Ever since Diddy "invented the remix" in 2002 (it didn't actually exist before then, y'see), any and everyone has become the in-demand remixer, or so they think.
Unwarranted remixes are now the environment's 189th biggest threat, and frankly, something has to be done about it before catastrophe strikes and we get bamboozled by yet another six-year-old kid claiming to be Daft Punk.
That said, check out these great hip-hop remixes by Langley, BC's lo-fi pop scientists International Falls, who not too long ago released the well-received Achievement album. Conceived by member Jay Arner (who also spends time in Poison Dart), the six-song EP is, well, so much better than what most people would expect from an indie rock kid fucking up some hip-hop anthems.
Simply titled Remixes, Arner's re-jigging works so well mainly because he doesn't fall for the obvious trap of going heavy with the bass and dropping in some outside Lil Wayne verses. Instead, he lifts guitar lines, drum beats and synth riffs from his two bands and masterfully pulls the switcheroo.
The transformation results in: Young Jeezy and Bun B rapping "Over Here" on top of some slacker jam; the boat-cruise R&B of R. Kelly's "Freaky in the Club" rendered to a frolicsome Broken Social Scene demo: emotive banjo permeating the sci-fi hip-hop of Missy's "Pass That Dutch"; the Game and 50 Cent spittin' "Hate It Or Love It" over a Velvet Underground homage; a carefully played electro combo of bass and synth lowering the booming "wamp" in Clipse's "Wamp Wamp"; and stripping Kanye's "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" to an a cappella track, and filling it with a quaking combo of bass drum and rimshot, before a sinister synth comes in to drop some melody.
You can buy it over at the International Falls website, or wait till the band go out on tour in May and June with No Gold.
R. Kelly "Freaky in the Club" (International Falls Remix)
Kanye West "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" (International Falls Remix)
Unwarranted remixes are now the environment's 189th biggest threat, and frankly, something has to be done about it before catastrophe strikes and we get bamboozled by yet another six-year-old kid claiming to be Daft Punk.
That said, check out these great hip-hop remixes by Langley, BC's lo-fi pop scientists International Falls, who not too long ago released the well-received Achievement album. Conceived by member Jay Arner (who also spends time in Poison Dart), the six-song EP is, well, so much better than what most people would expect from an indie rock kid fucking up some hip-hop anthems.
Simply titled Remixes, Arner's re-jigging works so well mainly because he doesn't fall for the obvious trap of going heavy with the bass and dropping in some outside Lil Wayne verses. Instead, he lifts guitar lines, drum beats and synth riffs from his two bands and masterfully pulls the switcheroo.
The transformation results in: Young Jeezy and Bun B rapping "Over Here" on top of some slacker jam; the boat-cruise R&B of R. Kelly's "Freaky in the Club" rendered to a frolicsome Broken Social Scene demo: emotive banjo permeating the sci-fi hip-hop of Missy's "Pass That Dutch"; the Game and 50 Cent spittin' "Hate It Or Love It" over a Velvet Underground homage; a carefully played electro combo of bass and synth lowering the booming "wamp" in Clipse's "Wamp Wamp"; and stripping Kanye's "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" to an a cappella track, and filling it with a quaking combo of bass drum and rimshot, before a sinister synth comes in to drop some melody.
You can buy it over at the International Falls website, or wait till the band go out on tour in May and June with No Gold.
R. Kelly "Freaky in the Club" (International Falls Remix)
Kanye West "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" (International Falls Remix)
