Exile to release ‘AM/FM’ bonus album and DJ Rhettmatic remix
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The remix is often a promotional tool designed to attract extra radio spins and hype, but on his forthcoming remix album “AM/FM,” Los Angeles-based producer Exile is aiming to own the dial. Of course, the goal is figurative as the commercial airwaves are unlikely to play anything from the sequel to last year’s found-art opus “Radio,” which found the beatmaker born Alexandr Mandfredi reconfiguring taped snippets of a wide range of things including old commercials, evangelical sermons and Alan Watts, and suturing them into the fabric of an instrumental hip-hop album in the vein of J Dilla or Madlib.
On DJ Rhettmatic’s remix of “It’s Coming Down,” Exile directly addresses the fact that you won’t be hearing this on a Clear Channel or Emmis Communications station anytime soon. But rather than spend the two-minute track raging against the terrestrial radio monoliths, he and the famed Beat Junkie, Rhettmatic, concoct a smooth blend of vinyl cuts, scratched-in hooks and soaring harmonies.
The official remix album drops on Aug. 31 on Plug Research and features contributions from local heavy hitters Blu, Fashawn, Alchemist, Aloe Blacc, Shafiq Husayn, Samiyam, Free the Robots, DJ Day, Take, Clutchy Hopkins and Muhsinah. However, thanks to the glut of submissions that the Orange County-born producer received, he’ll be giving away a free bonus album next week consisting of the tracks that didn’t make the cut.
If “AM/FM” is anything like its predecessor, expect something that splits the difference between traditional neo-boom bap production and the experimental beats that emanate from the Low End Theory scene. The sort of thing you’d want to program on your own radio station -- or at least your iPod.
MP3: Exile-’It’s Coming Down’ (Rhettmatic remix) (Be forewarned, the track is not kind to mainstream radio and does contain explicit lyrics.)
-- Jeff Weiss