Dragonette, If It Ain't Broke...

Don't fix it.

Dragonette are back. I don't know if you remember them, but they're an electro-pop outfit from the grand land many know (understandably so) as Canadia. Ditching their original sound, and opting for a more in-your-face approach, they released their new single 'Fixin' To Thrill'.

'Fixin' To Thrill' tries to mirror the grinding, mashing sound of acts like Justice, but doesn't quite hit it. Fortunately for Dragonette. Villains got their evil little hands on it, and crafted it into a little beauty reminiscent of Fake Blood circa late '07 - early '08. Noice.

Also here are brilliant remixes by The Toxic Avenger of 'Take It Like A Man', which was criminally underplayed, and Van She Tech's classic vocal mix of 'I Get Around', which was justifiably overplayed.

Dragonette - Fixin' To Thrill (Vilains Remix)
Dragonette - Take It Like A Man (The Toxic Avenger Remix)
Dragonette - I Get Around (Van She Tech Vocal Mix)

Get all of them, they're all pearlers.

Meaning

Have you ever said something so many times that it loses meaning?

Mea-ning. Mea-ning.

Hmm, what a funny word.

Classic takes on classic tunes. Hands down, these are the best remixes of these anthems, if you can call them that (which you can't).

Justice - Waters Of Nazareth (Erol Alkan's Durr Durr Durrrrrr Re-Edit)
ZZT - The Worm (NT89 Remix)

On another note, I took a gander of the original 'Ready For The Weekend'. Fake Blood, I'm disappointed.

You just took the line:

'Lick the blood stain from your finger'

removed 'stain', and added a noticeably dodgy 'blood'. I know it's not you fault, but try to put more effort in next time, yeah?

Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend

Don't worry Fakes, I still love you.

It's A Mistake To Be Nude

Well, in public at least. Otherwise tasks such as, for instance, getting dressed would be incredibly impractical. You would have to wear your new clothes over your old ones, and then squirm around and about until you managed to extract the ones underneath.

Lifelike's remix of 'Mistake' has that back-of-the-alley, smoke in the streets, 80's vibe to it, while sayCet's take on 'Nude' is harrowing and calm. Great fun.

Moby - Mistake (Lifelike Remix)
Radiohead - Nude (sayCet Remix)

Is it possible to change underwear without being nude for at least a moment?
Don't know, don't want to know.

Designer Drugs

Designer Drugs have been ripping up the music scene in the US of A for a while now, they're one of the few good American Electro acts. They've remixed names such as Little Boots, N.A.S.A., Treasure Fingers, as well as American Alternative bands like Avian X, Velvet Code and Freezepop.

I have two more recent remixes here for you, and an absolute stunner of a remix of, erm, Mariah Carey...

The Secret Handshake - Make Up Your Mind (Designer Drugs Remix)
Thieves Like Us - Your Heart Feels (Designer Drugs Remix)
Mariah Carey - I'll Be Loving You Long Time (Designer Drugs Remix)

Don't you just hate it when people scroll through your artists and pick out the embarassing names?

"Eww, you like Lady Gaga?"
"I just wanted to see what she sounded like, and I haven't gotten around to deleting it off my iPod."
"Sureeeeeeeee."

WhoDIB? : Electric Bloom

Electric Bloom is one of my favourite tracks from Foals' debut album, 'Antidotes', along with Cassius and Hummer (although Hummer only appeared on the UK Special Edition of Antidotes). Electric bloom has been the subject of much remixing attention, and here today are a selection of two of the best, from Neo Tokyo and Malente.

Neo Tokyo has a real 'in your face' approach to Electric Bloom. The original acoustic guitar has been complemented with layers of fuzzy, heavy distortion, as well as the occasional howl and pointless (?) static. A bit like doubling the amount of 'Electric' while obliterating the 'Bloom'. Sorta like a chainsaw masacre of some sort.

Malente's take on Electric Bloom is a bit late to the game, it only surfaced recently, as opposed to all the other remixes which surfaced eons ago. Malente adds an erratic beat that gradually accumulates into a much thicker, meatier (erm...) sound that somehow doesnt detract from the original's brilliant vocals. Wonderful.

WhoDIB? Neo Tokyo or Malente?

Foals - Electric Bloom (Neo Tokyo Remix)
Foals - Electric Bloom (Malente Remix)

Neo Tokyo.

Start The Disarray

'Starter' is the less loved of the 'Starter' EP, despite being the cover song. Jeffer* just womps it, but hey, still good in it's own right.

Hervé's remix of 'Mercury' also utilises the vocals of 'She's Hearing Voices'. Odd choice that I would personally not make, but hey, he's the producer here. This track is often overshadowed on Intimacy Remixed by Armand Van Helden's remix of 'Signs' (which is pretty average).

Go for it kids!

Boys Noize - Starter
Bloc Party - Mercury (Hervé Is In Disarray Remix)

*Jeffer is floating somewhere on this blog...

Too Many Eights

Just like Nintendo, this remix is glitchy, utilises 8-Bit computer game synths, and is dangerously addictive.

Best track from 09/16 2007. No jokes.

Danger - 88h88(80Kidz Remix)

Eightyeight h Eightyeight(EightyKidz Remix).
Damn, that's a lot of eights.
Did I mention eight is my favourite/lucky number?
If you analyse it, infinity is just an eight on it's side.
Therefore eight is the best number.

National Aeronautics Space Administration

N.A.S.A. remixes. A whole bucket load of them. This post is the direct result of being lazy.

Mr Oizo's is original, quirky. Designer Drugs' is dark, stomping. Steve Aoki's is extroverted, loud. Aston Shuffles is inventive, catchy. Treasure Fingers is glistening, 'epicwave'.

N.A.S.A. - Strange Enough (Mr Oizo Remix)
N.A.S.A. - Strange Enough (Designer Drugs Remix)
N.A.S.A. - Gifted (Steve Aoki Remix)
N.A.S.A. - Gifted (Aston Shuffle Remix)
N.A.S.A. - Gifted (Treasure Fingers Remix)

By the way, I didn't upload these myself, so they're not 'cleaned up'.

Remember

Excellent Allure, you've funked this up with some slick chords, and at the same time, paid homage to the King of Pop. Smooth.

Michael Jackson - Remember The Time (Allure Remix)

Gotta love the end of this song.

Where Can I Find Salt Air?

JUPITER, never heard of you before, but, I must say, this is a pearler. Big ups to Scottish Friction for finding it.

Sounds like Bag Raiders, well, their trademark Rainbow Power synths, mixed together with some anonymous up-and-coming indie band.

Chew Lips - Salt Air (JUPITER Remix)

Love it!

Foamo Remixes

Is that an American Apparel 'Salt and Pepper' hoodie I spy on Foamo? And those headphones look like top AKGs or top Sennheiser HDs. To boot, Foamo's got the attention of the entire Fidget scene, he's pretty much up there with Fake Blood and Hervé.

Jealous.

Anyway, Foamo has been nice enough to release his remix of 'No You Girls' by Franz Ferdinard. It was going to be an official remix on the EP, but Foamo didn't give it the go ahead. It's fairly polished, and doesn't overpower the original feel of the song (I like that, if you haven't noticed by now), and he also gives it that little bit of an extra kick. Noice.

Also got a La Roux and Mystery Jets* remix here for you kids.

Franz Ferdinard - No You Girls (Foamo Remix)
La Roux - Bulletproof (Foamo Remix)
Mystery Jets - Half In Love With Elizabeth (Foamo Remix)

*I know I posted the Mystery Jets remix before, but it's such a brilliant remix. Quite easily one of the top remixes of 2008.

WhoDIB? : 72 Virgins

Okay, Calling In Sick and The Bloody Beetroots have to share the 72 virgins, so that's 36 virgins each. And both are duos, so for each member that's 18 virgins. Sounds good, yeah?

Calling In Sick apply a distorted, fuzzy technique, which whirrs up and down like an engine. The lyrics are also treated well, they aren't ignored (which happens a fair bit in remixing), and are well balanced and complemented by the music storming around in the background.

The Bloody Beetroots* also add an abbrasive, smack-you-down-to-the-ground sound. It is seriously addictive, plus it makes me want to hit someone (always a good thing)! But it might be stretched a bit too long at 4 minutes, and ignoring most of the vocals isn't always the best thing to do.

WhoDIB? Calling In Sick or The Bloody Beetroots?

Shitdisco - 72 Virgins (Calling In Sick Remix)
Shitdisco - 72 Virgins (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)

Calling In Sick.

*The Bloody Beetroots are touring Australia at the moment, you can catch them at OneLove, okay kids?

Daft Punk Remix That Doesn't Suck

I think the title effectively gets my message across, don't you?

Daft Punk - Face To Face (Night Drugs Rework)

It is technically a rework though.

Shinichi Osawa

Shinichi Osawa is the Japan-Man of Electro. No questions asked.

Two recent remixes by Shinichi here for you kids, one of 'Thief', which will appear on the upcoming Thief EP by the Lost Valentinos, and the other of 'Turbo Love', from the Turbo Love Remix EP.

Both of them sound like what Boys Noize would sound like if he made material in between his album 'Oi Oi Oi' and 'Jeffer'. It has the abrasive, grinding sound of 'Lava Lava', albeit toned down, coupled with the womps, squicks, and abnormalities of 'Jeffer'.

Lost Valentinos - Thief (Shinichi Osawa Remix)
Bag Raiders - Turbo Love (Shinichi Osawa Remix)

Shinichi Osawa, in Turbo Love with a Thief.

The Hood, Internet

Okay, bear with me for a bit.
I know the song is called 'Bitches', and no, it is not a RnB artist talking about his sexuality.
I know the artist is called 'My Gold Mask', and no, they are not from a comic book series.
I know the remixer is called 'The Hood Internet', and no, they are not IT gangstas.

Bass guitar, some trumpet, and to top it all of, some quirky vocals reminiscent of Crystal Castles' remix of 'Leni'.

My Gold Mask - Bitches (The Hood Internet Remix)

Disregard the names, this song is ace.

WhoDIB? : Synthétiseur

Welcome to the first edition of WhoDIB? /prəˈnaʊns/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [hoo-dib], or 'Who Does It Better?'.

First off, we have Housse De Racket, a duo comprising of a guitarist and a drummer (pretty slick), who are both well trained in the use of Synthesisers (even slicker). Hence Synthétiseur, which is French for Synthesiser! At least I hope so, I'm just assuming.

Secondly, we have the very established remixing behemoth known as Van She Tech. During 2007, Van She Tech was arguably the remix team. Sadly, during 2008 they released few remixes, and the ones that were released were sub par.

Housse De Racket's take is more of a rework than a fully fledged remix, but, it delivers. I really dig the stop start chords at the start, that eventually lead into a more powerful, smoother melody. The laser blips at the end are welcome too.

Fast forward to 2009, and Van She Tech are baaaaaaaaaaaaack. This remix is not to dissimilar from the Housse De Racket remix in terms of the stuttering, but Van She Tech adds their signature grinding guitar screams, even if it is only for a bit.

WhoDIB? Housse De Racket or Van She Tech?

Housse De Racket - Synthétiseur (Housse De Racket Remix)
Housse De Racket - Synthétiseur (Van She Tech Remix)

WhoDIB?
Housse De Racket.

Children Of The Night

Hey kids, remember The Vanish?
They sounded like Midnight Juggernaughts meets Cut Copy?
Probably the next big thing for '10?
No?

Click here to refresh your memory.

The synths are incredible, it sounds like what Bag Raiders and The Twelves might make if they collaborated. But, ermmm, the vocals...

"We getting shaky, you getting naked"

Hmmmm.

The Vanish - Children Of The Night

I'll let you kids be the judge.