 There has been a kind of remix craze going in the last few years. At the moment it feels as if every song needs to be remixed as if to justify the original song’s existence / hype. It has reached a stage where a new remix is given more attention than a new song by the same artist. It was a long time ago that remixes were the sole property of dance music and rare white labels that could be found in shops in Soho, which after all is fair enough. I rarely get excited nowadays by a new remix, especially if I’ve heard the original song previously. I’m not really into hearing a new version of a song where someone has cunningly added a piano to the mix or more reverb to the vocals. Sometimes it can be quite interesting though, such as the remix of Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” that had Kanye West on it, the Rocca remix of Lykke Li’s “Everyone but me” or Aesop Rock remixing The Mountain Goats. There has to be an element of subversion or surprise there, which is why I find Black Kids remixing Lykke Li to sound more like a PR trick than something I’d like to listen to. Black Kids seem to have done a remix of “I’m good, I’m gone”. It’s no fantastic remix, but they’ve removed those half-annoying tinny backing vocals in the beginning of the song! Wowcha! Boom! Bam! One super hip artist remixing another! Who would have thunk it? Personally I prefer that live performance of “I’m good, I’m gone” with Robyn etc that came out earlier this year. Gothenburg band Pacific! (who are pretty great) have recently remixed The Concretes’ “Keep yours”, and they’ve managed to put their own unique mark on it, which I guess is something that should be given credit to – take a good song and make it sound like your wrote it! The infamous Kleerup (whose new album is a bit of a disappointment I must say) did a terrible remix of the same song last year. Speaking of terrible remixes, Monster Bobby is not exactly doing any favours to Marit Bergman’s “Out on the piers”. Ok, I know I risk sounding like an old fart here. I’m not getting all annoyed by remixes and I’m not thinking of putting a bumper sticker on my car nor starting a facebook group advocating “death to the remix”, I’m just a bit baffled that’s all. Are people craving remixes or is it just a phenomenon that has spiraled out of control a bit? I still get pissed off if I buy an EP from a band and there are 4 remixes of the same song on it, instead of any b-sides / new songs. The Sound of Arrow’s new EP “Danger” has got a nice format – three songs and four remixes (plus an intro and outro) – everyone’s happy (even those intro/outro fans)! Hopefully some other artists will take note, probably not. Maybe the whole music climate where no one listens to a song more than a week doesn’t give artists and labels any choice but to flog remixes instead of new material. A remix of or by an artist is a good way of telling people that the artist is alive and well (this is how Pet Shop Boys seem to have survided in the last few years, and done it rather well). On the other hand, the thought of artists remixing each other’s songs is rather charming and romantic, it brings to mind some kind of notions of community and friendship. Have a listen to some of the above mentioned good and bad remixes:
Lykke Li – I’m good, I’m gone (Black Kids remix) (mp3)
The Concretes – Keep yours (Pacific! remix) (mp3)
The Concretes – Keep yours (Kleerup remix) (mp3)
Marit Bergman – Out on the piers (Monster Bobby remix) (mp3)
/SLabels: Lykke Li, Marit Bergman, Pacific, The Concretes |
