Tuesday, January 3, 2012

BEST OF 2011 - REMIKS (PT. 1)


2011 saw plenty of amazing remixes. Favorite names include The Magician, Plastic Plates, Fusty Delights, Aeroplane and Perseus...

The Magician aka Stephen Fasano is a Belgian producer who used to be the other half of electro pop outfit Aeroplane. His old mate Vito De Luca still produces and releases tracks under the Aeroplane banner and have churned out some pretty good remixes himself (listed further below).

Fasano released his first EP as the Magician with the track I Don't Know What To Do featuring Jeppe. It was later followed by the three track Twist EP on which he collaborated with French electro pop artist Yuksek (under the artist name Peter and the Magician).

Their combined artistic talents resulted in two additional tracks. First of all, Fasano added his magic touch to Yuksek's Always on a Train, one of last year's fave remixes...


The Yuksek track is taken from the album Living on the Edge of Time. It also features the song Always on the Run, which the two of them remixed together, once again under the artist name Peter and the Magician.


Another memorable album from 2011 came from the amazing Swedish singer Lykke Li. Luckily, the track I Follow Rivers was given the magic touch by none other than Mr. Fasano in this outstanding remix...


One more remix from The Magician, this one of Beni - It's a Bubble.


Another favorite remixer is Plastic Plates aka Felix Bloxsom. Originally from Sydney (Austrialia), he currently resides in California, from where he has churned out an impressing series of high quality remixes of artists such as Adele, The Human League, Sia and Body Language.

I had the pleasure to experience a club night featuring Felix Blossom and Stephen Fasano at U Street Music Hall last year. Both dropped a sweet batch of electro pop and nu disco stuff including several of their own remixes. Felix has even retouched Stephen's track I Don't Know What To Do.


Body Language is Angelica Bess, Ian Chang, Grant Wheeler, and Matthew Young. The Plastic Plates remix of the song Social Studies is one of last year's favorite tracks. 


Another big favorite is the Plastic Plates remix of British singer-songwriter Adele and her song Set Fire to the Rain.



80s synth pop band The Human League made a comeback last year with the album Credo, released by British indie label Wall of Sound. Plastic Plates remixed the track Sky.


Another amazing retouch of tracks from the Credo album comes from Vito Deluca - Stephen Fasano's former musical partner, better known as Aeroplane. Here's his remix of Never Let Me Go.



Processory aka Jori Hulkkonen & Jerry Valuri released the EP Recovery Measures last year. It features the track Nightfall which was given a mighty makeover by Aeroplane. (Click here for a pretty cool video featuring some vintage movie clips.)


Another favorite remixer is Perseus. Here's his Summer of 83 mix of the Jeremy Glenn tune New Life - out on Future Classic last summer.


Another cool Perseus remix - this one of Mark Ronson's Record Collection.



For more fave 2011 remixes, check out part 2...