REVIEWS

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Celldweller
Remix EP – Switchback / Own Little World

FIXT Music

Posted: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Even when Celldweller first emerged after the demise of Circle of Dust, front man Klayton has made it a point to utilize modern technology not only to achieve the utmost quality in his music, but also to better connect with his fans. Part of this connection is through remixing, allowing other artists and listeners the opportunity to remix Celldweller's music, and promoting a greater interaction between artist and audience. His latest digital single showcases the first fruits of this interaction, presenting Remorse Code's remix of "Own Little World," as well as Klayton's own revision of "Switchback." Remorse Code's remix is certainly an intriguing track, possessing plenty of familiar elements from the original song, but pushing them towards an even more abstract direction. Full of beautiful vocal manipulations and arrangements that combine frantic yet danceable tribal beats with entrancing synthesizer arrangements and glitches, this remix is a tour de force of rather impressive drum & bass. Similarly, Klayton's revision of "Switchback" brings us the popular tune in a new light, taking the rocking energy to a new level of rave-inducing electricity. It's remixes like these that prove the power of modern electronic music, its capacity to take a single idea to multiple plains of existence. Also included are instrumental versions of the remixes; par for the course for Celldweller's digital singles (with the exception of the Frozen/Goodbye Remixes). Indeed, to this reviewer, they at first seemed superfluous. Now, on this single, their presence seems almost essential to give listeners the full range of what these mixes accomplish in taking what was originally a pair of aggressive industrial rock and transforming them into pulse-pounding dance floor pleasers.