The Llano Idea

Back in ‘08 when I caught wind that there was going to be a Love Is All remix album derived from their stellar debut Nine Times That Same Song, I got all tingly inside. You see, I was first introduced to Love Is All via an Of Montreal cover of their song “Make Out Fall Out Make Up” at their Lubbock show. Convinced that the original would be just as good, I downloaded Nine Times later that night and instantly fell in love with their echoed vocals and noisy guitars. A couple of years had passed before I was able to get my hands on a copy of Mixed Up (distribution was limited to only Europe for a long time) and although of Montreal is absent from the tracklist, several heavy hitters, like Britain’s Maps and Hot Chip, remain to provide ample star power to the disk.

Instead of doing a cover for each track of Nine Times, Mixed Up selects a handful of originals and allows multiple groups to cover the same songs, resulting in some competing mixes. Take the song “Turn the Radio Off” for example. The original was a Love Is All ballad (or at least the most ballad-like song on a mostly noisy indie-pop album) with saxophone carrying the melody and soft guitars and bells linking up to it nicely. When you listen to the two remixes, one by Maps and the other by Studio, you hear two completely different takes on the song. The Maps version emphasizes the dream-like qualities of the music by including a lulling bass over a mostly subdued drum machine with added floating synth chords, making you feel like you are on the beach. On the other hand, the remake by Studio is very much tension-filled with its mysteriously altered vocals and chord selection — sounding like it could be played before the “ultimate showdown” of some sort of 80’s crime drama. It’s amazing to see how two artists could diverge so much after hearing the exact same song.

One of my personal pet peeves with remix albums is that there is always a one-upmanship between artists to create the most “interesting tracks” by smashing genres that don’t necessarily fit well together. I am all for funk guitars and soul music, but the Bees take it to the extreme on their cover of “Make Out Fall Out Make Up.” After about two minutes of hearing it you grow tired of the rambling keyboard line, and the random assortment of electronic elements towards the end of the song turns it into a jumbled mess. Fortunately, few tracks follow in the same manner.

There are some excellent gems hidden on this CD from lesser known groups that put to shame the uninspiring covers by the “top artists”. The Optimo-Espacio take on “Busy Doing Nothing” reminds me a lot of the way Battles layer their music by slowly incorporating more instruments and crescendoing at a snail’s pace before peaking at the perfect time. The Fryars remix of “Felt Tip” uses the bass line in the original and converts it to a dripping synth line reminiscent of The Knife’s “Like a Pen”. They also do a great job of showcasing the baritone vocals and keeping a very airy feel to the song.

All in all, when it comes to consistency, the album is pretty much a grab bag. There are some songs that could get five stars on your iTunes ratings, but others that would get dumped to the trash just as fast. It’s a good album, but unfortunately with most of the cross disciplined remix albums, that’s all you can hope for.

UnclePhil Column, Music Love Is All, Mixed Up, of Montreal, Remix