Everything Everything is a British rock band that’s started to get on the scene. I don’t know too much about them, but they’ve had some good tracks out. I don’t even know if they have an album. But the BBC says they are a band to watch out for in 2010.
.Everything Everything – “My Keys, Your Boyfriend”
Love the title of this track. The song is tough to describe. It definitely feels like a pop song, though has a little more edge than typical ones. It’s softer than rock but rockier than electronic music, certainly combing the styles of both. The vocals are somewhere between being sung and rapped. It’s enjoyable and unique.
.DelphicRemix
Delphic’s remix is the reason I found out about the song. Delphic is an electronic group from England, another one hailed by the BBC a band to watch for 2010. Their stuff has been very good so far, certainly evidenced by the remix they do here. They convert the song from the fast, jumpy number it is, into a dreamy, electronic tune. The vocals are bare, focusing on the intro whispers of the original. A haunting mysticism is delivered from Delphic.
.Portmanteau Remix
The Portmanteau remix combines elements of both the original and the Delphic mix in a sense. The rapping/sung style vocals are kepy, the rock aesthetic is gone and an electronic one takes it place. But this is slightly jarring and uncomfortable. The mix here seems confused with too much. It has moments but the main riff could drive someone insane.
Remember The Bravery? “An Honest Mistake,” “Unconditional”? Their ongoing feud with The Killers when both bands came out at the same time? Well, it’s been a while since something good of theirs has been out, including their entire second album. They released their third, Stir The Blood, just the other day, to atrocious reviews. However, I’m quite enjoying the single “Slow Poison.”
.The Bravery – “Slow Poison”
“Slow Poison” is done in The Bravery’s same fashion: a little rock, a little goth and a little synth. It’s an upbeat number, perfect as a summer’s driving song and pretty fun to listen too, especially the guitar breaks. I also like how the song trails off at the end; you never really hear that anymore.
.Of MontrealRemix
So this is a pretty bad remix. I feature it as just an example (though some may like it). Usually Of Montreal just make music; I’ve never heard a remix by them and this might be why. All the sounds jar together and collide with so much noise and fluidity. The mix is heavier, obtuse, with no real style: A remix gone wrong.
.Drop The Lime Remix
A much fuller remix, with electro thumps and tropical drums. The vocals are allowed to follow through like that of the original, but the music is changed to that of the dancing kind. It’s slower, heavier with little fits of speed. It’s slightly spacey, but one that’ll surely be able to have you shaking that still body of yours.
.Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”
Now I’m not a huge fan of this track. It starts off with creepy “Ra Ra Ah Ah, GaGa” gurgles, followed by Lady GaGa singing in a deep, tough voice. The music is subtle, with a hefty drumbeat and subtle keyboards for an eerie feel. The song certainly picks up during the chorus, becoming more poppy with Lady GaGa singing in a lighter tone, matched to lighter music.
.GrumRemix
Grum does a great turn on the song. He leaves out the creepy gurgles and focuses on the poppier side of the music while simultaneously adding his thick electronic tweaks. They come in fast forms and slow, churning, thick forms. He adds to the song rather than altering it much, highlighting its better parts to something more suited for normal people.
.Starsmith Remix
The Starsmith remix is the most dancey of all of them and only because it’s the quickest. It features 80s sci-fi laser sounds, plenty of synths, electro pops and light percussion. It speeds through rather fast till the end, wear it slows for a typical trance build up, bursting into an odd rap.
Hercules & Love Affair turn this into a style that is a complete aesthetic of what they do. They slow it down, bring it to a walking pace of cool disco and funk beats. The one bubbling bass line pours throughout the song, added by light xylophone taps. The mix really showcases Lady GaGa’s vocals as they are louder than anything else in the mix. It’s a softer and perhaps more pleasant working.
Gossip is a three-piece indie rock outfit from Washington, fronted by Beth Ditto. They released their fourth studio album, Music For Men, this past summer and “Heavy Cross” was the first single released. Their sound is a mixture of vocals that are soul and gospel and music that is funky punk and dance.
Gossip – “Heavy Cross” (watch video below)
Heavy Cross starts off with quiet staccato strums and soft ‘oohs’ from Ditto. Though peaceful, there’s a slight urgency to the music that builds up and eventually breaks through with aggressive guitars and dancey percussion. Ditto’s voice, powerful and diva-esque, carries the entire track, from her whispers to her screams, the music matching all the highs and lows. There’s a touch of synth splattered throughout for a retro feel.
“Heavy Cross” (Yuksek Remix) Yuksek does the best remix in my opinion. The song is structurally the same though layered with creativity. The first addition is stadium thumps and claps surrounding the staccato and the vocals, eventually Yuksek plays with distortion by adding in electronic and house beats. The result is a quicker more dangerous track.
“Heavy Cross” (Burns Remix)
Similar in structure to the original and Yuksek’s mix, Burns adds his own flavor as a layer to what already exists. His mix is tremendously faster and concentrates on percussion which is a driving force, thick and heavy. He plays with that throughout on different levels. Burns allows for a slower build up in the beginning before bringing all the noise in.
“Heavy Cross” (Fred Falke Remix)
Though not the best, Fred Falke does the most diverse of the remixes, the one that sounds nothing like the original. He strips the original melody and inserts his own, ethereal, light synthesizer sound. Mr. Falke then adds in speed via a thick bass line that snaps around like a rubber band for an original sound. It’s a ligher and faster track, the most appropriate for the dance floor.
Certainly one of the most popular albums of 2009 was Phoenix’s fourth release, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I’ve always liked Phoenix’s music from their debut in 2000 with United, but this album was something else. And I’m glad to see Phoenix getting the attention and stardom they deserve. One of my favorite tracks off of the album was “Fences” and I really like the remixes that have been done for this song.
.Phoenix – “Fences”
Fences is a mid tempo track that feels faster with the music, but slower through lead singer Thomas Mars’ vocals. The song has a romantic tinge to it with the highs and lows of Mars’ crooning voice. The vocals are really the best part that reach a falsetto, the music pursuing the change, creating a song with a lot of variety. The music is a beautiful blend of rock, jangly guitars with touches of synthesizers and light body moving drums.
.Def StarrRemix
This is by far the best remix of the song. The synthy beginning reminds me of the intro to “Forever Young” by Alphaville. The mix then jumps into squiggles and rubs on a synthesizer, which create sounds as such. The rock aesthetic of the song is subtly peeled away to be replaced by soft electronic music. The music is incredibly hushed and delicate; the altered version comes across as something simpler and purer. It’s the track I listen to the most out of all of them. Mars’ vocals seemed enhanced here, perhaps because they stand out amongst the softer music.
.Friendly Fires Remix
Friendly Fires change up things significantly here. The music is louder, jumpier and definitely faster. I see this one being played on dance floors. It has an old schools 90s dance vibe to it, mixed with jangly pianos, splinter splashed drums, and eventually some heavy presses on the trusty synth. The vocals are of course left in place, because they’re oh so good, though at times come across muffled by the music. Either way, a great re-working of the original.
.Neo Tokyo Remix
The Neo Tokyo mix is an even further cry away from the original. All rock/soft aesthetics are stripped to be replaced by French electro trash instrumentation; all very distorted, jarring, sleazy and buzzy. But it’s a fun mix to get into, as it has typical house builds up and come downs. It’s got all sorts of craziness in it throughout.
The Shoes is a French duo that recently released their EP People Movin and will be coming out with their debut album shortly. “People Movin” was done in collaboration with Primary 1.
.The Shoes – “People Movin”
People Movin is a minimalist electronic track that brittles with a shiny pop. It has that subtle cool evident in much of the French scenesters. The vocals are extremely soft and charming, akin to an R&B sound. Light synthesizers permeate portions of the song that fit the aesthetic of an old Nintendo game. Amongst the marching band-esque drums is a filtered sound that is reminiscent of background music in French New Wave cinema.
.“People Movin” (Monsieur MonsieurRemix)
The MM remix is a proper transformation into a more electronic track, with thick dubs, recycled vocals, bleeps and sequencers. The pace of the song, however, is extremely slowed down, so this doesn’t become a dancey tune by any means. Most of the vocals are replaced by instrumentals, and a thick, syrupy drum machine pounds a muffled beat through the track. Another mix that works more for background music rather than as a focal point, which is what the original really is.
.“People Movin” (Siriusmo Remix)
There is hardly a change from the original to this remix. I’m struggling to note much dissimilarity. The Siriusmo remix is a little faster, a touch more electronic, the vocals seem slightly stripped down and raw. Musically the percussion remains fairly static, synthesizers appear more frequently, but for the most part Siriusmo could’ve tried a little harder.
.“People Movin” (Arbogast Remix)
This is probably one of the better remixes of this song. It’s quicker, lighthearted and permeates an essence of youthful adventure and recklessness. The fast pace of the vocals bring a much needed energy into the song, particularly after the above remixes. Arbogast’s remix does maintain a similar structure to the song in that it doesn’t transform it to a dance floor, electro pounding anthem. It keeps the similar percussion and guitars.
Some crazy tunes today. In this post I’ll be featuring Killer on the Dancefloor, a DJ/Production duo from the urban realms of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Killer on the Dancefloor is the combination of DJs Phillip A. Fatu & Ali Disco B. They’ve had some lengthy experience in the digital/electronic world, sharing the stage with the likes of Justice, Digitalism and So Me. They seek inspiration from the mash up scene and when not mixing/performing as Killer on the Dancefloor they manage Maximize, a sub label from Transit Music. And to be honest, I started to do this post because of the “MMMathiasRemix.”
.Killer on the Dancefloor – “Gringo Oba Oba”
“Gringo Oba Oba” is a very creatively created song. It starts off old school with the scratching, ill adjusted sound of a record player, then coming in clean with hard, heavy, South American bongos, pounding deep and heavy. Very native sounds, until we start seeing signs of progressive electronic music, with deep sequencers, distorted bleeps, subtle breathing, and eventually light melodies to distract from the heavy sounds. This is also encompassed by pseudo robotic lyrics speaking “Rio De Janeiro, Killer on the Dancefloor.” Very weird indeed. But pretty fun. However, I don’t know when any normal person would listen to this.
.“MMMathias Remix”
Much more of a sane tune here. And by sane I mean normal. MMMathias transforms this a great deal, making it more of a continuous song than a jumble of different music like the original. He brings to it an electro house feel that is missing in the original. And from that he builds a great synth riff that underlines the track. He features the original sequencers, which he adjusts lightly in that they play softer and bounce across the song. The odd vocals are still available, but MMMathias cuts them in the right points. A great part of the mix is when everything goes silent and the song seems to fade out, but MMMathias brings it back up again with a plethora of electronica and then the vocals.
.“Tropikill Remix”
The Tropikill mix starts in much the same fashion as the original. It features hits on South American bongs, only that they are faster here. The vocals kick in here as well but are more nonsensical. This remix keeps a very similar aesthetic in the random music and cuts, but adds heavier and more trance/90s club vibes. I actually think this is a pretty poor mix. But alas, they only made two for this track thus far.
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 XLRemix 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.
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.
.EscortRemix
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.
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.”
.ShuttleRemix
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.
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
