Prior to Los Angeles duo Bell Gardens releasing their debut album Full Sundown Assembly at the tail-end of last year, they put out their Hangups Need Company EP in 2010. They followed this shortly after with a three-track remix compilation, available through their Bandcamp, which features this brilliant oddity, a remix of EP track ‘Can We Get’ by experimental pioneer Robert Hampson of Loop and Main:
The reworking – the ‘La nuit étoilée remix’, to be precise – removes the original’s tambourine-shaking rhythms and planing lap steel, and slows the track down to a barely-creeping pace. What we get as a result is a beautiful, circular cut, founded on ringing, metallic percussion sounds and overlaid with solid swathes of Mellotron-like chord tones and a closing volley of harmonised vocals. The overriding feel is less that of a remix than a wholesale original mix, in the process shifting the time-setting of the original from daytime beach climes to a quietly humming starry night.
In other Bell Gardens news, head over to the Southern Records blog here to have a listen to their mixtape of influences for Full Sundown Assembly and their new album, which they’re currently working on.
Here are the band’s upcoming live dates, including a month-long residency in Hollywood:
FEBRUARY
Thu 28 – El Cid, Silverlake, Los Angeles
MARCH
Fri 8 – TAIX, Echo Park, Los Angeles
APRIL
Thu 4 – Harvard and Stone, Los Angeles
Tue 9 – The Three Clubs, Hollywood, Los Angeles
Tue 16 – The Three Clubs, Hollywood, Los Angeles
Tue 23 – The Three Clubs, Hollywood, Los Angeles
Tue 30 – The Three Clubs, Hollywood, Los Angeles
