Featuring Remixes From Knxwledge, Soul Clap, Harvey Sutherland, Bill Brewster & More
Listen to new “Pelota (Cut A Rug Mix)” remix by Quantic
The art of the remix has been around for decades, from the fervid imaginations of Jamaican record producers like Sir Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid or King Tubby to the disco enthusiasts of New York City, such as Tom Moulton. The remix has long acted as a song’s extension – some completely deconstructing an idea or sound, others devastating dancefloors or reaching entirely new audiences.
Today, Houston, Texas’ multilingual collagists Khruangbin announce their very own remix album, Mordechai Remixes out August 6th and to be released physically October 29th on Dead Oceans, in association with Night Time Stories, Ltd.
Carefully curated by the trio comprised of bassist Laura Lee, guitarist Mark Speer and drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson, each remixer on Mordechai Remixes has a musical or cosmic connection to Khruangbin. Whether it be personal friendships or simply mutual musical appreciation, the selected artists’ reimagining of the band’s 2020 Mordechai album is pure kismet. Kadhja Bonet, who lends her creamy soprano flutters to “Father, Mother Bird” was a fan, along with house legend Ron Trent. Harvey Sutherland and Ginger Roots have both toured with the band, Anderson .Paak and NxWorries. collaborator Knxwledge sampled “White Gloves” on a mixtape, Natasha Diggs and Soul Clap are recent friends of the band, Quantic is a mutual friend of Bonobo who is crucial in the band’s origin story and Bill Brewster, one half of the DJ duo Mang Dynasty, has known Lee for years. Plus, Brewster wrote the album’s inner sleeve gatefold notes.
Revisit the Video for the “Dearest Alfred (MyJoy)” Remix by Knxwledge
Listen to new “Pelota (Cut A Rug Mix)” remix by Quantic
Entering the tight-knit world of a Khruangbin song can be daunting task, though it has been done – previously in 2016, with the highly collectible EP on Boogiefuturo, the off shoot label of Bristol-based Futureboogie Recordings, with a special collaborative 12″ disc featuring remixes/re-edits from a veritable line up of cutting edge producers including DJ Milo, Maribou State and more. Khruangbin has created an entire universe in which they seem to function telepathically in the way the genre-bending music is composed, arranged and played to the audience. To mess with their delicate ecosystem can invoke feelings similar to that of an unwanted guest crashing a good-time party. But Khruangbin reassures, “We write our music to be interpreted; this is another wonderful interpretation of the music. There is something very vulnerable about letting others work on your music,” they continue. But through the correspondence with the different artists, we gained a bigger connection to the songs themselves.”
A recurring visual theme, and further tethering of the remixers to the band, Laura Lee has also hand drawn inner gatefold illustrations of each remixer. Also, over the past couple months Khruangbin has been in the process of releasing a very limited number of 12” records in select record stores. There has been zero promotion or announcement of these 12’s inches until now, and it’s one for the heads, honouring the electronic music sphere’s word of mouth tradition of releasing music.
Mordechai Remixes Tracklist:
- Father Bird, Mother Bird (Sunbirds) – Kadhja Bonet
- Connaissais de Face (Tiger?) – Ginger Root
- Dearest Alfred (MyJoy) – Knxwledge
- First Class (Soul In The Horn Remix) – Natasha Diggs
- If There Is No Question (Soul Clap’s Wild, But Not Crazy Mix) – Soul Clap
- Pelota (Cut A Rug Mix) – Quantic
- Time (You And I) (Put A Smile On DJ’s Face Mix) – Felix Dickinson
- Shida (Bella’s Suite) – Ron Trent
- So We Won’t Forget (Mang Dynasty Version) – Mang Dynasty
- One To Remember (Forget Me Nots Dub) – Harvey Sutherland
Pre-order/Pre-Save Mordechai Remixes:
https://khruangbin.deadoc.co/mordechai-remixes
About Khruangbin
Khruangbin is a three-piece band from Houston, Texas, formed in 2009 with Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar and Donald Johnson on drums. Taking influence from 1960’s Thai funk – their name literally translates to “Engine Fly” in Thai – Khruangbin is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. By the summer of 2019, the trio had been on tour for nearly three-and-a-half years, playing to audiences across North and South America, Europe, and southeast Asia behind its acclaimed albums The Universe Smiles Upon You and Con Todo El Mundo. They returned to their farmhouse studio in Burton, Texas, and recorded and released their third studio album Mordechai via Dead Oceans in association with Night Time Stories in the summer of 2020 earning glowing praise from The New York Times, W Magazine, Billboard, The Los Angeles Times, The FADER and more.
More Info on Khruangbin
