Salem Remix Gucci Mane
- story Sam Hockley-Smith
- photo Beth Rooney (F61)
More of a perfect fit than you’d initially believe, it seems like Salem took a cue from Gucci Mane’s ridiculously creepy “Haunted House,” grabbed whatever acapellas they could find—including Gucci’s Jeezy diss “Round One”—and created entirely new songs around Gucci’s verses. There’ll probably be some talk about how this is just another step in the supposed ironic love of Gucci Mane, but from where we’re standing, these remixes could sit comfortably alongside plenty of Gucci’s original work.
Download: Gucci Mane, “Round One” (Salem Remix)
Download: Gucci Mane, “Birdflu” (Salem Remix)
Salem, “Frost” MP3
- story Sam Hockley-Smith
- photo Beth Rooney (F61)
If we wanted to, we could go on about how this is a perfectly timed reaction to all the beach jams released this summer, but we know it’s not like that. No, it’s just Salem pumping out another ultra-creepy windswept song, no matter what the temperature, only this time they’ve added some complexity to the drum programming, unscrewed the vocals and turned the whole thing into a battle between lush misery and the kind of marching band drum machine claps we expect from Mannie Fresh. We’re more or less watching this band go from good to really awesome, and that’s a good situation to be in. “Frost” is the a-side from Salem’s 7-inch release with Audraglint. You can buy it right here.
Download: Salem, “Frost”
Video: Salem Perform Live in a Dark Room
- story Sam Hockley-Smith
If this were any other band, we wouldn’t even think about posting this video, because for over half of it you can barely see anything. All you can hear is blown out versions of Salem’s music, the drum machine kick too much for the camera’s speakers. But that’s why it works. Salem are enigmas, they don’t really play shows, and although every musical move they make is obsessively documented on the internet and in magazines (ours included), almost everyone—including those that care—has yet to see them in a setting where the dark gothy sheen is stripped away, where their music seems a little more human and flawed. But if you’ve got 30 minutes to spare and want to vicariously attend a secret Salem show from the early days of the summer, Patent Leather Daddy has totally got you covered.
Video: Salem, “Skullcrush”
- story Matthew Schnipper
If you’re at a sensitive work place and/or feeling particularly good this morning, it may not be a great idea to watch this Salem video. If you’ve been watching snuff films on mute while listening to Joy Division and feel like you need a tiny bit of a breather, press play. As always, Salem are confusing, enamoring, wild and amateur, dragging naked people in the snow and by the neck through hallways. One man’s trash might be another man’s treasure, but to some men they’re the same thing. That’s a Salem metaphor, FYI.
Video: Salem, “Legend”
The visual ambiance of this goth Top Gun is equally liberating and terrifying. Would be lovely to glide through the blue yonder in V-formation like migrating geese, but if any of these pilots’ headphones are bumping Salem’s sparse triple-time beats and dead-lethargy vocals, they are likely to develop vertigo or—what is that thing called, where you go crazy after being isolated in extreme conditions for extended periods of time? David Bowie’s son just made a movie about it? Yeah, that.
Video: Jack From Salem Raps at China Chalet
- story Matthew Schnipper
We have been waiting over a week for our friends at Patent Leather Daddy to deliver fancy resolution videos of Salem playing live at NYC’s China Chalet as promised, but they haven’t ponied up. So we googled it ourselves because we are grown and found something we did not expect—Jack rapping. For a while. Like four minutes. The sound quality on this YouTube isn’t good enough to judge how dubious of an idea this is, but we’re guessing it sits somewhere in the middle of the dubious/sweet Venn diagram. How far to either side is up to you. Bonus: an alternate title to this post was “Video: Heather From Salem Sings and Smokes Inside Illegally.” Both videos are after the jump.
Freeload: Salem Mix for 20 Jazz Funk Greats
- story THE FADER
20 Jazz Funk Greats, the site not the album. Though we can imagine our weird homies in Salem making a mix in praise of that, too. Young Cream, AIDS 3D and Tha Pope are all featured. These are real bands, or maybe just Salem going off. Pretty sure last time we had a weed hangover and slept in we had funny dreams that we lived inside a Bulgarian rainbow and rode ponies to its Eastern European pot of gold where we played ocarina in our band Young Cream. And coincidentally it did sound like electro thrash punk dub rap.
Download: Salem mix for 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Freeload: Salem, “ohK”
- story THE FADER
Gorilla Vs. Bear has the a-side from a Japan-only Salem 7-inch on Big Love. What’s up dudes? Isn’t your music for the people? Just kidding! We love you anyway Salem. To be honest we’re feeling the renewed interest in ultra-limited records, especially when they’re as good as this. “ohK” is a somewhat lighter offering from the trio, and by lighter we actually mean the song is upgraded from Borderline Suicidal to Hey-we-can-listen-to-this-on-a-sunny-day-without-wanting-to-cry-for-a-couple-months-straight.
Download: Salem, “ohK”
Freeload: Salem, “When U Sleep”
- story THE FADER
After wading through a cache of Salem songs on our hard drives, we realized that there are two distinct sides to the band’s music: One side — with female vocals — is haunting, pretty and crystal clear, and the other —with male vocals — pretty much sounds like murder. Now that the concept of releasing music on Tuesdays has flown out the window, you’ll be happy to know that you can buy Salem’s excellent Water EP from Merok Records as it came out on Monday. We’ve heard the whole thing, and if you like staring pensively at an overpowering grey skyline (which we are doing right now) then this is the music for you.
Download: SALEM, “When U Sleep”
Freeload: Salem + Telepathe Remix Radiohead
- story THE FADER
While we love Radiohead, we haven’t felt the need to listen to them for awhile now. It’s not that we don’t appreciate what the band does, it’s just that what they do is the root of a lot of the music we cover, and we’ve kinda moved on to the branches. Two of those branches, Telepathe who we featured in FADER 53, and Salem, who we just talk a lot about, have shown their love to our favorite experimental stadium rockers in the form of remixes of “Reckoner.” Salem’s version is the immediate standout, drenching the original in reverb and flipping Thom Yorke’s paranoid moan into something approximating a distant foghorn. None of these remixes are going to make you feel especially happy, but if you’re reading this then that might not be your steez anyway. (Via Gorilla Vs. Bear.)
Download: Radiohead, “Reckoner” (Salem Remix)
Download: Radiohead, “Reckoner” (Telepathe Remix)
**UPDATE** These remixes were commissioned by Merok (the remixers’ label) and XL (Radiohead) to commemorate the release of the Merok roster’s newest single releases, all of which are available here.
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posted on Dec 2, 2008 in MP3 / STREAMS tags electronic/dance, experimental, freeload, Radiohead, rock, Salem, Telepathe
