Tag: remix

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Although he’s known as a co-founder of renowned, old school hip-hop act, Ultramagnetic MCs and for a lengthy  solo career, in which he has taken up a number of aliases and personas while perfecting and expanding upon an imitable flow full of surrealistic and fantastic tangents, grim and nightmarishly violent imagery and pop cultural references — namely comic books and cartoons, Kool Keith  may arguably be one of hip-hop’s most uncompromisingly weird and challenging artists. And interestingly enough 2016 may have also been one of the biggest years for The Bronx-based emcee, as the long-lost full-length effort Pimp to Eat from his collaborative project Analog Brothers with Ice-T, Pimp Rex, Marc Live and Black Silver was released earlier this year, along with his latest solo effort Future Magnetic, which had the incredibly prolific emcee collaborating with Ras Kass, Atmosphere’s Slug, MF Doom and Dirt Nasty.

In fact, last year, I wrote about “World Wide Lamper,” a single consisted of a menacingly sparse and hypnotic production featuring winkling synths and subtle yet propulsive drum programming paired with Kool Keith, B.A.R.S. Murre and Dirt Nasty trading braggadocio-filled bars full of insane punchlines that make references to pop culture, the profane, the grisly violent and the surreal. That single was quickly  “Super Hero,”a single that pairs a production consisting of wobbling and undulating synths, stuttering drum programming and looped chiming cymbals around a wildly infectious hook with two renowned emcees trading verses full of super-heroes, villains and anti-heroes maneuvering through a comic book-styled universe.

L’Orange an up-and-coming, Nashville, TN-based producer, who collaborated with Mr. Lif on his The Life & Death Of Scenery, released a free EP Koala and is about to go our on tour with Wax Tailor, and in his free time, the up-and-coming producer remixed Kool Keith’s and MF Doom’s “Super Hero.” And with the L’Orange remix, the Tennessean producer pairs two of hip-hop’s most acclaimed emcees ridiculous rhyme schemes with classic, super hero/comic book dialogue and a production featuring twinkling keys, some old-timey clang and clatter, a distorted old school-leaning blues vocal sample, and tweeter and woofer rattling 808-like beats  – while retaining the song’s hook. And in some way, the L’Orange remix manages to boldly and mischievously evoke film noirs, with an insane yet impeccably done ballroom caper — and you can probably picture the heroes (or shall I say, anti-heroes, in this case) narrowly yet confidently escaping capture.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of “Pavement” earlier this year, the Brooklyn-based songwriter, producer and electronic music artist Daniel Balk, best known as Stray Echo received attention for a breezy, Afropop and electro pop inspired production consisting of propulsive, tweeter and woofer rattling beats, a sinuous and funky guitar line and a flirtatious hook that seems inspired by Grace Jones’ “Pull Up to The Bumper” — while also talking about the role of the internet and social media in our increasingly politically charged world in an incredibly subtle fashion.

The up-and-coming producer recently enlisted the Grammy-nominated, JOVM mainstays Sofi Tukker to remix the song, a song that the duo have been enormous fans of, and their remix completely re-imagines the song as a classic house music track, complete with stuttering and propulsive percussion, shimmering synths and tweeter and woofer rattling beats, while retaining the song’s sultry flirtatiousness and its crowd-pleasing, club banging nature.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Sofia Kourtesis is a Berlin, Germany-based DJ, producer and activist, who as a producer and DJ has developed a reputation for a sound that possesses elements of tech house, dream-pop, new wave and others while frequently using anything at her fingertips to create something unique — and interestingly enough has been described by some as falling somewhere between the minimalism of Aphex Twin and the ambiance of Jai Paul.

Over the holidays, Kourtesis released a sensual and atmospheric remix of Me Succeeds‘ “Cool Kids” in which she uses a chopped and reversed sample of her uncle’s voice, skittering drum programming and layers of shimmering and  gently undulating synths which gives the original a mischievous yet hopeful air — and a result, a completely different air from the slow-burning and industrial-leaning original.

As Kourtesis explains of her remix “The Cool Kids remix is really energetic and playful, I thought about our new generation, these people who are young and cool on their own special unique form. Kids wanna change things and maybe save the world someday.”

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of OWSLA’s Phonat, The Young Punx‘s Hal Ritson and Ali Jamieson, the production and electronic music artist trio Heavy Disco Soundystem recently released a slick and glittering Italo-disco remix of Kyle Dixon’s and Michael Stein’s “Kids,” off the Stranger Things Soundtrack that retains a portion of the original’s analog synth melody but adds  propulsive drum beat, cascading layers of shimmering synths turning the moody, John Carpenter-like original into a thumping, club-friendly track that sounds indebted to Giorgio Moroder and 90s house music.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few years, you’ve come across several posts about  JOVM mainstay artist Rhythm Scholar. And over that period of time. the New York-based DJ, producer and remixer has developed a reputation of being both wildly prolific and for a continuing series of genre-mashing remixes stuffed to the gills with both obscure and recognizable samples, reminiscent of Paul’s Boutique-era Beastie Boys and Girl Talk — and for a series of more straightforward remixes, as well.  Last month, the JOVM mainstay released a breezy and jazzy remix of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” consisting of cascading organs, strummed guitar, double bass, warm blasts of funky horn and swirling electronics.

Rhythm Scholar’s latest remix is a remix of ATCQ’s “Bonita Applebum” that retains the vocal track and hook of the beloved song and pairs it with a breezy, lounge funk/lounge jazz production consisting of twinkling keys, a gorgeous horn arrangement, and boom-bap drums  — and in some way, the JOVM mainstay’s remix while much more uptempo, still retains the cool, Quiet Storm-like charm of the original.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you’ve likely come across several points on JOVM mainstay artist Rhythm Scholar. And over that period of time. the New York-based DJ, producer and remixer has developed a reputation of being both wildly prolific and for a continuing series of genre-mashing remixes stuffed to the gills with both obscure and recognizable samples, reminiscent of Paul’s Boutique-era Beastie Boys and Girl Talk — and for a series of more straightforward remixes, as well. 

The JOVM mainstay artist returns with a breezy and jazzy remix of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It” consisting of cascading organs, strummed guitar, double bass, warm blasts of funky horn and swirling electronics. And Rhythm Scholar’s remix is a throughout re-imagining and reworking of the song, it manages to retain the original’s mischievous and inventive spirit.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: J. Hanna’s Slick Club-Friendly Remix of RICCA VITA’s “Abba Dabba” And It’s Neon Paint Filled Visuals

The original single is a lush, dreamy and ethereal bit of synth pop in which shimmering synths, gently swirling electronics are paired with plaintive vocals in a song that sounds as though it drew from Tame Impala, Vinyl Williams and others. However, the J. Hanna remix turns the psychedelic-leaning song into a slick, futuristic R&B-leaning synth pop in which the original’s plaintive vocals are paired with propulsive drum programming and boom bap-like beats, cascading layers of shimmering synths and razor sharp, contemporary pop-leaning hooks, essentially turning the song into a radio-friendly, club-banging track.

Interestingly, the video was shot not for the original song but for the remix. Shot in just four-and-a-half hours with most of it shot at Ryssemus’ home and segments shot at a few abandoned factories in downtown Nashville. As Ryssemus explains in press notes, “The remix was being released in a few days, and I was spastically [sic] struck with an idea to make and release the music video in the next three days. So I started frantically calling people and trying to make arrangements and the more people that got involved the more it took shape.” “All the neon scenes came first,” Ryssemus explains. “A friend of mine had an idea for doing a photoshoot with neon paint, which as I thought about the concept it spiraled into a place and time- a people. An almost tribal somewhat hedonistic, neon people. With this video, as oppose to the first two, I wanted to make something that felt visually exactly how the music felt. As oppose to taking someone on a journey in a linear logical storyline and I wanted to take someone on more of an emotional journey.” Visually, the video reminds me quite a bit of several videos shot in the 90s.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: George Clinton and Funkadelic Team Up with Kendrick Lamar and Ice Cube for a Sexy, Strutting Remix

More than enough ink has been spilled over the course Parliament Funkadelic’s incredibly lengthy and influential 50+ year run together so delving into their backstory is both largely unnecessary and beyond the scope of this […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

New York-based electro pop duo Sofi Tukker can trace their origins to when members Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern, who were both attending Brown University  met at an art gallery. Hawley-Weld and Halpern quickly started writing music together, based around their desire of crafting accessible world music that could reach a wider audience. Upon the duo’s graduation, they relocated to New York, where over the following year the duo worked on the material that comprised their self-titled EP.

Last June, I wrote about “Drinkee,” the first single off the New York-based electro pop duo’s self-titled debut EP. The song paired Halpern’s breezy production consisting of looping, angular and distorted guitar chords, congos, swirling electronics, thick, syrupy synth chords, a pitched down and a looped vocal sample with Hawley-Weld’s vocals singing lyrics in Brazilian Portuguese that were inspired by Brazilian poet Chacal. Sonically, the song nodded at Brazilian samba, the angular funk of Talking Heads and Las Kellies.

“Matadora,” the latest single of the duo’s upcoming Soft Animals EP pairs flamenco style guitar with tweeter and woofer rattling beats, ambient electronics, warm blasts of horn, animal noises and Hawley-Weld’s sensual cooing in a song that nods at the breezy tropicalia of Brazil and South America and shimmering dance-floor ready house music. Recently, Medina remixed the track — and the remix pushes the song towards more straightforward house music territory as the looped flamenco sample is replaced with an additional layer of ambient electronics, twinkling keys and harder hitting beats while retaining Hawley-Weld’s sensual cooing.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently comprised of Jon Davison (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Billy Sherwood (bass), Geoff Downes (keys) and Alan White (drums), the London, UK-based prog rock quintet Yes can trace their origins to when founding members Chris Squire (bass) and Jon Anderson (vocals) formed the band back in 1968. Much ink has been spilled throughout the band’s nearly 50 year run but what I will say that the legendary act has not only been pioneers of prog rock but they’ve also managed to be remarkably successful — 9 of the band’s 22 full-length albums have reached the top 10 in either the UK or US with two reaching number 1 in the UK. And the band has sold 13.5 million albums in the US alone. In the early 80s, Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” was a mega-hit song — and a song that I remember quite fondly as a child.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past 13 months or so, you may recall that I’ve written about Berlin, Germany-based producer, electronic music artist and DJ Lennart Richter. Prolifically releasing a series of singles through renowned electronic music labels Sleazy G, East Project, G-Mafia Records, GUN PWDR, Ensis Records, Blue Dye, Mondal Recordings and others, Richter quickly developed a reputation across his native Germany and internationally for exploring the gamut of electronic music subgenres including deep house, G house, nu-disco and several others with a slick, crowd-pleasing, club-rocking production. And as a result, Richter can claim several Beatport Top 25 releases under his belt, and his last EP, Berlin Brawling landed at #10 on the Beatport Indie Dance/Nu Disco Charts.

The Berlin-based electronic music artist, producer and DJ closed out 2015 with the release of “Hold Up,” a nu-disco and house track comprised of layers of shimmering and cascading synths, propulsive drum programming led by explosive cymbal shots and a looped vocal sample that comes in and out of the haze. Sonically, the song reminded me quite a bit of Octo Octa’s “His Kiss” an “Please Don’t Leave” off his fantastic Between Two Selves — or in other words, it manages to possess both a bracing iciness and a thoughtful soulfulness. Richter builds on the success of the past year with the release of a remix of Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” that retains the vocal sample but pairs it with what sounds like ukulele, handclap-led percussion, swirling electronics and slowly cascading synths, which essentially turns the electro rock song into a slickly produced, densely layered, mid-tempo club banger — while retaining something of the song’s original feel and spirit.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Adelaide, Australia-born and Palm Springs, CA-based singer/songwriter Sia has had quite a career, as she can trace her career’s origins to when she was the vocalist in Adelaide-based acid jazz act Crisp in the mid 1990s. After the band’s breakup in 1997, Sia released her debut effort, OnlySee through Flavoured Records and relocated to London, where she provided vocals for British duo Zero 7.

After the release of Healing Is Difficult, an album inspired and informed by the death of her-then boyfriend Dan Pontifex and Colour the Small One, the Australian-born singer/songwriter, who was deeply displeased with the fact that her work was struggling to connect with a mainstream audience, relocated to NYC and began touring the US. During a two year break in which she “retired” as a pop performer and focused on being a pop songwriter, Sia developed a reputation as go-to co-songwriter and songwriter as she’s credited with writing or co-writing songs for and by an incredibly diverse and impressive list of mega-hit artists. A short list of her writing credits include Ne-Yo‘s “Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself),” Rihanna‘s “Diamonds,” Kylie Minogue‘s “Sexercize,”  Beyonce‘s “Standing On The Sun,” Katy Perry‘s “Double Rainbow,” Britney Spears‘ “Perfume,” Beyonce’s “Pretty Hurts,” Christina Aguilera‘s “You Lost Me,” Lea Michele‘s “Cannonball,” Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte‘s “We Are One (Ole Ola),” and countless others. (This shouldn’t be terribly surprising as Sia’s sound and aesthetic draws from hip-hop, funk, soul and pop while managing to sound unlike any of her contemporaries.)

Interestingly, Sia’s first taste of international stardom came in a rather unexpected fashion. She initially wrote “Titanium,” for Alicia Keys but the song wound up being sent to EDM superstar David Guetta, who included Sia’s demo vocals on the song and released it as single in 2011. The song was a massive commercial success as it peaked on the top of record charts across the US, Australia and Europe. But it was “Chandelier,” the breakout hit off her sixth, full-length effort, 1000 Forms of Fear was a commercial and critical success. The single was nominated for four Grammys last year — Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video; and she nabbed several ARIA Awards and MTV Music Awards, which established the Australian-born singer/songwriter as an internationally-recognized star, in the same lines of the artists she had written for during her “retirement.”

Sia’s seventh, full-length album This Is Acting is slated for a January 29, 2016 release, and in an interview with NME, she has mentioned that the forthcoming album is much more pop-orientated than its predecessor. And interestingly enough, the album’s third and latest single “Alive” was co-written by Adele and was intended to be on Adele’s latest album 25. When you hear the song, you can actually hear Adele’s influence on the song — the piano-led introduction and the song’s soaringly anthemic hooks; however, as gorgeous as Adele’s voice is, the song just feels and sounds as though it just had to be Sia’s. Not to say that Adele hasn’t had profound experiences at a young age but lyrically, the song conveys a sense of wisdom, pride and triumph over life’s fucked up circumstances — deprivation (financial and emotional), heartache, despair, loneliness and worse. And when you hear Sia’s voice crack ever so slightly when she sings  “I’m still breathing/I’m still breathing/I’m alive,” during the song’s anthemic hook, it feels like a punch right in the ribs or in the solar plexus. Of course similarly to Gloria Gaynor‘s “I Will Survive,” the song possess an infectious “you can and will get through anything/you go-girl” optimism. It’s honestly the sort of song that the women of your life will lustily yell along to while driving to or from the club.

Recently Sia announced a remix package of “Alive” that features remixes and reworks from Maya Jane Coles, AFSHeeN, Boehm, Cahill and fellow Australian, Plastic Plates. In a recent interview with The Fader, the Australian producer was asked how the “Alive” remix came about, and as he explained to the publication, “Sia and I first met in Sydney 2001. Sam Dixon and I shared an apartment in Bondi and Sia crashed at our place. Until 2010, I played drums on Sia’s albums and toured around the world in her band. This is my 3rd remix for Sia, “Cloud” in 2010, “Chandelier” in 2014 and now “Alive.”Given our musical history, reinterpreting Sia’s vocals is effortless and pure joy for me.”

Plastic Plates’ rework turns the torch burning pop song into a slickly produced synth-based club-banger  as his production includes stuttering drum programming, cascading synths, wobbling and tumbling low-end, sirens and other assorted bleeps and bloops while retaining the song’s anthemic hooks and Sia’s achingly heartfelt vocals.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Zola Jesus and Dean Hurley Team Up on a Techno Reworking of John Carpenter’s “Night”

John Carpenter is a renowned director, screenwriter, producer, editor and composer most commonly known for working on some of the most beloved and influential, horror and science fiction films of the 70s and 80s, including Dark Star (1974), Assault […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Check Out Rhythm Scholar’s Inventive, Genre-Spanning Remix of Blondie’s “Rapture”

More than enough ink has been spilled about Blondie and their impressive streak of hits during the late 70s and early 80s, including “Rapture,” which is  one of their most familiar, most covered, most sampled […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of John Blonde, Chris Pace, and Brian McNamara, the Brooklyn-based electronic music trio House of Blondes can trace their origins to 2008 when founding members Blonde and Pace met at Smoke and Mirrors Studio. Along with local musicians Mike Ignethron and Paul Reyes, the then-constitued quartet had intended to work on an indie rock-based project; however, as Blonde’s interest in synthesizers and electronic music grew, the project gradually changed into a minimalist electronic project in which Pace and Blonde began working with each other exclusively. The end result was that the duo wound up co-writing and recording the material, which became House of Blondes’ critically applauded debut effort, Clean Cuts along with contributions from producer/engineer George Vitray and instrumentalist Brian McNamara, who would eventually become a full-time member.

While playing an increasing number of shows locally and elsewhere over the last couple of years, including two shows with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Psychic TV at the now-defunct Brooklyn Night Bazaar, the members of House of Blondes also spent an intense period of time writing and recording the material that would comprise their recently released sophomore effort, Stranger Still, which was released this past summer. Stranger Still’s 9 tracks are from a combination of live in-studio performances, improvisational jam sessions and much more formally structured songs and as a result the material feels and sounds looser, and intimate as it draws from dub, trance, cosmic house and Kraftwerk‘s motorik grooves. But perhaps more important, to my ears, the material while retaining the space age feel that first captured my attention is warmer, more human. It somehow evokes the sensation of floating through the cosmos and observing the rippling and undulating of the fabric of spacetime as much as it evokes more earthly phenomenon such as pushing and shoving your way through a New York rush hour commute and stopping to stare at clouds parting overhead, without bothering to care if you got in someone’s way.

Album single “Are You Boys Alright?” is an icy and starkly minimalist and atmospheric song consisting of a sparse, gently echoing beat, hazy, droning synths and chanted lyrics. Much like Brian Eno’s ambient sound recordings, the song requires a bit of attention and patience, as it slowly reveals subtle layers of nuance in repeated plays — all while evoking the undulating ripples in a pond and of smoke dissipating into the ether.

Now, Chris Moore is a New York-based producer and mixer who’s been making electronic music since he was a teenager. As Moore told me by email he “quit for a while to focus on production and mixing work.” Last fall, Moore began writing and recording tracks under the moniker Cloud Leopard, initially as a way to get back into the swing of writing and recording.

Moore met House of Blondes’ frontman John Blonde at a bi-monthly electronic music night, hosted and booked by a mutual friend. Moore had been DJ’ing some of his own tracks and eventually Blonde and Moore began chatting about Moore’s production work. Eventually Blonde asked Moore if he’d be interested in doing a remix of some material off the band’s recent album.

As Moore told me by email, his remix of album single “Are You Boys Alright?” is his first remix under the Cloud Leopard moniker. “For the remix, I wanted to combine the cosmic vibe of the original with a dancier energy,” he explained. “So it’s sort of a combination of 70s German kosmische-like Cluster or Manuel Gottsching’s more electronic stuff with a 80s chicago/detroit house / early-90s uk ambient techno vibe.” Certainly, as a result the remix is more propulsive as it shimmers and glistens with a dance floor-ready sheen.

(Album Art Credit: Kurt Sawilla)

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: White Panda’s Raucous, House Music Party Reworking of Powers’ “Beat of My Drum”

Comprised of Mike Del Rio and Crista Ru, the Los Angeles and NYC-based electro pop duo Powers caught the attention of the blogosphere with the release of “Beat of My Drum” earlier this year. And […]