Every so often, it’s worth checking in with Alan Wilkis, an artist/producer who’s been featured several times on this blog . You can read a little more about his music in my previous posts here and here and here.

Beavering away in his Brooklyn laboratory, Alan seems particularly busy at the moment producing remixes for all sorts of people. I particularly liked his latest project, a remix of Phantogram‘s “Mouthful of Diamonds“:

Once again Alan takes some unlikely raw material (in this case, the trip-hoppy, slightly industrial-sounding Phantogram original) and given it the “Wilkis Polish”: he turns it into a little drop of Orangina-flavoured dance pop that says “There’s a party in my iPod and everyone’s invited!“

O’Spada – haunting Södermalm circa 1983 (Images:Pär Olofsson)

O’Spada – Time (unreleased single – Despotz Records)

It’s not yet clear whether reliving every single moment of 1980s pop culture is a good or necessary thing. It is clear, however that the resurrection of the 80s has been underway for at least the past half decade, and there’s not a dang thing we can do about it.

Riding this wave is a band from Stockholm called O’Spada, who design an interesting range of flatpack electro-funk furnishings. Whether they’re inspired primarily by Prince, the Jackson 5 or Justice is a matter for their record label presskit, but by the sound of their upcoming single, Time, they’re a band to watch if you like  spiky, funky synth-pop.

A Nord, played by a Nord

In keeping with their nordic DIY aesthetic, they’ve asked their audience to reconstruct their single to match their own décor. To this end, they have made available to the general public all the raw material from the single, and are asking us amateurs to remix the song, without the help of an allen key or pictorial instructions. The best remixes will be released on a limited-edition pressing of the Time single.

Not one to refuse to make a fool of myself, I had a go, and after several hours of sweating and swearing at Fruity Loops, I put together something resembling a song. It’s not particularly good, the house/broken groove is neither elaborate nor danceable. But it’s the first time I’ve remixed anything or made my own beats. Please be forgiving:

O’Spada – Time (etnobofin’s Clueless Thursday Remix)