DFA
The DFA Remixes: Chapter One (Astralwerks)
By Noreen Sobczyk
Published: October 4th, 2006 | 11:38pm
When you listen to “Dare” by the Gorillaz do you scream “More cowbell!” in your best Will Ferrell impersonation? Well, thankfully, remix artisans Death From Above (Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy) do. They distort and sculpt songs like musical fractals twisting and turning them in unexpected and innovative ways. Rather than merely lengthening songs and adding the usual studio trickery to lull the crowd into a bunch of sweaty zombies moving trance-like to a repetitive beat, this duo reinterprets the originals and stamps them with their own brand of chilled, wonderfully warped creativity.
The DFA Remixes: Chapter One is of interest if one merely likes innovative dance beats, but even more if one is familiar with the original versions of these hand-plucked tracks. They make the Blues Explosion danceable in an entirely new way with their version of “Mars Arizona” clocking in at over ten minutes making rhythmic use of Jon Spencer’s southern-fried, twangified lyrics and delivery, changing the music to a different genre without losing the original groove. Many of these mixes are out of print and certainly worth a listen for fans of the bands included (Fisherspooner, Hot Chip, Le Tigre, Chemical Brothers, and more.) This is the first in a set of two with the next to include DFA versions of Goldfrapp, N.E.R.D., Nine Inch Nails, and others. No one knows where this duo will take tracks in the future, but they make one feel as if the future is now.
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