I’ve been working on this for quite some time now, probably since the last piece of music that was posted here.   I wanted to start doing more remixes of other artists’ work, and with NIN having some of the most accessible source material around, I decided to start there.

I wanted to start with “Lights in the Sky” because it was my favorite track from The Slip. “Lights in the Sky” is an incredibly challenging piece of music to work with, firstly because of the slow 55 BPM tempo, and because of the dull chords throughout the track.  I’ve heard one or two other really neat mixes of this song, but my mix adds(rather than subtracts) to the track in very subtle ways. I added some bass effects throughout the track, with some extra-deep bass during the chorus.  Trent’s vocals also have a slight glitch effect applied to them, which gives the song a much more synthetic feel to it.

NIN – Lights in the Sky(Karl D mix)

Update: This remix is now also live on the NIN official remix site here: http://remix.nin.com/play/mix?id=19799

I am working on another NIN remix, but I won’t say what or when it’s coming!  Be on the lookout!

Read on for my review of Small Mammal’s self titled CD, which is a great value at $5.  Matt is distributing this title himself and can be reached via his myspace page.  You can also download a promo 2-track pack from the CD here.

Matt,

Got your CD in the mail yesterday.  I’ve had the chance to listen to it twice since then.

The CD is very intricate, from the moment you pick it up.  I loved the cover – I’m very in to the idea of CDs as a “tactile” format.  I like picking up a CD and looking at it, and the packaging certainly has an effect on me.  Unfortunately this idea is lost on a lot of people, since the days of going to the record store for a few hours is gone, having been replaced by iTunes.

The intricacy continued once I got it in my CD player.  I can tell that every sound on the disc is the result of a deliberate, programmed action.  The live guitar and drums sound great especially after you get them into your sampler for modification.  Nice glitchy chops and edits.  The quality of the samples and instruments was very consistent and pleasing.

My favorites on the disc were tracks 1, 2,and 3.  (10 is a close runner-up).  I can’t say I’m familiar with all of your influences(like Boards of Canada), but my musical heritage does include some Aphex Twin, Autechre, and Dntel(as well as Postal Service).  I can definitely appreciate the IDM(if that’s a word you’re comfortable with) influence in the first few tracks’ glitch-hop style.  The rest of the disc is simply fascinating and I can definitely hear the echoes of Phillip Glass’ complex chord composition, Corea-esque electric piano, and the great use of space found in Dark Side-era Pink Floyd throughout.

The disc definitely has made it in to my “rainy day classics” file, along with Massive Attack’s “Mezzanine” and Aphex’ “Druqs”.  Thanks Matt for conducting this experiment in the barter system with me.  I hope you enjoy your new CD.

Good luck,
Karl

P.S.  Matt contacted me directly on the “Contact” page here on randombeats.com, which began our exchange.  If there are any other independent musicians out there that want to engage in a similar CD exchange, I’d be glad to hear from you.  All it will cost you is postage.

My history with ambient music comes from 3 primary sources:  Vangelis’ Blade Runner score, the “Hearts of Space” radio series, and most recently and perhaps most importantly, Michael Woods.  During the trance explosion of the early part of this decade, Michael Woods had the courage to slow things down a bit and give the listener something different.  I’ve always respected his consistency in his remixes.  Haven’t heard anything ambient related from him in a while….

Today, I present a very minimal, space-music inspired ambient-dub piece. Headphones are pretty much required for this exercise.

The vocalist from “Existential Funk” is a bit of a poet.  She’d gotten into the habit of leaving strange messages on my phone with the intention that I would use them in my music.  She left this one that was particularly inspiring.

I think this could have easily been converted to a trance tune, but I felt the airy, ambient nature of the vocoded vocal and the synth together worked wonders on their own.