May 21, 2002

 
Do yrself a favor and don't bother listening to the remixes of Reveal songs on R.E.M.'s website. They all sound so cheesy that I feel as though I need to wash the lameness off of me after having listened to them. A lot of them sound like a cross between awful 80s music (think "Mr. Mister") and post Roger Waters Pink Floyd, and there are some very weak stabs at French house, 'quiet storm' r&b, and diluted Everything But The Girl style electro-adult contemporary pop mixed in too. Yuck. The only thing worthwhile in the bunch is still not very good - Her Space Holiday's remix of "Summer Turns To High" at least starts out interestingly before deteriorating into cheesiness. Someone needs to tap Michael Stipe on the shoulder and tell him the truth: his voice is a terrible match for electronic textures. His voice is perfectly suited for folk, bubblegum, or rock - isn't that enough?

In bootleg news, Boom Selection put up a whole bunch of new mixes yesterday, the best of which is Eminem "Without Me" Vs. Stereolab "Miss Modular". This track is beautifully mixed, perfectly matched, and utterly essential for bootleg fans. I'm surprised more people aren't using Stereolab tracks for boot mixes, or just for samples in mainstream hip hop.

I put up the tracklisting for one of the mix cds I'm making to send out to some Barbelith folks on the Art of the Mix site. If you asked for one, and don't want to have it spoiled, then you should obviously not click on that link. If you want one, please contact me via the guestbook to the left, and leave your email address so I can respond to you.