Remixed & Reimagined

Hot on the heels of Nina Simone's like-minded project, this 14-track disk takes Billie Holiday's masterful and mourning vocals of 1935 to 1958 to the 21st-century digital dance floor, courtesy of some resourceful remixers and DJs from Swingsett & Takuya and Nickodemus & Zeb to Organica and Poppyseed. You have to give these aural alchemists credit for their daring, but some tracks work better than others. The best include "Spreadin’ Rhythm Around," featuring Digable Planet's Ladybug Mecca, the echoplexed embers of GXR's "Long Gone Blues," DJ Logic's string-centric "Glad to be Unhappy," and Daniel Y's infectious, Soul to Soul/Loose Ends grooved "Billie's Blues." With augmentation provided by live guitarists, keyboardists, and percussionists, these scientists of sound don't desecrate the gardenia-wearing goddess's eternal artistry; rather, they globally reposition it for this era's electronica-fueled iPod generation, from the downbeat to the download. --Eugene Holley, Jr.