Architecture In Helsinki
We Died, They Remixed
Tailem Bend/Inertia



You either love or hate Architecture In Helsinki, it seems. They're just one of those bands with no middle ground, like They Might Be Giants, and their fans will more than likely lap up anything that they care to put on store shelves. In the light of Architecture In Helsinki's latest release, that's actually something of a pity.

'We Died, They Remixed' is the band's entire in-case-we-die album reinterpreted by artists like Safety Scissors, Hot Chip, Yacht and Qua. The problem is, the band are completely unsuited to this kind of treatment - taking away the hyperactive instrumentation only serves to emphasise just how tinny and mediocre the vocals are and it's not helped by the fact that the production rarely attempts anything beyond plastering said vocals over amateurish electronica.

33hz's remix of It'5! stands as one of the better examples of why this is a bad idea, morphing the track from 'charmingly energetic' to 'tuneless, shouty and really, really irritating'. The effect is entirely similar in Yacht's take on NeverEverDid, too, as well as on the Dat Politics mix of Frenchy I'm Faking. Getting the picture?

The whole thing reaches a nadir not mined by many commercially released albums with Mocky's remix of Need To Shout, which reduces the track to a woefully home-produced drumbeat - emphasising all-too-well the irritating shouting of the band members -before introducing steel drums and, finally, rapping over it. "I need to shout/What's it all about/Tryin' to get clout/Plus I'm facin' doubt," he begins. That's not a joke - those are actual lyrics. It's mind-blowingly horrible.

Unless you're after an hour of everything that's infuriating about the band turned up to eleven, it's probably best to leave 'We Died, They Remixed' well alone. It completely misses the point of what the band do have going for them and even fans of the group don't need that.

Alistair Wallis