Basement Jaxx’s Simon Ratcliffe has remixed The 2 Bears’ "Be Strong," an approachable but not hugely affecting house song with lyrics about music obsession and protecting the integrity of your tastes. There's an extended thank-you list to influential artists halfway through the original—Wu Tang, Steely Dan, The KLF, Jazzy Jeff, Drums of Death and A Tribe Called Quest, and so on. Ratcliffe's dub remix wisely skips all of that, including only the song's repeated title, vocal-wise, and instead letting the rolling drums and these little puppy squeaks speak for themselves, like some meta-critique on the futility of using words to explain why music is good. The 2 Bears' Be Strong Remix EP comes out Monday, March 5th on Southern Fried, who released the Be Strong LP earlier this year.
Stream: The 2 Bears, "Be Strong (Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx Dub)"
