Tunes Consumed: the Poutine Silver Platter

Yellow House was among the top of my personal lists just based on the number of times it was heard throughout my apartment last year, and I just know when the frost encases the ground and the cold rolls around I’ll be back under a blanket accompanied by the sparsity that is Grizzly Bear, in one form or another. It does well in a cold environment, when my body isn’t so ready to brave the cold even for a dose of sunlight or energetic release. It is still summer now, and I’m going back to something that’s by no means new, but should in all regards be a seasonally appropriate take on this wintery band.

Remixes tend to break things down into simpler and more nostalgic elements, however emotionally barren they tend to be (they don’t have to!). Songs usually just get the “electronic treatment”, being jazzed up with drum machines, electronic glitch-noise, or splashes of synth. They often take on a punchy feel, and fare better on a mixtape, just by virtue of the newfound energy it takes on.

So I found my way to the remix album for Horn of Plenty (which was Grizzly Bear’s 2005 offering). I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was hoping for something palatable. It’s hard, I suppose when so much of Horn is so dark. The tracks begin soft, grow in depth of emotionality, but instrumentally don’t offer a whole lot of punch on their own, replete with delicate harmonies and atmospheric guidance. Truthfully, it could even see a broader audience if it were made to appeal to less adventurous ears, and I see that as being the inspiration for this series of remixes.

Unfortunately, it misses that mark by quite a distance. Tracks like Simon Bookish’s or Girl Talk’s are so far removed from the originals that you have to wonder, are they dressing this song up, or are they just doing something else entirely? The answer is the latter.

Simon Bookish’s track is a sad disservice to the original, almost as though it were a mockery (or at the very least, a simple weekend DIY mixing project). He followed the footsteps of many remix formulae and layed down a drum track, threw in synth, made a few spots for “Eavesdropping” vocal samples and worked his own words in. Even his words make no sense whatsoever in the context of the original song, and everything else is on par with your typical DMusic Fruity Loops artist. This is Simon Bookish doing Eavesdropping.

Girl Talk, on the other hand, takes the “where’s the original at”, over-top rap approach. It is as simple as it sounds, and they just pretty much just rap as though it were their own material, then make sure to play an awkward section of the song at the end of all their contextually huh? rapping. Fairly simple, really awkward, but somehow more respectable than Bookish’s. This is Girl Talk’s take on Knife.

Or hey, you know what. This world needs more bad lounge techno with heavily echo-filtered vocals. Thanks, Soft Pink Truth.

Among all the remixes, the ones that stand out are those from artists who actually share a common bond with Grizzly Bear, at least in terms of artistic approach. Castanets and Final Fantasy were the only two among the 17 who didn’t out-and-out butcher the music. It seems like they were the only candidates who even listened to the album at all, grasping some notion of its nature.

Silences are a terribly powerful thing in music, and they played a key role in bringing out emotional depth. The nature of the music was hidden among the thrushes of those silences, caught up in the reedy tones of the falsetto harmonies, and alight in the open drumming.

Owen Pallett saw to playing around “Don’t Ask” rather than to smother it or cover it up, and the violin and percussion definitely add something to the song that even the original could have seen, without sacrificing any of its momentum. Final Fantasy remix Don’t Ask.

While Castanets take a very different approach, attesting to the idea that the song need not be entirely in-tact in the re-versioning. Deep Sea Diver becomes somewhat of a play on concepts, and the sounds drift in and out as though, literally, you were swimming in and around an ocean of music. Castanets Remixing Deep Sea Diver.

One can only hope that if 2007 rolls around with a pile of Yellow House remixes, that the cast of players will be more conscientious, and actually do some research before embarking on their creations.

all in a line, just for you:
Deep Sea Diver (Castanets remix)
Don’t Ask (Final Fantasy remix)
A Good Place (Soft Pink Truth remix)
Eavesdropping (Simon Bookish remix)
Knife (Girl Talk remix)