Stu Reid Sampler Six

Casual readers of this site probably think that I'm obsessed with Passion Pit. More frequent readers know this for a fact. I can't get enough - I rock out to the Chunk of Change EP with frequency, tell all my friends about Passion Pit, and snatch up any remix I can get my hands on. Zack, Dedicated Fan X, and I have been to 4 Passion Pit shows in the last 6 months (and had tickets to a 5th, which the canceled - BOO).

Today's Stu Reid Sampler is dedicated to Sleepyhead - although I won't post the actual track as it's deathly close to being overplayed. I'll put the sample up for about a week.

There have been some really great remixes of Sleepyhead, coming out of the Sleepyhead Remix contest, mostly. Most, however, constrained by the source material made available - a vocal mix, a high speed sample, and some very minimal instrumentation. Some slowed it down (Landau) some funked it up (Wallpaper Dio) and some took the synth to the max (Bo Flex f. Giantess). But the latest remix to reach my ears, courtesy of Emil and Friends, takes the most ownership, I think. Adding some of their own vocals and spacing the track out, Emil and Friends give Sleepyhead a Schneider TM-ish treatment that really works. Emil and Friends' myspace lists them as hailing from Brawlston, MA - just down the street from the TSRE headquarters. Let's hang out! Wow this track is hot.

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Emil and Friends Rework) (YSI) (filesavr)

Couple that with another remix, this one done by the Passion Pit boys themselves. They take Ra Ra Riot's "Ghost Under Rocks" and add some baller synth as the track crescendoes to a furious pitch. Awesome to hear a band that can make their sound shine through even on a remix (see: Hot Chip, Four Tet). Well done.

Ra Ra Riot - Ghost Under Rocks (Passion Pit Remix) (YSI) (filesavr)

Finally, to make this a Stu Reid Sampler. For many months I hunted and pondered, wondering what that entrancing vocal loop at the beginning of Sleepyhead was - where did it come from? Why couldn't I put my hands on it? Turns out it's an old Irish tune from Mary O'Hara called "Oro Mo Bhaidin" - a warbling song that I would not expect to be in Passion Pit's repertoire. Bonus.

Mary O'Hara - Oro Mo Bhaidin (YSI)

New Passion Pit album, Manners, comes out on May 26! Be there!