Welcome back, music lovers. This week I want to devote at least in part to remixes that barely resemble the original mix. In dance music, remixes used to be viewed as little more than b-sides, or included more for utilitarian purposes. By the late 1980s and 1990s the remix became viewed as an art form in its own right. Often remixes are done in a way to sufficiently reference the original track, perhaps emphasizing something a bit differently. Occasionally, a remix might be so different that one may wonder if the artist responsible for the remix even listened to the original track (Aphex Twin liked to do that, back when he was a big name).
Let’s start out with a track called Belong, originally written and performed by Spooky, a Manchester-based house duo, and released in 2002:
A pretty decent club track, and one that would invite plenty of ideas for remixes. Spooky had collaborated with another UK-based DJ, known as Sasha, and Sasha would offer his own remix on his first of three Involver compilations. Eventually in 2011, a new remix of Belong (this time referred to as the Shasha Involver-Prankster Bootleg Edit) happened, and got picked up by the Anjunadeep label – first released on YouTube and then included on one of their compilation albums (I think one that duo Above and Beyond put together). By this point, there is practically nothing left of the original track. Still, nine minutes of bliss, if you like deep house or trance.
If you’re curious about Sasha’s original remix (released in 2004), start at the 36:30 mark of this video and you’ll realize he stayed fairly true to the original. The more recent edit though is still one I love to crank up on long commutes.
