Lesser

Remix albums are always either hit or miss, especially when it is one single track that is remixed repeatedly. San Francisco's Tigerbeat6 label has unleashed two remix albums by two established electronic artists, Electric Company (Brad Laner, formerly of indie guitar noisesters Medicine) and Lesser (who also records for Matador). The former's disc, Greatest Hits, is a bunch of tracks remixed by his friends, whereas the latter is seven distinct interpretations of one track with some bonus tracks. Electric Company has picked the cream of the remix crop to alter his tunes: Kid 606, µ-ziq and Leafcutter John among others. Surprisingly, Kid 606's mix is rather tame and even sounds like Electric Co. (until it goes all drum & bass nuts at the end), but it doesn't disappoint. The definite highlights are Jasper's selected ambient take on "Elco 2" and Tom Recchion's breakdown of "Kelvinator," which sounds like evil has taken over. It's a compilation album that works so well because all of the material sounds original. Every piece is reconstructed into something new without sounding like the remixer is actually remixing. Lesser's different versions of "Mensa Dance Squad" really works nicely as well, because it sounds like one continuous mix, even when you get to the additional four tracks. His mix of nervous glitches and distortion, extreme jungle beats and insane slabs of hip-hop are enough to test anyone's patience, but that's what makes it so enjoyable. And when someone can make a Kid 606 mix of their track the most middle of the road of them all, you know there's something wild and crazy here.