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[Robots] Never Die (Timothy Fairless remix)

from Let Music & Bodies Reunite by Rat vs Possum

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www.timothyfairless.com

Dear Rat vs Possum...

This took a long time, I know. Every year added to my age increases exponentially the time taken to make decisions. Supermarkets afflict me with a deep malaise; so many small decisions. The cumulative effects are enormous. How do I choose between brands of baked bean when the options are so broad? Even narrowed to two final contenders it’s a race to the bottom of the ingredients list to find out which has fewer preservatives and more nutritional value. This short yet mundane exercise in decisive thinking blows up like a hot air balloon when the choices actually matter.

Faced with the prospect of remixing for you, Rat vs Possum, ideas shot from my head like a party popper with too much gun powder and not enough streamers. Inspiration seems so grand when the work can’t actually begin. Faced with the stems however, I confronted The Decisions again –

Which song; how many; what genre; how can I remix this in order that it be contextually comfortable with my other work without being something I’ve done before; can the result of this be even suitable for a remix collection while still representing me as an artist; what’s a remix anyway?

This is less a remix and more a rework of Never Die. In my humblest and most myopic of views, a traditional remix should obscure the original, refocus the rhythmic energy and make it more dancey-fun-times. My process of reworking this track took me through that territory initially. I filled the landscape with synthesizers and drum machines from the 1990’s, and I played funky rhythms on them. They responded well but after a number of hours in their company I felt disconnected and like I was simply following the crowd; looking under every rock for something new. I know that if I trouble myself with equalising the delay lines, adjusting filters, endless scrolling through patches, and making ‘tricks’ before the skeleton is finished then I’m on the wrong track – or at least a track that’s not holding my attention. So I changed it up, trashed what I’d done and started making decisions.

When I found it, my intention was to completely change the perceived intention of Never Die. The original sounds forthright and optimistic; this version sounds like veiled sadness or regret. The funk-based structures have become traditional song form via re-written chords even though the sequencing and length of sections is almost preserved. It’s old, too, thanks to mainly acoustic instruments that sound just as they are, relatively untreated and freed from the grid-grip of Elastic Audio and Quantisation. You can hear on this song nothing but your original vocal tracks. Added to that is 6-string bass, drums, Hohner Pianet T electric piano, Fender lap steel guitar, regular electric guitar, Scott Spark’s piano (which is currently in my studio), a Micron, vocoder and an emulation of the Hammond organ I lost when my studio flooded last January (though it’s just not the same). These are the instruments I’m most comfortable with at this moment and that’s why they’re here.

Listen closely and you’ll hear that the ‘something inside that will never die” might just be that there wasn’t life in the first place. Read into that what you will, life-like Japanese sex-dolls and all.

This version of Never Die might appeal to you. It may not find a home with other remixes from Let Music & Bodies Unite, but perhaps its differences will be welcomed just the same.

Cheers! - Tim

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from Let Music & Bodies Reunite, released November 7, 2011

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