Our favorite remixes.
CHANCE THE RAPPER – “All Night (Kaytranada Extended Joint)” & SOLANGE – “Cranes In the Sky (Kaytranada DJ Edit)” – as described by teddy morris-knower
I honestly believe Kaytranada can do no wrong. Maybe it’s cause I’m 22 and in college and living in California and spending a lot of time outside and having fun with my friends, but his sound just really speaks to me.
Like movies based on your favorite books, it’s pretty rare to find remixes of songs you love that you like at all as much as the original. Cranes in the Sky and All Night are two of my favorite songs of 2016 (if you haven’t listened to Coloring Book or A Seat At The Table go do that right now I’ll wait). But unlike other remixes, Kaytranada doesn’t just add a hard hitting electronic beat to a rap song, he builds on these songs, doing the perfect balance of giving them a new feel while preserving the original song. I like listening to both the edits and the originals equally which is quiet the feat.
TRONICBOX – “What Do You Mean It’s 1985” – as described by leilani reyes
There’s only two weeks left in the quarter and four weeks left in the year, and my mind’s whirring with thoughts of my impending final exams and of the upending events of 2016. What better way to momentarily (for precisely 3 minutes and 34 seconds) escape today’s reality with possibly the most saccharine pop delusion you could ever hear or say yourself: “What Do You Mean[?] It’s 1985”! Brownie points to those who wait for the sax solo.
DAFT SCIENCE – “Alive/Intergalactic” – as described by nick burns
Some renegade genius has brought us what we all didn’t know we wanted this whole time: Beastie Boys raps over Daft Punk beats. There’s a whole album of the stuff, and all of it manages to combine the most maddeningly addicting and danceable qualities of two very addicting and danceable groups. The result is so palpably infectious that it should make us all sad that the premature death of MCA in 2012 foreclosed the chance of a real-life collaboration between everyone’s favorite retro-groovy Frenchmen and bad-boy Manhattanites.
R. KELLY (feat. USHER) – “Same Girl Remix” (feat. T-Pain) – as described by phill giliver
If, you the reader of Stanford Arts Review weekly playlists, haven’t noticed, I have been submitting the song “Same Girl” every week, regardless of whether the song fits the prompt or not. But this week… this week is different. Why? Because T-Pain had the FORESIGHT AND WISDOM TO PAIR UP WITH R KELLY AND USHER TO CREATE THE PHENOMENAL REMIX OF THE SONG “Same Girl” EVER CREATED. Begone, haters. Tu autem effugare, diabole; appropinquabit enim judicium Dei.
THE AVALANCHES – “Since I Left You (Stereolab Remix)” – as described by ena alvarado
The music video for “Since I Left You” is, still to this day, one of my absolute favorites. It cemented my deep love for The Avalanches, encouraged me to dance weirdly in public, and reminded me of the power inherent in humor. I discovered Stereolab’s wonderfulness much later in life. Yet, songs like “Infinity Girl,” “Brakhage,” and “Come and Play in the Milky Night” are today my own version of scripture. To enjoy these two sets of musicians simultaneously feels like nothing short of magic.
KENDRICK LAMAR & J. COLE – “Black Friday” – as described by angelica jopling
This time last year, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole presented us with this pair of Black Friday gifts. The two traded beats from Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly’s “Alright” and J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive’s “A Tale of 2 Cities” and freestyled over each others. Both tracks end abruptly after supercharged verses commenting on 2015 popular culture. To be honest, Kendrick’s rapping over J. Cole’s beat is my favourite but listen to and be grateful for both because these are secret golden nuggets of freestyle.
THE ROOTS FEAT. JOANNA NEWSOM – “Right On” – as described katie lan
Joanna Newsom and the Roots really mix it up in this remix of Joanna’s song, “The Book of Right On”. When I first heard of this remix, I was a bit skeptical. I would have never thought of them to collaborate together, given that their music is so different, but I was proven wrong. Joanna’s delicate plucking of her harp paired with Questlove’s bomb beats pair together for the perfect sonic background for Black Thought to drop his bars.
Gabrielle Aplin – “Panic Cord (Hucci Remix)” – as described by som-mai nguyen
(It took every ounce of self-control to not send in “Ignition.”) The rare remix that’s (to my ears, anyway) neither a transcendant improvement nor a cheapening cover of the original. Just as sad and defiant, just with some boss bass.
JUSTIN BIEBER – “Sorry (Raaginder Refix)” – as described by nikki tran
Most remixes bump up the bpm until you’re nearly on the verge of a cardiac episode, which makes sense when you want to rage against the night. But sometimes, you want to keep your blood pressure low (thank you very much). Raaginder lets our hearts rest easy with this violin lover’s remix where the strings are in focus, flanked by a low-pitched Bieber. “Sorry” has never sounded better.
LYKKE LI – “I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix)” – as described by anthony milki
I learned about this song from beautiful scene in one of my favorite movies, and it’s one of those few where I’ll say the remix is better than the original.
Image from here.
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