Baroque Meets Matt & Kim, Remixes “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare”
How do you judge a remix? Do you compare it to the original composition, or detach it completely. Should it sound familiar, or entirely different? It’s an issue that comes up when writing about remixes, and I imagine a lot of music writers bring different standards into play. Baroque, who does a lot of reworks, offers up one of the easiest meatball-pitch remixes of 2010. I can assure you it’s good because he’s managed to get me to listen to an entire Matt & Kim track.
Not an easy task…in an effort to not be a dick, I try not to hate on many bands. But good God Matt & Kim annoy me. They are just so…chipper. I saw them live once and, after opening the show with the keyboard intro from (ugggh) “The Final Countdown,” they proceeded to be insufferably giddy. People throw the word “hipster” around indiscriminately like a language grenade, but Matt & Kim pretty much capture “hipster music” – forced enthusiasm over same-sounding music that’s supposed to be “fun” (read “above being critically looked at”) but ultimately aggravating. Baroque turns “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare” into something a bit more sincerely alive, though he does it in a way that shouldn’t work…at least to these Matt & Kim hating ears. He leaves the most grating element of the duo (Matt’s voice) intact while paving over Kim’s fine enough drumming. Thankfully, the addition of big dancey drums and his trademark menacing fuzz offset those vocals. Stop reading my screed against this Brooklyn duo and just listen here.
