Is there any sound so tough that a U.K. garage refix can’t turn into something pliable and seductive? Apparently, not, at least judging from the Los Angeles producer Kastle’s remix of “Hanging on Me,” a new song from the French quartet Dirtyphonics. Their recent singles have typically trod the line between headbanging and Ed Banging: “No Stopping Us,” featuring Foreign Beggars, was hip-house via Alice in Chains, while “Walk in the Fire” was forged of blast beats and chugging metal guitars. “Hanging on Me” is similar, marrying Master of Puppets-inspired twinned leads to a shuddering, dubsteppy cadence and topping it off with vocals from the Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss, who here sounds, improbably but intriguingly, a little like Cat Power imitating Ozzy Osbourne. In Kastle’s hands, though, the tune flashes back to 2-step’s glory days, complete with bouncy organ bass line and synths as bubbly as a freshly uncorked bottle of Dom. In contrast to 2-step’s habit of making chipmunks out of its singers, he plays Moss’ vocals relatively straight, save for a judicious bit of glottal chopping, but he strays from convention by briefly flipping the groove into a brittle triplet rhythm that’s halfway between trap and Schaffel. If you’ve ever dreamed of a Lex Luger/Superpitcher collaboration, here’s the next best thing.
In addition to Kastle’s slinky re-do, Dirtyphonics’ “Hanging on Me” features remixes from Borgore & Ookay and Slogun & Ioh. It’s out October 1 on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak label; listen to Kastle’s remix here now.
