"Holiday" - Montauk
Sweden's Montauk dropped their first single 'Holiday' a few weeks ago and it's ushered in with quite the remix fanfare. A fellow Swede, 22-year-old Jeremy Olander gives the piano heavy original the standard house treatment, engulfing the track in a pulsing, womblike environment. Great sonic textures here, with lots of surprisingly organic clicks and beats contrasting well with the highly manipulated vocals. By contrast the remix from Visitor takes the eighties-influenced electro route. Replete with synth strings and a soaring "guitar solo," it's screaming for a bad movie montage in the best possible way.
"Electric Counterpoint III. Fast (RYXP's Milde Salve)" - Steve Reich
Writing about Röyksopp (SPOILER ALERT) as part of my Best of the Decade list reminded me what beautiful music they make, despite their disappointing efforts on Junior. This remix, released by the Norwegian duo as part of their website's Track of the Month feature, is a throwback to the days of Melody A.M., when they were making the best downtempo around. Steve Reich, whose 1987 track provides the canvas for this mix, is a pioneer of American minimalism. This is hardly his first trip around the block with the club kids: "Electric Counterpoint"'s third movement was notably sampled first by The Orb in their 1990 release "Little Fluffy Clouds" and an entire album of remixes was released in 1990. Clocking in just over eight minutes, this gorgeous, spacey journey layers Pat Metheny's original guitars with lush waves of strings, restrained - almost timid - beats and a persistent echo. It's got the elemental quality of "A Higher Place" or "40 Years Back/Come" that has been sadly lacking in Röyksopp's more recent work.
"Sun (Spirituals Remix)" - Caribou
Speaking of Röyksopp...anyone hear the echoes here? Pitchfork's pick of the remix contest entries for the new Caribou single "Sun," this one is a disrupted, clicking mess. And it's awesome. The cool undertones, liquid feel and jazzy percussive elements of the original mesh well with the faintly sinister quality of the remixed additions by Portland's Tyler Tadlock. It unsettles with all the beauty of horror film TV static.
"First Class Riot (Touch of Jules et Jim)" - The Tough Alliance
Bookending with Swedes today, we've got jj, a current obsession of mine, remixing band-friends (and former label mates) The Tough Alliance, an off-and-on fling for me. The original is pure sixties surf pop, punchy and addictive. After jj get their hands on it, it's more like a faint light seen from the bottom of a very deep, mossy well, transformed by sumptuous vocals and leaky faucet beats. Plus, you've got to love Elin Kastlander's opulent, dream pop wailing "Remix, baby!" - a humorous reminder of jj's predilection for covering or reworking really, really, really hilariously bad music.
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