popwreckoning

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

Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream” was one of my favorite tracks of last year. I did a review on their album as well, which I thought was definitely a solid set of tunes centered upon their biggest hit, “Walking on a Dream”. And since then there have been plenty of great remixes for this track.

.Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream
As described in my review of the album, this song is a pop, synth number, filled with ambiguous romantic lyrics that peacefully create a nostalgic atmosphere of light, ethereal melodies. The song is crafted around the synth drumbeat that softens the music to that of a heartbeat.

.Walking on a Dream – Van She Tech Remix
Van She Tech of the Australian indie poppers, Van She, always creates stunning remixes. She does so again with “Walking on a Dream.” Van She doesn’t alter the track all that much but they certainly infuse electronic aesthetics into it. The mid tempo speed of the track is left intact and layers of distortion are added for a slightly harsher/dance sound. Ethereal flourishes are enhanced by further layered sequencers and the remix speeds up towards the middle end for a little more fun on the floor.

.Walking on a Dream – Treasure Fingers Remix
Treasure Fingers, known for their creative remixes, do some innovative wonders to this song. The music is altered completely, with vocals the only remainder of the original. The mix starts off fairly silent with slaps on the bongos to generate an island feel. This is followed by echoed vocals, plenty of laser sounding sequencers that pierce through the music to pick up the pace. Eventually when the vocals kick in you have a variety of sounds that create a pop, electro infused Caribbean vacation that puts a bounce in your step.

.Walking on a Dream – T.B.S. Remix
There are plenty of mixes out for this track and I attempted to pick the ones that are (1) the best or (2) diverse. A lot, however, are fairly similar to one another. The T.B.S. mix is one that stuck out because they took a different route than all the others. While the other remixes attempted to keep the melody or the feel of it the same as the original; light, airy, romantic, T.B.S. said ‘Eff That!’ and went with the other way. They have literally killed the romantic, light nature of this song, but with a positive result. The music is pure electronic distortion, grinding and syncopated rhythms, for a very harsh feel. The niceness of the original is chucked to be replaced with a melody that is gritty, edgy and with an attitude.

Empire of the Sun: website | myspace | Walking on a Dream review