whyiremixwomen index

/pere-ubu-why-i-remix-wome ART
Why I Remix Women
  • Blue V Woman
  • My Eyes My Lovely
  • Big Fuzz (Bass & Drums)
  • I See You
  • Dust And Dogs
  • Texan Farewell
  • Blue Gagarin
  • Light It Up




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pere-ubu-why-i-remix-women

Pere Ubu
Why I Remix Women

Released October 3 2006.
Produced by David Thomas.

Smog Veil SV69CD (US) Oct 3 2006 cd.


Release Notes

Why I Hate Women by Pere Ubu. It is not a collection of simple remixes but a radical reinterpretation of some of the songs. Originally released for mail order and concert merchandise sales only on Oct 5 2006, it is now being distributed through commercial channels by Smog Veil in the USA. The remixers are Keith Moliné, Michele Temple and Gagarin (Pere Ubu's soundman). Also included is an alternative album mix by David Thomas.

Keith describes his remixes:

Moon, I'm Comin' Home is a re-configuration of elements from 2 Girls, Caroleen, My Boyfriend's Back and Synth Farm. The result is 12-tone Systems Prog, a curiously under-explored genre. Created through the magic of hard-disk editing on an ailing Mac.
Dust and Dogs is a demo sketch for an abandoned song with a rearranged vocal from Synth Farm added.
Texan Farewell features painstakingly hand-glitched vocal soundfiles and massive overuse of a mystery plug-in applied to sections of Texas Overture.
Light It Up is the bass from Mona, synth from Love Song, drums and guitar from Texas Overture, voice from Caroleen. The mystery plug-in used liberally throughout. Lots of chopping, folding and editing. A tribute to Thriller! from Dub Housing.

Gagarin describes his remixes:

Blue Gagarin. Blue Velvet has a stillness that I wanted to accentuate alongside the narrative of the song creating an audio stew out of which the meat of the song was still the dominant flavour. The overall effect is somewhere between post-rock and sub-ambient.
My Eyes My Lovely. With Love Song I used fewer elements as the substance for the mix and took them further out, trying to set the tenderness of the vocal in a fairly disturbed ultra-modern sound world with more reference to my own avant-grime sound.

Michele describes her remix:

I See You is the story of a romantic encounter at an interstellar Wild West bar in a black hole near Venus. Potential sunny times take an unfortunate turn.
Blue V Woman was first recorded by Pa Ubu's quintet in the mid 50's, "Blue's Velvet" is a tale of despair and long goodbyes. Both fingersnappin' and disturbing.

David describes his remix:`

Big Fuzz. I did this to horrify Keith. Not much of a motivation I guess but the hours are long in the studio. To his credit he took it well though I'm not sure he was thoroughly convinced I wouldn't opt for this version until I shipped the master off.

Produced by David Thomas.
Mastered by Paul Hamann at Suma, Painesville OH.
Package design by John Thompson and Mimi Thompson.

Moon, I'm Coming Home - Remix by Keith Moliné
Blue V Woman - Remix by Michele Temple
My Eyes My Lovely - Remix by Gagarin
Big Fuzz (Bass & Drums) - Alt. mix by David Thomas
I See You - Remix by Michele Temple
Dust And Dogs - Remix by Keith Moliné
Texan Farewell - Remix by Keith Moliné
Blue Gagarin - Remix by Gagarin
Light It Up - Remix by Keith Moliné

All songs written by Pere Ubu and ©2006 Ubu Projex.

Pere Ubu (v.11.0)
David Thomas
vocals
Keith Moliné
guitar, backing vocals, bass
Robert Wheeler
EML synthesizer, theremin
Michele Temple
bass, lead vocal
Steve Mehlman
drums, clave, wood block

Release History

  • Smog Veil SV69CD (US) Oct 3 2006 cd.
  • Glitterhouse GRCD655 (EU/UK) Oct 5 2006 cd.




Press Reaction

Mike Barnes, The Wire, Feb 2008.
Described as a "supplemental release" on the group's Website and originally only available at concerts, Why I Remix Women is a substantial overhaul of music from Ubu’s 2006 set, Why I Hate Women, their most potent collection of songs since 1995’s Raygun Suitcase. By no means a straight remix album, it is mainly reconfigured by Ubu members. Here sections from different songs are welded together, so that the high velocity drum and guitar syncopations of “Two Girls (One Bar)” form the basis of both “Moon I’m Coming Home” and “I See You”. “My Eyes My Lovely” finds David Thomas’s tender but somewhat alarming description of the state he’s in on “Love Song” (“My eyes are growing tentacles for to grab you”) pitched against a chorale, a fragmented rhythm track and gestural synth scribbles... After listening to Thomas’s vocal performances here – which are given more space to breathe – the original album sounds surprisingly dense and chaotic in comparison. Although the originals have more weight and power behind them, these remixes – far from being the waste of time this reviewer suspected – show the music on Why I Hate Women to be surprisingly mutable. They definitely merit investigation.