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Hear Grenier’s Blissful Remix of Blackbird Blackbird’s ‘It’s a War’

Blackbird Blackbird / Photo by Micah Weiss

Never mind what Muse or Taylor Swift may do; you can bet that Morrissey will never, ever go dubstep. Given that, it’s only fitting that San Francisco’s Blackbird Blackbird (Mikey Maramag) and Grenier (Dean J. Grenier, a.k.a. DJG) went ahead and did it for him.

On his new single, “It’s a War,” Blackbird Blackbird does a rather uncanny job of channeling Moz’s full-throated croon over ringing guitars and a snare-heavy, ’60s-inspired beat (think JAMC-via-Washed Out, or Britpop via Beach House); leave it to RBMA alum Grenier to reconfigure the song with stern, snapping, half-tempo beats and ominous sawtooth synths, sounding a little like Skream chainsawing his way through The Queen Is Dead.

Grenier takes a very different tack on his “4am Mix,” easing into a lanky 4/4 groove and piling high the synths and layered vocal loops, drawing equal inspiration from John Talabot’s buoyant harmonies and Kompakt’s cottony rave.

Listen to Grenier’s mix below, and hear previews of all the tracks on Blackbird Blackbird’s SoundCloud page. The remix EP is out on Lavish Habits on December 4; you can get the original version of “It’s a War” on Blackbird Blackbird’s Borclay Planet EP, out now.