Ghosts & Shadows – She Makes War Music, ramblings and recommendations

“Disarm: Remixed” – Charity Album Available Now! #SMWrmx

STEP ONE: GRAB YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD NOW

STEP TWO: DONATE TO CHARITY!

Here's the deal - the music is yours to grab from Bandcamp (go! now!) for FREE but please consider donating via my special "Disarm: Remixed" JustGiving page to Crisis, the homeless charity. You may have heard of their Christmas centres in London, but they do great work all year round and need as much help as possible to continue doing so. Dig deep or shallow, every little helps, and please tell your mates!

Please also check out the individual tracks for links to the remixers' other work and support them too. What a talented bunch - thanks so much to everyone for taking part! You can listen to all the submitted entries here too.

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So, here's the story: Over the summer I ran a remix competition over on Soundcloud, the idea being to encourage other musicians to play around with my stems and come up with their own pieces of music. I'm endlessly fascinated by the idea that no two people will make the same piece of art with exactly the same materials to hand and so every time a new track was submitted I got really excited because I was getting to be part of this other person's mysterious musical world.

It was wonderful but a little bit overwhelming when 60 great entries that were submitted, so after announcing the long list in October I passed the reins to my talented musical judges James Yuill and Anna Madeleine for their comments.

It's been a tough job deciding on a final list. My criteria were simple - I wanted to hear a strong individual personality and style and creative ideas. My favourite remixes were those that really messed around with the original arrangement, changed the mood and added extra elements. Once the album versions of songs are done I'm not at all precious about what people do with the little bits - I actually wanted to be surprised!

There was something interesting about every single submitted track but I am really pleased with the final list, featuring 14 remixes from Alaskan, Wave Function, This Is Radio Silence, Stuart W Ramsay, Clutch Daisy, The Rise And Demise Of John, Alma, Silver Factory Superstars, hardswank, David J Gurney, Jake Dubber, KapaMoraski, Paulo and Dolmar Pedro. Oh, and an extra one from someone called warriorgrrl...

PRIZES

It wouldn't be a competition without some prizes, so everyone will receive a limited edition copy of "Little Battles" on CD/DVD plus advance access to the forthcoming "Little Battles" remix pack.

My lovely judges and I also voted for our top four remixes, the creator of which will also receive a Soundcloud Lite Account and a "Little Battles" goody bag including limited edition illustrated lyric book, badges and postcards. Congratulations to...

drumroll...

(in alphabetical order, with judges' comments)

Alaskan - for Eye Spy

JY - "like the relaxed reverb soaked nature of this remix. definitely my favourite"
LK - "Sunny, lazy, hazy gorgeousness. Makes me want to sway and smile."

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Alma - for Got Milk

AM - "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. This is fierce."
LK - "I love how fidgety and off kilter this whole track is and especially love the witchy outro. Really cool sounds and nice repitching of my vocals."

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Clutch Daisy - for ghostsandshadows

AM - "YESSSSSSSSS… Now this is definitely like it. I flippin love this remix. THIS IS MY FAVOURITE. I think it’s beautiful."
JY - "one of my favourites. love the production. punchy beats and effected vocals. puts me in mind of radiohead (which is always a good thing)"
LK - "I really love the gloopy bass part and the cut up vocals, this track is really moody with loads of really beautiful detail and exciting moments that take you to another place."

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The Rise And Demise Of John - for NIMN

JY - "nice glitchy production. also a remix which honours the original song"
LK - "I love how John added those really melancholy male vocals and that sad, sweet riff that goes through the song makes me feel really emotional!"
AM - "Clever recording extra vocals and the bass voice really compliments/offsets SMW’s. Really lush organ sounds. Ooooh, and sexy end section. Yes."

Thanks so much to everyone who submitted a track, to Soundcloud for their support, to James Yuill and Anna Madeleine for judging and to YOU for reading / downloading / DONATING / sharing / supporting. Have a wonderful Christmas!