Altered Zones

Joe Howe, aka Ben Butler & Mousepad, transforms Kavinsky's "Nightcall" from a slow-driving roll through high-beamed back roads into a banging strobe-fest of flicked lighters and flashing bulbs. Forgoing dealing much with the original's vocoder-heavy verses, Howe concentrates instead on cutting up and twisting the original's sticky chorus, charming it into a sultry groove boasting all the right snaps. There's a bunch of great BB&MP originals up on Soundcloud as well, but I'm most strongly attracted to his ability to guide a popular song into a deeper dimension of pop music, losing track of the original's vision but creating an alternate world along the way where his production can, without a doubt, stand alone.

MP3: Kavinsky: "Nightcall (Sun Butler Mix by Ben Butler & Mousepad)"