Coldcut Remix Contest Winners
Ableton and Coldcut are happy to announce the winners of the Coldcut remix contest for "Everything is Under Control." The top ten entries came from France, Japan, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, the US, and the UK, where our winning duo, Illkinski hail from. Matt Black and Jon More have painstakingly gone through all the entries and come up with a winner—and with comments on the winning submission and the ten runners up. Matt had this to say about the entries: "We got a wide range of cool ideas in remixing what is quite an odd track. Thanks to everyone who joined us for the contest. Believe us, this was a hard one to judge!"
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Coldcut and everyone who participated!
The Abletons
1st Place: Illkinski (Arash Lowni and Adam Perry) www.illkinski.com
Band Bio
Illkinski was founded 3 years ago in London by Adam Perry & Arash Lowni. They have played numerous gigs in and out of London including The Vibe Bar, The Rex, & Electrowerkz - alongside Plaid (Warp).
Over the years they have also won a competition on BBC Radio1xtra for their track "Buttonpushers", and last year were awarded a grant from The PRS Foundation. They have also just set up a bi-monthly podcast, sending out free mp3's to subscribers. Their next gig is on Friday 3rd March at Juno bar, 134 Shoreditch High Street, London E1, and it's FREE.
Coldcut Comments: "Groovy backing track, menacing, tough, funky. Interesting use of the chorus vocal, which is looped up in a sinister, dubby way. The vocal is connected to the track—vital and not as easy as one might think."
Prizes: Evolution X-Session controller, Ableton laptop bag, Ableton hoodie sweatshirt, Ninjatune gift bag including signed copies of "Everything Is Under Control," t-shirts, control cards (top trump), stickers, and stencils.
2nd Place: Dirk Mirre
Coldcut Comments: "Theoretically this shouldn't work, mixing abrasive vocals with a funky jazzy backing track, but actually it works surprisingly well. Not a hundred percent, but props for trying an unusual combination. I like the vocoder. He overused the vocals too much toward the end; he could have dubbed them up.
Prizes: Ableton hoodie sweatshirt, Ninjatune gift bag including signed copies of "Everything Is Under Control," t-shirts, control cards (top trump), stickers, and stencils.
3rd Place: Amaury Groc
Coldcut Comments: "I like the backing track. Again, the vocals don't fit that well. It goes to show it’s not just a question of sticking an a capella over a backing track; a magic X-factor is needed to glue them together. A real stomper of a track, with a moody feel."
Prizes: Ninjatune gift bag including signed copies of "Everything Is Under Control," t-shirts, control cards (top trump), stickers, and stencils.
Honorable Mention:
Note: The critiques are offered to help further your musical career, not to get you down! These are all great tracks.
Mark Love
Coldcut Comments: "I like the start newsreader with Bush cut up. An 'A' for effort finding and pasting actual samples of Bush saying "under control'—an idea done on our original demo. A little too cheeky on the samples for releasing; it's more a mashup then a remix, but full of ideas."
James Postlethwaite
Coldcut Comments: "I like it. It has a nice bouncy rhythm, it has the wonk factor. A really good start too. Nice slowdown at the end."
Kastuyuki Minami
Coldcut Comments: "I like the start. I like the beat when it comes in. I'm not quite sure about the rap dropping in. The vocals don't sit that well over the track. Nice atonal noises at the end though."
Daniel Salontay
Coldcut Comments:"The vocals are pitched up, which was a good attempt at doing something interesting, but it doesn't quite work. The track was too full at parts, but nice job overall."
Matej Ocepek
Coldcut Comments: "Not bad. The intro is too long. Not quite thumping enough; it feels like it's missing a good kick. Again, the vocals don't sit well over the beat."
Seep http://www.myspace.com/seep
Coldcut Comments: "I like the extra samples used within, but it feels like there is something missing."
WWIIIO (World War Trio, Wio)
Jan Stuyven
Michel Sadin
Maks Konings
Coldcut Comments: "Nice and melodic. Fonky."
Benedikt Guschibauer
Coldcut Comments: "I like it when it kicks in. Speeded up vocals again, sounds a bit 'Mickey Mouse.'"
