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Halifax’s Southern Shores, a duo whose Atlantic EP captured my summer’s essence, is back with an end of the year gift in the form of a beautiful remix of Melbourne’s Wintercoats. Already immaculate, James Wallace’s ‘Forest of Lovers’, off his Sketches EP, gets a tropical rerub courtesy of his Canadian labelmates over at Cascine. The label had a awesome year, but next year looks promising with new releases in the works from both Southern Shores and Wintercoats as well as the debut EP from Swedish trio World Tour which drops next month. Download Southern Shores’ remix below.

Ra Ra Riot recently released a super smooth remix of their tune ‘Massachusetts’ crafted by Los Angeles’ Kisses. Slowed down and mellowed out, the duo’s reworking of the track comes just in time, bringing some of Southern California’s sunshine up to Massachusetts through May’s earliest rays. Mighty fine sunshine.

Andre Anjos, the Portuguese beatmestre behind the Remix Artist Collective (RAC), just released the fourth track off his upcoming remix album, RAC Vol 2, which drops tomorrow. Today’s remix comes by way of one of my favorite Spanish bands, or just bands in general, Barcelona’s Delorean. The remix takes the original dreamy, sun-soaked song and turns the jam into a total dance party, just like when I saw them play in Brooklyn back in November. That show, like this remix, was insane. I don’t know if this remix is gonna make keyboardist Unai Lazcano knock over his synth and dive off the stage (nobody caught him!), but it definitely brings back memories of that sweaty night. Check out the six and a half minute JAM below. I can’t wait to head off to sunny Barcelona on Sunday!

Delorean – Stay Close (RAC Mix)

& also off RAC Vol 2

Washed Out - New Theory (RAC Mix)

[photo]

Canadian producer and emcee Emay dropped his new eight-track EP Mind Altering Dynamics earlier today. His creative approach to hip hop and immense lyrical ability are definitely on show with this one as he pushes beyond his previous releases. His remix of Blackbird Blackbird’s ‘Ups & Downs’ (off BB’s Summer Heart) really sticks out of the bunch. Not only does Emay build off of Mikey’s summery jam, but he also got LA’s Steffaloo (Steph Thompson) to record some beautiful backing vocals for the track. Download Mind Altering Dynamics for free from Emay’s website.

Emay - Ups & Downs [Blackbird Blackbird Remix] (feat. Steffaloo)

A few months ago I saw Beach House play live. Going in I knew that Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally would blow my mind (of course), but I was also quite impressed by the duo’s touring drummer Graham Hill. I was introduced, fittingly enough, to his solo project Roman Ruins through his remix of Beach House’s ‘Lover Of Mine,’ a few weeks later. So tonight when I saw that Phoenix’s Jacob McNaughton (aka Galapagos) finished up another rad remix, this time of Graham’s single ‘The Comedown,’ I knew it’d be dope. Check it.

Roman Ruins - The Comedown (Galapagos Remix)

Roman Ruins - The Comedown

Blackbird Blackbird - Hawaii (Galapagos Remix)

galapagos. soundcloud. twitter. tumblr.

Montreal-based four piece Braids are set to release their debut LP Native Speaker on January 18th via Kanine Records. Although the album’s seven songs, which you can stream over at hypem, are all beautiful in their own respect (Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s voice is simply amazing), Vancouver’s Teen Daze has weaved his own sound into Braids’ with an brilliant remix of the third track off the release, ‘Glass Deers,’ which takes the tune to a whole different place. He’s cut out the slow buildup of the eight-minute original, getting right to the point with some funky synths and reinvigorated beats that turn the original, which is mellow at times, into a proper jam. I’ve heard that Braids were amazing at cmj so I won’t be missing them when they come to Boston next month! Make sure to check out their February dates with Starslinger and Baths and you can pre-order Native Speaker here.

Braids - Glass Deers (Teen Daze Remix)

Sun Airway’s Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier was one of my most listened to albums of 2010, so when John from the Irish duo Solar Bears sent me a new remix of ‘American West,’ I knew I’d dig it. They’ve built onto my second favorite Sun Airway tune, after the simply perfect Oh, Naoko, adding the laid-back synths and deep, free-form electronic feel found on their September debut She Was Coloured In.

Sun Airway - American West (Solar Bears Remix)

Sun Airway - American West

Previously

Sun Airway - Oh, Naoko