The idea of me remixing Radiohead may have made a good April Fools joke, but the time has long since passed for such tomfoolery (oh, by a good half a day at least, until 2009 comes calling). So the facts are these: just over an hour ago I received an email from Radiohead’s website that went something like this (well, exactly like this actually, since I’ve lazily copied and pasted it):
To celebrate this week's single release (we still have those in
For those of you who enjoy this sort of thing, you can buy the separate components or 'stems' (bass, voice, guitar, strings/FX and drums) and remix your own version of the song. You can do this by adding your own beats and instrumentation or just remixing the original parts. More information here: http://www.radioheadremix.com/information/
You can buy the stems here: http://www.radioheadremix.com/buy/
You can upload your finished mixes here http://www.radioheadremix.com and be judged and even voted on by 'the public'.
You can also create a widget allowing votes from your own website, Facebook or MySpace page to be sent through too.
Hope you enjoy it
For those of you who aren't that way inclined, Nude is also available in its entirety on CD and 7 inch (
The indie-rock demigods aren’t the first band, nor even the first global goliaths, to do such a thing. Nine Inch Nails are nowadays renowned for allowing fans to take the constituent components of many of their songs and go as wild as their feverous imaginations will allow, and I can’t even begin to describe the regret experienced when I realised far too late on that there had been a chance to massacre my favourite Peter Gabriel track Shock the Monkey, all for the chance to win a SSL Duende (I’m not entirely sure what that is, but it sure sounds impressive enough to have bragged to friends about were I to have been victorious).
However, is there really much point in presenting these possibilities? (Apart from a most-likely lucrative link-up with iTunes...) It seems a bit like Da Vinci creating the Mona Lisa, then providing a cut-out-and-paste pack of the different body parts to newsagents around the country so the general populace could try and improve upon his mesmeric masterpiece. Do there really need to be any alternate takes, doesn’t it indicate a lack of belief in the original copy by the artist(s) involved?
However, music is probably a little more open to interpretation than other art-forms; 2006’s dancefloor anthem We Are Your Friends came about as a result of Justice entering an open contest to remix Simian’s song, their rendering so vastly superior that it seemed an entirely natural result. Also, a slew of cover versions have shown that even when a track can barely be improved upon, someone else’s sensibilities can provide new meanings and/or musical moments that may in many instances be preferable.
Things seems a little more difficult in this instance though, given my stunning lack of talent combined with the small fact that I regard Nude to be one of Radiohead’s finest-ever tracks. Should I even bother paying for the track’s ‘stems’ in the first place when it shall most likely be an entirely pointless endeavour?
Actually, that should just embolden me; if it’s in human nature to be destructive, then once it all goes horribly wrong at least I can take great pleasure in applying some synthesised didgeridoo, blackboard scrapes and belligerent belches, subsequently ruining the song for anyone else unfortunate enough to hear my maniacal butchery. Beats drawing a pencil moustache on the flawless model adorning a nearby magazine cover, or knocking over a poor kid’s sandcastle once summer arrives, in terms of energy expended if nothing else. Plus it keeps me safe off the streets.
Track of the week: Super Adventure Club - ‘Built-in Redundancy’
Performing at Bloc on Saturday, Super Adventure Club were quite simply one of the most exciting and intriguing Scottish bands I’ve seen in ages. (Which admittedly shouldn’t be too hard when I mostly work night-shifts and can’t actually attend many shows, but still.) The idiosyncratic Edinburgh outfit superglue such disparate influences as Pavement, Frank Zappa and The Paper Chase together with ease, while apparently having so much fun the main post-gig regret I had was that I couldn’t be in the band myself. (Hopefully I can ruin their recorded achievements with a rubbish remix soon.)
Built-in Redundancy is a more laidback track than some of their other riff-heavy numbers, blessed with a breezy and welcome laziness that’s reminiscent of Stephen Malkmus, and replete with a slinky guitar solo that unexpectedly peppers the end of the track, provding a welcome indicator of their boisterous unpredictability. With worrying rumours of them moving to foreign climes in the near future, best catch them while you can.
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