Full disclosure: I’ve heard almost nothing in the way of EDM or modern hip-hop. Although I’ve listened to over 7000 trance albums, all of them were comprised solely of remixes of “Sandstorm” by Darude (and I enjoyed every single one of them). My sorely incomplete knowledge of hip-hop starts in 1979 and ends somewhere around 2005. Why do I expose my music critic dilletantism? Two reasons: 1) It pleases me to induce cringe in pretentious art critics. And 2) Count Klassy and Sisco Kennedy’s EDM/hip-hop cover of Fleetwood Mac’s indeed dreamy “Dreams” is nothing short of joyous, inspiring, and audacious in all the right ways–even to the uninitiated such as myself.
EDM’s detractors find it to be obnoxious, repetitive, and vacuous, but Klassy and Kennedy sidestep all of that by taking poetic license with the song; they know that one must demonstrate an understanding of the rules (the guidelines, anyway) before breaking them.
Case in point, their iteration retains the smooth groove of the original’s opening and keeps its gorgeous mood throughout much of it, largely by updating its lush vocals with a 21st century mix of mostly laid-back rapping and singing. As a bonus, Klassy’s bit of bespoke lyrics about witches work all too well considering the reputation among goths of “Dreams’s” original vocalist. It’s a great detail.
The only strike against the song is the half-timing beat at the chorus. Elsewhere in the song it works, but in this context it doesn’t sustain the mood and too abruptly changes gears. It’s there to remind us that the song is a hip-hop cover by facilitating such a beat, but it feels forced–especially when this is one part of the song that could’ve stayed close to the original. Anything more ethereal–and hip-hop is quite capable of ethereality as cloud rap and all those “lo-fi beats to study to” playlists have shown us–would’ve worked better if Klassy and Sisco wanted to keep the hip-hop fusion vibe going.
But a single rhythmic misstep cannot mar their cover too much; the rest of the sounds at the chorus are all on point, from the hip-hop backing vocals that seamlessly fuse far-apart genres to the reverberations from each instrument and Klassy’s voice. It all creates a magical, surreal atmosphere that hearkens back to the original’s and amplifies it.
Klassy himself doesn’t go partyboi on this one because he knows that, despite EDM’s usual role in more–shall we say–carnal settings (no judgment, of course), “Dreams” isn’t quite the same party, although it is certainly conducive to dancing. Considering their backgrounds in EDM, Klassy and Kennedy ingeniously capitalized on this groove and deepened it.
Count Klassy and Sisco Kennedy’s Fleetwood Mac cover “Dreams” dares to go where most fear to tread–and in confidence and style no less. Doubtlessly, narrow-minded classic rock boomers (not the openminded ones; they’re legit and cool)—whose musical buff-ery might more accurately be described as musical buffoonery–will blow a gasket listening to this interpretation of one of the perennial favorites of their artistic canon, but who cares what they think? That’s exactly why this song deserves to exist. Other artists might wildly mishandle an extremely contemporary rendition of a timeless classic, but Klassy and Kennedy remembered to cover the song rather than merely update or translate it. Those too cowardly to cultivate a broad taste in aesthetics won’t appreciate this, but Count Klassy & Sisco Kennedy’s “Dreams” stands in proud defiance of their conservatism. That’s why it totally slaps.
Good review – except for one point: “Doubtlessly, classic rock boomers–whose musical buff-ery might more accurately be described as musical buffoonery–will blow a gasket listening to this interpretation of one of the perennial favorites of their artistic canon, but who cares what they think?” – I’m one of those “classic rock boomers”… and I’m also one of the producers of this video. I realize that the comment is supposed to be “toung in cheek” but maby “EDM or modern hip-hop” aren’t the only things you know nothing about….