IAMX, Dogmatic Infidel Comedown OK

By Hanna

In general, remixes seem redundant to me because they never live up to what they purport to be: a completely new or different piece of music. Mostly I tell people that remixes sound like someone in the band can’t keep the time and is missing the beat over and over and over. But of course, like all generalizations, this is both too simple and too stupid a description of remixes to be completely true.

Remixes of the hilarious parody type can be surprisingly good, if they manage to combine two ideas. And then there are remixes that really do become a whole new piece of music. Dogmatic Infidel Comedown OK features remixes of IAMX’s Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction album and is remarkable in that it manages to do just that.

It is nearly impossible to describe the differences between the remixed and the “original” version of the songs, as both of them seem right and valid on their own. Mostly, the changes are made in such a way that it takes a while to even notice them. There are no jarring shifts in tempo or diction; the music completely suits the songs. All the artists who contributed to this album seem to have focused on specific aspects from IAMX’s style, such as their cabaret feel, complex arrangements, or beat structures.

In “Running,” Cook & Kirby transform just a few things, yet manage to turn the song into a gorgeous, early John Cale orchestral piece, unveiling the beauty and simplicity of the original arrangement. Similarly, the acoustic version of “Tear Garden” is like an entirely new composition, with a direct emotional quality that is disguised behind the original’s vaudevillian feel. With only voice and piano, this version retains the music hall idea yet gains a whole new layer. “Think Of England” turns out to have actually been a slumbering ’60s song with sweeping guitars.

On the other side of the spectrum, “The Great Shipwreck of Life” becomes a great club song when handled by Pull Out Kings; the Omega Man remix of “My Secret Friend” becomes super funky.

My least favorites are the “You Can Be Happy” remix by combichrist, which strips the song of its mystical feel and substitutes something one might find on a late ’90s Bowie album; and Terrence Fixmer’s remix of “The Nature Of Inviting,” which takes the original’s heavy beats and replaces them with crunchy, paranoid noises that create some atmosphere but are mainly just jittery.

Overall, Dogmatic Infidel Comedown OK is a whole new album exactly as Chris Corner intended; it’s more like a parallel vision of the Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction, not just the original with a few changes added. In some ways, it’s even a better album, because it highlights different aspects of the music than the original release.

Shame about the title, though.

Dogmatic Infidel Comedown OK is available May 11 via Metropolis Records. For more, visit the band’s Official Site.