Re:Make Re:Model Re:Markable

Re:Make Re:Model is the latest collection of remixes by Richard Norris, a person that I've pretty much run out of superlatives for when it comes to describing the quality and impact of his music.

I've been a subscriber since 2023, receiving new digital releases at least every month, sometimes several in one go. I also buy other new or old music outside of this, remixed by or crediting Richard.  All this and still at best, I would describe myself as an 'enthusiast'; given Richard's prodigious work rate, 'completist' remains an aspiration.

Re:Make Re:Model is a classic example. Available as a 12-track double vinyl or 19-track deluxe double CD or digital compilation, spanning 2010 to 2026, 11 of the 19 selections were completely new to me.

Richard himself modestly describes Re:Make Re:Model as "a variety of Balearic and dancefloor workouts", whilst I'd go a tad further by saying that it's a breathtaking study of the art of the remix, and a stunning snapshot of a master craftsperson. 

Where else might you find such an enriching collection of music, encompassing dub, folk, acid, ambient, vocals, instrumentals, genre-splicing dancefloor workouts and polished radio friendly hits?

It's Bandcamp Friday today. If you only buy one record, make it this one. Better still, buy the album and then subscribe. It'll be the two best decisions you'll have made this week, if not this year.

Here's a sample track from each of the four vinyl sides, plus one of the CD/digital 'bonus' tracks.

1) Alphaville (The Time And Space Machine Remix): Bryan Ferry (2011)

2) Before Tomorrow (Richard Norris' Avalon Remix): Hollow Hand ft. Tim Smith (2023)

3) Mesmerize (The Time & Space Machine Remix): Temples (2013)

4) Children (Richard Norris Remix): Joe Goddard (2017)

5) Find Yourself (Richard Norris Remix): Jacco Gardner (2015)

 

 

 

 

Bleeding In The Shark Tank

Bookending the week, with a companion to Monday's post, collecting another dozen picks from my May Day music haul, once again a mixture of new releases and new discoveries.

Broken Chanter starts off with a song from latest album This Could Be Us, You, Or Anybody Else, which is just fantastic from start to finish. Birding, the debut from deary, is one that I'd describe as a grower. It's hasn't had the immediacy and impact of Broken Chanter, but it's shoegaze-inspired soundscapes are gradually seeping in and taking over with each listen.

More selections from the PRAH label, by way of their 'Scratching The Surface...' samplers, this time highlighting uh, aka siblings Dominic & Fionnuala Kennedy, and Donna Thompson.

Another compilation (two, actually) that comes highly recommended is The Beautiful Flowers Wait For Peace, issued by Partick Sailing Club via Bandcamp. Each 10-track compilation costs a fiver, proceeds "donated to The Sameer Project, a mutual aid organisation run by Palestinians in Gaza, providing food, water, medical aid and essential supplies to those in need."

Monday's and today's selection features a pick from Volumes 1 and 2, 100 Poems and Cosmikuro respectively. If I add that other artists include Bedford Falls Players, Rude Audio, Airsine, Ben Hunt and Katakana's delightful remix of Cocteau Twins' Cherry Coloured Funk, and everyone donated their music for free, then surely it's a no-brainer. Buy now.

From the archives, a belated EP purchase from Billie Ray Martin's back catalogue, a remix of Steve Jansen featuring brother David Sylvian that languished in the archives for fourteen years, and an unreleased Julian Cope outtake from the Peggy Suicide sessions that has been dusted off for the latest release in the essential Cope's Notes book & CD series.

Happy Friday, everyone!

1) Atrocity/Adverts/Idiocy: Broken Chanter (2026)

2) After All (Original Version): Billie Ray Martin (2014)

3) nostos: uh (2025)

4) Frog Lick: Cosmikuro (2026)

5) Summon (East Coast Love Affair Mix): Joe Goddard ft. Hayden Thorpe (2024)

6) You Remind Me Of You: Julian Cope (1991)

7) Deadman's Cut ('Ballad Of A Deadman' Remix By Rhinoceros): Steve Jansen ft. David Sylvian (2008)

8) Baby's Breath: deary (2026)

9) Sneakanon Pt2 (6161 + Andrew Remix): 6161 (2026)

10) Rapture In Blue (Midnight Version): Daniel Avery ft. Cecile Believe (2025)

11) Matchstick: Donna Thompson (2022)

12) Return To Coney (Attrition Mix By Martin Bowes): Warriors Of The Dystotheque ft. Ella Joy (2016)

2014: After All EP: 2

2016: Return To Coney EP: 12

2022: Deadman's Cut EP: 7

2022: Something True EP: 11

2024: Summon Remixed: 5

2025: pleroma EP: 3

2026: Birding: 8

2026: Cope's Notes 8: Peggy Suicide: 6

2026: Partick Sailing Club PSC#002: The Beautiful Flowers Wait For Peace Vol. 2: 4

2026: 6161 (Remixes) EP: 9

2026: This Could Be Us, You, Or Anybody Else: 1

2026: Tremor (Midnight Versions): 10

Bleeding In The Shark Tank (1:04:26) (GD) (M)

Fruity Piggybacks

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's upcoming album, due in August, is called Gush and the title track is the third song to be released with an accompanying video. 

As with the first single, Into Your Eyes, there's an intriguing fruit theme, although it has to be said that the banana and orange in Gush suffer a less ignominious fate.

Another artist that I'm familiar with but poorly represented in my own music collection, I own just four Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith songs currently: two from Mojo magazine freebie CDs released in 2018 and 2020; one from 2022's EarthPercent x Earth Day Compilation Album; a solitary remix of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard from the same year.

In an attempt to redress the balance, I had a dig around Kaitlyn's Bandcamp page and unearthed some more treasures from her back catalogue.

The Neptunes EP came out in November last year, a collaboration with Joe Goddard that also sees them remix each others songs. Kaitlyn's remix of Rapid Fire by Joe featuring Laima closes the EP and is a doozy.

2023's Let's Turn It Into Sound Remixes EP reworks three songs from the previous year's album of the same name, including a beautifully chilled-but- glitchy remix of Check Your Translation by fellow Los Angeles resident Hrishikesh Hirway.

2020 album The Mosaic of Transformation also got the remix EP treatment with a breezy and jaunty run along The Spine Is Quiet In The Center by Fools aka Christopher Bear, also an Angeleno. 

From 2017, a remix of I Will Make Room for You by Four Tet from her album The Kid. It's Kieran Hebden, so it's going to be special and this sits comfortably with anything from his own back catalogue. 

Back to forthcoming album Gush and the second single/video release, What's Between Us, which features some morbidly fascinating choreography, though my back is aching in sympathy just from watching it for four minutes.

Gush is available for pre-order right now. There's no Bandcamp Friday this month, so I have added Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith to my shopping list for May. 

Trust Me, I'll Follow You On Tuesday

 

Summer has been a little stop-start-stop-start round here, but Joe Goddard's delivered the cure with Follow You.

 

Four minutes and twenty four seconds of chiming synths, full fat bass and mellow vocal harmonies, this will probably be smashing it in the Balearics (no euphemism intended). I'll have to make do with the depths of the Forest of Dean and the heart of the Cotswolds this week, but frankly this should give you a lift wherever you experience it.

This is the third release from forthcoming album, Harmonics, out in a couple of weeks and another album to go on the impossibly long shopping list.

Follow You got me in the mood for more Joe, so here's a selection of Joe remixing and being remixed, going all the way back to his debut solo release in 2009.

 

Let's Go Back (Joe Goddard Remix): Kraak & Smaak ft. Romanthony (2023)
All That You Want (Joe Goddard Remix): Ibibio Sound Machine (2022)
Starseeds (Joe Goddard Remix): Seahawks (2020)
Happyface (Joe Goddard Remix): ALASKALASKA (2019)
Children (Hercules & Love Affair Remix): Joe Goddard (2017)
Gabriel (Soulwax Remix): Joe Goddard ft. Valentina (2012)
Apple Bobbing (Four Tet Remix):Joe Goddard (2009)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Have I Done? Where Have You Gone?

Today's selection features Caribou aka Dan Snaith and is a good example of one of the motivating forces behind this blog, a simple excuse to rummage around in my virtual record box and dust off some music that I haven't listened to in a while. 

Dan Snaith's been poorly served by my collection in that regard as I have relatively little of his music, far less than I thought to be honest, a few hours' worth spread across EPs, album tracks and remixes for other artists. Hardly anything from the past decade either, which I need to address.

I first encountered Dan Snaith via Jockey Slut, an essential read in the 1990s*. By the start of the 21st century, it was on it's last legs I guess but in those final moments it delivered a brilliant series of cover-mounted CDs across a year titled Disco Pogo For Punks In Pumps. Volume 4 (March 2003) kicked off with Hendrix With Ko by Manitoba, Snaith's original stage name.

 

By chance, I happened to be at a record fair shortly after and, amongst my music haul, came away with a promo CD of the Jacknuggeted EP by Manitoba. Shortly after releasing second album Up In Flames, Dan Snaith was subject to threats of legal action from Richard 'Handsome Dick' Manitoba and thus Caribou was born.

As both names suggest, Dan was born in Canada and I don't know if it's the foreknowledge of this but listening to his music evokes imagery of driving through forests, mountains in the background, passing by vast lakes and grasslands, a hint of hidden life deep beyond the trees that race past in a blur. Or sometimes, it just sounds like a modern take on Sixties psychedelic folk. Either way, there's something comforting yet uncomfortable about listening to his work. 

Over three quarters of an hour, you can find out for yourself, as Dan meets Hot Chip, Oh No Ono, Kelley Polar and Jack Tennis and revisits his old band before returning home with David Wrench to watch the sun go down and day turn to night. Beats a washed out Wednesday in the UK, in my book.

 

1) She's The One (Hot Chip Remix By Joe Goddard): Caribou (2007)

2) Eleanor Speaks (Caribou Remix): Oh No Ono (2010)

3) We Live In An Expanding Universe (Caribou Remix): Kelley Polar (2008)

4) Melody Day (Four Tet Remix By Kieran Hebden): Caribou (2007) 

5) Olé: Manitoba (2003)

6) Sun (Jack Tennis Remix By Tobi Schwermann): Caribou (2010)

7) After Hours (Album Version By Dan Snaith & David Wrench): Caribou (2007)

 

What Have I Done? Where Have You Gone? (44:56) (Box) (Mega) 

 

* In 2022, following a successful crowdfunder campaign, the creators of Jockey Slut launched a new twice-yearly magazine called Disco Pogo.

Flowers Don't Get Old...At Least, Not The Ones You Sent Me

Sticking with last week's Bandcamp Friday haul, this is a 45-minute selection of remixes from one-off singles and EPs, including a couple from last year that I missed first time around. 

in celebration of Liz Truss being confirmed as Prime Minister (this immediately sprang to mind), I've dropped a few Truss-isms into the mix.

More BF goodies tomorrow.

1) All That You Want (Joe Goddard Remix): Ibibio Sound Machine (2022)

2) "Cheesy Truss" (2014)

3) Looking At Your Pager (Solomun Remix): KH aka Kieran Hebden (2022)

4) "Literate Truss" (2013)

5) Flat Strings (Tronik Youth Remix): Cosmosolar (2022)

6) Sub Spacial (A Space Age Freak Out Dark Paisley Mix): From Beyond (2021)

7) Red Shift (Jezebell's Inner Child Mix): MAN2.0 (2022)

8) Safesurfer (The Machine Soul Innerworld Dub): Julian Cope (2021)

9) Cherokee (Dennis Bovell Remix): Animal Collective (2022)

10) "Awkward Truss" (2022)

Flowers Don't Get Old (45:42)