Album of the Day: Push Button Objects - 360° Remixes

A set of remixes to '360°' by Push Button Objects. Starts with the original track (featuring Mr. Lif and Del the Funky Homosapien, among others), followed by several remixes by various artists and producers. It's interesting to see how many different ways you can take a set of verses and a beat and make them into something new. The original is relatively subdued, with straightforward lyrical progression, and the Breakers Delight remix is even more so, an instrumental with a heavy bass line and techno-style tempo. I had to actually go back and listen to the original again to see if there was any semblance of it left there. The DJ Spinna remix is a more traditional remix, altering the beat slightly and featuring haunting reverbs in the background of the verses. What I've noticed is that there's a different floating bass line in each remix, with different pitches, speeds, and tempos depending on the rest of the beat. This is prominent in the Prefuse 73 remix, where it is the main focus of the beat. In the Kut Masta Kurt remix, that floating bass line is replaced by strings and horns, which go off as Del and Mr. Lif trade verses. The Herbaliser remix, surprisingly, has a little more of an east coast feel to it, a contrast to their usual funk and soul songs on their own albums. The beat is a relatively simple loop, but is probably the best of the album. The El-P remix, for lack of a better description, sounds exactly like an El-P track: heavy industrial feel, cluttered yet somehow dystopian and almost depressing. The album ends with a “Beatapella,” a term which I've heard multiple times, with multiple meanings and interpretations, here simply meaning “instrumental.” Had the verses not been the same, I wouldn’t have even recognized that these were all remixes of the same song, though I'm not sure whether or not this reflects well on the album, or badly on my own ears.

Notable songs: '360° (Herbaliser Remix)', '360° (El-P Remix)', '360° (Beatapella)'