We all know the story by now. George Orwell wrote about it, as did Isaac Asimov. Living, as I do, in a country with more government-controlled surveillance cameras per capita than anywhere else in the world (the London borough of Wandsworth has 1,113 of them, which is more than the cities of Boston, Johannesburg and Dublin combined), the theme of this 4th single from the brilliant album 1991 strikes a familiar chord.
Something about the vocal on this track brings to mind Debbie Harry’s seemingly ill-advised but now legendary spoken word section on Blondie’s “Rapture”. However, rather than spouting nonsense about a man from Mars eating cars (not to mention snacking on the odd sports pub too, but only during playoff games, or something like that. I wasn’t really listening if I’m honest), vocalist Tameca Jones uses her platform to lay out a commentary on the frankly terrifying “Big Brother” culture we appear to be accepting as a part of modern life.
This stash of remixes is headed up by Gavin Hardkiss, who removes some of the menace of the subject matter with a fun, glitchy and brilliantly produced slice of off-kilter House. Corduroy Mavericks go even further, laying down a smooth-as-silk bar groove, complete with a cleverly used snippet from Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me”. The All Good Funk Alliance’s remix, while very well produced, does sound a little like a product demonstration for iZotope’s fun but suddenly ubiquitous “Stutter Edit” audio plugin, judging by the amount it’s used here. Finally, Robbie Hardkiss steals the show with an irrepressible club track of larger-than-ample proportions. Bleeps, sirens and percussive vocal chops are the order of the day here, laid over a rock solid groove.
To sum up, this is a strong package containing varied and interesting remixes of a brilliant original track. Incidentally, ahead of re-releasing their Delusions Of Grandeur album, Hardkiss have just made all their vintage material available in digital formats for the first time ever. Grab them at pledgemusic.com.
