By Brien Miceli, Contributing Writer ||
RAC just might be one of the most talented groups of the day. Called Remix Artist Collective — a bit of a misnomer seeing as Andre Allen Anjos is the only remaining active member — this group’s purpose is to make remixes of popular songs. However, the remixes are closer to the original structure of thesong rather than a set ofbeats being created strictly for club purposes; so rather than very powerful electronic tones and beats being added to make the songs hyped up, RAC uses lighter tones and careful musical aesthetic to make mellower remixes. However, with the release of the Strangers Part 1 last month and the full album April 1, RAC has put out some of their first original material.
For this new album, RAC has collaborated in true RAC style with several famous alternative artists including Kele of Bloc Party, MNDR, Penguin Prison, Tegan and Sara, St. Lucia, and many others. Their distinct style is noted through their light, plucky guitar riffs, distinct drum lines, subtle synths, and airy vocals. Even in their remixes they aim for more airy vocals such as Foster the People, Chromeo, etc. The first two songs on the album are currently the most popular: Let Go feat. Kele, MNDR and Hollywood feat. Penguin Prison, both of which have already inspired several other artists to create remixes. Let Go already has another remix EP featuring remixes by Robert DeLong, Sir Sly, and Holy Ghost!.
Strangers is a terrific compilation of talent, each song sounding similar, yet the different vocalists in each song and slight style changes based on the featured artists are enough to keep the album interesting. My favorite song ended up being the song Tourists, which is an original song featuring no other artists other than RAC, which is unusual for the group. Towards the end of the album, particularly with the songs Ready for It feat. St. Lucia and 405 feat. YACHT, the songs start getting much more divergent in terms of style, which ends up being a very pleasant change in pace.
Overall, I would give the album a very positive review, I really enjoyed listening to it. Strangers is probably best listened to while one is studying or reading; it’s terrific background music that is enjoyable to listen to, yet it doesn’t break one’s focus. On that note, all of RAC’s tracks work that way. I give Strangers an A-. I liked it and I only have one complaint: Strangers was a very good album, but it still wasn’t jaw-dropping enough to warrant an F&M A.
First-year Brien Miceli is a staff writer. His email is bmiceli@fandm.edu.