Microgrooves

By Kimberly Chun

kimberly@sfbg.com

When the trend of releasing club remixes of commercially languishing rock records hit a noticeable apex a few years back, I scoffed and wrote it off as another attempt to recycle failed material. But a few recent releases actually seem worthy of hard-won, sweat-soaked cash expenditure. These reworkings sound as good, if not better, than the original recordings.

BECK

Guerolito (Interscope)

Beck's Guerolito provides the new flavas that Guero, the original studio album released earlier in 2005, was missing. Check Octet's version of "Girl" and Diplo's tweak of "Go It Alone," retitled "Wish Coin," which teases out the English Beat's "Twist and Crawl" bass line. Collaborators like Adrock, el-P, and Boards of Canada punch, kick, deconstruct, and rebuild Guero's tracks to bring out their inherent, admirably Play-Doh qualities.

DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979

Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes and B Sides (Last Gang/Vice/Atlantic)

The remixers of Death from Above 1979's Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes and B Sides tend to downplay the minimalist metal tendencies of the duo while bringing out their seductively mechanistic qualities. Mstrkraft's "editions" of "Little Girl" and "Sexy Results" foreground the disco slink and pelvic thrust beneath the song structures and add an itchy, twitchy electro pointillism. You don't even mind the repetition of several tracks twice or thrice. The results – as punchy, crunchy, and forceful as DFA 1979 itself – are that sexy.