A couple weeks ago, in a brilliant marketing move, Radiohead released their latest single “Nude” in conjunction with a remix contest. Fans were able to purchase the single as well as the stem tracks in order to make a version of their very own. Looks like this move fully paid off. “Nude” opened at No. 37 on the billboard charts, and is now 1 of 3 singles that have charted for them. This is also coming off the fact that they did release their latest album online, allowing fans to pay whatever they wanted to download the whole album. Pretty damn impressive…

Being a rather obsessive Radiohead fan, as well as a musician, I decided to take a crack at the remix. I’ve been following them closely since The Bends, and I found this to be a great opportunity to create something new from a band I personally owe a lot to. Even just listening to the stems individually shed some light into the production techniques and methods the band uses. It reaffirmed for me the fact that every member of Radiohead plays an integral part to the sound of the whole. No one in this band is replaceable. The slow swaggering bass line that Colin provides over Phil’s understated drumming on this track are a real stand out. And the rhythm section does well to compliment Ed and Jonny’s imaginative guitar/synth work. Lay Thom’s warm yet piercing vocals over the whole thing, and you’ve got yet another Radiohead fan practically in tears.

Nude - Radiohead

That being said, for my remix, I threw out all the instrumentation. It’s easy to get locked into the hypnotic pulse of the original track, so I wanted to start from scratch. The original seems so simple, but the way the arrangement is laid out really implies a complex ambience. The 6/8 time signature helps to create the spaces which the instruments are constantly weaving through.

So I decided to change context completely with more aggressive synths and a dance-punk rhythm section, which is at times in line with my own work. I used one distorted synth bass, one rhodes keyboard, one drum machine, and one drum set. As I started to move in my seat, I knew I was going in the right direction. Being that the original vocals are so high in the mix, I chopped up the original performance and triggered different sections of the vocal. Adding a lot of reverb and delay, it definitely gave it more of a dub feel.

I hope all you readers out there enjoy it. If you do, please vote for it! Big ups to Feli and Greg for input during the rough mixes, and thanks Frank for risking the safety of the muffin by letting me add the widget.

Nude (Avoid Peril Mix) - Brian Mauleon