The art of the Remix

Here at the +The WENC Night Beat we are big fans of remixes. For those not up on music lingo, a remix is when the audio track of a song, and sometimes the lyric track as well, is taken by another artists and put into a blender and worked over until the song bears little or no resemblance to the original. Now take out the word blender and replace it with synthesizer and you have the truth.

Remixes are all the rage these days. I think we average one a month around here. A few years ago we might have had one all year long. Just because they are all the rage doesn't mean you should do one. Take this month for example. We have four remix projects out. +Hillsong United has The White Album (boo hiss on The Beatles Reference). +Jars Of Clay put out Inlandia. +Capital Kings come out with Remixd, and +Jesus Culture puts out Jesus Culture Reconstructed Volume 1. I'll take two to compare.

First, the good. Jars of Clay remixed a few songs from Inland and in the process transformed themselves into The Choir. Not really, but Jars, especially in their early work, really lent itself to an ethereal sound, something that The Choir is know for. Since I love both bands, the result was awesome. Mission Accomplished. The songs were remixed into something completely different.

On the flip-side we have Hillsong United. It isn't a bad album, it's just that, despite the claim, it isn't a remix album. Note my definition above. The songs sound just like a typical Hillsong United album. The tempo hasn't increased, the sound hasn't been distorted, nothing has really changed except for a few beeps and other sounds being added. It's a major fail. 

It looks like the remix category at the PVA's is here to stay, at least for another year. I'll be sure to make sure you know about the best ones. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.