James Merrifield

Earthquake (Little Boots) remix

Little Boots seems to have had a good year by all accounts; I wouldn't be surprised if her debut album, Hands, makes it on to more than a few 'Best Of 2009' lists. This latest remix of mine is of her song Earthquake. Time constraints meant that I couldn't exactly break the mold with my remix - admittedly my treatment of the song has the same basic Killers-meets-Duran-Duran vibe going on as I've used previously - but still I'm actually quite pleased with this one. Once I had the main guitars in place, everything else came together pretty quickly. You'll find it on the music page as usual. Thanks for listening!

Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare remix

Here's a remix of a song by Brooklyn-based duo Matt and Kim. This is probably the least I've ever done to a song when remixing it, so if you like this track then the glory is almost all Matt and Kim's. The vocals, synths, strings, and general structure and arrangement is all there in the original version, and I just dubbed simple drums, percussion, guitars, and bass over the top. I tried to keep the organic, 'hand-made' feel of the original; I suppose it now sounds something akin to early-nineties Cure, which is no bad thing in my book. The remix is in the music player and music downloads page as usual. I hope you like it, and thanks for listening.

Pick Up The Phone (Dragonette) remix

Have a listen to this remix of Dragonette's new single, Pick Up The Phone. It's a guitar-based indie pop remix, produced with a nod towards The Cure in their heyday - so for any fans of both Dragonette and The Cure, this should be, er, just like heaven...

Paparazzi (Lady Gaga) remix

This is my guitar-based, power-pop remix of a song called by new unsigned hopeful Lady Gaga. Just doing my bit to help her along in her career. If only this shy, retiring, wallflower of a girl could be coaxed out of her shell, in my opinion she just might go on to become the next Tiffany or Debbie Gibson. The track is in the Music Downloads section, as usual. Enjoy.

Star Baby (Marcy Playground) remix

This remix of Marcy Playground's Star Baby maybe isn't as much fun as the jaunty, light-hearted pop of the original, but it does have enough overdrive and distortion to give your speakers a good workout. Check it out here!

Come Back Clean (Emily Haines) remix

This guitar-based version of Come Back Clean, featuring Emily Haines on vocals, may be of interest to Metric fans. An MP3 is available from the Music Downloads page. Thanks for listening!

No Sleep Tonight (Enter Shikari) remix

This rework of No Sleep Tonight is a little rough around the edges, but I think it's done; something this simple and this noisy probably shouldn't be fretted over. If Enter Shikari aren't really your thing, you might still like this version. I've directed it away from the metal-with-a-hint-of-electronica of the original and, I believe, coaxed a half decent indie rock tune out of it. Fans of the likes of Biffy Clyro, Idlewild, Hundred Reasons, Saves The Day, et al, will probably enjoy this. Thanks for listening!

My Brain (Rivers Cuomo) remix

Thanks for checking out my remix of Rivers Cuomo's My Brain Is Working Overtime. I did my best to 'Weezify' Rivers' original demo, speeding it up a tad, re-recording the guitars, bass, and drums. I hope you like it, and cheers for listening!

Until We Meet Again (Emma-Lee) remix

This remix is of a song by Toronto-based singer-songwriter Emma-Lee, entitled 'Until We Meet Again'. The original version is pretty much perfect just as it is, so this remix was just about doing something different - in this case twisting it into a more conventional pop song. You can download the MP3 from the music pages of this site. Thanks for listening!

Bulletproof (La Roux) remix

My remix of La Roux's Bulletproof has just been uploaded to the music player and the downloads page, so please do check it out. I did my best Duran Duran impression for the remix, adding a few guitars and a vaguely Andy Taylor-esque riff. Then it all goes a bit Republica in the chorus. Still, I'm pretty happy with this one. Hope you like it too, and cheers for listening.

Jungle Drum (Emiliana Torrini) remix

Way back in January I did a remix of Emiliana Torrini's Jungle Drum, so I've tidied it up a bit and uploaded it for you to hear. I had a kind of Lovefool-era Cardigans vibe in mind when I started. As usual I drifted a little from that remit once I got into it, but overall I think this is one of my better remixes. It did give me another chance to try out the wah-wah pedal, and the brass at the end is probably worth hanging around for. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for listening!

21st Birthday (Von Bondies cover)

I recorded this song recently as an entry for a Von Bondies cover song competition. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for listening!

Evident Utensil (Chairlift) remix

Here's a remix of the Chairlift song . The original version is a great little pop song with girl/boy vocal exchanges and lyrics extolling the virtues of pencils. As soon as I heard it I thought it would pretty much remix itself - and then I proceeded to make a complete dog's breakfast of it, adding a load of other instruments which I eventually realized didn't really fit the spirit of the thing at all. So then I scrapped most of that and just did a much simpler and more stripped-down mix, which you can now hear in the music player or download as an MP3 from the music downloads page. Thanks for listening!

S.T.T.S.M.C (Super700) remix

It's a shame that I had to use that ungainly initialism in order to fit the header on to a single line, since 'Somebody Tried To Steal My Car' is probably one of the best song titles I'm ever likely to have on these pages. The song in question is by the Berlin-based band Super700, and the car in question, if their video is anything to go by, is just about as desirable as my own 20-year-old Peugeot; let's hope sales of their excellent new album 'Lovebites' are good so that they can buy themselves some fine examples of German automobile engineering instead! The original mix is so impressive that I nearly didn't attempt this remix at all, fearing that I was only ever likely to come up with a poor imitation of it. Whilst that may well still be the case, I did eventually attempt a remix, adding some guitars, strings, and brass. You can hear the results in the music player or the Music Downloads part of this site. Thanks for listening!

Shoes Of Glass (Valery Gore) remix

This remix competition was a great opportunity to build a track around Valery Gore's wonderful voice. I had originally planned to create a minimal and subtle backing track using mainly acoustic instruments and hand percussion - such as in the style of Laura Veirs, for example - but as the deadline loomed I just couldn't nail that approach to my satisfaction, and so eventually succumbed to the familiar allure of drums and electric guitars. Nevertheless, I'm still pretty satisfied with the end result. My favourite part is definitely Valery's harmony vocals at 2:29-3:00; I would have liked to have used them behind each chorus, as in the original song, but that became impossible once I had deviated from the original chords, and so I made them into a separate middle-eight. Please check it out, and thanks for listening!

I Found Away (Alkaline Trio) remix

Alkaline Trio's 'I Found Away' leans a little closer to the metal side of rock or punk than I'd normally listen to (their bio categorizes the track as 'doom pop', which is probably an appropriate description), so in remixing it I tried to bring it home to more familiar territory. Of course you still have to respect Matt Skiba's lyrics and vocal delivery in order for the whole thing to gel properly, so I did my best to keep my remix on the right side of raucous. I added new guitars, bass, and drums, and also doubled the backing vocal parts myself so as to give them more stereo spread. I like to think that the overall finished version has been indiefied (indierockified?) by at least 47%. Cheers for listening!

Lali (Exsonvaldes) remix

Though they sing in English, Exsonvaldes are a French band, based in Paris. 'Lali' is taken from their new album, 'Near The Edge Of Something Beautiful'. My remix of Lali came together pretty quickly. The lead vocal track already had a touch of reverb recorded on it, and amongst the other vocal parts were some nice extended ambient effects, so I went for something vaguely shoegazy. I was aiming for the kind of reverb-soaked heavily overdriven guitar bands of the early 90's - My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, et al. Of course, as the track took shape it began to follow it's own path, and I guess the final result maybe sounds more akin to a band like Doves. I hope you like it!

Powder Snow (Ayumi Hamasaki) remix

I've just uploaded my remix of Ayumi Hamasaki's 'Powder Snow', so please do check it out. Japanese artists get very limited coverage in the UK, so I must confess I'd never actually heard of Ayumi Hamasaki when the remix competition was announced, but of course I've since learned that she is a big star throughout Asia. For my remix I kept the structure of the song broadly the same as the original, and used guitars and strings for the instrumentation. I think my choice of arrangement is probably a little 'warm' for the lyrical content - perhaps a little more sandy than snowy! - but if it is any consolation, it was actually snowing outside my window as I was mixing it!

Imogen Heap remix

My latest remix is of an Imogen Heap song, one which was apparently written to be the closing music for a film project. Imogen had recorded the vocals and left the musical accompaniment to the film score producer to finish, but in the end the track was never used. Therefore, she graciously decided to upload the vocal tracks for others to build a song around. My version is available for streaming in the site's music player, and is also available as an MP3 to download on the Music Downloads page. I hope you enjoy listening to it!

January update

I've just completed two remixes, one of Emiliana Torrini's Jungle Drum and one of a song by Ayumi Hamasaki, both of which I'm fairly pleased with. Unfortunately I can't post them for you all here until their respective competitions are over, but hopefully you'll get to hear them in due course. There's also now an improved remix of Mis Amigos in the music player, and a higher-quality version available on the Music Downloads page. Elsewhere, it seems Chart Ready Reckoner is continuing its march across the U.S. Apparently it has recently been featured in the playlist of 93XRT in Chicago, which is a welcome surprise. Thanks to all those of you who emailed me to tell me about it.

How I Remember

Today I recorded a quick cover of the David Bazan song 'How I Remember', so I've uploaded it to the music player so you can all hear it. I had bought a new distortion/overdrive pedal a few days earlier - the Emma ReezaFratZitz - and so wanted something relatively high-gain to try it out on.

Music Of The Year

So it's that time of the year when everyone and their blogging dog feels compelled to compile the year's musical releases into some sort of qualitative order. Nothing quite so organized or presumptuous from me, but I will take the opportunity to mention some of the records I've enjoyed this year.

Four Seasons In One Day

Today I finished recording a cover of the Crowded House song 'Four Seasons In One Day'. Sometimes you record a cover song because you think you can add to, or perhaps even improve upon the original, and other times you just record it because you love the song and want to play it; this definitely falls into the latter category. Hopefully I haven't totally butchered it! For my version I went with slightly heavier drums and guitars, some basic slide guitar, and more harmonies. Click the play button on the music player at the top right of the screen to hear it, or go to the Music Downloads if you want the MP3. Thanks for listening!

Chart Ready Reckoner, new mix

I've uploaded an improved version of Chart Ready Reckoner, my Radiohead Reckoner remix, to the Music Downloads part of the site. I had previously put it to one side and more or less forgotten about it, but with the radio play and all really encouraging emails I've had since from nice people asking about the track, I thought I should just revisit it briefly and improve a few bits and bobs. I think the bass is a bit tighter now, the guitars are a little more upfront, and everything sounds a little more forward. I hope you all like it too, and thanks for listening.

Radiohead remix played on KCRW

Many thanks to Jason Bentley at KCRW for playing my Radiohead remix, Chart Ready Reckoner, on his Morning Becomes Eclectic radio show this week. I've no idea how he came across it, but it was a wonderful surprise to hear that the track had got some airtime. Thanks also to everyone who emailed me to tell me about it!

Mis Amigos (Dandy Warhols) remix

The Dandy Warhols have made the stems for their new single 'Mis Amigos' available for remixing, so I decided to have a go at it. 'Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia' has always been a favourite album of mine, and they're a band who are constantly innovating, trying something new for each record. 'Mis Amigos' is a great song, and once again it's really instructive just to be able to hear the raw tracks from big bands' recording sessions.

Halloween (Ash) cover song

Recording Review are looking for Halloween song submissions for their latest recording competition, so I recorded this quick cover of the Ash song Halloween. It's one of my favourite Ash songs; it was only a B-side for them, which just shows the quality of the material they've output over the years. If you want to hear the original, I think it was the flip-side to the A Life Less Ordinary single, and is also available on their singles and B-sides compilation Intergalactic Sonic 7"s / Cosmic Debris.

Chart Ready Reckoner

Radiohead have recently started a new remix competition, so I decided to have a go and submit an entry. The track they want people to remix this time is 'Reckoner', from their recent 'In Rainbows' album. Though they no doubt benefit themselves from the extra publicity generated, I think it's great that they are giving others the opportunity to remix their work.

Welcome to the new site

If you can read this, then the new site is now live. Either that or you've broken into my house and stolen my computer. No, I think the site actually _is_ live, at least in this initial, embryonic state. As you can see, it's pretty basic as yet, but I'll do much more with the graphics in due course.