Remix competitions are nothing new to the world of dance music. It seems as though there is a new contest to enter every week, and while running through the submissions may cause one to weep for the future of our beloved genre, there are always a few reworks that are noteworthy and ultimately, good enough to launch a career. Take Seven Lions for example. No one had heard of the California native until his remix of “You Got to Go” won Above & Beyond’s competition back in 2011. Roughly a year later, he’s still remixing Anjunabeats tracks, touring with Gemini, Koan Sound and Bassex, releasing his originals on Skrillex’s OWSLA and not surprisingly, hosting his very own remix contest on Beatport. Now let’s forget Seven Lions and move on to Lindsay Lowend, who’s tweaking of “Days to Come” is undoubtedly one of the strongest submissions to this competition. The word tweaking doesn’t best encapsulate what the young songstress has done; she’s taken the original in a whole different direction, turning it from a dubstep-infused progressive house banger to a casual chill out ballad. In making the shift to the more relaxed subgenre, Lindsay has slowed the song down considerably, fitting it a captivating 3-note reverberating synth sequence, scattering hi-hats throughout the production and bending the vocals to match the faint buzzing bassline.

     For the sole purpose of using the word “literally” in the following sentence, I timed myself to see how long it would take for someone to vote for Lindsay Lowend’s remix of “Days to Come.” It LITERALLY takes 5.3 seconds to vote. Literally. The polls are open until December 10th, so don’t screw around, VOTE NOW.

     In June of 2011, Josh Gabriel and Meredith Call released an album as Winter Kills, their collaborative vocal trance project.  In late September of 2012, they brought the album back, organizing a remix competition for the 11th track, “Forward Facing.” I’m assuming the submissions were scarce, because not even a month following the contest’s announcement, 2 reworkings were chosen as winners to be released on Different Pieces. Considering “Josh Gabriel presents Winter Kills” came out in 2011, I find it odd that Group Therapy Radio has been spinning the original mix as opposed to the Walsh & McAuley remix that has been stuck in my head for a while. The duo from Northern Ireland has kept the integrity of the track alive, keeping the melody somewhat the same and instead fidgeting with the breakdown and climax. The drop is laden with synths and cymbals as a new melody then takes over, turning the track into a true uplifting bomb.

     It’s quite obvious, what with the prominence of names like Justice, Daft Punk, Fred Falke and Madeon, that France has lots of talent in disco. Joining the ranks of these future legends is Douze, with his recent remix of Henry Saiz & Cora Novoa. As if it were an episode of Pimp My Ride, the 23-year old Frenchman’s take on “Golden Dawn” is a completely different one than that of the original. The 119 BPM of the original seems to be too fast paced for Douze’s taste, so he slows it down 110, structures the track to a nu disco setting, peppers soft chords and wailing vocals throughout, places an unusually active bassline in the meatiest parts of the tune and installs a pull-out flat screen in the back seat. In all seriousness, it is excruciatingly tough to find more than one similarity between the original and Douze’s remix. Regardless, this is definitely a must have for any modern disco fan.

     For those of you looking for something to do this weekend, be sure to check out Dubfire at Stereo on Friday night. If your Saturday evening is still free, you’ve got a tough choice to make between Armand van Helden at New City Gas, Alex Metric at La Mouche and the legendary Frankie Knuckles, who plays alongside David Morales at Stereo. The next night you should set aside is Thursday December 6th, when Boys Noize brings his Out of the Black tour to New City Gas. If you’re planning on going and haven’t purchased an entry yet, test your luck by following this link to I Love Neon’s ticket giveaway on Facebook. Friday, December 7th will see Stereo attract a large crowd as the club welcomes France’s best techno export, Popof. December 8th is another extremely busy night, with shows for DJ Hype at Le Belmont, Morgan Page at New City Gas, Roger Sanchez at Stereo, Jacques Greene at the SAT and Étienne Ozborne at Circus Afterhours. Finally, two weeks from now, on Thursday, December 13th, Simian Mobile Disco will be appearing live at Club Soda. As always, if you want to plan more than two weeks ahead of time, be sure to check Montreal Nightclubs’ events page.

     Finally, here’s an insanely entertaining music video I found a few weeks back. When I introduced this segment, I made it clear that the chosen clip did not have to be specific to dance music. This week’s end of post video comes from a metal band called Nekrogoblikon, who’s short film for their track “No One Survives” is even more badass than a Chuck Norris/Tom Selleck mustache competition.