A good remix uncovers an element of the song that was already there so the listener perceives it in a whole new way. A bad remix often ends up as a vehicle for someone else's ego, with the original becoming so contorted and manipulated that it is unrecognizable in the final product.
A pair of new albums from Keigo Oyamada (better known as Cornelius) explore both possibilities. On the first, "CM2" he is the remixer. On the second, "PM," he is remixed, but not by famous DJs or musicians, but by fans, who downloaded short samples of his last album, "Point," from his Web site.
"What intrigued me about this project is that generally when you want to get some remixes done, you ask somebody that you know to do it," says Oyamada, at his office in Nakameguro. "But at the very moment that you ask, you know what to expect because you know that person, and their style and you can predict what they might do.