Turnstile "New Heart Designs" (2023)

 

Today I've stumbled upon a pleasant surprise, a trio of Turnstile songs re-imagined on this latest single. Teaming up with Badbadnotgood, the bands songs get reworked into dreamy mellow alternates. Turns out Yates' clean singing is a supple match for these Psychedelia tinged instrumentals composed of soft pianos and woodwinds drowning in reverberating ambiences. His original takes having an inspired, ample chemistry.

It feels like a happy accident, a curious collision that's led to reworking three tracks from Glow On in a complete u-turn. Mystery gets an airy treatment, a relaxing stroll through an ethereal garden that some how mellows out the stained shouts. Bringing in soft percussion, Alien Love Call turns Lounge in demeanor, squeezing in some free flowing Jazz improv jams between the main vocal sections. Underwater Boi looses me a little as things turn tripy and exotic. Still decent but dang the first two cuts are magic!

Rating: 3/10

Plini "Impulse Voices Remix" (2021)

Uncommon but more so unexpected, Australian musician Plini has collaborated with three producers to bring us an intriguing remix EP of crossovers with the Electronic music scene sound. Often a recipe for disaster, on this outing it seems the two styles pull in the same direction, with guitars and synths of the original music being lifted into the bass and percussive designs of Downtempo, chilled out, laid back Electronic music. I must remark, my memories of these Metal adjacent remixes are somewhat scared by the early naughties attempts of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park with full remix albums. Over the years many other collaborations have come by with varying success but are yet to make footing as a common feature.

In this scenario the vibes match and make for a fine indulgence with the breezy moods and easy nature of the intersection. These are easy, summery songs, hard not to like. Despite that, I find it difficult to give this project merit beyond chemistry as its energy rides almost exclusively of the melodies of Plini. Dayce brings a powerful thumping, steady Dance beat with 90s hi-hats and airy reverberations. The bold bass and rhythmic glitchy grooves add a contribution but not one of remark. The following tracks play it even safer, limited to drums as the main creative contribution. Production techniques with fade ins, outs and frequency cut fades make transitional designs sparkle but again, the musics charm is all with the original material. Ultimately, these songs end up feeling purposeless in the shadow their source and fail to bring anything beyond a shift in tone.

Rating: 3/10

Neil Cicierega "Mouth Moods" (2017)

To describe "Mouth Moods" as a comedy record would be a fatal mistake. Although it provides plenty of laughs and giggles, it is a far more impressive artistic mashup experiment than it is purely for laughs. Artist Neil Cicierega is a creative individual and as a musician has struck gold with his collection of "Mouth" record, this being the third and best yet! If your from the 90s, 00s generation then this will be a trip down memory lane as many popular songs of the era find themselves stitched together with a touch of genius, inducing one into a state of confusion, "how is this even possible".

"ACVC" has to be the records finest moment on the confusion front, AC DC's "Back In Black" mixed with Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles". Sounds like a recipe for disaster but somehow its fantastic despite the contrast of Johnson's raspy, scratchy snarls and the lush piano led instrumentation behind it. There is a selection of crossovers involving two contrasting songs that have somehow been fit together. If I'm not careful Id simply end up writing a list with all the popular music included in the record. Not everything is a straightforward mash up. Neil finds themes in the music to include other coherent samples from TV commercials, shows and pop culture in its audio form. If not Tony tiger shouting "There great!" alongside the classic "Eye Of The Tiger" vocal, Neil also lets these non musical samples set the tone, either an advert for CD-ROM's or a Blockbuster Video commercial can lead the song to its point. There is also two fantastic vocal snippet songs with a large string of vocal hooks stitched together in maddening style!

There aren't weak points to be talked about, everything works, some with a little more charm than other but every experiment is rewarding, even odd moments where Chester's vocal from "In The End" is alarmingly transformed and distorted it somehow sounds fantastic. For an audiophile like myself its a very engaging listen. Between the light bulbs popping off at all the nostalgic samples I recognize, I find myself mystified as to how he has found so many instrumentals, acapellas and carefully extracted samples. I'm assuming its likely he doesn't have access to the masters of so many pop songs and I'm left with a curiosity to the production techniques deployed. Its a fantastic sounding record despite some obvious problems you'd expect to encounter however Neil has remixed everything to a fine art. Bravo, a brilliant musical experience, especially for my generation.

Rating: 8/10