Customer Reviews

Versus

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I see I'm not the first person who was a little shall-we-say skeptical of the concept. I mean, really. Electronica remixes of acoustic folk lullabyes? Does it get any more gimmicky?

Yea, all signs pointed to "save your money" on this one. But deep down I wanted to believe. I knew that a concept like this really could make for wonderful music, if only it was done right. With taste, with imagination, with respect for the source material -- I mean, it could be really good! Couldn't it?

So, with a little trepidation, I purchased Versus. I bought it used, so as to limit my losses. And what do you know.

It's better than I'd even hoped. My wife loves it too -- we even found that the baby will stop crying when we put it on. She just stares at the speakers with an expression halfway between awestruck and dumbstruck.

We love it so much that we were hesitant to buy the original versions ("Quiet is the New Loud") until just recently. I figured they would seem empty to us. Wrong again. Blown away again. But that's a subject for a different review.

I can go back and forth between this and QitNL without any of that jarring feeling -- you know, like when you hear an old song that your favorite band covered once, and you're so used to the cover that something always seems to be missing, and you can't stop noticing its absence? Well, none of that. It's like each of the artists brings such a new vision to their track that they created a whole new song altogether. Almost all of them, anyway.

Maybe if I'd bought QitNL first it would be different. I don't know. I say, get this one first. It's a little more "hooky".

There is a bit of repetition. Personally, I would have chosen just one of the "Failure" mixes; they're just too similar. Not so with the two versions of "Leaning Against The Wall." They're very different and both fantastic and both fit in well. And Four Tet coming back again at the end? Love it. Can't get enough of that one.

Usually I try to explain "if blah blah, then you'll like this, and if blah blah blah, then you may not." But I don't really know what kind of music fan wouldn't like this disc. I don't know, your mother, maybe. If you see a one-star review ever show up here one day, your mother is suspect.

I heard a sound bite of "Gold for the Price of Silver" on NPR a couple weeks ago. Then I read that this album had "Beautiful songs for the post-club, chill-out crowd". So I bought it. Now I think the eject button on my car's CD player is worthless.

In a day where there are so many good remixes of horrible songs, and horrible remixes of great songs, this album finally brings us a real treat. This is masterful; a piece that should be viewed as a model for what remixes of folk should look like. The artists on this disc recognized the essence and soul of the music it is derived from and the experience this creates is an even more passionate rendition of the same emotions of the first album. Taking the brilliant originals, recognizing the reason they exist as their own exceptional works, and reworking them to make those points even more prominent.

Gold for the Price of Silver, Toxic Girl, and Weight of My Words are highlights for me. I hope this album is viewed as a model, and purchased in the same volume as the first album is. If you like Quiet is the New Loud, you must listen to this. If you like folk and electronic music this is a must own.

Their first album, "Quiet is the New Loud," is a Nick Drake meets Simon & Garfunkel acoustic masterpiece. Now, with this remix album, they venture into electronic territory. The subtle touches added to these songs by artists like Alfie, Ladytron, and Four Tet are just enough to enhance, without overpowering. Wonderfully mellow and relaxed.

Upon my 3rd listen to this disc, I came to the conclusion that the Kings of Convenience in this electronic setting sound like the second coming of a post-modern Prefab Sprout. The Simon & Garfunkel and Nick Drake comparisons are right on the money too. This collection sets a very high & glossy standard for remix discs as it's one of the more consistent ones I've ever heard. The Four Tet remixes of 'Weight of my Words' get all the press in reviews, and while it's genuinely great, it's far from being the best remix on here. The Royksopp remix of 'I Don't Know What I Can Save You From' is fantastic and perfectly sets the mood as the opening track. The collaboration with Erot on 'Gold For The Price of Silver' is strictly martini disco with a great funk inflected guitar line loping throughout. My favorite track would have to be possibly the most goofy one, the remake by Evil Tordivel (who the heck is this person?) of 'Leaning Against The Wall', is just a purely fun Burt Bacharach meets Badly Drawn Boy produced by Stereolab romper room electronic jam. A fun, swanky and altogether enjoyable experience.

This is a exemplary slice of `Folktronica' (Folk inspired Electronica), and with this release they take existing artists (Ladytron, Four Tet, Andy Votel, Röyksopp), and rework them to work within a `Folktronica' rearrangement (mostly downtempo melodic harmonies), and if all of this sounds a bit `Pleasant'.....you'd be right, but that shouldn't distract from what is some of the most blissfully hushed electronic music. `"Andy Votel's - Winning a Battle, Losing a War" steals the show with it's tremulous choruses, and gentle Synth-Pop strumming, containing as much melancholic ideas, as conventional singer/songwriter acoustic artists.....and although there is nothing song wise (apart from `Ladytron's' remixed "Little Kids") that raises above quietly melodious grooves, this album has a real substance.....it could even be argued that "Quiet!!...is the new Loud!!".

Quiet is the New Loud was quite enjoyable--but sometimes lacked variety. The re-mixes and re-makes of the songs have amended this, and I have to admit that I like Versus better than the original.

You wouldn't necessarily expect a CD of remixes of acoustic pop in the kindercore vein to work, but by and large, the mixes here come out as fun and successful reworkings of the songs by Boe and Oye.

For the most part, "Versus" is an album of remixes from "Quiet Is the New Loud". But it's actually more than that: it's a step above its parent album. The remixed versions keep you into the album, something that the original tracks were unable to do for the most part. While I still prefer the band's (much folkier-sounding) "Riot on an Empty Street", "Versus" is a pretty good album by the Norwegian duo.

Think Everything But The Girl, but seriously without the girl. Think, an equated mix of acoustic based tracks with subtle electronica. Think Kings of Convenience- Versus. This album features some fresh remixes by the likes of Andy Votel, The Four Tet, Bamboo Soul and Royskopp the latter remixing the opening track "I don't know what I can save you from" reminiscent of Alison Moyet's "Only You". The songs are taken from the duo's album Quiet is the New Loud, however it seems that this album is getting more audience approval as a result of it's listening able factor. It is a perfect hybrid of relaxing yet upbeat tunes and melodies that will have you singing along and tapping your feet with this Norwegian duo, who are everything but Tracy Thorn.