somber "An Elegy," (scratched up by Kid Koala). Caribou ends ths album with his version of "Dorian Benediction," which swirls in neo-electronic folk psychedelia -- something I'm sure the Free Design themselves would have appreciated.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Innovative idea with a nice sound, but it tries a bit too hard at times., March 8, 2009

By 

Lynda J. Gerry (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Now Sound Redesigned (Audio CD)

I have mixed feelings about this album. When I first heard about the album and saw Caribou, Super Furry Animals, and Stereolab on the tracklist, I was thrilled. The first song that I heard from the album was 'Don't Turn Away' by Sharpshooters, which is my favorite track on the album. I read that the remix just does not match up with the original work of The Free Design. I personally disagree; Although I respect The Free Design, the original album is simply TOO flowery for my taste. Thus, the mix takes the elements from Free Design that I do enjoy and mixes it with a range of other complex melodies and sounds. The track 'Umbrellas' by Peanut Butter Wolf did nothing for me, and the short Nobody tracks of dialog seemed a bit silly, transforming the album from something eclectic and rare to something trendy like Handsome Boy Modeling School's "White People". '2002: A Hit Song' and 'I Found Love' are very fun songs, but both border on being annoying. Overall, I would say that the album is a disappointment. However, 'Don't Turn Away', 'Dorian Benediction', 'An Elegy' and 'The Proper Ornaments' are pretty memorable tracks.