Rockin' Around the Remix Tree

Remixes can be great, remaking a song and adding new elements and feelings to it. Remixes can be kind of pointless, turned into instrumental pieces that sound pretty much nothing like the original. Remixes can also be absolutely awful, churned out with a bunch of shitty, distorted bass and maybe some handclaps. Everything is getting remixed these days, though, and tons of people are trying their hand at it, flooding the web.
All that said, a few remixes have blown me away this year and been at the top of my playlists (they may or may not have actually been put out in 2008, but who cares?). Here goes:

Das Pop - Fool for Love (Aeroplane remix)
Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane remix ft. Au Revoir Simone)
Aeroplane is my favorite remixer of the year. They have the Midas touch with songs, including their own original material. It's absolutely blissful disco listening, and I can't get enough of it. Hopefully they'll get their own full-length out soon.

The Cardigans - Erase/Rewind (Kleerup remix)
Despite being considered a one-hit wonder by many people, I really like The Cardigans. The dark, but catchy 'My Favorite Game' is one of my favorite songs, including its crazy video. The Kleerup remix isn't too complex, and let's Nina Persson's beautiful voice do most of the work, but for some reason, the song just really gets me.

Primary 1 - Hold Me Down (The Shoes remix)
I posted on this track a while back, and I still love it. It never fails to cheer me up. Primary 1's original track was good, but The Shoes made it amazing.

The Presets - Talk Like That (Miami Horror remix)
Another track I put up months ago, that was my obsession for a couple weeks. Miami Horror takes The Presets' brooding track and, with a guitar riff and loads of retro synths, he cranks it into a dancefloor killer.

Cagedbaby -Hello There (The Presets remix)
Sticking with The Presets for the moment, their remix of freakily named Brit Cagedbaby isn't uptempo at all, but for some reason it still seems uplifting compared what you'd expect from The Presets. The story of the trials and travails of love has great lyrics, too: "You came and spoke to me and put me through the test/Oh don't you realize that I'm better than the rest?" and my personal favorite, "Give me a reason to stop playing in the rain." Look at the photos of Cagedbaby on his MySpace. Now imagine him playing in the rain. Also, a baby in a cage probably wouldn't want to play at all, no?

Digitalism - Taken Away (Digitalfoxglove remix)
Even though it didn't get done in time for Digitalism's massive remix contest for 'Taken Away,' fellow German Digitalfoxglove came up with my favorite version of the song by far.

Ladyhawke - Back of the Van (DJ Lapse remix)
In a similar sonic vein to the previous mix, South African DJ Lapse's reworking of Ladyhawke just works for me, and it helps that I already preferred the original track to most Ladyhawke songs.

M83 - Kim and Jessie (DatA remix)
DatA's track 'Rapture' is one of the best original tracks of the year, in my opinion, and I'm still in love with his remix of M83, which is similarly awesome.

Midnight Juggernauts - Road to Recovery (Miami Horror remix)
Miami Horror makes his second appearance on the list with his remix of fellow Aussies Midnight Juggernauts. It's hard to believe how big Midnight Juggs have gotten since I first saw them open for Justice over a year ago. This hard driving mix puts you on the road to the dancefloor.

Heads We Dance - You Are Never Alone with Model 21 (Harris Robotis 1981 remix)
An homage to/advertisement for a robot lover, this song by Leeds outfit Heads We Dance has been (fittingly) taken by Harris Robotis and turned into a shimmering, chiming disco track.

Moby - I Love to Move in Here (Holy Ghost! remix)
New Yorkers Holy Ghost! keep the DFA disco sound going strong with their remix of Moby.

Photonz - Our Fable (Mickey Moonlight remix)
It seems that Mickey Moonlight is Ed Banger Records' response to the rising popularity of disco house. And he does a damn good job with this remix of Portuguese funksters Photonz.

Cut Copy - Lights and Music (Moulinex remix)
Staying in Portugal, my home from last summer, we find Moulinex and his remix of Cut Copy. I heard this mix before I heard the Boys Noize version, and I still much prefer it.

DJ Mehdi - Signatune (Thomas Bangalter's More Kick edit)
Another product of Ed Banger, DJ Mehdi always provides a little change of pace from the rest of their lineup. Here he gets reworked by Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk and, do you really need to ask? It's repetitive, but I somehow don't get tired of it.

MGMT - Kids (Pet Shop Boys Synthpop remix)
Finally we come to the darlings of 2008, MGMT. I keep waiting to get absolutely sick of them, having heard 'Time to Pretend,' 'Electric Feel,' and now 'Kids' all get the shit played out of them. The other night 'Time to Pretend' was playing on the electronic jukebox in a grungy Mexican restaurant/dive bar and I almost left. But whenever I feel like I'm reaching overload, I'll listen to a different song off 'Oracular Spectacular' that I haven't heard in a while, or, in this case a new remix, and order is restored. Coming to us straight from the 1980s, the Pet Shop Boys throw their signature synths into 'Kids,' and create a gem (thanks to Ohh! Crapp... for this one).

Our final tally of remixers by country from this list: UK - 4, Australia - 4, France - 3, Belgium - 1 (well, two songs remixed by Aeroplane were on here), Sweden - 1, Germany - 1, South Africa - 1, Portugal - 1, USA - 1

That's the roundup. Happy holidays!

UPDATE: I've taken the song links off this post because its previous incarnation from back in December was killed by Blogger today due to a copyright complaint. No label or artist directly contacted me, and I don't know what song the complaint was about, so I've just taken down all the links. I'm just going to go ahead and blame a major label, so Moby or the Cardigans, this is all your fault!