Total Redraw: Home Listening Edition

Remixes that really shake things up

No self-respecting music fan is a stranger to the idea of the remix. After a track is completed, the stems are passed off to other like-minded producers and are reshaped to allow the style and personality of the remixer to come out while elements of the original are retained. While the odd remix on the B-side of an EP really shines, they can all too frequently come across as unnecessary additions to the original mixes, so when a really good remix comes about you’re sure to take notice.

This feature doesn’t focus specifically on ‘great remixes’, but rather remixes where the producer has taken the core track and has really invigorated the original track, leaving it recognisably the same but taking the tune in a totally different direction. After much ploughing through my music library, I’d like to present some of the most successful remixes I’ve heard where the remixer on hand has really gone beyond the call of duty; and these will be shown  and discussed along with the original tracks.

Running through a real range of contemporary music, a lot of these will be dance-focused but some are even stranger takes on recognisable classics alongside less well-known contributions. So without further ado, let’s get listening and check out some of the best remixes to be found in the White Noise vaults.

This two-part series will be split, with the first section dedicated to home listening tracks and the latter a big playlist of remixed dance music. Enjoy part 1!

Gold Panda – Marriage (Forest Swords 1am Hotel Room Redraw) 

In this stunning rework of one of Gold Panda’s best tunes, the atmospheric Forest Swords completely rebuilds the track from the ground up, entirely with acoustic instrumentation. The melody is still there, but it’s hard to imagine a more imaginative and successful redraw.

Efdemin – Acid Bells (Martyn’s Bittersweet Mix)

Sounding more Aphex Twin than Efdemin, legend Martyn relegates the original’s driving rhythms to the background, allowing a haunting piano melody to take centre stage.

Aphex Twin – Untitled (Four Tet Mix)

Apparently devised at the tender age of 17, Kieran Hebden’s IDM-fuelled mix of one of Aphex Twin’s most brilliant ambient tracks is a dream collaboration that retains aspects of both producers’ styles.

Mount Kimbie – Maybes (James Blake Remix)

James Blake applies a trademark warmth to one of Mount Kimbie’s best, fuzzing up the duo’s crisp production and lending it a woozy dubstep momentum.

Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart (Fuck Buttons Remix) 

Here Fuck Buttons take Fever Ray’s darkness as far as it will stretch, wielding a driving 4/4 and growling bass frequencies to create something black and wildly hypnotic.

Fever Ray – When I Grow Up (Version by Lissvik) 

Alongside for comparison, the most bizarre remix here is courtesy of one half of Balearic duo Studio, as Lissvik sets Fever Ray’s straining vocals to bouncing house with tropical synthlines. The strangest thing isn’t that it works, it’s that it works so damn well.

Star Slinger – May I Walk With You

Although not technically a remix, Star Slinger’s rework of Life Without Buildings' The Leanover is a brilliant recreation, taking Sue Tompkins’ jittery vocals to their logical extreme alongside tough beats and some of the catchiest looping you’re likely to hear.

Bibio – Lover’s Carving (Letherette Remix)

This dreamy hip hop rework of Bibio’s upbeat classic works like a charm, chopping up the vocals while retaining the sunshine of the original. The only flaw is that it’s all too short.

Lianne La Havas – Forget (Shlohmo Remix)

Shlohmo on excellent remixing form again, applying Lianne La Havas’ vocals both in original and chopped forms to a dreamy soundscapes replete with clicks, blips and deep haunting bass.

Agaric – No Way I Know I Feel  (Axel Boman Remix) – Clips of Original

Axel Boman takes Agaric’s dense original and cleans it up, making that nagging vocal the centrepiece of a world of swirling samples and twinkling beats.

Shlohmo – Rained The Whole Time (Nicolas Jaar Remix) 

The superb Nicolas Jaar livens up Shlohmo’s melancholy original with harder woodblock beats, blowing up the guitar in the original alongside soulful beats and samples that shift and swirl magnificently.

Colonel Abrams – Trapped (Hell Interface Remix)

Boards of Canada, under their Hell Interface moniker, take chopped and screwed to a new deathly extreme in their growling slow-down of Colonel Abrams’ 80s classic.

Burial – Shell of Light (Shlohmo Remix)

Tampering with Burial is not done lightly, but Shlohmo nails this one, isolating the hopeful last 30 seconds of the original and casting them onto an emotional widescreen with deeper-than-deep bass and ghostly vocal touches.

Nuyorican Soul – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun (4 Hero Remix)

It’d be hard to outdo the original, backed by Masters of Work production and Jocelyn Brown’s honey tones, but 4 Hero turns the tune into a feelgood jazzy odyssey, thoroughly living up to the glory of the original.

Electronic

This list is a little less melancholy. Opening with Shlohmo's brand new Sink which emotes through downbeat percussion and lush oriental synths, this is followed by the ever-weird Odd Nosdam of anticon fame, with The Kill Tone Two in which a dusky harp melody is damaged by drum machines and off-kilter rap. Mount Kimbie's Between Time twins slow reverb-laden guitar with sharp beats, setting up a very young Kieran Hebden's first big hit, Everything Is Alright. From here we move to more solemn territory, Nicolas Jaar's distinctive minimal soundscapes in the quiet and perfect Colomb, and How to Dress Well's deeply sorrowful Suicide Dream 2. Drifting into less emotional waters with another track from Shlohmo's new album which leads to the inimitable Boards of Canada's fantastic drone piece Corsair. This flows into Burial's most ambient track on record, the short but beautiful UK from his masterwork Untrue. Fennesz lifts the mood slightly with the melancholy fractured summer pop of Caecilia and then a one-two punch of Dilla tracks injects a little soul into the proceedings. After this Memory Tapes' lovely instrumental closer Run Out breathes life and hope into the melancholy sound with a gorgeous melody, followed by my very favourite Gold Panda track, the second You in which a beautiful operatic sample soars over switching beats. Then, let it all fade away with the Scottish duo once more, this time with Farewell Fire which loops more and more quietly until nothing remains.

Playlist #2 - Dance Mix

Okay, so I've put together a mix of tracks that just beg to be danced to. This playlist runs through House, Dubstep, Grime, Garage, Rave, Acid House and Dancehall tracks that I've picked out (not quite in that order). I've put a lot of love into this mix and I think every track is a banger but they're all quite different so play them loud, and if you're not so keen on one I'm sure there will be a few there to love. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Altered Natives – The Bitch

Addison Groove – Footcrab

Ramadanman – Tempest

Mount Kimbie – Blind Night Errand

Deadboy – U Cheated

Becoming Real – Closer

Girl Unit – Wut

Deadboy – If U Want Me

XXXY – You Always Start It

Zomby – Float

Roland Appel – Unforgiven

The Bug – Poison Dart

Terrorist – Haters Dub

Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers

Dubstep isn't as simple as it used to be. Whereas before you could hear a deep wobble and some decaying synths while off your face on the dancefloor and go 'ahhh, dubstep'; arrival of newcomers like Mount Kimbie and James Blake, who make dubstep for the home, has complicated matters somewhat.

What it really means is that you have to listen to these tracks with a different ear. You're not listening out for something that gets you on your feet, but nor are you looking for a reassuring melody or recurring chorus that gives everything a nice cosy structure. In effect, listening to this album it seems that Mount Kimbie know where they're going, but they just won't tell you. The genre influences dart from funk to RnB to glitch-hop literally within seconds, and it can all be rather disorientating.

But if I'm saying one thing here, it's that this is one worth sticking with. Granted there are no tracks that'll make you sit up and take note like classics Maybes or Sketch On Glass from their two previous EPs, but I'd argue that's because this is an album, and it requires a more subtle approach. Because once you get into this album, it really does shine. Blind Night Errand is an instant classic, the dubby build is recognisable but before you can quite latch onto it it's snatched away and glitchified (yeah, I'm coining that one) into a snappy, compressed beat that's built upon with minimal layers of synths- the combination is utterly intoxicating. When the build up evaporates with a condensed vocal sample of a woman's breath midway through the track you just want to find these guys and shake their hands.

Before long it becomes apparent that this album is studded with gems like this track. In Would Know the opening sample of lots of people talking at once fades into a fuzz as snappy beats and a lilting rhythm is established with clipped samples of a man's voice; perhaps the integration of background talking into part of the melody is a comment on the innate musicality of the world around us. Perhaps it isn't.

The album isn't showy. The triumphs are quiet, and there is no attention drawn to them. The glitchy synths grounding Before I Move Off are expertly used both in the original Asian-sounding plucked-string instrumental and the sinuous groove a sampled guitar carries through the latter part of the track. Kimbie often change their songs midway to great effect, Field's glitchy beat is transposed onto a guitar midway through the track, and stunning penultimate track Mayor is the dance hit they seem to have been threatening for the last half hour, with a choppy vocal sample that is tumbled into a glorious synthy melody. The quality of their production is also evident throughout the LP, tracks like Carbonated really shine through a high-quality soundsystem or headphones.

But their style is so chopped-up that I think it's probably going to alienate a good amount of their audience, it's just not easy to know how to listen to an album like this. And as subtle and strong as the compositions may be, the moments where the LP really shines are slightly too few and far between. It's a really interesting listen and what they're doing is pretty unique and I like it, but I wouldn't be surprised if others didn't. Still, I do heartily encourage you to at least give it a try, the skill on display here alone is enough of a reason, and I'm sure some will find a whole lot to love.

9/10