Cog: ‘Bird of Feather (Daleese Remix)’

Cog - ‘Bird of Feather (Daleese Remix)’

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Got this one in the mail yesterday, just in time for my interview with Cog boys Luke and Lucius on my nocturnal radio show, on the eve of their largest headlining show in Sydney tomorrow night at the Enmore Theatre.

Remixes are fairly ubiquitous these days; their resurgence in popularity thanks to indie kids remixing indie kids, or (in the case of the solipsistic Van She) indie kids remixing themselves. But I’ve found in the past that the process doesn’t transpose to those genres that crank the guitars up to 11. They often become rock songs with an 808 beat.

I’ve only had a limited time to digest this new remix of Cog’s ‘Bird of Feather’, courtesy of Daleese Studios, home of Dan Sutherland (of Many Machines on Nine/Switchkicker fame), and my overriding thought is ‘why?’. If you’re familiar with any of Dan’s musical output, you’ll instantly recognise the Trent-Reznor-at-a-rave feel of this remix. And this isn’t a sleight at Dan or Cog – if anyone’s read whothehell.net enough, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of both these acts – but the remix itself seems superfluous and more an experimental exercise for the two.

Lucius said to me last night that Cog are always interested in pushing the perceived boundaries of their music, and particularly with this remix they were interested in seeing how other people interpret their tunes. In that respect, ‘Bird of Feather’ does its job, but it’s essentially an electro version of the same song, and doesn’t take it to new levels like when Kieran Hebden or Richard James get their hands on a track.

But my opinion is obviously clouded by personal judgement. Like Nick Hornby wrote, reviews are expected to exist outside of space and time. I prefer a remix that completely rethinks the song, but if ‘Bird of Feather’ turned into a Autechre-esque beatfest, would it sound shit to most people? I’m interested to know your thoughts on this remix.

Cog also let slip that they’ve been talking of collaborating with The Presets. Now that would be way out!

http://whothehell.net/61