Often the problem with remix albums is that they don’t live up to the expectations the original album leaves the listener with. What might have been an excellent album in its original form just doesn’t fare well given the remix treatment regardless of how big the names are on remix duties. You might come away with 2 or 3 particularly good remixes from an entire remix album. On the positive side, remix albums of experimental electronic artists often sit bigger name remixers next to relative unknowns and regularly turn up some real talent.
Giardini Di Mirò and O.Lamm each passes a collection of original tracks over to some of their most respected peers to reinterpret and reconstruct their work into something new. In Di Mirò’s case the remixers include big names Styrofoam, Hermann and Kleine, Opiate, Dntel and Isan alongside lesser known names such as Nitrada, Turner and errorEncountered. On remix duties for the O.Lamm album are Team Doyobi, Blevin Blectum, Steve Roden and Alejandra & Aeron.
Giardini Di Mirò’s continual musical progression has recently resulted in the inclusion of two guest singers on their The Rise and Fall of Academic Drifting album and vocals throughout their subsequent EP. Handing this work over to some of their most respected electronic colleagues for reworking was their next step in the development of their sound. The resulting remixes are beautifully melodic, often containing discrete yet funky rhythmic beats and some form of ethereal vocal manipulation. The opener, Styrofoam’s remix of “A New Start” is an excellent example; chilled breaks, rhythmic percussion and chiming melodies sit next to saxophone samples and treated vocal excerpts –an excellent opening track with a slightly disjointed feel. Hermann & Kleine’s rework of “Pet Life Saver” is even more ambient and soothing. Gentle guitar melodies sit prominently over ethereal female vocals, drifting keyboards and crashing symbols to create a warm, lush end product. In contrast, Turner’s remix of “Trompso is OK” turns the original into a deep bassy technoid number while Opiate’s take on “Pearl Harbour” on one hand is gentle and melodic but on the other features bursts of beat infused mayhem. With their reinterpretation of “Penguin Serenade” Isan take a similar path to Styrofoam and Hermann & Kleine by utilising melodies, guitar and saxophone to form a serene ambient backdrop over a layer of static. The album closes in a similar way to its start with errorEncountered’s remix of “Rise and Fall of Academic Drifting” beginning gently with soft melodies, slow guitars and strings before overlaying some huge breaks, with a nice sampled intro and outro from Sir Richard Attenborough.
Of the 2 offerings, the O.Lamm is potentially the more intriguing as it offers many lesser known remixers than the Giardini Di Mirò album. My Favourite Things is certainly the more abstract and experimental of the two albums reviewed here, as the opening remixes by FabriqueDeColeurs shows with its torrent of digital noise. Generally, My Favourite Things is a collection of abstract digital reworks of varying intensity and complexity, usually comprising of many interacting layers of distortion, beats, glitchy noises and manipulated vocal samples but there are some notable exceptions. Erich Zahn’s rework calms things down with a very cool dubby jazz rework with rap, movie and spoken Japanese samples. Taking things in a different direction is Yoshihiro Hanno, whose minimal remix is a bubbling digital concoction with haunting reversed female vocal samples. Switching momentum again, Hypo produces a short but very slick digital funk rework that morphs into a new wave vocal track before briefly returning to its original format. Likewise, Steve Roden produces an unsettling track with deranged piano meanderings, a slowly undulating bassline and otherworldly vocal treatments. While Gordz rock out, Noah Katoi opts for the slow melodic approach, possibly utilising the chimes of a child’s toy, before introducing menacing organic beats. One of the most innovative pieces is from Alejandra & Aeron whose remix consists of a collage of sound snippets collated into a strangely compelling track in its own right.
Here we have 2 stylistically contrasting remix albums; Giardini Di Mirò’s is melodic and serene with the occasional burst of energy while O.Lamm’s is digital, layered and dense with several tangential meanderings in other directions. Both are equally interesting with the O.Lamm album being more diverse. Which you choose depends on your personal taste. Both represent an interesting and varied set of remixes and reinterpretations from the minds of an equally mixed collection of remixers.
