Mixtape #50 : Remix

by 5:4

The new 5:4 mixtape is a celebration of the art of the remix. However, i should stress immediately that the emphasis here is not simply on that word’s implied legacy of beats and dance-based forms of music. The scope for this particular mixtape is altogether more broad and open-minded, exploring some of the most unusual, unpredictable and unhinged ways that musicians have rethought, rearranged and reimagined both their own and others’ existing musical material.

Some tracks are more closely associated with the diverse songworlds of pop, rock and electronica – including Gazelle Twin, Nine Inch Nails, Björk, Kate HavnevikThe Irrepressibles, Marina & the DiamondsBeastie Boys, Erotic MarketSusanne Sundfør and Belle and Sebastian – though in some cases the ways that their music has been remixed establishes a sizeable distance from the original. Indeed, in the case of Björk’s ‘Crave (Odd Duck Mix)’ – a remix created by Matmos that was made available as a download from Björk’s website in 2001, and is no longer available – it’s by no means immediately obvious that the track is actually a remix of her song (from Vespertine) ‘An Echo, a Stain’.

Away from songs, i’ve included a number of tracks that occupy dream-like soundworlds of varying levels of stability, comfort and drift. At the more abrasive and/or disquieted end of the spectrum are the likes of Fovea HexAM and the UV, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Shinkei + Mise_en_scene, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz EnsembleBrian ReitzellKim Cascone and Ektoise, while more sublime environments are found in the music of Ryuichi SakamotoAndrew LilesJonathan Coleclough & Colin PotterCarl Sagan’s GhostMissy MazzoliBen Frost, Sylvain Pohu and Christina Vantzou. Something of an odd one out in the mix as a whole is the track by World’s End Girlfriend, a wonderfully bonkers oddity by an artist whose work i’ve never managed properly to get my head around.

Structurally, it’s pretty much a stream of consciousness, with me more than usually just following my nose, and as a consequence the mixtape veers quite wildly between periods of calmness and seriously ramped-up intensity. Having said that, i’ve started and ended with a pair of tracks that complement each other as an effective overture and finale to the mix as a whole. Access to Arasaka‘s remix of Klangstabil marries elements of dark ambient with glitched beats and electronics, whereas Techdiff‘s grime and dubstep-infused remix of Hecq & Exillon‘s ‘Spheres of Fury’ is quite simply the most accomplished and downright exhilarating remix i’ve ever heard by anyone, retaining an obvious connection to the original while transmogrifying it into a structurally dramatic foray through a series of rhythmically discrete episodes, culminating in the equivalent of a firework display of beats triggered by a barrage of interconnected machine guns. Just amazing.

Two hours of radical reinterpretations; here’s the tracklisting in full, together with links to obtain the music.

Klangstabil – Vertraut (Neural Chernobyl remix By Access To Arasaka) (from Vertraut)
Gazelle Twin – I Am Shell I Am Bone (ERAS Remix) (from The Entire City Remixed)
Nine Inch Nails – Where Is Everybody? (Version) (from Things Falling Apart)
Björk – Crave (Odd Duck Mix) (unavailable)
Kate Havnevik – Unlike Me (Ost & Kjex re-mix) [excerpt] (from Unlike Me)
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Andata (Electric Youth Remix) [excerpt] (from Async-Remodels)
Fovea Hex – Fall Calling (Remix by Michael Begg) [excerpt] (from Three Beams)
The Irrepressibles – Arrow (Ghosting Season Remix) (from Nude (Special Edition))
AM and the UV – Wonderful, Beautiful (UV Remix) (from Silently The Birds Fly Through Us)
Jóhann Jóhannsson – The Sun’s Gone Dim And The Sky’s Turned Black (Rob Simonsen Nerve Remix) (from Nerve (Original Score))
Andrew Liles – Journey Remix (from In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions)
World’s End Girlfriend – N-qia “EARTH” (world’s end girlfriend REMIX) (from Story Telling Again And Again – free download)
Marina & the Diamonds – I Am Not a Robot (Starsmith 24 Carat Remix) (from The Crown Jewels EP)
Nine Inch Nails – The Frail (Version) (from Things Falling Apart)
Jonathan Coleclough & Colin Potter – Drugged IV [excerpt] (from Bass Communion – Reconstructions and Recycling)
Carl Sagan’s Ghost – Soldania (Second Pass) (Remixed by Specta Ciera) (from Music for Home Offices: Volume Two)
Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise (The Bug Remix) (from FightforyourrightrevisitedHotsaucecommitteeparttwo)
Shinkei + Mise_en_scene – Leftover2_(ed.s remix) (from Leftovers (Reworked) – free download)
Erotic Market – It’s a Breaking (Everydayz Remix) (from Blahblahrians)
Susanne Sundfør – White Foxes (Susanne Sundfør Remix) [excerpt] (from White Foxes – EP)
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble – Xtabay (Roel Funcken Remix) (from Xtabay)
Brian Reitzell – Season 1 Comp (Fannibal Only Mix) (from Hannibal (2014 Fannibal Exclusive))
Missy Mazzoli – A Thousand Tongues (Lorna Dune Remix feat. Deidre Muro) (from Vespers for a New Dark Age)
Ben Frost – Meg Ryan Eyez (Albini Suspension Mix) (from All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated)
Sylvain Pohu – Die Kunst Der Fuge remix (from Free Range – Reanimation of JS Bach Organ Works – free download)
Kim Cascone – New World Rising (New Density Mix) (from After)
Christina Vantzou – Brain Fog (John Also Bennett Remix) (from Nº2 REMIXES – free download)
Ektoise – Down River (Secret Killer of Names remix) [excerpt] (from Distortions)
Belle and Sebastian – I Didn’t See It Coming (Richard X Mix) (from The Third Eye Centre)
Hecq & Exillon – Spheres Of Fury (Stochastic Process remix By Techdiff) (from Spheres Of Fury)



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[…] my most recent mixtape, exploring the noble art of the remix, i included a track by Björk – ‘Crave (Odd Duck […]

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