How does it feel when you someone remixes your song and makes it much better? Electronica outfit Ratatat must have the answer to this question, for the remixes of ‘Shempi’ piss all over the original.
‘Shempi’ is single number two off album number three, and as my introduction to the Brooklyn duo, it’s pretty nondescript. The single itself is inoffensive and almost instantly forgettable. At best it sounds like a particularly groovy carousel, but loses marks for incorporating retro gaming noises into it (which is something that should just never be done again in music…ever!). An excerpt of this might appear in the occasional DJ set, but alone it’s a pretty lacklustre song that fails to make an impression.
Pre-remix, it’s the sort of song you’d nod your head along to in a record shop, but you’d never be interested enough to ask the person behind the counter what it is. But the Zongamin version adds a fair amount of bass and gives the original idea some teeth on which to build. It’s preferable to the original, but it still creates an average song at best.
|
The E*Rock remix, however, sounds like something you could dance to. It’s very much adventures with the volume dial, but it sounds like a formidable Daft Punk style floor-filler, accentuating the melody and making it ten times more appealing. It brings out different parts of the song at different points, making you take notice instead of just shrugging at the whole affair.
So guys, are you meant to be grateful or envious?
|
