FEATURED FEATURE
(Guest Spots That Steal The Spotlight).
Jim Swill on Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe (Jim Swill + Mavis Concave Remix)"
A few weeks ago, the internet exploded in excitement (or horror) at the fact that someone had compiled a mixtape comprising 43 (43!) remixes or covers of Carly Rae Jepsen's infectious supersmash "Call Me Maybe."1 Your reaction to the existence of such a collection undoubtedly hinged on whether you read "infectious" in the previous sentence as in "infectious laughter" or "infectious disease." Between the fact that a sizable portion of the population detests "Call Me Maybe" and the fact that the mixtape's sheer size is likely to elicit sublime horror in even the most staunch Jepsenian, I doubt many people actually listened to the whole thing.
So, as a public service, I listened to it in its entirety. And I found that there are exactly 2 songs worthy of your time.2
The first is by the mixtape's biggest name, Dan Deacon. His "Call Me Maybe Acapella 147 Times Exponentially Layered" does just what it says on the label. He layers the song over and over again, like a group of first graders singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in a round. Eventually "Call Me Maybe" disappears, and a huge, lumbering Decepticon of a track emerges. It's a very interesting take on a song whose charm lies soley in it's synthetic, wax-fruit-like beauty.
But, the only song that actually succeeds as a true remix is the one contributed by producer Mavis Concave and rapper Jim Swill. The reason for this is that it avoids the decision that trips up most of the artists on the mixtape: using the song's signature synth string part in a dance track. As great as that part of the track is, the strings there are slyly tentative and therefore don't adapt well to an upbeat track.
Instead, Concave and Swill treat the original track more like a sample than a work they have to adapt. They jettison most of its elements save for Jepsen's vocals, which they add a processed finish to before placing it inside a full-blown trap rave track. The ominous bassline snakes through the track as Lex Luger-ticking cymbals turn over clattering synth handclaps and cacophonous ringtones and screams fly by. The track successfully mutates the speaker of the original track into a creepy stalker.
This is cemented by Jim Swill's excellent rap in the second half of the song. Just as the song positions Jepsen as a stalker, Swill casts himself as the object of her obsessions. Cleverly, he does this with phone-based imagery, just like the original track does. The girl is "seven days a week, blowin' up [his] phone" and "checkin' all [his] messages when [he] be asleep." It maintains the atmosphere Concave's production created, and logically expands on the technique of using telephones as the focal point of a discussion about a relationship. It's a really great verse, and particularly in how it works within the track as a whole.
And, the line "coked-out Macaulay Culkin / bath salt, hydro-smokin'" is probably my favorite non sequitur rap line of the year.
Download "Call Me Maybe (Jim Swill + Mavis Concave Remix)" here.
-TWG
1. Technically, there are only 42 remixes or covers of the song on the mixtape. The 43rd track is a straight cover of the Verve Pipe's "The Freshman" by Body Jazz. I understand its inclusion no more than you do.
2. BIH loves DJ Colostomy Bagpipes's "Call Me MIDI" as well. I think it's worthy of a footnote mention at best. BIH is a sucker for MIDI.*
*SUPERSECRET BIH FOOTNOTE FOOTNOTE: It's true. I love MIDI.