Like the first half of the album, this is a collection of remixes and original material (with singer collaborations). Listen to Repeating Motion to get a taste of the pick-me-up anthems that litter the record. I adore All I Got, which is as catchy as anything you’ll hear all year.

While the first half of the record was largely pump-up, the second half slows things down a little bit to contemplate. Listened to in tandem with the first half, the record feels much more complete. Tracks like 405 work better alongside the rest of the album than they do on their own. While I love Cheap Sunglasses, I think the best new track here is We Belong, which is a beautiful manifesto for electronic music as a genre, but also for those of us who understand the nature of electronic things: nothing lasts.

While describing the record as melancholic would be a stretch, it would be fair to say it feels like the unravelling of a Friday evening. Pairing the album with its predecessor is strange, though: because the first half is so danceable and this record is so much quieter, it makes the album feel front-loaded to a fault. The records are better when listened to independently.

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The nature of remixes is that they’re often focused on dance songs, and while that’s true with Strangers, it doesn’t feel disrespectful to the original music. In a lot of ways, it feels like the songs RAC choose to remix are measurably improved by the remixes on this go-around, and given fresh life in addition to a new perspective.

Remixes also tend to focus on pop songs or hip hop, but the choice for RAC to focus almost exclusively on indie rock here is wise. Not only does it differentiate it from the rest of the pack, it also gives us fresh light on what the genre could sound like when it’s prepared for a different audience. This conversation is vital in expanding the vocabulary of indie and alternative rock; as the genres mature, it’s important we continue to look outside of them for both influence and direction. It’s good to escape the echo chamber.

RAC used to stand for Remix Artist Collective, but these days is the sole project of André Allen Anjos. Anjos is one of the best producers around. Don’t miss out on this one — I suspect I’ll be featuring more RAC here very soon — perhaps when Part 2 hits in April.

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