It could be argued that the art of the remix has never been more culturally ascendant. Every album release seems to be followed closely by a disc of remixes, and the sheer proliferation of amateur bloghouse remixers has occasioned the creation of hugely popular cloud services and blog aggregators devoted to the things. And yet it still seems rare that a remix is actually memorable, that it actually elevates the source material and alters one’s conception of the original song. That’s why this remix stands out.
The Secret History formed from the ashes of beloved cult indie-pop band My Favorite, and their forthcoming album is called Americans Singing In The Dark. “Sergio” is the first single from the album, a plaintive slice of pop with shades of The Magnetic Fields. It’s nice enough. Maybe a bit slight. But someone had the good sense to hand the stems over to Plastic Flowers, the Brooklyn-based synth-pop project of Sean Earl Beard, who released his debut single last year on Wierd Records, home of minimal wave revivalists Xeno & Oaklander. A full-length album is due out at the end of the summer.
The result is something else entirely, a gloomy, reverb-drenched dance tune that expands the best parts of The Secret History’s original track, creating a desolate mood that matches the existential meander of the lyrical refrain: “I don’t know what we are.” Steal the future below, before it rots.
• Plastic Flowers: http://plasticflowers.us
• The Secret History: http://www.thesecrethistory.net
More about: The Secret History
