James Blake, Mt Kimbie, CD/SD

"Remixing is like musical prostitution. I think it's really cynical and vacuous; I'm batting offers away like flies. It never used to be like that. Ray Charles didn't need five remixes. The song speaks for itself."

they're sitting out there waiting to give you their money. are you gonna take it? are you man enough to take it?

xpost True - I remember the 90s remix glut too but Blake's only 22 so it's new to him.

"Remixing is like musical prostitution. I think it's really cynical and vacuous; I'm batting offers away like flies. It never used to be like that. Ray Charles didn't need five remixes. The song speaks for itself."

^^^ Doesn't fucking get dance music.

Would totally be down for hearing a Ray Charles remix in the middle of a house set.

afaik Ray Charles didn't do a bunch of pop remixes under an alias either

Really? If that's true he's such a pompous arse.

Rather than being a contradiction, doesn't the distinction between remixing as an artform and remixing as a cynical marketing tool make sense? Now I'm worried I might have misrepresented him in the edit. Full quote was this:

I’m batting remix offers away like flies. I really dislike the remix industry. I think it’s really cynical and vacuous. You get five different remixes of someone’s first single in five different genres. It’s not right and it never used to be like that. Ray Charles didn't need five remixes. The song speaks for itself. It’s a horrible way of treating people and I won’t be treated like that. I haven’t done a commissioned remix so I don’t know what to charge. It’s like musical prostitution – lending your sound to someone else’s track. It’s just a load of indie bands who want some sort of validity.

Still doesn't get it.

xp I assume mh means the Harmonimix white label thingies he did, not official remixes

What's to get, Matt? I don't follow you. But I think your point that he doesn't get dance music - if by that you mean the specific culture and industry - then you're probably right.

Yeah, I didn't mean official commercial remixes.

Exactly, he doesn't get dance music, he doesn't get the idea of plurality and cross-pollination that you get through remixes, he doesn't get how incredible it can be to be on a dancefloor and hear a record you love reappear in an unfamiliar context. The idea that it's in some way killing the purity of the song or is a "horrible thing to do to a person" is just bizarre to me.

The remix industry now is probably an issue of bet-hedging as much as anything else, but it still provides an income for a lot of producers that would be non-existant otherwise. It feels like Blake is just pontificating from a position of privelege.

Haha "bass-heavy, reggae-informed techno" is such a wrongheaded way to describe dubstep as well so well done SPIN for making that happen.

It’s not right and it never used to be like that. Ray Charles didn't need five remixes.

oh fuck off with your sandi thom-esque "it were all fields round here" bs - not to mention it's always been like this, for as long as i can remember! and maybe ray charles didn't have five remixes at the time, but given how many excellent producers rework vintage songs to superb effect - henrik schwarz on bill withers' "who is he?", say - dismissing the potential of remixes comes off as really shallow rockism.

Exactly, he doesn't get dance music, he doesn't get the idea of plurality and cross-pollination that you get through remixes, he doesn't get how incredible it can be to be on a dancefloor and hear a record you love reappear in an unfamiliar context. The idea that it's in some way killing the purity of the song or is a "horrible thing to do to a person" is just bizarre to me.

The remix industry now is probably an issue of bet-hedging as much as anything else, but it still provides an income for a lot of producers that would be non-existant otherwise. It feels like Blake is just pontificating from a position of privelege.

matt dc otmfm

Also how many other artists' work did Ray Charles reinterpret? How many other jazz or rock or soul artists reinterpreted his songs? It feels historically ignorant more than anything else.

Oh bollocks, I cocked up that pasted quote. The "horrible" bit shouldn't be in there - that was from a different question where we were talking about the practice of labels overcommissioning remixes and refusing to pay for them, knowing that a lot of remixers would leak them online anyway because they were proud of them, thus giving the label free publicity. Aeroplane complained about this too - apparently it's common practice. And I agree that is a pretty lousy way to treat people.

He isn't criticising remixing per se, but the remix industry.

My new user name will be Cap'n save-a-Blake

that makes a lot more sense

xpost True - I remember the 90s remix glut too but Blake's only 22 so it's new to him.

― Pop is superior to all other genres (DL), Thursday, March 3, 2011 4:58 PM (2 hours ago)

im 23 and i totally remember this. being all like uh why is there three remixes on the cd single of bitch by meredith brooks (this is a true thing its terrible that i know this)

We've done so much great work pillorying him based on the strawman misquote, DL! Stop trying to fix this.

it does seem like the main point of remix albums these days is to have another excuse to send out press releases/get google hits/etc.

I think I get the idea of having what's basically a second version of the album with a different remixer on each song, but I don't think it really works so well. I'd rather hear two or three remixes of the most remixable songs rather than a few gems and a couple of reinterpretations.

heh i get that remixes have a certain bloggability esp when they seem to promise a certain alchemy of crosspollination b/w two seemingly incongruent aesthetics but i kindof feel like that narrative is so burnt out by early bloghouse etc that its kindof not worth talking about anymore

remixes help expand listenership and make for easy press; they're generally cheap to produce and fast to make
when your marketing budget is a shoestring, remixes make good pr sense

Maybe JB's problem isn't the remix itself but the "on spec" mechanism with which most bands/management teams solicit that stuff
i.e. do the work, the remix belongs to you, maybe we'll pay you
Which is fine for some but worthy of criticism

Owen, what's your take on remixes of your work? Do you ever regret handing over the keys to the car? Does it seem to pay dividends in any way, short term or long?

owen otm

I think he just doesn't like to spam out loads of random remixes himself. He only really does them when he's really feeling something. I bet he gets asked to do loads and isn't into doing a bag of them for the sake of it. Same prob goes for other people remixing him.

I'm loathe to defend blake but I definitely think in the last five years or so it feels like the majority of great remixes, edits, what have you, have been productions driven by the remixing artist - e.g. Schwarz doing Bill Withers, yeah, but more generally really deliberate match-ups between dance artists of similar sensibilities on, say, two track vinyl releases - as opposed to the tradition of labels commissioning a bunch of remixers.

Seems to me like the last great mainstream remixers was JLC. The early-to-mid-00s was an awesome time for that in general.

Dubstep/post-dubstep have never really had a proper remix culture either, some unofficial remixes yeah (was it Goth-Trad who did that ace Erykah Badu remix?) but I can't even think of any examples of, say, Hessle Audio putting out a remix (though there may be). So it's kind of gone straight from no remixes to people like Joker, Skream, Rustie, Blake etc being asked to do remixes for major label releases... There's a lot of these at the moment, and the only one that seems to have taken on a life of its own in any big way is the Le Roux remix (ew).

The two sides sort of come together in the sense that electro-house was a great form for teasing out an original song's qualities (very extended mix-y) whereas it's very hard to do a remix in a dubstep or post-dubstep style that doesn't sound just like that. Nothing wrong with that but I could imagine the process becoming frustrating - ironically, given Blake's current style this probably wouldn't apply to him! The complaint seems odd coming from in particular.

uk funky is pretty good at the "commissioning multiple remixes" thing (see e.g. Addictive's "Domino Effect") but, of course, not if you're talking dollars. But again funky is a form fairly sympathetic to songfulness.

Dubstep/post-dubstep have never really had a proper remix culture either

idk i'd disagree with this - can think of a ton of great remixes by ikonika (who's managed to successfully carve out a remixing style that's quite distinct from her own material, pretty varied from track to track, but still recognisably her), and reworking mainstream hits is a huge thing (think brenmar, kingdom, the cassie remix compilation etc).

and in terms of label-commissioned remixes, uk funky producers from crazy cousinz and geeneus through to ill blu and funkystepz have done amazing stuff in that format.

I don't think there has been as big a remix thing as there has been in say electro in... dubstep/post-dubstep... until recently at least. There have been a good amount of remixes but even last year I was finding it hard to pick up on that many that really stood out or had been done. Its just not much of a thing for now. A load of labels/artists will keep doing that no doubt others will push it as far as it'll go cos its good promo and kind of fun to get others involved on your releases. I doubt James Blake will be making remix fodder anytime soon. But you'll sure hear a million Skream remixes, maybe Joker if he goes for it this year... or even a load of the night slugs peeps doing epic amounts. Its just the way they roll. Sometimes it makes for good listening a lot of the time its doesn't its just quality control innit. There is a fine line between blog fodder and good promo though... I just hope post-dubstep peeps walk it fine as they get more hype.

Lex my post was specifically distinguishing between unofficial and official remixes. Kingdom et al specialize in the former really.

Plus yeah I'd already agreed re funky.

u 2

Peak-era electrohouse still feels like the greatest ever period for the pop or indie remix.

Whereas the most annoying thing about dubstep at the moment are the endless dubsteppisations of popular tunes. It's getting like the late-90s when there had to be a ska-punk version of absolutely any hit song ever recorded.

The blaring dubstep Laura Marling remix I heard the other day was so ridiculous as to be beyond the point of self-parody.

Every so often someone posts one of these things up on Facebook and it's kinda LOL the first time until you realise all these remixes are exactly the same. I guess that's just what's always happened in dance music.

xpost there is not a Laura Marling dubstep remix, surely? How severe.

There is a dubstep remix of everything if you just type it into youtube with the word dubstep at the end. There is a whole shitty lolyoutubedubstepremixlol culture on there and its horrible. I like to think its a seperate thing to the rest of the scene since you never hear it in clubs or outside of either youtube or people making fun of it on forums haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTIKbUXV7RU

Oh my...

There is a whole shitty lolyoutubedubstepremixlol culture on there and its horrible

I had noticed this but I hadn't realised the extent and horror of it. "Dubstep Snowman" made me want to avoid Youtube for the rest of my life.

DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU WANT TO WITNESS THE NADIR OF WESTERN CULTURE

oh god. i can't listen to that at work and i'm kinda glad.

http://mostlyjunkfood.com/treats/2010/12/home-alone.png

That. Is. Horrific.

I only noticed this 'phenomenon' today and now it's seemingly everywhere and I already want it to stop.

You know what the funniest thing about lolyoutubedubsteplol is though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtlluJjApYM

That kind of thing happens.

Does it seem to pay dividends in any way, short term or long?

I don't know about dividends.
Remixes are a nice way to celebrate a single or album's release by giving some money to a friend/musician you think is really talented
At least, that's my take on it, the way I play it
If I were James Blake and got a remix request, I'd check my schedule and ask for at least 2K

if i may interrupt the ridiculous daily mail style 'oh im just so outraged!' outburts, yeah blake sounds like a rockist with his 'ray charles didnt need remixes' attitude, but erm, this is a guy whos done quite a lot of remixing of pop hits he likes for his own bootlegs, so hes hardly someone who believes in the definitive purity of the original. and hes right, most remixes these days you get from dubstep/whatever producers/remixers on major labels are pointless or just a really bad fit. nothing new of course, but nothing that good either. you just get the song retooled tick-box-style for diff genres.

dubstep is a bit more about the definitive original than most dance genres i would say, they are pretty strict about just getting anyone to put out remixes of their stuff (its more about stuff like kode 9 remixing skeng where its remixes by someone close who understands the music, and as an aside, thats a remix which blake has played in sets), but even taking into account blakes part of/not part of membership of the scene, theres been great stuff like coki's richie spice remix so i doubt hes that divorced from dance culture, sorry guys. he doesnt like remixing for remixing sake but i doubt he hears a great remix and immediately thinks 'sacrilege!'

*outbursts