It gives me great pleasure to unveil my latest official remix of Film School’s “Heart Full of Pentagons.” I’m a big fan of the band, and I was flattered when asked to work on this. In case you’re unfamiliar with them, Film School is a five-piece from California, and their latest release, “Fission,” is their fourth studio album. You can order a copy here on iTunes, and you can stream the original version of “Heart Full…” here.
As you know, whenever I remix a song, I like to lose everything from the original version except for the singer’s voice. I always like to start fresh and build a new recording around the voice from scratch… And without fail, my favorite part is always finding that initial point of entry. I strip out each piece of the original song one at a time, until something hooks me in and inspires me.
In the case of “Heart Full…,” what grabbed me instantly was the sense of urgency in the singer’s (Greg Bertens) voice, and his repeating of the lyric, “I won’t fall down…” It gave me this feeling of “me-against-the-world” and of standing up to something, so I ran with that. I juxtaposed walls of harsh noise against softer/sweeter synth and orchestral sounds later in the song to create a sense of tension and resolution through perseverance, as if Greg is fighting through and conquering something each time the song plays. Does that sorta make sense?
I hope you enjoy what I’ve done with it, and by all means please feel free to download, share, and distribute the MP3 freely if you like it! Thanks as always for listening, and stay tuned for more new music from me.
Much love,
A
Also, P.S. my Temper Trap remix got a great shout-out on MTV this week! The band’s drummer aptly referred to me as a “New York dude.”
In one week, The Temper Trap’s highly-anticipated “Conditions Remixed” album is coming out! You can stream the whole thing via their Soundcloud Page. I’m so proud to be involved with this project alongside so many talented folks – Peter Bjorn & John, Hervé, RUSKO, etc…
Which one’s your favorite? You don’t have to say mine, but you SHOULD!
Lots of exciting news over here in AW-land, by the way. Pluggin away on new recordings, two new remixes in the can, and just getting started on a third. Should have some goodies to share with you soon!
Sorry I’ve been quiet for a little while. As always, working hard over here on some new songs, two remixes in the bag and awaiting release, and some other projects on the backburner, too!
Some of you may have already caught wind of this, but I got some pretty major news re: my Temper Trap “Sweet Disposition” remix. The band hand-picked my version (out of the bazillion versions in existence) to be included on their upcoming remix album, slated for a November 1st release!
If you haven’t already copped my remix by now, here’s your big chance: DOWNLOAD
Also included are remixes by Peter Bjorn & John, RUSKO, Fool’s Gold, Hervé, and various others. I’m genuinely psyched to be a part of it!
The tracklist is as follows:
The tracklisting for ‘Conditions: Remixed’ is:
‘Love Lost (Sister Bliss and Rollo Mix)’
‘Rest (Three Trapped Tigers Remix)’
‘Sweet Disposition (Alan Wilkis Mix)’
‘Down River (Fool’s Gold Remix)’
‘Soldier On (RUSKO’s F’kin Seagull Remix)’
‘Fader (Adam Freeland Remix)’
‘Fools (Peter, Bjorn & John Hortlax Cobra Remix)’
‘Resurrection (Penguin Prison Remix)’
‘Science of Fear (The Count (aka Hervé) ‘Medusa’ Remix)’
‘Drum Song (BretonLabs Remix featuring Kate Tempest’
Hope everybody’s well, and stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks!
The band recently put out a new single, “Lies,” as well as a corresponding mixtape to complement the release. The tracklist includes some great stuff by Crookers, Kele, Chemical Brothers, and… MY TEMPER TRAP REMIX! I’m pretty psyched to be included on there.
Tracklisting:
Chemical Brothers – Swoon (Boys Noize remix)
Crookers ft. Soulwax & Mixhell – We Love Animals
Little Boots – Earthquake (Dekker & Johan Remix)
Stromae – Alors On Danse
Jamaica – I Think I Like U 2
Everything Everything – MY KZ, UR BF (Fenech-Soler Remix)
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Garden
Jokers Of The Scene – Revolting Joks
Kele – Everything You Wanted
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition (Alan Wilkis Remix)
DJ B-Roc of the world-famous production duo, The Knocks, is apparently an AW fan! In his latest mix, “The Transplant, Vol. II,” he created a delightful mashup of my Temper Trap remix with Marina and the Diamonds’ “I Am Not a Robot.” If The Knocks doesn’t ring a bell right off the bat for you, I’m sure you’ve heard some of their production work for Rihanna, Flo Rida, Chiddy Bang, Ellie Goulding… the list goes on.
Peep the tracklist for “The Transplant, Vol. II” below, and download the whole thing over at The Culture of Me:
01 Ante Up Crooks (M.O.P x Yelle x Crookers)
02 Champagne Kisses Could Work With Everything (Samuel x Gypsey & The Cat x Two Door Cinema Club x The Twelves x Atlas)
03 E.L.T.O.N (Elton John x Usher)
04 Glad I Got Nothin On You (D. Gookin x B.O.B)
05 Hello, Do You Like Bass? (Louis Logic x Dirty Money x Stardust x Classixx)
06 I Turnt The Night Up (Chelley x Travis Porter x Grum
07 Living In America Is Glamorous (DOM x Fergie)
08 Sweet Robot (Marina & The Diamonds x The Temper Trap x Alan Wilkis)
09 There’s Something About Us Under The Sheets (Ellie Goulding x Daft Punk)
10 When Your Love Is Swagless (Active Child x Soulja Boy)
11 I Heart The Plastic Empire (Gorillaz x Jay-Z x Samuel)
My Phantogram remix made its way onto the “John in the Morning” show last week on world-famous KEXP radio! Pretty honored about it – John is a legend… (but he is NOT John Legend)
And in other news, I went to Brooklyn Bowl last night where I saw 4 bands in a row, each one with friends of mine in them. Must be a world record of some sort. First came Yr Youth, then Mr. Dream, then Murder Mystery, and then Project Jenny, Project Jan to close it out.
And I might add, it was PJPJ’s first show with their new live band. They played through a lot of the new material we’ve been working on together all year, and it was AWESOME! Oh, and David Best of Fujiya & Miyagi came out with them for a nice little encore.
All in all, quite a night. Anyhoo, holla at your boy
In the 2 years since I first wrote “The Hustle” (DOWNLOAD), it has popped up in more completely random fan videos than anything else I’ve ever made. From snowboard and BMX videos, to videogame racing soundtracks, it’s popped up quite a bit… I guess it’s got that certain cimematic je ne sais quoi.
Well, I recently discovered two new ones worth sharing. One is a Rube Goldberg Machine video, designed by a group called Interplay Design:
And the second is a kind of hilarious parody of freerunning made by some high schoolers for their digital media class… Go figure!
And lastly, here’s the video I originally wrote the piece for, those 2 fateful years ago… “It’s Your Ride” for Hutchinson Bikes. The video’s getting close to 200,000 views!
Tuesday night this week marked my IFC TV debut. My song, “Pink and Purple,” found its way into an episode of Dinner With The Band. The episode’s special guest was Brooklyn MC-extraodinaire, Theophilus London. If you’ve never seen the show, it’s actually pretty cool… Each episode, NYC-rockstar-chef Sam Mason hosts an indie band and prepares a meal for them, and the band in turn performs a song or two. Previous guests this season have included Au Revoir Simone, Rufus Wainwright, Andrew WK, The Mountain Goats, and many more… good stuff!
In a fit of excitement I snapped a little photo of my name on screen:
And because I’m feeling generous today, here’s “Pink and Purple” to stream and/or download free! It’ll only allow 100 downloads, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
Check out the Midnight Socialite mix, courtesy of URB Magazine – they put me on there twice! “Pink and Purple” and my Shwayze remix.
It’s guaranteed to get your party started: DOWNLOAD
1. B.o.B feat. Bei Maejor & Bruno Mars- Nothin’ On You (Villains Remix)
2. Marina & The Diamonds- I Am Not A Robot (Penguin Prison Remix)
3. Fever Ray- Triangle Walks (Tiga’s 1-2-3-4 Remix)
4. Róisín Murphy- Dear Miami (Original)
5. Gossip- Yr Mangled Heart (Original)
6. Groove Armada- Drop The Tough (The Twelves Remix)
7. LCD Sound System- Get Innocuous (Soulwax Remix)
8. Crookers- Hold Up Your Hand Ft. Roisin Murphy (Original)
9. Uffie- MCs Can Kiss (Original)
10. Justice- DVNO (Original)
11. Gorillaz- Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)
12. Little Jinder- Youth Blood (Silk Wolf Special Sauce Edit)
13. Kenna- Say Goodbye To Love (Remix ft. Lupe Fiasco)
14. Death From Above 1979- Black History Month (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix)
15. Shwayze- Get U Home (Alan Wilkis Remix)
16. Passion Pit- The Reeling (Yasutaka Nakata Capsule Remix)
17. Bloc Party- One More Chance (Alex Metric Remix)
18. Lykke Li – Little Bit (Villains Remix)
19. Datarock- The Pretender (Holy Ghost Remix Radio Edit)
20. Relation- Your Tiny Mind (Lifelike Remix)
21. Alan Wilkis- Pink and Purple (Original)
22. Mystery Jets- The Boy Who Ran Away (Riton Re-rub)
23. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- Over And Over Again (Original)
24. Metric- Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Remix)
And speaking of my Shwayze remix, here’s a little fan video I came across on Youtube – this dude’s got some serious pop-and-lock chops!
Welcome to Wilcassettes, the home of everything Alan Wilkis. Alan is a Brooklyn-based music producer and remixer. His latest project is called "PRINTS" and can be found here: http://www.prints.fm
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