Enter Shikari – The Mindsweep: Hospitalised

There aren’t many bands around who can claim to have as diverse a following as Enter Shikari. From punks to metalheads, scene kids to techno lovers, the St. Albans quartet have appealed to them all over the last eleven years. The latter half of this career has seen the band begin to incorporate a lot more electronic elements into their sound, with a number of songs being remixed and altered live to their likings. As of Friday, they’ve allowed others to join the party (and, er, leave anxiety behind…). The Mindsweep: Hospitalised is the band’s first ever remix album and sees twelve artists each take one track from January’s The Mindsweep and give it their own interpretation. How times have changed since the raw punk sounds of Take to the Skies…

To describe remix albums as ‘hit and miss’ is a big understatement. Giving a track to an outside source and allowing them to stamp their own interpretation over it before putting it on an album is understandably a big risk. That said, for the most part it’s a solid effort from the collaborators here. Tom Mundell, also known as Metrik, has given ‘The Appeal & The Mindsweep I’ an upbeat, bouncing drum and bass core whilst Etherwood’s more chilled-out approach to ‘Never Let Go of the Microscope’ is a very nice contrast to the original. Some of it leaves a lot to be desired, like The Erised’s decision to quadruple the length of time of ‘Interlude’ and add their own lyrics to the mix whilst Bop have somehow made their version of ‘Myopia’ even more harsher than before, which leaves it a little too jarring. Biggest accolade, however, goes to Danny Byrd, whose version of ‘There’s a Price on Your Head’ is scintillating and flows excellently from one beat to the next, with minimal vocal samples and a huge amount of heart.

If you can approach this with an open mind and appreciate what the artist has tried to do on their track, then you’ll soon realise a lot of thought and time has gone into it. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t some half-baked mashup record, this is well-planned and surprisingly addictive.

Enter Shikari

Rou Reynolds – vocals, electronica
Liam ‘Rory Clewlow – guitars, backing vocals
Chris Batten – bass, backing vocals
Rob Rolfe – drums, backing vocals

Track Listing

The Appeal & the Mindsweep I (Metrik Remix)
The One True Colour (Keeno Remix)
Anaesthetist (Reso Remix)
The Last Garrison (S.P.Y Remix)
Never Let Go of the Microscope (Etherwood Remix)
Myopia (Bop Remix)
Torn Apart (Hugh Hardie Remix)
Interlude (The Erised Remix)
The Bank of England (Lynx Remix)
There’s a Price on Your Head (Danny Byrd Remix)
Dear Future Historians…(London Elektricity Remix)
The Appeal & the Mindsweep II (Krakota Remix)

Links

http://www.entershikari.com
http://www.facebook.com/entershikari
http://www.twitter.com/ENTERSHIKARI