Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz are a prolific indie folks/Americana duo who’ve produced a number of the most attention-grabbing and delightful work the style has seen within the final 4 years. With the harmoizing aptitude of Fleet Foxes and the like however the post-punk grit of Tom Waits, these two artists are well-known by these of us at YEDM who observe such circles, however we by no means thought they’d find yourself featured on YEDM. We must always by no means underestimate the innovation of a superb artist, and the newly remixed variations of their haunting 2020 album American Bardo present Anders and O’Bitz as the newest artists to show that time.
Now that we hear them, the remixes of American Bardo, retitled for the event as Bardo Hauntings and break up into two elements, sound like they had been made to be digital all alongside. A lot so, in truth, that the unique songs virtually sound a bit minimal now. Very often with folks and Americana work that’s been re-written or remixed into electronica or pop, there’s a second of, “hmm, that’s bizarre,” in a single’s head, adopted by both a yay or nay vote. Ths may be very a lot not the case with Bardo Hauntings, and the explanation for these remixes gelling so nicely is unquestionably the remixers, Mike Butler and Steven Jess Borth II (CHLLNGR).
Bardo Hauntings I, the Butler Hauntings, comprises remixes from half of American Bardo completed by engineer and producer Mike Butler. Other than his engineering creds with Phoebe Bridgers, Norah Jones, The Shins and The Predenders (amongst numerous others), Butler has been working with Anders and O’Bitz for a very long time. Intimate information of an artist’s physique of labor clearly helps with a challenge like this, and Butler in all probability has probably the most intimate information of those artist apart from the artists themselves. He produced and blended American Bardo itself, together with each Anders/O’Bitz launch since, save for 2021’s True September Songs, together with the Bardo Hauntings EPs.
For these EDM followers who’re additionally conscious of the jazz, folks and ska worlds, Steve Borth might already be a well-recognized identify. A part of a musical dynasty started by his father Steven Jess Borth I, Borth II had an early aptitude for music and was already acknowledged as a saxopohone prodigy by age 10. Borth has been everywhere in the world utsilizing his multi-instrumental abilities in ensembles and ska bands, however EDMers might know him higher by his ska/reggae/soul/electronica crossover challenge, CHLLNGR. Fusing all these genres with breaks, future bass, dubstep, home and techno, Borth’s CHLLNGR challenge garnered him fairly a little bit of consideration from the EDM world in within the early 2010s. His aptitude for such fusion additionally made him an ideal alternative for Bardo Hauntings.
The 12 remixes on American Bardo are break up evenly between Butler and Borth to make the 2 Bardo Hauntings, but it surely appears the 2 artists picked which of them they wished, because the monitor order doesn’t observe the unique LP. On this manner, every producer was in a position to inform his personal story with the tracks they selected. It appears Anders and O’Bitz gave them carte blanche.
The title, ‘Bardo Hauntings,’ relies on the concept that remixes hang-out the unique songs. On this case, the unique songs are these of American Bardo, so these remixes are “bardo hauntings.” As with ghosts, the unique is current and absent on the identical time
Butler flexed some composition muscle groups few aside from his laundry listing of well-known purchasers have heard earlier than. Starting from the startling but emotive industrial/ambient mix of the “Gained’t Dwell It Down” remix to the heady, theatrical and largely analog remix of “Matterbloomlight” (that is now a 3rd model of this achingly stunning tune, by the way in which) to the minimal hour mixture of “Holding Will,” Butler incorporates a variety of kinds and genres with out overdoing it. That is key with such a fragile sound pallette as is in Anders and O’Bitz’s authentic discography.
Borth’s remixes are each extra grassroots and extra ravey than Butler’s method. In many of the tracks he remixes, Borth retains virtually all the authentic stems, together with the instrumentals and basic pop/rock construction, as an increasing number of electronica creeps in progressively to the tunes as each they and the EP roll on. The primary monitor “Haunting Abraham,” for instance, begins off virtually fully acoustic after which grows in manufacturing complexity advert Borth provides in a home beat subtly masked as analog. By the tip, the monitor has a full praise of strings and might no be simply recognizable as a pop or folks EDM monitor. Discuss delicate therapy; it’s virtually like we’re duped into rave tracks on Borth’s EP, and every monitor is a shock as to the way it will unveil itself.
Butler and Borth had very completely different approaches to this remixing challenge, however they each introduced out one of the best of Anders and O’Bitz’s work, and hopefully uncovered it to an entire new vary of followers. The concept that these are digital “hauntings” of American Bardo is a superb one, because it ties within the Bardo Hauntings not solely to the unique album however to the 2017 Pulitzer-winning book by George Saunders, Lincoln Within the Bardo upon which American Bardo was based mostly. It’s an illustration of how nice artwork begets nice artwork begets nice artwork and it may well unfold throughout media, generations and genres. Now the one factor left to do is go full on Bardo inception and have Butler and Borth remix one another’s remixes. Within the meantime, a ravishing physique of labor is now right here for folks, literature and EDM followers alike to benefit from the “hauntings.”
Bardo Hauntings I and II are each out now and will be streamed on Spotify or bought on Bandcamp. Verify the hyperlinks on this article to study extra about Mike Butler and Stebe Borth II (CHLLNGR).
