The Portland-based group The Body have been a driving force in experimental heavy music in large part by sheer virtue of their readiness to try seemingly just about anything in crafting their soundscapes for what’s now twenty years. In celebration, there’s a new album now available from Thrill Jockey Records packed with ten remixed tracks that were originally by the duo, and the collaborators on this project are definitely high-profile, including Lingua Ignota, Moor Mother, Container, and more.
The album — titled simply Remixed — conveys a rich musical experience that varies from the airy, dreamlike, even kind of trancelike opener “A Curse (Remixed by Moss of Aura)” to the captivatingly somber conclusion, where Lingua Ignota comes in with her remix of “Hallow Hollow.” That track strikingly combines the emotional gravity that marks some of Lingua Ignota’s most recent work with sonically subversive, adventurous undertakings coursing through the sound of the music itself. Besides these high points — and really, the record just goes from standout point to standout point — other highlights include psychedelically twisted, danceable beat-focused arrangements towards the beginning, a turn towards industrial grit as the record proceeds, and more. Remixed feels like a fitting celebration of the out of the ordinary in all its forms.
Really, Lingua Ignota’s track doesn’t even truly feel like a “end.” Instead, the atmosphere that Remixed conveys simply circles back into itself, with new discoveries awaiting around each corner no matter how many times you’ve heard these tracks before. The songs function like an ever-evolving soundtrack, filling in the gaps in your day to day life where you might not have even known they were. The tracks somehow tend to perfectly tread that line between falling apart and marching onward with a focused force, and isn’t that exactly where social onslaughts have left so many people out there in the real world anyway?
Like other work that’s just from The Body — although they do a lot of straightforward collaborations with similarly minded artists, like the NYC-based Uniform — Remixed feels like a perfect encapsulation of a visceral burst of energy. It’s amazing, really, how the tracks with the influence of ten different artists come together to form such a cohesive vision of continuing onward into the musical expanse.
5/5 Stars
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