Music
DJ Champion
The Remix Album
Saboteur/Outside
Phil Villeneuve (CHARTattack)
03/06/2007 3:23pm

What made
Montreal DJ Champion's Chill 'Em All an accessible electronic album was
the human guitar work (all played by Champion), Betty Bonifassi's
seductive vocals and the fact that all but one of the album's song
lyrics were from "Negro Songs Of Protest." This Juno-nominated remix
album removes a lot of that charming accessibility with a limited
remixer guest list. At moments it succeeds in uniquely transforming the
originals. Most of the aforementioned guitar work is gone and of the
nine songs, "Two Hoboes" and "Tawoumga" get retouched twice. In any
instance that Bonifassi's vocals appear, they're manipulated to the
point where they sound like any lounge groove songstress. Making up for
these downfalls is Patrick Watson's dreamlike remake of "Guy Doune" and
Mocky's slap-bass funk remix of "Two Hoboes." Otherwise, stick to the
original, because if this compilation was released to hold fans over
until the next album, there's not much here to hang on to.
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