When remixes go awry...

(EDIT: I mistakenly used the word "craptastic" about the Stardust vs. Justice mash-up...that was actually meant for different Stardust remix and then in my haste to get this piece up I didn't read through and edit. My sincere apologies for misrepresenting the mash-up go out to it's creators. I actually really enjoy that track and appreciate that they didn't misrepresent original work as a "remix." Sorry again, and thanks for handling it like gents.)

Heavy D aka Deion aka Dijon aka Mustard bka Dylan is going to be posting his review of last night's Grizzly Bear show in Washington shortly...Ed Droste hooked him up with VIP tickets, so check back in a little later for that.

Moving on...

Remixing is a delicate process. Remixers must balance creating a new take that enhances the experience of the material with changing too little of the source material and appearing uncreative, and changing too much of the source material and leaving fans wondering how and why the producer is still attributing the work to the author of the original. Musically speaking, the age of the internet has flooded aggregators like HypeM and Elbo.ws with scads of remixes, thanks to the new accessibility to music editing tools and remixing necessities like a capellas and instrumentals. And even with every up-and-coming DJ or producer trying their hand at remixes, my favorite remixes are still from 90s hip hop. (If I must, examples: the Puffy and Razor Sharp mixes of "I'll be There For You/You're All I Need" and the remix of "Murder was the Case" and a couple other tracks I might put up tomorrow.) Some producers change very little about a track and re-appropriate it as their own, but the majority of today's remixes are built on the a capellas and little else from the track, be it the instruments used, the melody or even the tempo.

Take for instance, Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You," a song extremely popular with those familiar with Daft Punk and the rest of the French electronic dance music scene. I stumbled across Pola-Riot's Remix of the track last week. This remix begins as the OG track does before dropping a Bloody Beetroots-esque electro-ow-my-ears beat backed by samples of the original vocals around a minute in. The track shifts from a smooth, sweet-heart-ed house beat to an abrasive bee-buzzing synth, paced nearly twice as quick with an entirely different sound, tone, pitch and song structure. They're two completely separate songs, and yet Pola-Riot (either one, or a collection of, Austrian producer[s]) have brought themselves a bunch of attention by paying the brilliant Stardust track an homage by having it as a lead-in and small sample role (I don't care how much of the vocals we hear, they're not truly part of the song). It bogus, there is no remixing going on, just one original beat piggybacking on another popular one.

This is all to say that remixers should take an aspect of an original song and build upon that aspect rather than stapling your own original work on the end of popular song. Rant over. You can check for yourself (a solid cover, Daft Punk's Alive 07 encore and a dope mash-up, done the right way included):

Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
Stardust/Pola-Riot - Music Sounds Better With You (Pola-Riot "Remix")
Daft Punk/Stardust - Alive 2007 Encore
The Whitest Boy Alive - Music Sounds Better
Stardust vs. Justice - Music Sounds Better With Your Friends (C.I.T.Y. DiscoTech Mash-Up)

(The silver lining: the use of "riot" to describe a remix or style of music is fantastic; also, not trying to pick on Pola-Riot...what they've done has become the norm. I just think it's tired.)