Last summer we put on one of
Clock Opera's first-ever live shows opening for
Marina & The Diamonds at a birthday party we threw at Notting Hill Arts Club. They killed it, and though we'd only heard bits and pieces from them to that point, you could tell there was something really special in Clock mastermind Guy Connelly's one-of-a-kind approach to pop songwriting. We'd just released Marina's
Crown Jewels EP at that point and had the remix parts for "I Am Not A Robot" chilling on our hard drive and figured he could do something magical with them, so we broached the idea to him, he seemed up for it, and we passed them his way. Four months passed and we pretty much forgot about it, and then one day in late November he got in touch to say he'd finished the remix and sent it over to us. It was worth the wait.
Simply put, this is our favorite remix of all time. It's no secret we've got a penchant for hyperbole in these here pages, but after nearly six months of living with this remix we can honestly say that this is a once in a lifetime kind of track, a veritable holy grail of emotional pop perfection. "I Am Not A Robot" was already a masterful pop song in it's own right, but the Clock Opera remix takes it above and beyond, to soaring new heights of heartwrenching brilliance. Keeping the blueprint of the original verses more or less intact, Clock draws you in with all manner of pulsing strings samples and dramatic piano stabs until
that chorus hits, in which Connelly masterfully splices together Marina's vocals to invent a new vocal melody and an altogether new refrain of "our. love's. fading. our. love's. fading.". Forget tugging, this'll rip your heartstrings straight out of your chest and then some. Trust us, it really doesn't get any better than this.
MP3: "I Am Not A Robot" (Clock Opera Remix) - Marina & The Diamonds
[exclusive]
The Knocks are our number one bros here in NYC, so it's with great pleasure that we introduce you to their debut single, "Blackout", out next week on their very own Heavy Roc Music imprint. Just in time for the weekend, it's a stupidly massive hands-in-the-air party anthem that's been soundtracking our nights out for months now. With big house pianos, buzzsaw synths and a sing-a-long chorus for the ages, it's the perfect soundtrack to an epic night on the rage. The Knocks seriously deserve a Nobel Prize for their outstanding contributions to raging on this track, this is music for your grind.