popwreckoning

NightWaves is a duo consisting of Josh Legg and Kyle Petersen, on the label Binary. They actually run and Binary Entertainment. Their tracks are out in various singles as well as on the Binary compilation album.

.NightWaves – “Fascination”
Fascination is a syrupy, disco electronic piece. The song rolls a long slowly with extremely youthful vocals, that reach high levels during the chorus. The music is interspersed with spacey, twinkling sequencers that feel extremely ethereal. Fascination is an addictive, moody track that works as a ‘thinking time’ song rather than a song to dance too.

.Junkie XL Remix
Junkie XL fashions his remix in a similar, syrupy, slow paced manner, but makes the intro sound more interesting and upbeat, with lighter and sunnier sounds from sequencers, a harder hitting drum intro and sharper synth presses The vocals run a long in the introspective manner, the music becomes less ethereal, attributed mainly to a heavier percussion beat. This one gets you moving a little more.

.Keenhouse Remix
The Keenhouse mix has an 80s/Calvin Harris feel to it. It could initially pass as a Human League song, with the very 80s synthesizers, the drawn out, emotive touching to the vocals, the deep percussion and the light bass lines. This mix is also faster and lighter than the original, making it progressively more danceable.

.WPAHP Remix
WPAHP interestingly start off with string arrangements, making this sound almost like a classical symphony from the 1800s. The rest of the mix runs at this slow pace, picking up ever so slightly in segments as it progresses. The strings never cease yet seem to become more powerful as the speed picks up. The most noticeable aspect to the mix is the lack of significant percussion, which makes it different than most remixes, which really rely upon that, but it is also what drives the originality of this remix.

NightWaves: myspace

Walter Meego is a band from Chicago, Illinois. They’ve had a few EPs and singles out as well as their first album, Voyager, released last year. The first song off of that album is “Forever,” one of my favorites.

.Walter Meego – “Forever”
“Forever” is a sweet pop song, delivered with a soft sincerity through the vocal chords of lead singer, Justin Sconza. The track has elements of electronic music, but in a much simpler fashion. ‘Forever’ is very reminiscent of Daft Punk‘s “Digital Love” – a ballad designed for a little dancing.

.Escort Remix
The Escort remix has no similarity to the original. At least I can’t make out any similarities. This is a pure instrumental piece, all the vocals stripped and thrown away. The song is edgier, faster and focuses a throbbing percussion beat spiked with electric guitars. It diversifies itself in the middle by featuring a solo of the thick and heavy bass guitar riff.

.Van She Tech Remix
The sweet, love filled ballad is transformed into a fast, electronic swiveling tune, sprinkled with sparkles of synthesizers. The vocals are left in tact, but feel forced around the new music of the mix. Van She Tech makes the tune harsher as well, which can be slightly jarring at times. But it does feature beautiful, orchestral melodies at specific intervals.

Walter Meego: website | myspace

Phoenix’s fourth LP drop, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, was critically praised by critics the world over and shone a light on a band that through no choice of their own, eluded immense popularity. One track off of that album that was well received was “Love Like A Sunset.” Though I do enjoy the track, I don’t hold it in as high esteem as others when compared to others from the album, however, I quite like the remixes.

.Phoenix – Love Like A Sunset
“Love Like A Sunset” is an extremely long song, running close to eight minutes, with the majority being a dark and moody instrumental composition. The piano keys fall like raindrops on a cool and dreary evening, the melody hums, and a foreboding essence plumes from the staccato guitars. Though around six minutes in, sunshine breaks through the gloom with sweetly strummed guitars, Mars’ gentle vocals and a slower pace that ends with “You’re like a sunset.”

.Shuttle Remix
The Shuttle remix is concise, which is welcome. It’s not ominous or brooding like the original, but comes in with programmed drums that pitter patter throughout the track. Brief, but intense pushes on synthesizers are intermittently inserted, but right away we are welcomed with Mars’ vocals, which is the best part of the track. From there the song picks up with insane pace, become a pseudo techy house mix, with fuzz, distortion and bubbles of electronic tweaks. Also worth noting is that Shuttle is a member of Passion Pit, with whom Phoenix was playing a few shows with.

.Animal Collective Remix
The AC remix sticks to the blueprints of the moodiness of the original. The song is raw with a touch of tribal drums and the airy feel of the original. Here, too, Mars’ vocals come in without any delay and echo across the tune in a spacial manner. The remix picks up a little speed but for the most part sticks to this format, pleasant, understated, but nonetheless great to listen to.

Phoenix: website | myspace | @ rumsey playfield | @ monolith | @ record bar

Photo by: Dese’Rae L. Stage

I’ve always really liked Simian Mobile Disco, the production and remix team, which I guess you could call a band. They formed from the ashes of Simian and the members consist of James Ford and Jas Shaw. Their music is electronic based but always original and most of the time, a little out there. “Audacity of Huge” is a track off of their last studio release Temporary Pleasure. I didn’t think I liked it at first but I actually really do. It’s just so damn catchy.

.Simian Mobile Disco – “Audacity of Huge”
The song starts off very odd. The sequencers bubble like hot water, releasing up and down bleeps that get your head bopping in almost no time. We’re treated to a strangely auto-tuned voice that is reminiscent of a robotic dog barking. The chorus sounds like a trippy group of Gregorian Monks. It’s just a twitching, funky, electronic piece of production with nonsensical lyrics about Joey Ramone, PM Dawn and Damien Hirst, to name but a few. Best part of the track is vocals, they’re youthful and sleek, and sung by Chris Keating of Yeasayer.

.Dada Life Guerilla Fart #10 Remix
I don’t even know where a title like that comes from. The mix itself is a similar production the original and it’s hard to tell them apart. The Dada Life mix is a little harder and faster, with a bit more of a techno touch. But the vocals and overall progression of the words are allowed to run through. The biggest difference is that this mix splices the song at various points to interject its own musical compositions. Slight, but noticeable.

.Allez Allez Remix
This is another one of those mixes that hardly has a sound similarity to the original. The only part that sticks it the underlying bass riff. Otherwise everything built on it is much more ethereal, instrumental, softer and significantly more peaceful. It feels very airy and dreamy. It’s a great tune to have on in the background or at a party when you’re aiming for something a little more low key than dance heavy.

.Simian Mobile Disco Space Cave Version
Done by the originals boys, this is a re-working of their own. Very similar in progression but stripped raw, hence the Space Cave name. It’s very clubby, trancey and for those ‘out of your mind’ dance experiences. No vocals here, just pure beats and bleeps.

Simian Mobile Disco: website | myspace

Friendly Fires is a pop trio from the UK and one of my favorite bands of the year. They’ve been making quite a name for themselves and were one of the nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize. I haven’t listened to their entire album in whole, but I keep running across its songs on different occasions and find myself loving them. I think I’ve covered the whole album by now and nothing on it disappoints me. They also make really fun and creative music videos, which all contain some pretty wild and funky dance moves by lead singer Ed McFarlane, which he alone could only pull off so that they don’t look lame, but instead rather impressive.

.Friendly Fires – “Paris”
“Paris” was the second single released from their album and a track that really started to get them noticed. It features backing vocals from Au Revoir Simone during the chorus, which to me is the best part of the song. I say so because the vocals are matched with Ed McFarlane’s words, which are sung so high they express a youthful yearning for something out of reach, both combining for a stargazing chorus. Musically it’s quick with soft percussion featuring cowbells and an immensely depressed synthesizer for an organ feel.

.Aeroplane Remix
I like this mix a lot more than the original. It starts off with moody synthesizers with every press on the keyboard an isolated note. The track employs some mixed cool and refreshing musical ‘ah’s’ that are more windy than wordy. It also isolates the best part of the song, Au Revoir Simone’s vocals. In fact, McFarlane’s vocals are absent, which isn’t really a loss, just because the female vocals make it an intimate song. The mix also takes the cowbells from the original and amplifies them with a slight electronic touch that bounce and prance across the song for a glockenspiel effect. It’s really just a pretty mix.

.Arto Mwambe Remix
A little rougher take on the song but still creative and good nonetheless. The Arto mix takes the soft, shoe gazey feel of the original and breathes a little more of a dance club vibe. We have some heavier dance beats, a touch of trance synths, and the lyrics come off more like rap than singing. This mix gets a little repetitive at times because it fails to diversify itself, but it really locks you in a trance if you’re on the dancefloor taking some medication you shouldn’t be taking.

.Justus Kohncke Remix
I have to say I really like this mix. It’s the most re-worked of them all with a long instrumental intro that keeps the soft, intimate mood of the track. It breaks in with the vocals, which are heavier, coming across more direct to the listener. It then features a multitude of sounds that keep churning in a light trance/electro vibe.

Friendly Fires: website | myspace | Friendly Fires review | remix monday: “skeleton boy” | @ black cat | @ Dot to Dot Festival | interview with pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3 | @ Lollapalooza 2009 | @ le poisson rouge | @ music hall of williamsburg

Photo by: Bethany Smith