Death by Denim X Roy Bing - Songs We’d Love To Remix
Celebrating their team up with Roy Bing for a hard hitting dance floor banger, the band and producer take us through what they'd like to see remixed next..
Indie four-piece Death by Denim have had a whirlwind of a year so far, with the release of their sophomore album Moonbow, their upcoming showcase tonight at Bigsound, and their recent collaboration with Eora/ Sydney artist/producer/songwriter Roy Bing to unleash a remix of the bands hit Cigarettes & Honey.
“Ever wondered what your fave DBD song would sound like as a dance track banger?? Roy Bing has gone to town and fulfilled this fantasy for your ears. As we approach a new season and delve into a new dancey world why not go full throttle with this drum and bass remix.” shares Death by Denim, Roy’s flare for melody and story shining through in the track as he add’s “I’ve been obsessed with Cigarettes and Honey since I first heard the track. It was a dream to be able to remix for the DBD guys. I accidentally put some drum n bass drums under the vocal and it worked so well I had to see it through.”
To celebrate the team up and the release of Cigarettes & Honey (Roy Bing Remix), Death by Denim and Roy Bing take us through some other tracks they’d like to see remixed. Be sure to hit play on this dance banger, and take a read of what both parties had to say below.
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ROY BING:
The Chats – Pub Feed
This song will never not be iconic. F**k me dead I would kill to remix this song. It'd be a bloody weird one to remix - but hopefully the good kind of weird.
SWIM & CRUSH3D – Miles Away
I’ve been rinsing this tune since I first heard it. SWIM and CRUSH3d are killing it and making some of the most exciting electronic music in all of AUS right now.
This song is all time - a true OG masterpiece. It's definitely due for a fire remix. An earworm and a half.
Mallrat’s voice is so epic and versatile that you could remix this song a thousand different ways. But maybe this song is too beautiful and perfect to remix?
Kanye, Jay Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver - Monster
Nicki's verse goes so damn hard on this. It'd be hard to not make a remix of this sound dope. You could put her vocal acapella over any beat and it would slap. Apparently Kanye even considered removing her verse cause he thought it was going to overshadow everyone else. Luckily he didn't.
GEORGE – DEATH BY DENIM:
Witchoo - Durand Jones & The Indications & Aaron Frazer
Some of the funkiest shit released in the new millenium, Witchoo is a perfect ode to late night to-and-fro and the insinuation of something more. The vocal chemistry between Jones and Frazer is as infectious as it is beautifully contrasting, and would work amazingly when paired with a Nu-Disco style 4 on the floor beat. It already cruises at balmy 118 BPM, and I would see it slowed down a little and transformed into a Kaytranada meets Dimitri From Paris type new-school Disco banger.
I've Seen Footage - Death Grips
Probably one of the more accessible songs (if that's even possible) off their 2012 slammer of an album "The Money Store", I've Seen Footage is a high-energy and adrenaline fuelled sprint through slamming drum machines, in your face vocals and jittering samples. When remixing this I would preserve that blistering energy MC Ride delivers by looping some of the refrains, whilst further developing the banging drum beat and chopping it up even more. It would be a track that holds you tight and doesn't let go; a track that evokes the smell of a sweaty and pumping dance floor in a mysterious underground club.
I'll Be Around - The Spinners
In my opinion one of the best love songs ever written, it is an anthem dedicated to the power of dedication and the infallibility of commitment to your soul mate. To do this song service, a remix would have to accentuate the honesty and vulnerability of the lyrics, be it through an isolated vocal stem over some soft synth chords or a memorable and infectious loop of a powerful line in the song. The instrumental passages should also not be overlooked, as a steady and funky guitar and percussion groove builds towards some soaring strings and horns in the final half of the song, and would blend perfectly of a well-crafted yet subtle Disco House groove.
Beth/Rest - Bon Iver
Bon Iver's self titled sophomore album had no shortage of heartstring-annihilating cuts, but I will never forgive Justin Vernon and the team for doing us like this with the closing track to this devastatingly beautiful record. Part of the reason this track slams so hard that makes you belt it at the top of your lungs whilst driving down a ocean highway on a summer night at 1AM, is the restraint of any kind of massive build or drop and leaves the fragility and honesty of the song's composition out in the open. The keys are reminiscent of 80's ballads and if I remixed this I would play on that and transform it into a smooth, pulsing modern Retrowave track with low, pulsating analog synth bass and sparkling TR707 or 505 drums, in a nod to Kavinsky and Mitch Murder.
Fuzz Jam - The Lazy Eyes
When you have a riff as good as this, that hypnotises you through four and half minutes of a psychedelic carpet ride, you can't help but be fully immersed into the strange and wonderful world The Lazy Eyes have created. The tempo and best of the song plods along like big, dreamy, rock 'n' roll elephant and any remix of this song would definitely have to play on that constant and relentless rhythm. If I flipped this song I would focus on the riff, particularly the bass part; Fuzz Jam already has the repeating and euphoric aspects of a house banger, so it would be a case of taking the stems and re-arranging them into a 7+ minute epic that further builds on the pallet of restrained instrumentation and the themes of existential uncertainty, similar to Soulwax's remix of Tame Impala's "Let it Happen".
Death by Denim's new release Cigrattes & hone (Roy Bing Remix) is out now.
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