Roisin Murphy, "If We're In Love (Ashley Beedle Remix)" (2005)

When Lamb released their second album in 1999, they titled it Fear of Fours: in order, they announced, to signal their desire to stay away from four-to-the-floor beats, which to them had become a cliché. "There's a whole lot more that can be done that hasn't necessarily got a kick drum on every beat," Louise Rhodes said. "It's not that we're forsaking it...we just feel there's a lot more that can be done." The result was an album full of skittering rhythms that you would have looked pretty stupid trying to dance to.

It's true, of course, that four-to-the-floor is overused. And it was nice to see Lamb try to move away from typical beats and rhythms; who cares that it resulted in their worst album? But, have I mentioned? Spazzy dancing. Perhaps it's best, then, to think of four-to-the-floor not as a cliché, but as primal: it moves your (i.e., "my") ass without making you (i.e., "me") look too ridiculous.

Ashley Beedle's remix of Roisin Murphy's "If We're In Love" isn't especially innovative -- certainly not as innovative as his transformative mix of, say, of Bent's "Always" -- since all it really does is add a four-four beat, a funky bassline, some synthesized strings, and play up the delirious trumpets. And Roisin's album, with the original version of "If We're In Love," is fascinating in part because of its squiggly nujazz stylings. But sometimes it's just nice to dance without looking like Elaine Benes, you know?