ISIS – OCEANIC REMIXES/REINTERPRETATIONS

An epic reinterpretation of an epic album. Oceanic is the 2002 album for Isis, rightly viewed as masterpiece of posthardcore aggression and hypnorock velocity. Isis’ openended riffs for guitar, bass, and drum are the swollen, mutant descendants of rock minimalism, where the crescendo and control dictate the dynamics of a song, not necessarily melody and harmony. By 2005, Isis had commissioned a number of remixes from Oceanic that were originally a series of 4 singles, then compiled onto a double cd and vinyl boxset. In describing the inception to the project, Isis frontman Aaron Turner suggests, “we thought would understand the original aesthetic/intent while simultaneously bringing their own perspective to it. We wanted to be able to hear own music from an alternate perspective and were hoping these artists would help reveal some of the latent aspects of our music, with a special emphasis on texture and atmosphere.” Those asked to participate were all artists with whom Isis had direct involvement as tourmates and / or profound admiration, including Christian Fennesz, Tim Hecker, Mike Patton, JK Broadrick, James Plotkin, Thomas Koner, Venetian Snares, Deadverse, Destructo Swarmbots, Speedranch, Ayal Naor, and Teledubgnosis. The remixes essentially fracture the originals emphasizing and magnifying particular facets and idiosyncrasies to the Isis sound.