Alan Wilkis. Music Producer.
Hello friends!
Apologies for the recent radio silence… Been psychotically busy finishing up my new record! I won’t have anything to share with you quite yet, but I’m proud as hell of these new jamzzz.
Also been remixing up a storm, writing music for some films, and producing! The Project Jenny, Project Jenny album I co-produced is dropping momentarily - here’s the first single, “Nadine.” And another record I co-produced for The KickDrums should be out in late Spring/Summer via Last Gang Records (home to Chromeo, Tiga, Mother Mother, and many others).
Moving right along, I’m psyched to share my latest remix for the wonderful UK-based Fenech-Soler. I’ve been a fan of these guys for quite some time, ever since I heard them featured on Groove Armada’s “Paper Romance”. So you can probably imagine how thrilled I was to find one of my remixes on Fenech-Soler’s mixtape a while back!
A few months later, their label (B-Unique/Warner Music) came knocking on my door to remix their newest single, “Demons.” They then liked my remix so much that they pressed it on vinyl, along with another remix from Jokers of the Scene, which you can and should buy HERE. Also, Mark Ronson premiered it on his East Village Radio show! Not too shabby…
In a nutshell, here’s why I like Fenech-Soler: their production is subtle but extremely detailed, great arrangements and sound choices, amazing songwriters, and their singer’s (Ben Duffy) voice is ultra-powerful. As a remixer, it’s always a challenge to take a song that you already admire and respect, and turn it upside down, but I suppose that’s never stopped me in the past…
The only piece that I kept from the original recording was Ben’s vocal. I wrote and played all new synth, guitar, drum and bass parts. The original song is really uptempo and intense… so I cut the tempo in half and went after a much more laid back 90s R&B feel. Was channeling my inner-Timbaland, and was also pretty inspired by some of Raphael Saadiq’s guitar arrangements from “100-Yard-Dash” (he pretty much always inspires me). Also, check out my tom tom drum fills - they make me think of Phil Collins every time…
Ok enough talky talky, stream it here:
And I STRONGLY urge you to listen to the original afterwards, to see how far away I took it:
Hope you guys like this one… it’s one of my favorites that I’ve made, honestly.
Love,
A
