It's the Remix Edition: Sleigh Bells, Robyn, More!

Apologies in advance for the long hiatus - I plan to make up for it with an EPIC post. As always when I am gone, I am still listening to tons of music and there have been some truly incredible songs unveiled in the past few weeks. Most are of the remix variety, but I am going to be throwing in some others for good measure. Here we go:



Marina & the Diamonds has appear on DYB before in remixed form, but not even close to this good. She is of the Little Boots, La Roux great female vocalist mold that Britain just seems to churn out on a weekly basis. For me those acts shine most in remixes when production is put into more adept hands. Enter Clock Opera, a London quartet with stellar production chops though their vocals and melodies leave a bit to be desired. With Marina (aka Marina Lambrini Diamandis) taking vocal duties, Clock Opera takes her song with its vulnerably beautiful verses layers in epic strings and more importantly takes an okay (at best) chorus and chops up her vocals to mind blowing effect. This song has been on repeat for a week straight and I see no end in sight. This one will be on my year end list for sure. Find it HERE.



Amber Coffman of Dirty Projectors' fame (she goes all Maria Carey on "Stillness Is The Move") took some time off to guest on Rusko's track "Hold On" on his latest album, O.M.G.! (really??). Fortunately the song is about the opposite of the album title. Amber's voice is quickly becoming one of my favorites in music today. This song shows her with more soul and a bit of an edge. Sub Focus provides just insane and very STRONG (the percussions are not for the weak) beats that kick this song into another gear. Love this - HERE.



While not a remix per se, Sleigh Bells takes an excellent female vocalist Alexis Krauss and pairs her with a production mastermind, Derek Miller. They just happened to form a band instead! (Note to Little Boots, et al.: Please use this same formula). So instead of just a one off great remixed track, Sleigh Bells dropped a whole album of absolutely banging beats and sultry vocals - this album is SICK! The album dropped on Tuesday and is available for the rest of the week for free streaming on NPR. Definitely check them out HERE. I have raved about these two before - HERE for more info.



Robyn has been putting out dancefloor ready tracks for years and doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. Possibly my favorite of hers to date "Dancing On My Own" has been on repeat for me for a while. Check it out HERE. Dance remix by Buzz Junkies HERE works for a more amped up late night play but I am still waiting for a quintessential remix of this track. Right now nothing beats the original.



Lastly and out of nowhere is HEALTH with "USA Boys". HEALTH was a group making mainly loud uninteresting noise in the LA scene. Here they throw that completely out and put together one of the sickest beats I have heard this year off of their remix album DISCO 2. Going to start paying attention now for sure. Give it a spin HERE.


Couple other things of note:
(1) Check out wearehunted.com for a great playlist of the 99 most blogged songs of the moment and a whole section devoted to remixes as well HERE.
(2) Lala is shutting down end of the month thanks to Apple buying it (Stewart is right - Apple is turning into the Gestapo) BUT a huge benefit - all of Pitchfork's tracks on their website can be streamed repeatedly for free so check it out HERE. Until the end of the month that is..

Enjoy,
MD