Mixtape Fire -- My Past Month in the Flames

Time flies and it's been a bit since I've posted on ye' ol' blog. Sorry about that.

Let's be honest though, I lost my drive to post about anything at all lately. Instead, I've been super fascinated with remixing songs from my past.

It all started about a month and a half ago when my friend and coworker Dennis Bestafka and his wife released their new EP for their band, Buona Sueno. I liked it so much that I remixed one of the songs that really spoke to me.

You can find the original song here: https://buonasueno.bandcamp.com/track/lost-in-the-shine -- really the whole EP is great. Well worth your time.

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I enjoyed making that remix . . . so much so that a couple weeks later I was listening to an old song I used to like while I was taking showers in the morning. It just kind of hit me that I needed to remix this song that meant so much to me.

Back in the early 90's I was driving to school in a light snowstorm after having a lucid dream involving a large cave with a waterfall shower. The heater was on in my mom's Geo Metro and "Fight Without a Reason" by Cetu Javu was playing from my tapedeck. It defined a very esoteric happy image in my mind.

This song probably doesn't mean much to many people, but to me, it's warm and beautiful.

Original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3pa1xHK8pY

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After that, one of my old friends from high school (and old band mates) said on Facebook: "Really good. Still waiting for a 2020 mix of Don’t Stop" Challenge accepted! Don't Stop was one of our songs we had written back in the day, so I crafted up a new remix of an old classic straight outta 1988. We called ourselves "Decussion Council," and here's our old pride and joy with new life:

Original song here: https://soundcloud.com/tom-purdue/dont-stop/s-tGfc682ydrr

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By this time the remix theme was in full swing, and I just decided to keep going! Next up was a song that haunts me every once in a while. I've always been a big fan of The Cure. If I had the vocal stems for the song from Robert Smith, I would have used his voice instead of mine. It goes deep. It goes deeper still.

Original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE1nu67-U2I

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Funny enough all the remixing was originally an idea I had hatched about a year ago, but after I started remixing the song Now My Heart is Full by Morrissey, I kinda just gave up.  It wasn't coming out right and so many people had already done the song and done it better than me.  Well.  I started to revisit the work I had already done, and it wasn't actually as bad as I was thinking.

As you've probably noticed by now, all the videos feature royalty-free stock footage. I stumbled upon some old commercial footage from the 70's and had an absolute blast putting this together. When the Shasta Rootbeer commercial synced up to the music, I was overjoyed.

Original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyEoW4JMbnE

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The next song is another song from my youth that I don't think many people remember. Back in 1987 Cabaret Voltaire released a record of mostly dance music that hailed to the styling of Kraftwerk: Funky, Glitchy, Great stuff. One particular track, Code, was always on the mix tapes I made for people. Because of that, I decided to do a Quarantined Remix of the song. It was more detailed and difficult than I originally thought. Enjoy!

Original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xViXEXgIST0

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After this I just decided to end cap the whole remix project by redoing one of my old unfinished songs from the 80's. Back in 1989 I wrote a song called Bit by Bit. Only a handful of people had ever heard it. It was cute and full of love and longing and happiness.

I never did anything with the song, but it sat in my archives unfinished until last weekend. I managed to find the original lyrics I had written by hand in a folder in the closet. It only had ideas for the second verse, so I fleshed those out and finished it up. It always deserved to be given new life.

Original song: (It's on an old tape of mine and I haven't uploaded it)

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So, what's next?  I've actually been looking into the costs of getting these tracks put on a vinyl record . . . maybe get like six copies made and send them to a few of my old friends. I'd love to surprise them with an actual record as a gift. :)

I don't know if the spark to keep remixing will stay with me, but it's certainly made being in quarantine a bit more bearable.

Happy Dueling