As the Roskilde-announcement of two days ago didn't really excite me that much (although Wild Beasts does have an interesting twang to it, which might, just might, herald a passing by), I decided to postpone my preliminary priorities list a week or two.In stead, I'm gonna get started on something I've wanted to do for a long time, which is digging for cool remixes. And I'm gonna start off with focusing on French pop-rockers Phoenix. One of my favourite tracks of theirs is 'Lisztomania', off their wonderful newest record, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix of yesteryear. I've managed to find a few enjoyable remixes of this particular track. This is an Alex Metric-remix, which incorporates both the bridge and the signature guitar-riffs in a cool way. This Yuksek-remix is a bit more dancefloor-oriented - very clear French house connotations here. I don't really like how this remix completely rids the track of its beautiful harmonics, however it's pretty cool anyway, especially how it works out around 1:40. The end of the remix reminds me very much of Justice. Yuksek has done a number of other interesting remixes, including this suave remix of Gorillaz' 'Stylo', and this one of 'Never Miss A Beat' by Kaiser Chiefs.
Back to Phoenix, and what could be construed as being their breakthrough single, 'If I Ever Feel Better', off their now ten-year-old debut album United. The Buffalo Bunch did this remix, which is (a bit annoying at first, but) really catchy, and faithful to the groovy nature of the original. It does get a bit long in the tooth though.
Moving a few albums forwards in the Phoenix discography, we find the charming power-pop of It's Never Been Like That, from 2006. A really good remix off this record is the 25 Hours a Day-remix of 'Long Distance Call'. True to the instrumentalisation of Phoenix, this is a really awesome remix - it's almost as good as the original.
This Lungo Maltese-remix of 'Lost and Found' is a bit in the alternative category, but very interesting nonetheless. This is another remix that tends to loop too much around the same few ideas though. The original is a somewhat overlooked track, and definitely one of my favorites on that particular album.
Speaking of favorites, and moving back to the present day, closer 'Armistice' is truly the hidden gem of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Well-known Oregonian musician and producer YACHT has done this trippy remix of it. Phoenix themselves have also done an enjoyable acoustic version.
Not surprisingly, Animal Collective bring home the bacon in this bunch of remixes. They've merged 'Love Like A Sunset' I and II, into this cool remix. It's not a floor-filler, but it's a very interesting interpretation indeed.
Finally, one of my current fave bands Delphic have done a remix of 'Fences', also from Wolfgang..., which I just had to include, even though it's terribly boring. 'Fences', for whichever reason, is one of the most remixed tracks off this album. I guess you need something to work with (yeah, you get it, I'm not crazy about the original). That's for not always having to finish on a high note!
