Matmos’s remix of “Tech Romance” on The Young Machines Remixed, a second look at Marc Bianchi’s 2003 The Young Machines, takes the original’s lush electronic dynamics and wraps them in folk sensibility via serene acoustic guitar. The guitar mocks the original’s looped strings and swelling chimes and stuttering, spacey clinks take the place of beats and vocals. Liberties such as these are taken almost everywhere on Remixed, where a star-studded cast of artists re-interprets the already resonant songwriting of Bianchi, the man behind Her Space Holiday.
Blockhead’s presence is massively strewn along swirling flutes, brass, a menacing guitar loop and his signature down-tempo rhythm for “Meet the Pressure.” He drops Bianchi’s vocals to offer a stoned instrumental track that’s as rewarding as his recent Ninja Tune solo record, Music by Cavelight. Stereolab, Boom Bip and Nobody take advantage of their respective slots with memorable abuse of atmospherics and an array of tempo changes, proving The Young Machines was worth the second look.
