Telefon Tel Aviv – Remixes Compiled

Joshua Eustis and Charlie Cooper, the duo that make up Telefon Tel Aviv, are releasing an album of remixes culled from the last seven years – the band’s entire lifespan to date.

When the levee broke and their hometown of New Orleans was virtually washed away by Hurricane Katrina, Telefon Tel Aviv was forced to take inventory of their lives and careers. By compiling their remix output onto one disc, they offer a 50-minute, re-education of Telefon Tel Aviv and simultaneously highlight the sweeping beauty and schizophrenic nature of their music. The end result is a collection of tracks that are disparate as Trent Reznor and Phil Ranelin, but thick as alligator jambalaya in the swamps of Louisiana.

The new album – Remixes Compiled – follows Eustis and Cooper chronologically through their labyrinth of production work; beginning with the previously unreleased Nine Inch Nails remix from February of 2000. Having been the only song from their early output recorded at Reznor’s Nothing Studios (and consequently the only one
not recorded in Eustis’s parents’ house), it was actually the first song they did under the name Telefon Tel Aviv. These early songs have a science-fiction sound, filled to the brim with digital trickery and sound design. The later pieces are more patient and spread themselves out over profound soundscapes, preserving sometimes only the chord progressions from the original tracks.

Eustis and Cooper have no formula for remixing and approach each track independently. The John Hughes remix is loud and blown out, constructed with sixty tracks of guitars. The Oliver Nelson is built on a string arrangement, while the Bebel Giberto slowly allows itself to go out of tune. Each song arranged chronologically according to its date of recording, helping the listener map the sequential cross section. Every track brings someone and something new to the dinner table – with fans of Apparat rubbing elbows with followers of Bebel Giberto. Nine Inch Nails fans can get a spoonful of Slicker, and jazz enthusiasts hear trombonist Phil Ranelin in a new light.