And now for something completely different.

One of the main differences between the two "waves" of remixes I completed for half-pint demigod had to do with the underlying approaches I took in determining exactly what a "remix" was. The first batch I produced was very overtly electronic: plenty of flipped-out sound design and editing, lots of looped, dancable beats, and tons of immaculate performances by hugely talented musicians, pristinely recorded, which had been completely mutated and digitized. The methodology may have been exotic, but in a strictly sonic sense, all of these are the sorts of things you'd expect to hear from a "remix."

The second wave of remixes, in many ways, was different. Having already completed several tracks of "remixy"-sounding tracks, I wanted to try reworking the source material in ways that preserved the integrity and identity of the original instrumental performances, while simultaneously using those performances for productions that sounded less like "remixes" and more like live band performances of new pieces of music. Not all of the second-wave remixes had this concept in common, but it was a principle source of interest for me when I dug in for round two.

"No More Evil (Cold Morning Mix)" isn't completely unrecognizable from the original version on "Any Raw Flesh?", but it definitely shines new light on a lot of elements from that song which were pushed into the background. The chorus of "No More Evil" on the original CD is extremely dense, with triple-tracked bass guitar, a synthesizer pad, a second synthesizer part playing a sequenced, 16-note bass line, a third synth part playing chimey bells, distorted rhythm guitars, multiple tracks of vocals, and one of the busiest drum parts you'll ever hear in the world. It's very much to the credit of the original album version that the chorus sounds stunning - when I first heard "Any Raw Flesh?", it was one of the sections that really leapt out at me with a serious "Wow!" factor - but it's definitely a case where the different component parts are merged together into one huge whole, rather than sitting as clearly distinct individual elements in the mix.

The chord progression for the chorus, which all of the different instruments in the arrangement are outlining, is very angular and unusual. As a result, many of the parts within that section have a very different quality when heard outside of the chorus itself. That, in a nutshell, is the modus operandi of "Cold Morning": taking different elements from the chorus of "No More Evil," and putting them under the microscope - both in isolation, and in different combinations with other parts from that section.

A lot of the inspiration for this track came from the very first sound you hear in the remix: Bryan Beller's HUGE bass guitar, which was one of the first things I heard when first sorting through the files Shawn had sent me. The chorus arrangement on the original album, as immense and effective as it is, doesn't really do justice to any individual part, so it was pretty striking to hear this lowest bass line in isolation, which was powerful and ominous enough to call to mind the monolith from "2001" in my mind's ear. It begged for a musical context where it could be heard more clearly - as did so many other parts of the chorus.

Different elements from that section show up throughout the course of this remix, and they all have a different quality to them - the higher-register bass harmonics have a really angular, intellectual, post-rock sound to them, whereas the synth-string patch has a sense of prog-rock majesty and grandeur, the guitar chords are heavy and metallic, and the 16-note synth bass line is exotic and eerie. A lot of musical development in this remix came from simply emphasizing different elements from within the original chorus arrangement, and letting their distinct characteristics color various sections of the track.

What really puts this remix into a special territory, though, is the drum part. There are no drums from the original version of "No More Evil" in "Cold Morning;" instead, what you hear is the entire drum performance from "Truth," from start to finish, digitally sped up a few dozen beats per minute, with all of the different parts and embellishments that Chris G came up with kept intact. It's an extremely complex and varied drum performance, with different types of beats throughout the tune, and sections where the tempo cuts into half-time, and it ended up being the key to making "Cold Morning" work for me. By using the tension and release in Chris' original drum performance for a completely different tune as a basic foundation, I found a natural musical ebb-and-flow within his part, which I used for mapping different elements from the "No More Evil" chorus together in different combinations.

It's so common to hear tracks where the drums are looped, and the other musical instruments are played live on top, but for "Cold Morning" the formula is reversed: the drum part is a live performance, while all of the other parts on top of that track are loops of different elements of the "No More Evil" chorus. (The angular guitar melody which crops up at the end of certain sections was pieced together from the "No More Evil" guitar solo, and is the only non-drum element on this remix not to come from part of the chorus to that song.) It's pretty uncanny to hear how well a lot of the accents and points of emphasis Chris came up with for "Truth" work in the context of different parts from "No More Evil," which were themselves never designed to be heard in isolation.

I like this remix quite a bit. Partially because it makes such integral, identifiable use of Shawn's original music (and the original performance arrangement ideas of Shawn, Bryan, and Chris) while putting a fresh spin on those elements. Partially because, in its blend of epic grandeur and clinical starkness, it reminds me of a cross between Rush and Tortoise, two archetypes of rock experimentation and exploration for two very different generations. And partially because it's a remix of a tune, which (as is the tradition in much of the remix-world) sheds new light on elements of its original song, while barely sounding like a "remix" at all.

As for the title... the track evokes a very particular vibe for me. Coincidentally enough, Darin DiPietro summed it up very nicely in his blog post from 9/24/05:

"the part of this time of the year i like is when you wake up in the morning and the skies are pure blue, you can see the white glare of the sun on the horizon. you grab a fresh cup of the bean and head outside, and it’s freezing. i mean bone-chilling cold. to me, that’s awesome."

Andre LaFosse
5 December 2005