- "For the first time in the history of the label we've released 5 dance 12"s on the same day," Josh Cheon, the man behind Dark Entries, wrote on Instagram a couple weeks ago. Even before that post, I'd wondered if the San Francisco label wasn't getting a bit trigger-happy—those five records, combined with another four they've announced since then, will add up to 34 albums and EPs so far this year (not counting whatever they put out in November and December). I love a dusty synth jam as much as the next guy (probably more), but does this deluge do the music justice? Even for followers of the label, a portion of Dark Entries' output is likely to go unheard.
One of those five 12-inches was by The Pool, AKA Patrick Keel, a one-man band from Austin, Texas who released a string of records in the early '80s. Dance It Down / Jamaica Running is without a doubt a worthwhile reissue. "Dance It Down" is a bright and breezy cut of new wave, available here with or without Keel's quasi-rapping. "Jamaica Resting" and the slightly revved up "Jamaica Running" are lazy groovers full of woody percussion. (If they sound oddly familiar, it's because LCD Soundsystem "referenced" them quite liberally on This Is Happening's "Dance Yrself Clean.")
We also get rare "European Remix" versions of "Dance It Down" and "Jamaica Running," though they only weigh down the record. Heard three times in a row, even fine tracks like these start to get old. As a label, Dark Entries is exceptionally well-curated and impressively thorough (this reissue comes remastered with new artwork and a 12-page booklet of photos and press clippings), but they could afford to be more concise.
TracklistA1 Dance It Down
A2 Dance In Dub
A3 Dance It Down (European Remix)
B1 Jamaica Running
B2 Jamaica Resting
B3 Jamaica Running (European Remix)