We've been getting so many great remixes offered as free downloads on Amoeba.com lately. It makes sense from a business standpoint: remixes raise awareness of an artist and their music through something generally unavailable on the album, while simultaneously helping to further interest in the studio versions. (This is my totally unscientific, un-researched hypothesis.)
One of the things I like about remixes is that they can bring new life into a track, make you hear it in an entirely different way. Remixes, like anything else, run the gamut and with the omnipresence of the remix these days there is a good chance of running into some crap ones too. But when they're good, they can be delicious. In fact, over the last few years I've come across a few remixes that I now prefer over their original tracks.
I'm in love with a new remix from LA/NYC band
One of the things I like about remixes is that they can bring new life into a track, make you hear it in an entirely different way. Remixes, like anything else, run the gamut and with the omnipresence of the remix these days there is a good chance of running into some crap ones too. But when they're good, they can be delicious. In fact, over the last few years I've come across a few remixes that I now prefer over their original tracks.
I'm in love with a new remix from LA/NYC band
2 Hearts and Chemicals. Their "Coming Home" track was remixed by Miadis, a Dallas remix artist. I love what he did with the song, creating space, manipulating the vocals, and playing with the beats. The song has a different flow now, dipping and climbing like a sine wave. Download "Coming Home (Miadis Remix)."
Another example of a new remix I prefer over the original is a White Arrows remix of Active Child's "Johnny Belinda." The original track, from You Are All I See (Vagrant, 2011), has a completely different tempo and incorporates the faint stirrings of a choir of monks throughout. The remix maintains Pat Grossi's vocals, but alters the other elements completely. Download "Johnny Belinda (White Arrows Remix)."
Another example of a new remix I prefer over the original is a White Arrows remix of Active Child's "Johnny Belinda." The original track, from You Are All I See (Vagrant, 2011), has a completely different tempo and incorporates the faint stirrings of a choir of monks throughout. The remix maintains Pat Grossi's vocals, but alters the other elements completely. Download "Johnny Belinda (White Arrows Remix)."
In 2008, Brit quartet Wild Beasts released their shaky-legged -but- stunning debut, Limbo Panto. In the four years since, the band has released two thoroughly dazzling masterpiece full-lengths of deceptively delicate indie rock, lyrically bent towards looking in the dark recesses of the heart and libido, largely sung by co-vocalist Hayden Thorpe in his trademark falsetto. Smother finds the band adding a new restraint to their arrangements that allows the tension in the lyrics to hit with hair-on-end chills. It is a singular LP by a singular band that I expect will eventually reach a Radiohead-level stratosphere. 
In case you have not noticed, we are currently in the middle of Summer. It was like a billion degrees yesterday and it is a billion degrees today. I do love LA weather but I do also love complaining about the Summer. I love our mild Winters down here. And I do absolutely love the summer nights in Los Angeles. But I could do without the crazy hot summer days. I do know that as a planet we need the sun. So I have come to learn to love it over the years. But the goth in me still usually shields myself from the sun. More importantly I love all the things associated with Summer. I love the big summer blockbusters in the movie theater. I love the months of October through January and all the holidays associated with those months. And I love all these summer and fall albums coming out. August through November is an amazing time for music releases. All the labels are rushing to get albums out before the holidays. Just like the movie studios are rushing to get their best movies out at the end of the year for the Oscars. I guess it always depends on what you are into musically. But for me, there is a ton of my favorite bands putting out new albums in these next couple of months.
