The Silent Years: “Vampires Bite The Hands Feed Them”(Deastro Remix)

I’ve had The Silent Years‘ album on repeat in the car for about a month, yes it’s that good. So to get this little jewel in my inbox was really just lovely! Let Go is one of those albums that when a song comes up on random play I always picked up my ipod to see just who the hell was that great band. And now Deastro has remixed “Vampires Bite The Hands Feed Them.”  I didn’t review Moondagger, Deastro’s 2009 album (I guess it’s not too late, eh) but I did listen to it when it was streaming on his site and found it interesting, even compelling. He’s sort of a one man organization that took the music world by storm this summer.

Do you hate remixes? There’s always a sort of sneering conversation in indie blog land about remixes. Lots of bloggers I know hate dance remixes and mashups and have their email filters set to toss anything that comes their way with the word “remix” in it straight into the trash. I actually enjoy a good remix or two. But I also enjoy an occasional night out at a club, the kind of club that those bloggers wouldn’t be caught dead in. Now, I don’t often get to that sort of place — don’t get the wrong idea here, I’m much more likely to be found at a straight up rock ‘n roll bar or indie/punk/folk venue. But a couple times a year, I do get the itch to go a little crazy to full-blast, throbbing, dance music. So a good remix is a beautiful thing. You’ll find in these archives a few posts on Don Diablo’s work. Every once in a while he hits on something that I think is just really sexy.

If you look over on my sidebar, you’ll find a link to a really awesome blog/website, Cover to Cover. It’s the brainchild of a good friend of mine, DJ Chris Laing (aka Dollyrocker) and the wonderful DJ Sean Rowley. I met Chris about 8 years ago in completely different circumstances and always knew he was a music freak but never really understood how that worked until the last couple of years. (He and wife Rachel (aka Disco Dolly) have made a really cool life for themselves in London putting on parties as Buttoned Down Disco and Shake, Rattle and Bowl. ) This new blog that Chris and Sean have, Cover to Cover, is all cover songs, get it? Their site also has all the info you need to know about upcoming parties, should you be in London this fall. I’ll be so jealous if you are! But I’m telling you all about Cover to Cover and my friend Chris because one of the things we really got talking about last December when we visited was dance remixes. Chris is incredibly talented at sniffing out the perfect remix. His parties are full of both old and new tunes and just really quality music. I turned him onto the Buffetlibre site and he was “well chuffed.” So, yeah, remixes are cool in my book. You just really have to find the right ones and realize that there are a whole lot of really badly done ones out there.

This Deastro remix is a fine example of a remix done right. It takes a gorgeous song and reworks it in a really inspired and unique way. You can’t ask for more than that. I’m kinda hoping that by linking up Cover to Cover, I can lure Chris over here and get his thoughts on it. Their first Cover to Cover party is September 4th, I know he’s making his playlist, what do ya think my chances are?