alt-J Share "In Cold Blood" Feat. PUSHA-T (Twin Shadow Version) Official Video & Announce RELAXER Hip-Hop Remix Album: REDUXER
Early on in their career, Leeds-based band alt-J were quickly heralded as "The Next Radiohead" due to their extremely well-orchestrated, thought-provoking brand of Indie/Art Rock heard across their 2012 full-length debut, An Awesome Wave. Then, Joe Newman, Thom Sonny Green & Gus Unger-Hamilton did a total 180° and more or less, alienated nearly half of their new-found fans—à la: Beastie Boys' 1987 single "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)" debacle—by releasing tongue-in-cheek über-"American" single, "Left Hand Free" from 2014's This Is All Yours... but, unsurprisingly, "the least alt-J song ever" pretty much back-fired because no one got it, including the label, and the song rapidly became, quite arguably, one of their biggest smash-hits to date. Last summer, alt-J suddenly returned this their third album (technically, an EP) RELAXER, which in the months since, has become my personal favorite release of their entire cannon; this, due in part to Iggy Pop-narrated absolute RIPPER of a single, "In Cold Blood," which was accompanied by a phenomenal Casper Balslev-directed video starring an intuitive little wood mouse and a murderous, blood-splattered desert killing spree. Now, nearly a full year after RELAXER's June 2017 release, alt-J have re-emerged with an 11-track Hip-Hop remix collection dubbed REDUXER.
"It's no secret that we love and are influenced by Hip-Hop and it's always been a dream of ours to work with Hip-Hop artists in re-imagining our music. With REDUXER, that dream has come true. We couldn't be happier with the results," Gus, Joe & Thom wrote within a recent press release. "This album is truly global, featuring rappers and producers from all over the world. After a very long time in-the-making, we are stoked to share it with you all," alt-J enthusiastically continued. REDUXER features 11 re-imagined remixes to RELAXER's 8 original tracks, showcasing the unique talents of Little Simz, PUSHA-T, Twin Shadow, Tuka, Jimi Charles, Danny Brown, Alchemist x Trooko, Paigey Cakey & Hex, GoldLink, Terrace Martin, PJ Sin Suela, Lomepal, Kontra K, and Rejjie Snow. So far, we've heard 2 select cuts from alt-J's REDUXER: "In Cold Blood" Feat. PUSHA-T (Twin Shadow Version) and most recently, "Deadcrush" Feat. Danny Brown (Alchemist x Trooko Version); back in June, before REDUXER was even announced, alt-J appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to debut "In Cold Blood" Feat. PUSHA-T (Twin Shadow Version) live on national TV. Just this past week, alt-J premiered the Osean-directed video for "In Cold Blood" (Twin Shadow Version) starring a computer-aided version of PUSHA-T. alt-J's REDUXER is currently available for pre-order in a multitude of formats and will see a wide release on Canvasback/Atlantic Records Friday, September 28th.
"PUSHA-T & alt-J have two completely different styles and coloring them together makes for an interesting sound. Instead of representing the two more so as a person-to-person [scenario], I decided to represent them as more person-to-experience or person-to-land. The way PUSHA is acting in the video is the same way, I feel, he acted in the song. He flows through the song as his experience in someone else's world trying to find his place. And so, in the video during the alt-J part, I wanted PUSHA to basically, experience "alt-J The Experience.'"
- "In Cold Blood" Director Osean
