So it’s more than two weeks into the vac, you miss your dose of Cherwell and have started to fill the gaping void in your life with all sorts of unhealthy habits. You stay in pyjamas day and night, watching iPlayer and 4oD until your eyes are red with twisted satisfaction and eating everything under the sun that requires no actual preparation. Stop, take a look at yourself and make a change! RemiX is here to put you on the straight and narrow providing you with a healthy injection of great music – new and old – from all over cyberspace, the real world and any other realm that may exist. Put down that fifth bowl of Crunchy Nut, brush your guilt-caked teeth and let the music cleanse your soul. I hear that James Blake compared remixing to prostitution, claiming that it is “cynical and vacuous”. Well brace yourselves for a whole lot of naked flesh and gratuitous vacuousness as I take you through some remixes that should be heard no matter how dirty, cheap or heroin-hinted they may be.
First up, the Jamie xx remix of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep. To avoid disappointment I advise you to do things the right way round and listen to the original before the remix. I suffered a slight blow when I realised how tame the original was in comparison to Jamie’s more-ish clap clapping beast of a track. If you like music at all you will love this, it’s as simple as that. I have difficulty closing my laptop when this one is playing, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjiswvTXdzA
This is an old one but definitely worth a re-listen: Diplo’s remix of Sunday Girl’s Four Floors is a tower of sound, buoyed up by a bubbly wobble or two but fear not as it is gentle on the ears. Sunday Girl’s smooth and smoky vocals sit wonderfully on the flitting beat that Diplo has created. Before you know it you’ll be cranking this in your parents’ car, making that Volvo look like the most pimped up ride Hampstead Heath has ever seen. Please excuse this last comment – I’m just bitter that I don’t own a car, or live in Hampstead…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aNmqk7ixx0
Cue Segway into some of the hippest hop, DJ Emz’s remix of Leyendecker by Battles will give you that thrill that shoplifting from Primark never could. DJ Emz, like the loveliest of mothers, has chewed up a tough track by Battles and turned it into an easily digestible purée of drums and echoing police sirens. Rapping over the top, Joell Ortiz leaves just enough space for us to hear the rippling Battles guitar below, giving us a Hovis-style Best of Both experience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBbDfiFZFvk
If you’ve ever had trouble digesting Jazz (or just hated its guts) then this track is for you. 4Hero’s remix of John Coltrane’s Naima might be just the thing to spark your Jazz appetite, or it could cement your hatred for it – either way it’s worth a try. The gradual build up on this song makes it a drawn out delight as each layer of sound gently places itself on top of the previous one. These Heroes have managed to create a subtly engrossing track that provides the perfect backdrop to Coltrane’s soaring saxophone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q02uBRLHO7w
Kings of Leon My Party remixed by Kenna and Chad Hugo. A blast from the past, I know, but a chance for you to listen to KOL without enduring the torture that is Come Around Sundown or compromising your integrity. This version is sped up, beefed up and just generally bigger and badder (that sounded better in my head). Kenna and Chad have stripped away the distortion and reverb leaving us with a clean track that will have you hip jerking your way to the trash can with KOL’s latest album of which – I’m sure you’ve guessed – I’m not the biggest fan.
http://hypem.com/#!/item/bbks/Kings+Of+Leon+-+My+Party+Kenna+Chad+Hugo+Remix+
So there, JB. I love you but had to disagree with your comment. Remixes rule and I won’t have a bad word said about them. Enough of my chat, enjoy this week’s playlist: old school chill out meets new feel trip hop at a club – this is their illegitimate baby and its cousins.
http://open.spotify.com/user/redremi/playlist/3cSGRc0ZnmawBRmzIn7C5x
