Lightning Remixes

It's hard to believe that after after seven years of making records, Lightning Remixes is the first Matt and Kim remix collection. Their high-energy, highly melodic, and hyperactive pop-punk with electronics seems perfectly suited to be turned into club bangers, and many of the people remixing tracks from their 2012 album Lightning did just that. For example, Stefan Dabruck mixes "Let's Go" into a happy hardcore explosion of sound and glitter, Salva turns "It's Alright" into a drum-heavy dubstep blowout, and DJ Venom goes nuts on his own slamming take on "It's Alright." Some others latched on to the more melancholy side of the band and turned the songs into echoing, dubbed versions that feel like tiny epics of frustrated emotion, like on Lazerbeak and Cecil Otter's remix of "Now"; Yung Skeeter's shiny, pretty take of "It's Alright," which sounds like the sugar-rush opposite of Salva's version; and Federation Sound's truly dubby mix of "Tonight." The best mixes are turned in by 8-bit maniacs Anamanaguchi, who turn "Overexposed" into a rampaging blast of video game metal, and Bonde do Rolê, who somehow manage to make "It's Alright" sound loose-limbed and tropical. The worst mix is by the Jingle Punks Hipster Orchestra, because of their name and because they turn "Not That Bad" into an overly dramatic, violin-laden ballad that sounds school-play cheesy. Other than that one track that demands skipping, it's a fine collection of remixes and revamps that any Matt and Kim fan will be glad to spin a few times while waiting for the next real album to be released.