The Swaying Fire

Mabanua featuring Chara “Call On Me” (Knxwledge Remix)

Knxwledge’s remix of this song by the Japanese producer Mabanua is so drastically that it’s surprising to go back to the source material and find something rather boppy and twee. Knxwledge takes the vocal Chara and turns the melody sideways in a deep, humid funk track. His arrangement remakes her breathy performance as an R&B vocal, and brings out a raw sensuality that’s far more Adina Howard or TLC than anything remotely like J-Pop. It’s a cool trick, but also an assertion of Knxwledge’s powerful aesthetic. Listening to this, you get the sense that he could will most any song into his low-key but intensely sexual vibe.

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