WITH LIBERTY

When I hear that a song I like is going to be remixed, my initial concept is admittedly lame. I just figure it'll be the same song with a 4/4 drum machine beat behind it. Very lame, but I look forward to it. It's the same song, but now I can play it in DJ sets.

So when Justice kept remixing songs I loved ("Blood On Our Hands", "Human After All", "NY Excuse"), and kept tearing them to pieces in the process, I was pissed. Why take a good song and completely mutilate it in the remixing-blender, totally destroying any of the good ingredients you were given to work with?

I got over it, thanks to a certain Franz Ferdinand remix. Justice take excellent second single "The Fallen" and shred it to pieces. As Alex Kapranos put it in the latest Domino newsletter, Justice make him sound like Grandmaster Flash. The original was hard to understand, and the remix is indecipherable. But the resulting gibberish is so rhythmically engaging it gets stuck in my head, even though it doesn't make any sense.

Below is an original, 30-second Photoshop visualization of the track:



Franz Ferdinand - "The Fallen (Justice Edit)"

Hopefully Justice will have some more original material coming out on Vice soon (I'm also hoping for an Intonation appearance).

Slightly related: Vice is throwing a contest to win a mix-tape (actual tape) of all of the remixes from Chomeo's She's In Control record. Um, but if you don't want a cassette (...) you can download the whole thing in a zip file. Includes remixes from DFA and the Juan Maclean, and it's both free AND legal, so jump on that shit.

And if you're in Chicago tonight definitely head out to NIGHT MOVE$ at Funky Buddha Lounge (728 W Grand). Opaque is bringing in none other than THE Maurice Fulton, husband of one Mutsumi Kanamori, or, in other words, the guy behind all the sick drum production on MU records. I would be there if I could; don't miss it.