Unlocked: Dayve Hawk of Memory Tapes shares his five favorite remixes
All week we’ve been featuring South Jersey electronic outfit Memory Tapes on Unlocked as a celebration of their great new full-length record, Grace / Confusion. What we haven’t touched on as much is mastermind Dayve Hawk’s role, not just as a songwriter and composer, but as a remixer. Getting a “Memory Tapes version” of your single has become a coveted thing in the indie music world, and we asked Hawk – ever the busy producer – to break down his five favorite remixes.
Fools Gold “Nadine”
“That’s the first one I did that I really liked. I really enjoyed the guy’s voice, he had a very old-school 60s music sound, which is something I’m very into. It had a pretty melody, and was one of the first songs I remixed where I was a little more respectful of the melody of the song, but then I built track out into an epic thing.”
Crystal Castles “Suffocation”
“That was a good one because it felt verydifferent to me. It was a little darker than a lot of the things I was doing at the time. I would get called in for stuff that was very upbeat, and they wanted some marimbas or whatever. This was more dark, but still tried to be pretty. It’s not like it’s some kind of noise tiing, but it is a little bit darker.”
Gucci Mane “Excuse Me”
“I’ve done a couple hip hop remixes, not a ton, but this one just came together the best for me. I’m sure it’s not perfect as far as locking in, but was still fun to do, it was something different. A lot of indie rock songs lend themselves to leaning in a dance direction, but hiphop songs – unless you’re going to speed up the verses – don’t lend themselves to that. So this was a chance to do something different.”
The Black Keys “Too Afraid To Love You”
found on the Ghosting Notes mixtape (remix begins at 29:50)
“That was another where I liked the vocal melody, and I actually used a lot of their bassline. Which is rare for me to use any of the tracks I get. But I liked the bassline, it sounded good. It reminded me a lot of Black Sabbath-y, stoner rock things which I listened to a lot, but which people don’t associate with me.”
Tame Impala “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”
“I liked that one, again, because a because I liked the vocal melody. I guess I’m a sucker for any song with a good vocal melody. And I like his voice, it’s obviously very John Lennonish, very pretty on that one. And I got a guitar solo in there. I usually don’t play guitar on remixes. It’s not as easy to play as synth, and a lot of times remixes need to get done quickly. That one I had a chance. I like playing guitar, I had a nerd out about playing guitar. I did it on 12 string!”
Grace / Confusion is the featured album in this edition of Unlocked; hear the spotlighted single “Neighborhood Watch” in Monday’s post, read Tuesday’s album review; watch a collection of videos in Wednesday’s post, read my interview with Dayve Hawk from yesterday. And stay tuned to The Key for future album spotlights on Unlocked.