Though Hoyas have been done with finals for over a month now, athletes on the sailing and track and field teams did not get a break. This past weekend, both teams finally concluded their respective seasons with historic wins.

Sailing

Georgetown’s sailing team traveled to Austin, Texas for the ICSA/GILL Coed Dinghy National Championship. With their strong season to date, it was no surprise when the team came away with the national title. The Hoyas finished the event 32 points ahead of their closest competitor in Roger Williams University, while also beating out traditional powerhouses Yale and Harvard.

Mike Callahan, Georgetown’s head coach, lauded his team’s approach throughout the weekend. “Georgetown approached each day of the event like three different regattas. The sailors started each day fresh and did not worry about other teams, they just focused on their own sailing”.

Adding to the team’s list of accomplishments, junior Chris Barnard was awarded the Everett B. Morris Trophy for College Sailor of the Year.

More on Track and Field, football after the jump!

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Oh to be a Pop Diva

After a disappointing week from the folks at AudioPornCentral, I’ve been forced to post up a remix I’ve been sitting on for a couple weeks now: a bombtastic revamping of Lady Gaga’s Love Game.

Party Rock takes the scandalously seductive Love Game (I think Disco-Stick is one of the best euphemisms for a man’s business I’ve heard in some time) speeds it up, throws down some hawt house beatz, and adds LMFAO as the sensitive male counterpart to Miss. Gaga’s out-of-control horny club goddess persona. The two opposites work nicely together as LMFAO pines away that, “girls want my body but not my mind,” whereas Gaga just wants to, “take a ride on [his] disco-stick.”

It’s no secret that female power pop dance club hits are my guilty pleasure, and this song is on the top of my list. Say what you will about Gaga as a pop idol, this song, after going through Party Rock’s fantastic mixers, will still knock even the most pop-critical hipster into auditory submission as their feet start kickin’ and their clothes come off.

Stay tuned for next week, I’ll probably be posting a couple end-of-the-summer mellow mixes to calm every one down before the craziness of school starts, plus they’re always good for the end of the night songs when people just want to chill.

Over and out.

Lady Gaga (ft. LMFAO) – Love Game (Party Rock Remix)

On the one hand, you need to lend Death Cab some cred. Even as the four-piece has transitioned from indie to major (Barsuk to Atlantic), they’ve still had the chutzpah to mess with their sound a bit, risking the longevity of their “commercial” careers for the sake of progress. Their first post-Barsuk effort (Plans) had its fair share of issues—sometimes kitschy, sometimes boring, often times forcibly “catchy”—yet it still rose to the occasion, balancing a new set of expectations imposed on the band. Case in point: a song like “Soul Meets Body” may have been overplayed in 2005, but it still sounded like nothing else on the radio at the time. Not bad, Death Cab.

Three years later and we’re handed “I Will Possess Your Heart,” the new single from the band’s forthcoming LP Narrow Stairs. Lo’ and behold, it picks up where “Different Names for the Same Thing” (my favorite track off of Plans) left off: gorgeously spacious production, a hefty bassline, McGerr’s trusty drumming, and even some dissonant guitar work. And holy smokes! The track stretches out for 8.5 minutes! Fuck you, Atlantic!

That may sound like a marathon, but it’s worth it (right?). For about a minute and a half (roughly 3:11 to 4:33), the song finds euphony—feedback engulfs the track, a vibraphone accentuates Gibbard’s sleek piano part, and some hushed “na-na-na-na-na-na-na”s creep in subtly.

Then 4:34 hits. And it all goes to shit.

Gibbard coos off perhaps his sappiest writing yet: “How I wish you could see the potential—the potential of you and me. It’s like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can’t read. Cuz ya, you gotta spend some time, love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you’ll find love.” (Drum roll, ladies and gentlemen.) “I will possess your heart.”

At this point, there’s no saving it. We’ve already heard the music for over five minutes (Harmer is still playing that bassline) and even that organ overlay falls flat.

To quote Gibbard, the song is “elegantly bound” but seemingly in a foreign language (Who talks like that? No, honestly, who?) Sure, maybe Death Cab’s songs were always sentimental, but transparent? Hardly. Excuse me while I throw on “Company Calls Epilogue” and mourn the death of a talented lyricist.

(And fuck you, Atlantic!)

“I Will Possess Your Heart” can be heard at www.myspace.com/deathcabforcutie

Bjork’s last album, Volta, was mostly a mess. Boasting collaborations with artists from all over the globe (Konono No. 1, Timbaland, Antony Hegarty, among others), it tried to appeal to everyone and instead sounded like Bjork’s most unfocused work in years. Thankfully, though, Bjork has managed to salvage the project by issuing a series of singles from the album, all of which contain new takes on its material.

Ratatat’s remix of “Wanderlust” is the best of these new versions, perhaps because their take sounds very little like the original. Replacing Bjork’s claustrophobic horns and fuzz bass with a giant guitar army and skittering electronics, the Brooklyn-based duo’s remix is a lot more fun and a more engaging listen. Slow-building and spacious, it’s better than anything on Volta. Count me among those shocked by the fact that nobody has offered Ratatat an album-length production opportunity yet. They deserve it.

These days, I tend to be less obsessive compulsive about “wearing in” great new songs. Some folks can still set trusty ol’ iTunes on repeat-track-ad-infinitum mode. Meanwhile, I now squirm anytime someone decides to play a song more than twice in a row. I don’t care if “Sexual Eruption” is catchy, Shira Hecht, knock it off.

There are always exceptions. For example, I’ve recently noticed that I maintain a soft spot for acoustic numbers about large bodies of water. Case in point: “Deep Blue Sea” by Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear, Department of Eagles). “Deep Blue Sea” is one of Rossen’s home recordings and allegedly evolved from an old British sea song.

Though less ambitious than the standouts of Yellow House (2006), “Deep Blue Sea” sustains a graceful balance between lo-fi intimacy and calculated overlays. Rossen’s guileless vocals emanate a ripe, hypnotic calm that melds perfectly with the spacious acoustics of his (cough) home. It’s not that “Deep Blue Sea” is better than Grizzly Bear’s more refined productions, the song simply lets its natural earnest do all the work. And by the time the whistling kicks in, man, we’re just gliding. Reveries abound!

“Deep Blue Sea” is available for enjoyment at http://hypem.com/.

—Dan Cook

Photo courtesy of departmentofeagles.com