I’m guessing my man Royce – see him over there under “contributors”? (zing!) – could tell you more about Four Tet than I ever could. Royce is the electronic music brains of this operation. Me? I see Jay Dee’s name and I’ll listen. Hip-hop, y’all. So it’s a beautiful thing when it all comes together.
I’ve actually never heard this song in its original form. In a way, I sort of like that, going in reverse. Listen to the remix first, then the original. So many times I become too enamored with an original that I don’t want it to be rearranged. So here I’ll take the rearranging first and strip away the dynamics of it and absorb the original later.
Jay Dee, whose name you’ll see popping up on year-end lists for Donuts and The Shining, took a walking bass line (or maybe it’s jogging) as a foundation and layers over it with a cooled-out front-porch beat and various vocal elements, including raps from Guilty Simpson.
The Four Tet Remixes album is available through Domino Recording Company.
Four Tet | As Serious As Your Life (Jay Dee Remix)