Junior Boys - Dead Horse EP
Buy this CD from Amazon.com United States
Buy this CD from Amazon.com Canada
Buy this CD from Amazon.com United Kingdom
Buy this CD from Insound.com.
Junior Boys
Dead Horse EP

On the heels of last years excellent So This Is Goodbye album, Junior Boys are back with five remixes of tracks from that album, arriving just in time to coincide with springtime tour. It was bound to happen, with a couple nice remixes finding their way onto a bonus disc of their first release Last Exit and like those tracks, the duo has a great mixture of artists putting their fingerprints on the originals.

Starting out the EP is a long (ten-plus minutes) remix of "In The Morning" by Hot Chip that takes the original and obviously stretches it out to twice the original length. Although it takes awhile to get going, the track locks into something amazing about a third of the way in, with breathy added vocals from Hot Chip themselves before a thunderous bass synth drops some growl and the song turns into a tweaked-out dancefloor gem.

Tensnake takes on "FM," and like the Hot Chip mix it takes awhile to get going before it pays off nicely, while Carl Craig strips down "Like A Child" into a super minimal piece that rambles on for nearly eleven minutes and offers up the least interesting take on the release. On a completely other side of things, Kode 9 answers the question of what Junior Boys would sound like doing dubstep, with a re-imagining of "Double Shadow" that absolutely kills, but has so few things in common with the original one would be hard pressed to even recognize it.

To close things out, Marsen Jules takes the duo and turns "FM" into a billowing ambient piece that is perfect to wind things down after the more dance oriented other remixes. Like most remix releases, it's not super consistent, but the high points are well worth the cheap purchase price alone. If you're a fan of the group, this one is a no-brainer.

rating: 7.2510
Aaron Coleman 2007-04-12 20:59:06
RECENT REVIEWS
May 8th, 2008
The Orb - The Dream (Dragonfly)

So Percussion - Five (and-a-half) Gardens (Shhh Productions)

Various Artists - Ambient Not Not Ambient (Audio Dregs)

Yellow6 - When The Leaves Fall Like Snow (Make Mine Music)

May 1st, 2008
The Balustrade Ensemble - Capsules (Dynamophone)

J. Spaceman & Sun City Girls - Mister Lonely: Music From A Film By Harmony Korine (Drag City)

No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)

Portishead - Third (Mercury) 3

April 24th, 2008
Cloudland Canyon - Lie In Light (Kranky)

Kronos Quartet And Wu Man - Terry Riley: The Cusp Of Magic (Nonesuch) The Cusp Of Magic

Strategy - Music For Lamping (Audio Dregs)

Various Artists - Peace (for mom) (Brainwashed)

April 17th, 2008
Cafeneon - Cafeneon (Station 55)

Erik Levander - Kondens (Rumraket)

Sun Kil Moon - April (Caldo Verde)

other recent reviews