Two sides of the same coin. Six of one, half dozen of the other. You know what I am getting at, two versions of one artist’s music. For fans, it can be both genre “eye-opening” such as this one might be or create a polarization of those that have give someone a sound they are most comfortable with.

Okay, let’s just get it out there that I am a “folkie”, so this post is a reference to Withered Hand releasing a “dance” remix of “Love in the Time Ecstasy” so I might be biased. Regardless, for some it is just more output from an artist and if they are a fan, this is often a good thing. For others, when artists experiment (or hell, this example could be the real Withered Hand, I wouldn’t know) they feel almost betrayed as it isn’t the artist they thought they knew. This post is a scenario of essentially a fringe folk type releasing a pseudo dance track. This probably would never, ever, ever have happened prior to the “mash up/remix” craze that affects the music scene today, but we can’t reverse the evolution of music now can we? So where to we stand? Let’s take a listen shall we.

Withered Hand
“Love in the Time Ecstacy (Swimmer One Remix)“ (mp3)
from “No Cigarettes”
(SL Records)

More On This Album

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Withered Hand
“No Cigarettes” (mp3)
from “You’re Not Alone”
(SL Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album
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Just so we are clear, the above two songs are now together on this new single release as “No Cigarettes” is re-released from You’re Not Alone as the b-side to the remix. So? Do you feel like this is an evolution of an artist, a side diversion of an artist or simply something he did one day and thought it turned out pretty good (or the re-mixers did a good job and he thought it was worthy)? I obviously like the old school Withered Hand, but that is no surprise due to my limited tunnel vision (is that an oxymoron?). I don’t think the SL Records remix is bad, but it feels like something Bronski Beat would have released in the early 80s. Maybe it is another option to get more notice for Withered Hand…not a bad thing, but is it necessary?

What do you think?

~Smansmith