Just feel like it needs to be said that all these "Fences" remixes are getting play now that the new Phoenix remix album of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is out and there's like 5 different Fences remixes on there. Back when I did my remix of Fences nobody was even paying attention to Fences as a track let alone as a dope template for a dance remix (or a garage "remix" in the case of the Soft Pack's version). Not that my shit is better than anybody's, that Boombass remix is aight, although the Friendly Fires remix has a pretty serious case of multiple personality. There's about a hundred others surfacing so I'm reposting mine just to get up in this hoopla.

Phoenix - Fences (Jongleur Remix)


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This is fun right? Todd Terje is definitely one of the best remixers out there, his version of Shit Robot's "Simple Things (Work It Out)" a while back is far superior than the original, which was already a pretty sticky piece of techno sleeze. Here he takes on 80's new wave one hitter M's "Pop Muzik" with sheer unabashed joy. I'm getting fairly bored these days with nu disco and house music, but this track seriously kills. It's got all the forward momentum of a techno track, with the bloopy bass and stab synths of a house anthem. Then add the faux doowop vocals, the new wave sneer, and the deeper subtext here, that pop can be a kind of manifesto, a gestalt, and that the choice to embrace it is not a choice at all, it is insuppressible, and you have yourself a fine evening.

M - Pop Muzik (Todd Terje Remix)

Shit Robot - Simple Things (Work It Out)[Todd Terje Version]

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Rainy day in L.A. Not every day this kind of thing happens. Found the perfect track to accompany from a Dungen offshoot called The Amazing. These swedish dudes drop a seriously snuggly song here. Think Nick Drake, Van Morrison, 60's stuff, with a nice bit of that northern europe aloofness. The rest of the album has a couple other tracks in this vein, and some with a bit more of Dungen style psych swirl and boom.

The Amazing - Dragon









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Asthmatic Kitty, the label home and Michigan outpost of Sufjan Stevens, has an interesting record series called Library Catalog devoted to music basically prepped for a utilitarian role. What that is, or turns out to be seems ambiguous. They write of series: "for possible use in films and television, background sounds for home or office, or personal needs, such as relaxation, stimulation, meditation, concentration, or elevation,” or more specifically as “accompaniment to cooking, eating, sculpting, exercising, high stakes poker, soaking, panoramic landscapes, cuddling, car chases, drawing, knitting, bandaging, romance, playing chess, or planning the rest of your life, of which this is the first day." I don't think it presumptuous to assume Asthmatic Kitty considers "listening" a crucial aspect of the whole endeavor. But I do find it a recessionarily shrewd move on their part, providing indie ambient and arty instrumental rock that seems tailor made to indie films and forward thinking TV. Then again, like many of Sufjan and his crew's ideas (I'm still pissed about the 50 states project's abandonment, and for the record I think Sufjan's noisey, electronic dabbling is terribly ill-conceived, and the BQE is a snorefest), I won't hold breath for them to come to fruition. But as an excercise in 'backgroundness' these records do fine. Some more than fine. Yuuki Matthews, who plays with Seattle's underrated Crystal Skulls is releasing Music for Savage Tropical Imagery December 8, which on the strength of "Conquerors" the first track leaked by Asthmatic Kitty, promises to be a a hazy, rueful Eno-meets-chillwave affair. Fellow Crystal Skull Casey Foubert and James McAlister, who both have solo entries into the series, come together on Music For Drums, a record that does as it a describes just with a lot more interest than you would expect. The mixing is taut, the layers rich, the compositions shifting. I've posted a smattering of teasers from a few of the other records including the Sufjan collab with Lowell Brams "Alpha to Theta" on Music for Insomnia which sounds way too close to Yoga music to my ears but seriously might get some motherfuckers to sleep. Also check out Roberto Carlos Lange's (Helado Negro) "Amazonian Pacific" which is an odd mishmash of darkwave, ambient, and noisey avant kraut grooves, but definitely works. They've amped up their release schedule for these records so keep a look out as they seem to be getting better with each.

Yuuki Matthews - Conquerors







Casey Foubert/James McAlister - Big Moth







Lowell Brams - Alpha to Theta







Law of the Least Effort - Law 2







Roberto Carlos Lange - Amazonian Pacific









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