…why we don’t enter any remix competitions. My standard retort normally contains expletives, rare Swahili words learnt with the aid of alcohol at 3am, explanations about lack of time, complete ignorance or a combination of all of the above. What made this time round any different was that the person doing the questioning was a major label representative, who had just watched our live show. This got me thinking as to the real reason behind it…
The main reason is we don’t normally like the bands or songs chosen for the competition. We’re unashamed music snobs, we can’t even begin to like our own music (which is why none of it has ever been released… yet). The few remixes we’ve attempted normally end up with us throwing 98% of the original parts away & lying on the couch listening to New Order… again.
So the question begs, who would we consider remixing if the opportunity presented itself? To level up the challenge, we’re gonna keep it local. In no particular order…
BLK JKS
Experimental rock group from Soweto. They might as well have been from Saturn or some far off Nebula. Galactic soundscapes combined with their loose musical style & natural rhythm combines to create something about as addictive as sugar coated chocolate crack.
Zebra & Giraffe
Greg Carlin is a genius. Fact. He’s assembled a fine group of musical ninja’s to help him shape Z & G into one of the country’s most well polished acts. We wouldn’t remix the much loved ” The Knife”. There are far more interesting songs in this band’s repertoire.
kidofdoom
4 piece instrumental group from Pretoria. We were fortunate enough to close Splashy Fen ’08 after them & have been adoring fans ever since. Their live show is immense & compliments their sonic alchemy of noise, riffs & distortion perfectly.
Lark
They need no introduction. Seminal Glitch/IDM/Electronica group who’s sound is unlike any other. The rumour mill states their is new album out in 2012. We still have Razbliuto on repeat, so it’s about bloody time.
Gazelle
Mixing African chic with a disco electro sound seems retrospectivley like on obvious genre to create, but suprisingly, Gazelle are the only act we’re aware of actually making it work. And boy do they make it work. We salute you.
Interesting that we chose 3 ‘rock’ groups & 2 electronic. Read what you will into that.
