Back in May 2012 John Robb interviewed Ian Astbury about The Cults recently released (then) new album âChoice Of Weaponâ.
John described the record as âa dirty record for dirty times. Astbury is in great voice – he is one of the great rock n roll singers and the songs have an experimental edge without ever wandering too far from the hard rock template. Everything is cranked and filthy and the record is unapologetic. Itâs a ballsy fuck you record for ballsy fuck you times, a record that somehow manages to play rock music that touches upon AC/DC and Sonic Youth whilst remembering the bands roots back in the brave days of Southern Death Cult, when skinny young men dressed like punk rock native Americans and made it look cool as fuckâ
With that in mind I was intrigued to hear the just released Salem remix of “Elemental Light”
Apparently Astbury was considering the possibility of remixes and just happened across an email contact for Salem â they responded to his approach and subsequently produced a haunting almost ethereal, beat-driven version of the original track that you would never attribute to The Cult…Astbury himself was clearly impressed with Salem work as he then called in the cinematic help of film director Kostas Seremetis to craft the perfect visual accompaniment for the project, of which Astbury commented “The result is more short film than music video…The sentiment of this film captures the loss of wilderness, and a generation trying to make sense of the trash heap they have inherited. It evokes nature versus man, that struggle [and] desire to control nature and ultimately death.”
We welcome your comments on this one…
