Approximately 20 years ago, legendary Noo Yoik producer/ remixer Arthur Baker helped New Order inadvertently invent the whole indie/dance crossover thing when their mutual meeting of minds cut the memorable "Confusion" single a good five years or so before the Madchester eruption.
Fast forward a coupla decades and Arthur's at the cutting edge of rock remixery again with this summit meeting with none-more-stylish New York anglophilers INTERPOL and their much-vaunted "Obstacle 1."
The majestic angularity of the original (in radio edit form) is included as the EP's final track, but with his remix, Baker's tapped into the spirit of the original and embroidered (relatively) subtly rather than do a major restructuring job: the sort of tailoring you'd expect these sartorially resplendent chaps to endorse, actually.
Naturally, the edit of Baker's 'Return To New York' mix is the one that'll be fast-tracked to radio, but it's the longer, weightier complete mix - with additional engineering by Johnny Toobad (hmm, wonder if that's on his passport?) that really holds your attention.
"Obstacle 1" has all Interpol's hallmarks: the staccato angularity of the Wire-meet-Television-down-a-dark-alley guitars, Carlos D's high-end Peter Hook bass musings and Paul Banks' overwrought, overheating vocals, finishing with that wonderful kiss-off line: "She puts the weight into my little heart." Baker respects these and embellishes accordingly.
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Thus, his remix pushes the possibilities of the track's punk-funk potential, beefs up Sam Fogarino's drums a tad and brings up the disco-y hi-hat; drops the guitars in and out with the kind of panning Martin Rushent used with the Buzzcocks and discreetly slots in some siren-style sqeulching come the second verse. Sensibly, Baker doesn't fuck around with Banks' vocals too much, save for some echo'n'reverb towards the end. The whooshy dub feeling is stylish, but doesn't wreck the blueprint. Good move, seeing as it's a winner anyway.
I suspect that this collaboration may be purely a one-off, but the results are good enough to suggest a more major collaboration would bear fruit. As with New Order, Baker is on the correct wavelength and "Obstacle 1" in this form remains thrilling stuff. Gold stars all round.
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