2021 Music Showcase, Part 2 [[xxxREMIXxx]]

I'm one month into this fan-favorite and highly sought-after column and I'm already feeling the pressure. Was I just lucky last month to have three releases that got me so excited? Who am I, someone with two Music 101 courses from different colleges as my only real music education, to tell you about what music is good? Is Part 2 too early for this to seamlessly transition from a music recommendation column into one where I just joke about how unqualified and lost I am? Should I stop using humor to deflect from how important this year-long project actually is to me?

LET'S FIND OUT!

These are the top three remixes of 2021 so far.

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Deftones - Passenger [[Mike Shinoda Remix]]

That's right y'all! (I'm saying y'all now, I guess.) What's more 2021 than a remix of a song from 2020 by an artist whose biggest album came out that same year? What did you want from someone who'll be 40 before he even knows it?

Regardless, Passenger is my favorite Deftones song. (Should I have said best, Tim?) Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda maintains the eerie tone of the original while completely replacing the original instrumentation, allowing me to listen to one of my favorite songs like it's brand new. The feeling is less aggressive than the original, more resigned to making the most of it while expecting the worst. An appropriate response to the last 21 years.

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Linkin Park - One Step CLoser [[100 gecs Reanimation]]

That's right! There's more Linkin Park! And this song is also originally from the year 2000! This time, instead of being remixed by another Jaded contemporary, we get the fresh-faced 100 gecs taking a crack at remixing, nay, reanimating this 21-year-old song.

Typically, my relationship to Linkin Park has been as a secret fan while publicly denying them like Peter before the crucifixion. (Yikes! That analogy got away from me. Bad Catholic upbringing! down, boy!)

100 gecs are here to slap the snob right off my face and remind me that not all music has to be GOOD for it to be good, you know? Anyway, I'm sure this is the last you'll hear me say about 100 gecs.

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Rebecca Black - Friday [[Remx featuring 3OH!3, Big Freedia, and Dorian Electra]]

We all owe Rebecca Black an apology. Sure, it was 2011, and we still had a lot to learn about the affects of social media and the kind of mob mentality it encourages. But we knew what we were doing. We were severely bullying a 13-year old girl for daring to live out her pop-star dreams. The same dreams we teach every child to believe in. The fact that she survived another 10 years and managed to reinvent what could have been a traumatizing memory and embrace it is a story of triumph over evil.

And look, there's 100 gecs' Dylan Brady again. (He produced this remix.) 100 gecs, Dorian Electra, and 3OH!3 have adopted Rebecca Black into the Hyperpop genre, and it's a perfect match. As I mentioned about the Linkin Park remix, 100 gecs and Dorian Electra seem to have an allergy to the idea that music has to be "cool." Add in an icon like Big Freedia, and you are partyin', partyin' yeah!

I mean, yeah, the song's still bad. But it's also great.