I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the ridiculously prolific, New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar through this site’s 14 year history. During that period, the New York-based JOVM mainstay has built a national and international profile for crafting slickly produced, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes.

2024 has been a rather busy year for Rhythm Scholar. If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you’d know that I wrote about his  woozy remix of one of my favorite Tears for Fears tunes “Change,” and his sleek, club friendly remix of Duran Duran‘s 1984 track “Wild Boys” a that featured chopped up vocals for the hook, several Duran Duran samples and a blazing Andy Sexton guitar solo while retaining Simon Le Bon‘s vocal, the memorable hook and the synth melody.

The JOVM mainstay returns with a remix of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” that retains Curt Smith‘s imitable vocal and pairs with a subtly modernized remix with bursts of strummed acoustic guitar, thumping beats, swirling atmospheric synths, twinkling keys and soulful horn solo. With this remix, Rhythm Scholar manages to place a classic and beloved song within a contemporary context while managing to retain the original’s brooding and uneasy air.