Keoki
Misdirected Jealousy
Moonshine
In April of 2001, DJ Keoki released his second album, the longish Jealousy. I am not here to debate the merits and/or drawbacks of this album – our own Kiran Aditham pretty much nailed it in this review. No, I am here to talk about this 2002 release, which features “previously unreleased” remixes of nine of the songs from Jealousy. And I’m not quite sure what to think here.
On one level, it’s a perfectly fine disc. Some of the remixers do a little more than others, which is pretty much the nature of remix albums. I especially like the way that the “Ribs vs. Christian Nighty Night Remix” of “Pass It On” transforms the original’s four-on-the-floor thumpy thump into a real electronic symphony sort of thing, adding subtlety where there wasn’t much before. For me, gusgus can do no wrong, so their remix of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” actually improves on the original – although they really should have left out Keoki’s lame-ass rap altogether instead of just trying to kitschify it by doing cut-and-paste. And it’s interesting to see the two different approaches to the original’s title song: Nynex is a little more reverent and plays it straight by just adding some dark-core chords here and there, while the “Elite Force Remix” makes it sound a lot more like Gary Numan in a tryst with Fatboy Slim. And watch out for DJ Dara’s mad remix of “Rush” – I haven’t heard drum n’ bass this minimal since Roni Size won the Mercury Prize.
I would be very surprised if this ever turned up on anyone’s Desert Island Disc list, but I don’t think that’s the point; this is mostly for people who liked the original album enough to want to hear most of its songs recast by people with really cool computer programs. Me, I’d rather hear some music with real heart and soul most of the time, but sometimes you just have to shake the ol’ booty, and this disc might help you do that for 73 minutes. We can still do that, right? It’s still allowed? But don’t expect Misdirected Jealousy to change your life.
Moonshine Music: http://www.moonshine.com
