GRIMES - “GENESIS (RYAN HEMSWORTH REMIX)”
Grimes is a pretty well known and oft-traded name among hipsters and non-hipsters alike, bringing to mind the genre-spanning allure of artists and groups like Fever Ray and †††. While sporting nearly every self-fulfilled prophecy of the Pictureplane-spawned witch house movement, Montreal’s own Claire Boucher (Grimes) nonetheless seems to weild the ability to not only churn out dark, moody synth music but to appeal to a widespread audience (always a marketing plus). My newest musical find, POLY, so far has been a reasonably good source for the latest and the greatest in hip audio art, and this Ryan Hemsworth remix of Grimes’ “Genesis” (featured on POLY Selections #8) is a perfect manifestation of all that is good about the primarily female-driven genre of witch house. A sub-genre of chillwave/glo-fi jokingly created by Travis Egedy, witch house has gone on to become a very serious musical movement, yet is unfortunately still haunted at times by kitsch. As before mentioned, even Chino Moreno has jumped on the bandwagon. Either way, though, the dissonant noise coupled with the creepy, bleary-eyed delivery has a strangely 80’s goth effect that I find altogether somewhat appealing, as long as the campiness is held at bay. It’s much like the hypothetical love child of Xiu Xiu’s awkward cacophony and Warm Ghost’s dark retro vibes. This particularly ill remix, however fleshes out and punches up the original to great effect, in my opinion, featuring Deniro Farrar’s rhymes and a Krusht-esque R&B treatment. Do tha right thing, and check out Ryan Hemsworth’s remix of Grimes’ “Genesis”, and perhaps go on to discover more about Grimes, Ryan Hemsworth, POLY, or even just witch house in general. Sidebar, your honor: I just love how creepy as fuck the album artwork for Visions is!
