A couple of weeks ago one of my favorite up-and-comers, Jack Beats, kindly sent me their superb remix of The Black Ghosts’ new single ‘I Want Nothing’. Jack Beats is the production alias for Plus One and Beni G. Here they insert some juddery cut-ups of those delicious vocals, and their fidgety style fits nicely with another of The Black Ghosts’ typically catchy slices of indie-electro. A pulsing synth provides a retro tocuh, alongside Jack Beats’ trademark warping bassline:
The Black Ghosts – I Want Nothing (Jack Beats’ Miami Vice Remix) [pelski highly recommends] [zshare link]
We last heard that heavy, warbling bassline wobbling all over the place in their remix of Boy 8-Bit’s remix of Fog Bank. Jack Beats transform the song into a monstrous, all-reverberating stomper.
Boy 8-Bit – Fog Bank (Jack Beats Remix) [pelski highly recommends]
Next up, they do much the same, inserting a hefty fidget-esque bassline (this genre ‘fidget house’ doesn’t technically exist, I know, but I like the name and fully confess to being a pretentious victim of ‘the scene’, whatever it may be). This track from Trip, runs in the same vein as many before it – the concept of moaning about annoying things. Remember that track ‘Bullshit’ by Akala on the Scratch Perverts’ Fabric CD? where he told us all that, apparently, everything is bullshit? Like…er…the war and all that stuff? Yes cringe indeed. But here the whole ‘let’s whine about everyday irritations’ genre is actually fairly humorous. And this time everything is ‘bollocks’, not ‘bullshit’.
Here are some of the things that are ‘bollocks’ according to Trip’s new song:
“Red Nose day,
Soft porn,
Fuckin’ Bono,
Fuckin’ Bono,
….
fuckin’ people who clap when planes land.
[enter wonky, bassy warps courtesy of Jack Beats' remix]“
This song is not annoying, unlike the many others that have milked this lyrical concept, perhaps merely because the lyrics of “fuckin Bono” somehow make me feel better… Ah, but to tip it off, the single greatest lyrics in the last twenty years….”fuckin’ Noel Edmunds”. Jack Beats make a good remix of it all too:
Trip – Who’s That (Jack Beats Remix)
Another of their remixes is a strange choice – ‘Epic Last Song’ by Does It Offend You, Yeah?. This was the conceitedly named last song on Does It Offend You, Yeah?’s otherwise excellent album. Besides ‘Being Bad Feels Pretty Good’, ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ and ‘Epic Last Song’, the whole album is a brilliant collection of innovative electro bangers and nasty noise. The likes of ‘We Are Rockstars’, ‘Battle Royale’, ‘Se7en’, ‘Let’s Make Out’ and ‘With A Heavy Heart’ are astonishing tunes that display both diversity and a real talent for dancefloor tunes. However, you can’t help wonder whether those other three crappy tracks weren’t tacked on at the last minute to cater to the indie/NME crowd. They got greedy, and sold out by trying to cater to both the Mixmag crowd and the NME crowd with this watery, whimpy tunes. And ‘Epic Last Song’ is certainly one of them. However Jack Beats do their best to beef it out with a bit of bouncy electro warping.
Does It Offend You, Yeah? – Epic Last Song (Jack Beats Remix)
Jack Beats are worth keeping a steady eye on, whose adventurous remixing and heavy sounds are causing more than just a stir.
