James Merrifield

Banner (Lights) remix

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Here is the second of my Lights remixes. The original production pushes the song in a contemporary electronic direction, with some dubstep-ish elements thrown in, but it's easy to hear that underneath all this it just wants to be a big ol' pop ballad. So that's exactly what you get with my remix. Download the MP3 here

Siberia (Lights) remix

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Brick Tamland may love lamp, but I love Lights. 'Siberia' is a wonderful album, and I'm very pleased to have been able to remix the title track. I think it's one of my best remixes, so be sure to click here and download the MP3.

Dance If You Wanna (Vivian Girls) remix

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An indie pop remix of Vivian Girls' 'Dance (If You Wanna)'. Breezy, light, and fun. Listen (if you wanna) here.

Weekend (Class Actress) remix

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Indie rock remix of 'Weekend' by Class Actress. Tremolo guitars, distortion, fuzzy noises... it's all there. Download the MP3 here.

I'm Taking Off (Nick Carter) remix

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

If there was any justice in the world, this remix would be on the 'John Carter of Mars' movie soundtrack. I mean, its suitably anthemic and rocky, the lyrics are all about space, and the guy is even named Carter, for heaven's sake. Clearly it's what Edgar Rice Burroughs would have wanted...

Fight For You (Morgan Page ft. Lissie) remix

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An indie-rock remix of Morgan Page and Lissie's 'Fight For You'. This remix was entered into a contest last year, and I actually won a prize for it - a big DJ vinyl bag or something. Unfortunately the combined forces of Royal Mail and Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs contrived to see that I never received it, but it's the thought that counts. Listen to and download the MP3 here.

Front Row (Metric) remix

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

My third Metric remix. This time it's for 'Front Row', another song taken from Metric's excellent 'Fantasies' album. This remix is a shoe-gazy, reverb-soaked, melodic indie guitar song, with glockenspiel, triangle, slide guitar, and various shakers, all sprinkled over layers of echoey guitar fuzz and tight, methodical acoustic drums. Combined with Emily Haines' soft vocal harmonies, it's a perfect song for a summer's evening. Download it here!

Go Go Go (Helena Arlock) remix

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A remix of 'Go Go Go', the latest single by Swedish artist Helena Arlock. It's a spritely little indie-pop number, ideal for the forthcoming spring sunshine. Download it here.

Gold Guns Girls (Metric) remix

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An indie-rock remix of Metric's 'Gold Guns Girls' with a hint of the ol' Wild West. Twangy guitars, violins, and mariachi-style trumpets abound. Nice and fast. You'll like this one, I promise...

Twilight Galaxy (Metric) remix

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Metric's 'Twilight Galaxy', remixed as indie-pop with a touch of Hawaiian surf. Bongos, marimba, tremolo guitars, and a Roy Orbison-esque riff. More cheerful, perhaps even tuneful, than the original...

Fade Like A Shadow (KT Tunstall) remix

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A remix of KT Tunstall's Fade Like A Shadow. Guitars, synths, pounding drums, lyrics about winged hats... what's not to like? Download the MP3 here.

Zero Tolerance (Madeleine Bloom) remix

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A guitar-based-pop remix of Madeleine Bloom's 'Zero Tolerance'. This one has recently been included on an album of remixes for sale on the Fixtremix website. Looking at their list of previous releases, Fixtremix's remit seems very focused on industrial metal and dark, heavy electronica - so naturally I chose to produce a light, summery, sixties-style pop track, and uploaded it along with a picture of a puppy.

Binary (Ash) remix

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I've been a fan of Ash for a long time. I'd probably be happy if they just released ten variations on 'Girl From Mars' every year, but it's understandable that they've recently tried to vary their style a little. 'Binary' is one current track that incorporates a few electronic elements, swapping some of the guitars for synths. Task number one, then: stick those guitars straight back in!

Marcy Playground remix album

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I have a track on the new Marcy Playground remix album, 'Indaba Remixes From Wonderland'. Mine is a remix of 'Thank You', which is a guitar-driven ballad with a big chorus. Available now from all good record shops. Hope you like it!

Webs (Madeleine Bloom) remix

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Here is my remix of a song called 'Webs' by the Berlin-based and uber-talented singer and multi-instrumentalist Madeleine Bloom. Her version is a delicate, silk-woven thing befitting its title, with light and airy vocals overlaying crystal-clear harps and soft chromatic percussion, all accompanying some wonderful Borgesian lyrics about time and infinity. Nothing quite so subtle from me, I'm afraid...

My first official release

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I had my own 'J.R.Hartley' moment recently, when I had to track down and purchase a copy of my own record on ebay. It was a promo CD for the Crystal Method single Come Back Clean, and featured my remix as the B-Side. The single was a digital-only release, but the label sent these CDs out to radio stations to get some airplay. There's a sticker on the back with the promotional spiel on it, and which ends with the words, "The single also features an outstanding remix from James Merrifield taking the original in a more guitar-laden, pop direction." That's me!

Stockholm 1973 (Sourya) remix

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

My remix of Sourya's 'Stockholm 1973'. It's an indie rock number that might very generously be described as akin to Dog Man Star-era Suede. Perhaps not my favourite remix, but if your hard drive still has some free space then you might do worse than add this one to your collection.

Okay. Let's start that again

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Hello, and thanks for dropping by. As you may have noticed, I've been away for a while. In my defence, I do have a pretty good excuse...

Earthquake (Little Boots) remix

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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...

Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare remix

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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...

Pick Up The Phone (Dragonette) remix

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This is my guitar-based, power-pop remix of a song called Paparazzi 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

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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)

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I recorded this cover of '21st Birthday' recently as an entry for a Von Bondies cover song competition. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for listening!

Evident Utensil (Chairlift) remix

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Here's my remix of the Chairlift song Evident Utensil. 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

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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.