The Kitka Remix Project is an exciting new project designed to cultivate co-creativity through unexpected collaborations with sound artists in all genres. We aim to expose the unique and unusual sounds of Kitka to new audiences through encouraging creative remixes of existing Kitka recordings.
Whether your favorite music genre is techno, indie-rock, folk, classical, world, hip-hop, experimental, jazz… or if you simply love to tinker in Garageband, we invite you to mix your creative voice with Kitka’s!
"Wintersongs remixed" selected playlist (so far...)
What is a remix?
It's a piece of music that's been altered from its original state by adding, removing, or changing the elements of the original composition to create something new.
GET INSPIRED
Domino of Oakland's legendary Hieroglyphics, MC Lars, Judah Nagler of The Velvet Teen, Jim Greer of the Rondo Brothers, Ultralash, Suave & Kevin Seal of CitizenFive, ABeautifulYear, Poach Stevens and Tim Carter of Kasabian have all taken songs from Kitka's Wintersongs album and created new tracks or contributed stems for YOU to make new tracks. From gritty Hip Hop to emotional Folk to psychedelic Funk/Soul to dance-worthy Electronica and dreamy Synth Pop... there are so many stunning examples of how a remix can transform the original song. Scroll down to listen.
Now ask yourself, "What will I create?"
join the project
Anyone can participate! You don't need to be a musician or have fancy software. Kitka has provided resources here (this toolbox includes four full tracks from Kitka's Wintersongs album, plus countless stems and full tracks by the remix artists below). Use these resources (or your own) to create a track for the Kitka Remix Project and submit it via the link below. All tracks will be posted on the Kitka website with your name, photo and home town.
here's how
Step 1: Listen to remix examples and watch the videos below to get ideas, inspiration and instruction
Step 2: Download free toolboxes here (from Kitka, Hieroglyphics, Rondo Brothers, Tim Carter & MC Lars) containing sound files to use in your remix, or use your own sound files paired with Kitka tracks
Step 3: Create your remix and then submit an MP3 to kelly@kitka.org. Be sure to include a jpeg picture of yourself, your name and your hometown.
Step 4: Tell your friends and share your remix!
the remixes
Get inspired by these remixes created by artists from the Bay Area and beyond. Join the Kitka Remix Project and add your remix to this list!
A Beautiful Year / 9 Dragons production team is based in the Bay Area, and consists of drummer/producer Ricky Carter, a member of the band A Beautiful Year (a collaborative effort with songwriter Beth Waters), and keyboardist/producer Justus Dobrin, a sought after sideman and composer for network television programs, commercials and film.
Jim Greer (Rondo Brothers) is a record producer who has been working out of San Francisco and Berkeley since 1999. He has written, recorded, produced for and performed with a wide variety of artists over the years, including Galactic, Macy Gray, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Rondo Brothers, Foster the People, MC Lars, Butterscotch, and many more.
Lasso is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter based out of Tucson, AZ. With over 10 releases, Lasso has explored everything from hip-hop to noise to cabaret, country, and classical, creating a singular vision of psychedelic music.
Jonathan Segel (Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse) is a musician and composer who works in numerous genres, often simultaneously. He loves making music but had mixed feelings about making music out of music that was already music to begin with. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Peter Dunne fashions audio for film, museum, and song. He is a big fan of virtual instruments and is a mean chicken picker. He is based in Ess Eff.
Fun facts: he opened for the Clash on their first US date, toured with Talking Heads, had dance hits in the '80's, played Studio 54 a couple of times as a solo artist, plays Bach lute suites for fun, and is a big fan of Kitka.
Ultralash is a musical project fronted by Oakland CA artist Karry Walker that's equal parts enigmatic porch folk and ambient trip-hop collage. The multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter has produced three albums in her home studio, the most recent being A River Listless which was released in June of this year. Though often reclusive, her music has garnered the attention of top shelf mixing greats Roger Moutenot (Sleater-Kinney, Yo La Tengo) and Myles Boisen (John Zorn, Fred Frith) who had a hand in the final production of each album.
Judah Nagler is a musician based out of Petaluma, CA. For the last 15 years, he has played in a band called The Velvet Teen. In his spare time, he enjoys making electronic music and homemade electric instruments.
Poach Stevens... Man of Man, Artist, Producer. Just another kid making water in the sandbox & 1/2 of the Swapmeet Ensemble.
One of the pioneers of the underground “nerdcore hip-hop” subgenre, rapper MC Lars has expanded from the studio to the classroom with visiting scholar/teacher residencies at USC, in the UK, and across the US educating young people about “lit-hop,” a subject term he coined to highlight the connections between literature, classical poetry, and the cultural history of rap. He has collaborated with KRS-One, opened for Nas and Snoop Dogg, played multiple summers on the Vans Warped Tour, spoken and presented at TEDx conferences, and performed at Carnegie Hall.
Charise "Lake Lady" Sowells lives and breathes music, often writing songs in her sleep. A storyteller with a BFA in scriptwriting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and years of production experience under her belt in both NY and LA, she also directs and produces music videos with her production company Unabashed Productions via the facebook group she started in 2015, Bay Area Music Video Collaborators.
Brian Mayhall is a musician, and producer based out of Santa Fe, NM. Best known for his work as the bassist with D Numbers, he is also a passionate solo artist as well as co-founder of Mesa Recordings.
SINthetik Messiah is an international multi-genre experimental project homegrown on the bayous of the dirty south. (Louisiana, USA)
CitizenFive is a futuristic psych-soul duo making music in Oakland, CA. Nate "Suave" Cameron, Jr., a New Orleans native, and Kevin Seal, from Cincinnati, create experimental riffs on hip-hop-infused R&B. Their style incorporates slash chords, backmasking, micro-edits, and stacked harmonies to play with the conventions of soul music. CitizenFive's lyrics, which Suave delivers via his gospel-schooled baritone voice, often address issues of resistance and social justice.
Domino is record producer, manager, DJ, and one of the members of Hieroglyphics - the legendary underground hip-hop collective based in Oakland, California.
Max Oberschelp is a German-based film & audio artist. His work reflects aspects of psychedelic & philosophical musings and is inspired by the concept of "Biosymphony". He studied Digital Film & Animation in Frankfurt am Main and Mathematic & Philosophy in Berlin.
Q.II is a DIY sound producer and DJ from Yekaterinburg, Russia. Being an admirer of a wide range of genres and styles, he experiments and combines folk and ethnic tradition with alternative sound and "global bass". Remixes of Kitka's originals are part of his ethnoclub EP "Плясовая Vol. 1"
Eli Kramer: "A late entry from a small town."
your remix here
the videos
Find out what inspired these Bay Area artists to make a Kitka remix, how they did it, and how you can too!
Past Kitka Remixes
additional remix info & resources
http://www.wikihow.com/Remix
http://edmprod.com/21-remix-tips/
https://www.ujam.com/ujamstudio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix
The fine print
Kitka will not sell any remix submitted to the Kitka Remix Project, nor reimburse artists for submitted tracks. We have provided all Toolbox materials in good faith and in the spirit of experimentation and community with the understanding that all artists will share and distribute Kitka Remix tracks at no charge.