AZitiZ: "What Is Love (Telepathe Remix)"

Brooklyn pop duo Telepathe have been in a strange place lately. They’ve separated from their manager, lost their web domain, and totally disappeared from Twitter. The victims of a cyber attack? Tax fugitives? Luckily not—they’ve been focusing their schizophrenic disco powers on a compilation for Carbon Logic, the UK Last.fm clone that pimps out new acts. Schizophrenic isn’t a big enough word for Telepathe—watching one of their videos is like watching Sofia Coppola loose on GarageBand—and of the ten tracks they’ve reworked, it’s this reinterpretation of New Orleans rapper AZitiZ that’s likely to make you spit your cornflakes out.

Sadly, “What Is Love” isn’t the Haddaway cover it threatens to be—it’s an earworm that Telepathe have dunked in thick, snowy synthesizers. Thumping into action with a drone and some Doo-wop beats, Lalita Garrett purrs “What is love / Is this love” in between mouthfuls of helium. Pads, hats and reverberating guest vocals mimic the Future Sound of London in their tribal phase, and everything peaks for a two minute climax that arrives after only 55 seconds. With enough hooks and energy to be a pole-dancer’s training video, “What Is Love” is worth hearing for the violent showdown between fuzz and drums alone—and to experience ambient music dialed up to eleven.