this would be the latest in a series of son lux eps to catch up on, and i'm actually not entirely sure what to make of it. the instrumental versions of change is everything are something i'd like to hear in a more developed manner, but these are really just teases - jingles, almost. like, you could imagine them repurposed for underwear commercials - where change is indeed everything.
i'm sorry.
the version of remedy is sort of necessary, but as a bookend; this is the logical conclusion of a bside, but it's a bside, and i think maybe the most pressing question it opens up is why it wasn't on the most recent record, and if it will be on the next one.
as a collection of tracks, it's on the somber and reflective side, which is one of the sides of his work that i like. but, as a cohesive work, it kind of neither starts nor stops, a reality exacerbated by the fact that i've already heard these songs, and these mixes don't really add anything new to any of them.
i think i would appreciate a full record of new material in this style, though.
https://sonlux.bandcamp.com/album/reincarnates
Monday, May 25, 2020
to be a little more concrete, i'd scratch out and redo the tracks with the strikeout through them.
1) ROSE QUARTZ (NNAMDÏ Remix)
2) FULTON STREET I (Hether Fortune Remix)
3) FULTON STREET II (Wreck and Reference Remix)
4) RHODONITE AND GRIEF (Kitty Remix)
5) ANXIETY PANORAMA (Cremation Lily Remix)
6) IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN (David Allred Remix)
7) FROM OUR BEDROOM WINDOW (E.M. Hudson Remix)
8) FOOTSTEPS AT THE POND (Zeal & Ardor Remix)
9) THERE YOU ARE (HIDING PLACE) (Majetic Remix)
10 YOU ASCENDANT (Peter Broderick Remix)
the three in the middle just need something a bit more intense, and the last one egregiously cuts up a rather epic piece of poetry and should not have.
in northern michigan and you ascendant, especially, should have been converted into absolutely demented pieces of sound in ways that could have taken the lyrics to the next level. that remix of rhodonite and grief is really the weakest on the record; it's barely there at all, for a track that could have been....i actually think that the best person for this track really honestly would have been old man jim thirlwell. really. those horns. and, that remix of anxiety panorama comes off as a bad joke.
the rest of it, though, is fairly strong, if never transcendent. to be clear: it could pretty much all be taken to the next level, but the stuff i didn't scratch out is at least workable as starting points.
i'm spending time on this because i actually think this is a format that this band has some potential with - they write multidimensional, complex music that could and perhaps ought to be ripped and spliced. this was a great idea, even if it didn't really execute.
1) ROSE QUARTZ (NNAMDÏ Remix)
2) FULTON STREET I (Hether Fortune Remix)
3) FULTON STREET II (Wreck and Reference Remix)
7) FROM OUR BEDROOM WINDOW (E.M. Hudson Remix)
8) FOOTSTEPS AT THE POND (Zeal & Ardor Remix)
9) THERE YOU ARE (HIDING PLACE) (Majetic Remix)
the three in the middle just need something a bit more intense, and the last one egregiously cuts up a rather epic piece of poetry and should not have.
in northern michigan and you ascendant, especially, should have been converted into absolutely demented pieces of sound in ways that could have taken the lyrics to the next level. that remix of rhodonite and grief is really the weakest on the record; it's barely there at all, for a track that could have been....i actually think that the best person for this track really honestly would have been old man jim thirlwell. really. those horns. and, that remix of anxiety panorama comes off as a bad joke.
the rest of it, though, is fairly strong, if never transcendent. to be clear: it could pretty much all be taken to the next level, but the stuff i didn't scratch out is at least workable as starting points.
i'm spending time on this because i actually think this is a format that this band has some potential with - they write multidimensional, complex music that could and perhaps ought to be ripped and spliced. this was a great idea, even if it didn't really execute.
on second thought, that la dispute remix record doesn't disassemble in as difficult a manner as i initially hoped - while there are some high points, much of it sort of floats by. and, while the lyrics are pushed to the forefront, they're also frequently cut-up or abridged. i was hoping that the stronger moments would overpower on subsequent listens, but it's more the reverse.
it's certainly a step in an interesting direction, but i'd interpret la dispute more as a neo-rem than as an appendage to nin (although both arguments have merit); dreyer has had points of reznorian lyrical embarrassment, but he is, overall, an incomparably more talented wordsmith. rem's discography is more diverse than people give them credit for, but they never delved very far into industrial music. is that an interesting projection, though? well, i think it's what i wanted to hear.
i would admittedly love to hear something as simultaneously complex and challenging as those mid-90s remix records, but this really isn't it, it's maybe what i wished it was.
i'm not slamming it - there are high points, and i don't find myself skipping anything. i'm more stepping back from and acknowledging my own misperception, rooted in an unjustified projection. that is to say that it maybe wasn't fair to imagine this as something it isn't.
i'd still give it a B or something. but i'm still waiting for my sequel to those ridiculous 90s remix discs, and i might, in truth, be waiting forever.
it's certainly a step in an interesting direction, but i'd interpret la dispute more as a neo-rem than as an appendage to nin (although both arguments have merit); dreyer has had points of reznorian lyrical embarrassment, but he is, overall, an incomparably more talented wordsmith. rem's discography is more diverse than people give them credit for, but they never delved very far into industrial music. is that an interesting projection, though? well, i think it's what i wanted to hear.
i would admittedly love to hear something as simultaneously complex and challenging as those mid-90s remix records, but this really isn't it, it's maybe what i wished it was.
i'm not slamming it - there are high points, and i don't find myself skipping anything. i'm more stepping back from and acknowledging my own misperception, rooted in an unjustified projection. that is to say that it maybe wasn't fair to imagine this as something it isn't.
i'd still give it a B or something. but i'm still waiting for my sequel to those ridiculous 90s remix discs, and i might, in truth, be waiting forever.
this is something i put aside a few months ago, and that kept getting lost in computer crashes. i'm finally giving it a listen...
as somebody with a distinct interest in industrial music, i'm finding this sort of double-edged. it doesn't always hold up to it's potential, but when it does it often transcends the original recording. i guess you have to be approaching it from a certain mindset to even begin to try and get your head around something like this, and that's probably not feasible for their entire fan base, but it probably is for enough of it, and it really is a treat if you can do it.
there were complaints when the record was released that the vocals were mixed down or even almost out; on this collection, there's a tendency to focus on the vocals to the exclusion of the other instruments in a way that delves into very abstract hip-hop, or even some devotional music (even if so much of it ends up sounding vaguely like tool in it's more reflective moments, except without the repetition and cliches). that is something that a lot of long term fans should be ecstatic about, if they can get out of their emo shells - which they should be more than old enough to do at this point.
but, this is a thick record with many layers to uncover and that you simply need to spend some time with, so it's going to take a while to see if it can climb it's way into the same heady place i hold records like further down the spiral in. it very well might.
for you, i'd say it's worth a try, at least - if you dare.
https://ladispute.bandcamp.com/album/panorama-remixed
as somebody with a distinct interest in industrial music, i'm finding this sort of double-edged. it doesn't always hold up to it's potential, but when it does it often transcends the original recording. i guess you have to be approaching it from a certain mindset to even begin to try and get your head around something like this, and that's probably not feasible for their entire fan base, but it probably is for enough of it, and it really is a treat if you can do it.
there were complaints when the record was released that the vocals were mixed down or even almost out; on this collection, there's a tendency to focus on the vocals to the exclusion of the other instruments in a way that delves into very abstract hip-hop, or even some devotional music (even if so much of it ends up sounding vaguely like tool in it's more reflective moments, except without the repetition and cliches). that is something that a lot of long term fans should be ecstatic about, if they can get out of their emo shells - which they should be more than old enough to do at this point.
but, this is a thick record with many layers to uncover and that you simply need to spend some time with, so it's going to take a while to see if it can climb it's way into the same heady place i hold records like further down the spiral in. it very well might.
for you, i'd say it's worth a try, at least - if you dare.
https://ladispute.bandcamp.com/album/panorama-remixed
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