Those electrified Sons of Ken return with remixes a-plenty. A prolific year for the duo, who find themselves pulling out all the stops and calling in those industry favours to make a delicate adaptation of their songs. There is a boldness to releasing remixes in this century. They feel novel, mostly made to extend the lifespan of an already released project. But with Jarvis Cocker, Charli XCX and now Sons of Ken, it seems the time is now to hand off your cherished arts to competent ears elsewhere. Such is the case for Bro Ken Beats, a neat and obvious play on the Ken Men themselves, Michael Moran and Spike Burridge. Give those exceptional beats which made the rounds on their debut album and hear the results.
Strong works can be found within Bro Ken Beats, keeping the flame of quality mixtures and emotionally electronic fury fly. Murderbeat One is given the first overhaul, with an In the Shade remix leaning more into titular repetition than any flurries of new joy. Their grand electronic sound is intact and continues the well-rounded joys found on the debut album. This is more, and there is nothing wrong with that. Familiar beats ring through Work All Nite, and for those who scurried off to find the EP of the same name, you may be delighted to hear this Groucho remix. Moodier works with a further reliance on sci-fi pangs. Wailing electronics and an instrumental pressure build and build, the “work it” barely heard above this 1980s-like feel to the remix. It, like many of the featured works here, is a suitable continuation of the sound heard on Sons of Ken.
A remix album can only be as strong as its starting point and while the joys of Sons of Ken are not lost on listeners, their maintenance and evolution through the hands of others on Bro Ken Beats is fascinating. Paul Smykle is a safe pair of hands for Work All Nite here and the B-Sides are handed off to underground artists like wizard iceni.X and D’Francisco, all given the chance to work the grooves and massage the unique lumps of the Kens’ work. Bro Ken Beats is more for the pile of solid electronic work for those who are hungry for it. Within is still the quality Sons of Ken touched on with their self-titled debut. They cannot help themselves. They must remix tracks themselves too.
They do with the same frenetic energy which touched the first album, and this Bro Ken Beats is a neat and worthy continuation of the sound they subscribed listeners to on their debut. Decent work all around, nice flourishes of what makes the duo such an effective and interesting force on the scene at the moment. This is a duo toying with their established sound in the hopes of cracking a new period. It is development on the fly and in motion, which makes for an incredibly rewarding listen. Thoroughly enjoyable, expectedly so. What else could you want from the Sons of Ken?
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