Remixes can be rough, generic and downright awful; they can either completely fuck up your favourite song, or make you see it from an entirely different dynamic. Granted, the tumblr-esque images that form the still videos of thousands of youtube remixes do put me off, and often for good purpose (many of them just sound totally unoriginal). There are however, some gems hidden in the sea of grey, and I have picked out my top three (in no particular order).
1. HONEY // SWIM DEEP (OCEAAN REMIX)
Oceaan has the beautiful touch of a stoned angel - he adds a dreamy, light twist to what was a tacky (but loveable) boy band pop song. The remix resonates with oozing, enhanced vocals and reverb, with minimalistic hair-swishing beats laid underneath. Perfect for lazing languidly on your bed after a hard day at school.
2. OBLIVION // GRIMES (RYAN HEMSWORTH REMIX)
Another genius track - Hemsworth manages to weave in a rap song, ticking electronic drums, and crazy synths to grimes' haunting single in under four minutes twenty seconds.
3. HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN // DIIV (MOONS 美愛 REMIX)
I have saved the best till last. Despite sounding nothing at all like the original Diiv song and the fact I have no idea what the bits in Japanese mean, I think that this is probably one of my favourite remixes that I've ever found. It has elements of both the Ryan Hemsworth and Cceaan remixes, but combines them with a song completely unlike the other two. The result? A strange, whiney oriental sounding mess. And I mean that in the best way possible. Promise.
DIIV's Oshin held by US talk show host, David Letterman
Almost a year after the release of their landmark debut, New
York’s hottest band are hitting the studio to create their sophomore record. And
although its name is currently unknown to the public, DIIV’s second album has just
reached the recording stage. Although it’s nowhere near its release, the album’s
poised to be nothing but one of, if not the,
greatest and most important albums of the decade.DIIV received enormous acclaim in 2012 when Oshin was released, but it was in 2013
that DIIV launched themselves into the public eye of the British
music-appreciating public. Oshin was
arguably the greatest album released in a year that otherwise lacked great
albums, and with record number two DIIV are ready to climb to even greater
heights.
Here’s what we know about DIIV’s second record already;
It’s most likely to be self-produced.
It’s due for release “around March”
Zachary Cole Smith has cited singer-songwriter
Elliott Smith as the key influence on the record.
The two songs that may be included on the album
are Dust, and an untitled song- both
of which are played by DIIV at almost every live show.
Smith says that the album is to be recorded
around now (November/December).
The band cancelled a South American tour to get
to work on the album sooner, among other reasons.
So why am I giving you a lecture on how fantastic this album
is to be, if this is all we know? To start with, the only song which we've heard which is more
than likely to be included on the album is Dust,
which although lacking a studio recording, is plastered all over the internet
in all of its beauty. In essence, Dust sounds very much like an early Blue
Aeroplanes song, with the fast paced rock ‘n’ roll of 21st
century bands like The Hives and The Strokes thrown in to the mix, and to top it off, the fantastic shoegazing
guitar sound that is not dissimilar to early Ride. There is no doubt in my mind that DIIV’s Dust is a contender for the song of 2013, so if this is anything at
all to go by; more is to follow suite. As well as that, the Untitled Song they’ve
been playing at recent gigs is more of what we’ve heard on Oshin, but with a much faster tempo andmore audible lyrics- although that may be down
to the fact it’s a live version.
As well as this, singer Zachary Cole Smith has stated that
the album will be much more personal than Oshin
and will have much “darker” themes than before. With songs like Oshin (Subsume), Doused and Sometime on their first record, Smith
has proved he’s a more than talented lyricist- so the additional influence of
the late, great Elliott Smith can only be for the better. Smith’s suffer with
depression has been frequently publicised in the music press, and other events
like his recent arrest for the possession of 42 bags of heroin have indicated
that record number 2 will feature songs about the darker side of life, and the
like.
Smith wants to, with this record, add more of a pop
structure to the songwriting. Although verse-chorus-verse songs are an unlikely
prospect for the revolutionary guitar band, Smith wants to leave the
free-flowing Krautrock-inspired structure that came with Oshin. Smith states this is something else down to the influence of
Elliott Smith and his songwriting.
Next March can’t come fast enough for anyone with any sort
of music taste- and it’s not too far away. As well as that, DIIV are debuting
some of their new material at 2013’s last NYC show, which should give some lucky
people a chance to hear DIIV’s new songs before a lot of the music industry
(with some luck, some new songs will appear on YouTube). The band don’t have
any plans for a European tour anytime soon, but it’s more than probable that
they’ll hit the festival circuit in the Summer, to make up for their
cancellation of the Reading and Leeds dates this August (although some people,
like me, were lucky enough to catch them steal the show at July’s Latitude.)
Oshin was an
incredible, game changing record, which thrust some sort of shoegaze revival
(that sounds appalling, but it’s much less cringey than calling it Nu-gaze, isn’t it?) into the forefront
of the music scene. However, the sophomore record is looking to be an
improvement on what is already perfection, a mind-blowing prospect, and a revitalising
breath of fresh air from the very lacklustre current British music scene.
DIIV's stunning Dust, performed live at Captured Tracks Festival.
