Website: Feist
The Inside Pulse:
There’s a lot of people in Toronto and Canada that love Feist. Co-singer for Broken Social Scene, By Divine Right, and a host of other awesome Canadian entities – including her own blossoming solo career – have endeared her to us pretty permanently. Still, a remix album is pretty risky. The DFA1979 remix album was kind of really terrible, and while there’s only vague connections to them and Feist, they both made the initial mistake of stacking their remix albums with several versions of their biggest song. Unlike DFA, however, Feist put a few new songs on the album and actually stripped down some tunes as well, so it’s a lot more varied and it tries really hard to argue itself into legitimacy.
Positives:
It pretty much succeeds, playing loose and fun with most of the arrangements. This is the kind of pop star Feist is, really, so it’s no surprise that some songs are simple piano ballads while others are huge rock disco hip-hop numbers and it all flows together. The K-os version of “Mushaboom” is pretty awesome, as is the Do Right remix of “Gatekeeper”, as they run the tightwire of being significantly different than their original version without being particularly better or worse. It’s also nice to hear some of the songs from Let it Die get turned into actual rock songs worthy of blasting in a car.
Negatives:
Do we really need four versions of Mushaboom? I know the song is a big hit right now (odd, considering it was released two years ago) but it’s really kind of overkill. Yes, all four versions are significantly different, but their existance themselves is never truly justified, especially the over-hyped Postal Service rendition that is little more than an overlaying synth and an extra verse with Death Cab vocals.
Cross-breed:
Take Vanessa Carlton, Michelle Branch, Diana Krall, all those laid back singer songwriter chicks, and then actually add a sense of cool to them, and you’ve pretty much got it.
Reason To Buy:
You live in Canada and you love everything that the Arts & Crafts label puts out. It’s a nice companion to Let it Die, but it’s not necessary reading, especially seeing as she has new material coming in less than a year.
