I wish time machines made everything sound better

Musings on music delivered when I dig myself out.

I wish time machines made everything sound better

Or Air's remix of "Home," from Depeche Mode's remix collection, Remixes 81-04

Air have really uh, underdone themselves here. "Home," a track from Depeche Mode's 1997 album Ultra, isn't the most impressive pallet to begin with; but you would think that Air might be able to cure the song of its rabid desire to be from the 80s. Not so. Instead, the French duo throws the track further back into the 80s, leaving it mired in cheesy piano lines and limp swirls of synths. The end result is stripped of whatever emotion David Gahan had imparted originally and left entirely disposable. This is a surprise coming from Air, whose most recent album Talkie Walkie turned otherwise cold-sounding electronic tunes into something full of life. I'd be curious to see what the rest of the remixes on the collection sound like, but there's no way I'm going to wade through the three discs, particularly if "Home" sets the standard.

Published Friday, October 29, 2004 | 0 comments | E-mail this post