This week’s Selection, the remix EP of Broken Folk’s debut Seeds: Seeds Replanted.

Hey internet people! As some of you may remember, a few weeks back I wrote a post about Broken Folk, a mind-blowing folk/hiphop group from the US. They recently got in touch with us at The Indie Blender to let us know that they had a DJ remix their first EP and they wanted us to check it out. So I did. To say that I’m not a fan of the remix is putting it a little mildly, and I’m going to attempt to delve into exactly what my issues with it are.

First off, as I made very clear in last week’s Selection about Pretty Lights’ new album, I am really not a fan of dubstep. I don’t know exactly what it is about dubstep specifically that I can’t get into, because I am a huge fan of other styles of electronic and dance music, but it always sounds abrasive and unpleasant to me. Therefore you can probably understand why I was disappointed to discover that the first two tracks on Seeds Replanted, “Move (Gavel Remix)” and “Paint it Red (Gavel’s BREAK ALL YOUR FINGERS Remix)”, are heavily dubstep-laden tracks. Even with my great dislike of dubstep, the first two songs aren’t all bad — parts of both songs, particularly the beginning of the “Move” remix, are the original songs with some light electronica background mixed in. These sections are actually really cool, and, in my humble opinion, exactly what a remix should be. Sadly it is not too far into both of these songs that the original drops out and they devolve completely into grinding dubstep sounds.

After the first two songs, Seeds Replanted gets much less dubsteppy, and the rest of the remixed tracks are actually pretty decent. However, these “pretty decent” tracks bring me to my biggest problem with this remix EP (and, honestly, remix albums in general).

Broken Folk is an incredible band. Quite apart from how talented each of the members is at what they do, and quite apart from how sick their music is, the thing that most blew me away the first time I listened to Seeds was how totally and completely fucking original it was. Before I discovered Broken Folk the idea of folk/hiphop hadn’t ever crossed my mind — I had never imagined that such a thing could be. Even if they weren’t nearly as good as they are, Broken Folk’s music would still be fascinating because of how unique it is. Then some DJ comes along and remixes Seeds into Seeds Replanted, and all of a sudden the best thing I can say about this formerly unbelievable EP is that some of the songs are “pretty decent”. See the problem?

Even if you are someone who is really into dubstep (and if you are I highly encourage you to tell me what you think of these remixes, because I really can’t tell the difference between good and bad dubstep), it doesn’t change the fact that Seeds Replanted takes incredibly brilliant, original, and totally unique music, and turns it into songs that are… Well, a lot like songs that tons of other people have made.

Music doesn’t always need to be unique and new, and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with making songs that sound like other people’s songs. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (or something). The thing I take really serious issue with is not making music that isn’t the most original, but taking music that is totally original and wonderful and turning it into something that is just “pretty decent”.

So yeah, I tend not to be very into remix EPs, and I’m really not a fan of this one, but I still suggest checking it out, if only to see exactly what it is that I’m talking about. I’ll even embed it at the bottom of this post (plus it’s free on Broken Folk’s Bandcamp). However, I would like you to promise me something, if you don’t mind the imposition. Before you check out Seeds Replanted, please please please, for the love of all that is sweet and sticky, go and listen to the original Seeds. It’s only $5 on the BF Bandcamp, and I absolutely guarantee you won’t be disappointed. I’ll even embed the whole thing right here, so all you have to do is click that big pretty play button.

After you have your brain totally rocked by this incredible EP feel free to check out the remix, and, if you feel like it, let me know what you think. I’m really curious as to how other people will react to the differences.

Anywho, that’s all for now folks, I’ll see you next weekend!

– Zev