Tag: Rhythm Scholar

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rhythm Scholar’s Soulful and Atmospheric Remix of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World”

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.

Indie Electro Pop by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rhythm Scholar Shares a Club Friendly Remix of Duran Duran’s “Wild Boys”

Throughout the course of this site’s close to 14 year history, I’ve managed to spill copious amounts of virtual ink covering the ridiculously prolific, New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar. And during that same period, the New York-based JOVM mainstay has built a profile both nationally and internationally for crafting slickly produced, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes. 

Earlier this week, I wrote about Rhythm Scholar’s woozy remix of one of my favorite Tears for Fears tunes “Change.” Continuing upon his reputation for being remarkably prolific, the JOVM mainstay artist gave Duran Duran‘s 1984 track “Wild Boys” a sleek remix that features chopped up vocals for the hook, several Duran Duran samples peppered throughout, some blazing guitar work form Andy Sexton and a club friendly thump while retaining Simon Le Bon‘s vocal, the memorable hook and the synth melody among others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

There are few artists I’ve written about as much as the ridiculously prolific, New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and longtime JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar. During this site’s 11+ year history, Rhythm Scholar has firmly cemented a reputation for crafting slickly produced, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes of classic soul, funk, hip-hop, New Wave and others.

Rhythm Scholar’s remix sees him tackling Slick Rick‘s beloved 80s classic “Children’s Story.” The remix pairs Slick Rick’s cautionary tale of a young boy, who gets seduced into the street life and its inevitable and tragic ending with seemingly Issac Hayes-inspired production featuring twinkling Rhodes, dramatic strings, a psychedelic guitar solo and playful nods at Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock’s “It Takes Two,” LL Cool J and several others. The end result is a gritty, 70s true crime story air — as though Slick Rick had spent his time watching The French Connection, Serpico and others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Rhythm Scholar Takes on a Beloved Motown Classic

Throughout the course of this site’s nine-plus year history, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the ridiculous prolific New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and longtime JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar. During that same period, the JOVM mainstay has developed a reputation for crafting slickly produced, funky as hell, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes of classic soul, funk, hip-hop, New Wave and a growing list of  other genres and styles. 

Rhythm Scholar’s latest remix finds him tackling the beloved and classic Temptations tune “Just My Imagination.” Perhaps unlike his other remixes, this particular one reveals a subtle yet deft touch: while retaining the original’s memorable and gorgeous melody and the legendary soul act’s impeccable harmonies, the JOVM mainstay’s take manages to gently push the song up about a decade by adding some lush Rhodes, a soulful horn line, some conga and a soaring string arrangement — all of which gives the material a dreamy, gossamer-like air. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Throughout this site’s nine year history, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the ridiculously prolific, New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar. And as you may recall, the New York-based JOVM mainstay has received attention from this site and elsewhere for funky, slinky produced and crowd-pleasing remixes and mashups of classic soul, funk. hip-hop and New Wave.

Over the past few months, Rhythm Scholar has released a kaleidoscopic remix of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams‘ smash hit collaboration “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and a propulsive, house music-leaning remix of one of my favorite Tears for Fears tracks “Head Over Heels.” Interestingly, the New York-based mainstay’s latest remix finds him creating a swaggering and strutting 70s soul and funk-inspired mashup of Warren G.’s and Nate Dogg’s “Regulate” that features loving homages to Edwin Starr, The Blackbyrds, Kurtis Blow, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, some explosive scratching and an extensive nod at Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition” — all while retaining the noir-ish feel of the original.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rhythm Scholar Releases a Club Friendly Remix of Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels”

Throughout the course of this site’s nine year history, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink over the ridiculously prolific, New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar. The New York-based JOVM mainstay has received attention from this site and elsewhere for funky and slickly produced, crowd-pleasing mashups of classic soul, funk, hip-hop and New Wave. 

Last month, Rhythm Scholar released a kaleidoscopic remix of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams‘ smash hit collaboration “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Interestingly, the longtime JOVM mainstay returns with a propulsive, house music-influenced remix of one of my favorite Tears for Fears tracks “Head Over Heels.”The Rhythm Scholar remix pushes the tempo up towards the club friendly area, while still retaining the song’s familiar and beloved melody, and urgently swooning quality. Interestingly, the remix does two very important things: it reminds listeners that well-crafted and well-written songs manage to stand up to the test of time — and provides a unique and modern take on a smash hit that most of us intimately know. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Throughout the course of this site’s almost nine year history, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink on the ridiculously prolific New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar. Now, as you may recall, the New York-based JOVM mainstay has received attention from this site and elsewhere for a slickly produced, funky, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes of classic soul, funk, soul, hip-hop and New Wave. Interestingly, over the past year or so, Rhythm Scholar has enlisted a backing band featuring frequent collaborators Jason Spillman (bass) and Marcus Horndt (Rhodes) and Big Once (turntables), all of whom have helped the JOVM mainstay move towards an increasingly organic take on his work.

Rhythm Scholar’s latest remix finds him taking on Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams‘ smash hit collaboration “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” And while retaining Snoop’s imitable and effortlessly smooth flow, the JOVM’s mainstay’s kaleidoscopic remix recalls both Dr. Dre-inspired G Funk-era production and cinematic 70s soul, as the track feature samples from four classic blaxploitation films, 1973’s The Mack, 1973’s Magnum Force, 1975’s Rollerball and 1976’s Car Wash and is centered around twinkling Rhodes, a propulsive, disco-like bass line, fluttering electronics, congos and some much-needed, old school turntablism. Simply put, it’s a lysergic yet funky strutting take on a beloved banger.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Throughout this site’s eight plus year history I’ve written a lot about the ridiculously prolific New York-based producer, DJ, remixer and longtime JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar, and as you’ll likely recall he has received attention for slickly produced, funky as hell, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes of classic soul, funk, soul hip-hop, New Wave and others.  Interestingly, over the past year or so, the longtime JOVM mainstay has increasingly employed the use of live instrumentation to his remixes; in fact, his latest remix finds him taking on the Depeche Mode classic “Never Let Me Down Again.”

Featuring Jason Spillman (bass), Angus Mashgyver (guitar) and samples of Heavenly Music Corporation and Cliff Martinez, the remix retains Dave Gahan‘s imitable vocal but places it within a slightly more up-tempo setting with layers upon layers of arpeggiated synths, thumping beats, a dance floor friendly break, and ambient flute and other instrumentation to bolster the song’s melody in the song’s quieter moments. Live bass and guitar give the song a muscular and funky heft. But while pushing the song from ambient and industrial electro pop to thumping, industrial-inspired house, Rhythm Scholar manages to retain the most important quality of the song — it’s brooding, emotional quality.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Throughout most of the course of this site’s history, I’ve written quite a bit about the New York-based produced, DJ, remixer and longtime JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar, and as you may recall, he has received attention for slickly produced, crowd-pleasing mashups and remixes of classic hip-hop, soul, pop and New Wave. Earlier this year, I wrote about Rhythm Scholar’s remix/reworking of Bill Withers‘ beloved classic “Use Me Up” featuring a backing band,  which features Marcus Horndt contributing soulful blasts of Fender Rhodes, Jason Spillman contributing a 70s soul and disco-inspired bass line, Sami Turune, contributing some bluesy guitar paired with Withers warm vocals and rhythm guitar, and some insane scratching and production from Rhythm Scholar. And what I loved about that remix was that it was a lovingly anachronistic take that walked a difficult tightrope between the original’s 70s soulful roots and contemporary production.

The New York-based producer, DJ and remixer has continued to be remarkably prolific, and with his latest single, he takes on Chic‘s classic, smash hit “Good Times” with a breezy, funky house-leaning remix featuring layers of arpeggiated keys, twinkling Fender Rhodes, thumping beats and a muscular bass line while retaining the song’s infectious hook. Much like his “Use Me Up” remix, the “Good Times” remix updates the song in a way that breathes a different life into it, while retaining some of the most familiar and beloved elements of the original.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

I’ve written quite a bit about the New York-based producer, DJ and remixer Rhythm Scholar, who has developed a reputation for his crowd-pleasing, slickly produced, effortless and imitable mashups and remixes of hip hop, classic soul and pop. The JOVM mainstay recently released a remix of Bill Withers‘ beloved classic “Use Me Up” featuring a backing band,  which features Marcus Horndt contributing soulful blasts of Fender Rhodes, Jason Spillman contributing a 70s soul and disco-inspired bass line, Sami Turune, contributing some bluesy guitar paired with Withers warm vocals and rhythm guitar, and some insane scratching and production from Rhythm Scholar.

In my mind, what makes this remix interesting is that it’s a lovingly anachronistic take on it that manages to walk a difficult tightrope between the 70s and contemporary production while retaining the orignal’s effortless soul and thoughtful, deliberate attention to craft.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms


Comprised of Posdnuos, Dave and Maseo, De La Soul is arguably one of hip-hop’s most beloved and influential acts. thanks in part to their use of incredibly clever and quirky word play, innovative and soulful sampling and hilarious skits; in fact, perhaps unsurprisingly, Mos Def has openly cited them as a major influence on the early part of his career. And although their seminal debut 3 Feet High Rising may be their most commercially successful release – perhaps in part to the success of singles like “Me, Myself, and I,” which employed the use of a sample from Parliament’s “Not Just Knee Deep” and the Native Tongues anthem “Buddy” – they’ve managed to release a number of critically applauded albums including De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate and Stakes Is High among others.

I caught the legendary hip-hop trio at The Meadows Festival earlier this year, and they were among one of the festival’s most memorable and most fun  career spanning sets featuring songs off  3 Feet High Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate and Stakes Is High and their critically applauded  . . . And the Anonymous Nobody, which was released last year. Album single “Pain,” a collaboration with Snoop Dogg featured some of the most incredible bars in recent memory over a soulful, Roy Ayers-like production featuring twinkling keys paired with thumping, tweeter and woofer rocking beats.

Recently the JOVM mainstay artist Rhythm Scholar  remixed De La’s “Pain” with his imitable and effortless mashup/remix that retains the song’s woozy, soulful vibe but further emphasizes it with samples from Oliver  “Heart Attack,” feat the aforementioned De La Soul,The Commodores “I Like What You Do” and “Brick House” — with Keith Holden (bass), and Mr. Fender Rhodes (Fender Rhodes). And although the Rhythm Scholar remix turns the song into a 70s disco-inspired club banger, complete with explosive horns. Interestingly, the Rhythm Scholar doesn’t include Snoop’s verse — and the remix is so slick that you don’t notice it.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this over the past few years, you’ve come across several posts featuring JOVM mainstay artist Rhythm Scholar, who has developed a reputation for being both incredibly prolific and for a series of genre-mashing remixes stuffed to the gills with both obscure and recognizable samples that are reminiscent of  Paul’s Boutique-era Beastie Boys and Girl Talk. He’s also developed reputation for releasing a series of more straightforward and traditional-leaning remixes, including 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 a breezy, lounge funk/lounge jazz leaning remix of Tribe’s “Bonita Applebum.” 

Rhythm Scholar returns with a remix of DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince’s 1991 smash-hit “Summertime” and while retaining Will Smith‘s cool delivery and the song’s overall nostalgia-tinged Roy Ayers-like vibe the remix adds bits and snippets of samples from Kool and The Gang, Dexter Wansel, James Brown, Dave Grusin, The Eagles and a few other hidden gems, including some soulfully meandering keys and boom-bap beats.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Currently comprised of founding member Mike Score (keys, vocals), Joe Rodriguez, Michael Brahm and Pando, the British new wave/synth pop quartet A Flock of Seagulls initially formed in 1980 — and with their most famous and longest running lineup featuring Mike Score, his brother Ali Score (drums), Frank Maudsley (bass) and Paul Reynolds (guitar), the quartet had some of their biggest success, including a string of international hit singles including their smash hit “I Ran (So Far Away),” “Space Age Love Song,” and “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You),” all released in 1982 and 1984’s “The More You Live, The More You Love,” an anthemic pop song featuring angular guitars played with tons of reverb and delay pedal, an equally angular yet funky bass line, and a soaring hook.

 

Recently, JOVM mainstay artist Rhythm Scholar remixed A Flock of Seagulls’ 1984 hit single and his remix of the 1984 hit song, as futuristic bleeps and bloops, radio transmissions and feedback, along some distorted vocals during the song’s intro, bridge and coda and bigger, more forceful drum programming while retaining the angular guitar chords with reverb and delay, the equally angular bass line and the soaring hook of the original, essentially giving the song a subtle space-age feel — but space-age from what we would imagine 2017 would look like and feel like in 1984.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Zealand Editors are a mysterious New Zealand-based electronic music production and artist act that specializes in a collage-like production style that borrows liberally from tons of samples — and in the case of their latest single “But It’s Too Late,” the production team used “a few bakers’ dozens worth of sources” to create a sound that’s reminiscent of JOVM mainstay Rhythm Scholar, Sneaker Pimps, Portishead and others  — but with a hazy, kaleidoscopic feel.

 

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.