The award nomination is actually for the remix done by our pal from 2 days ago, Skrillex. It's for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (on a small side note - why does this need to be identified as non-classical?).
Benny Benassi is a previous Grammy Award winner for his work as a DJ and Producer (and an Italian - holler!). The original track for "Cinema" itself is from his album Electroman, but this is where the remix is actually featured. Gary Go, a British singer, is the featured vocalist throughout the track.
Okay, so, as a reference, since it's not actually on the album we'll be looking at, here's the original song and video:
The second one is actually the Grammy-nominated version, "Cinema - Skrillex Remix." It's got a slight bit more echo on the vocals, and a little less electronic in the beginning part. Then this instrumental-ish part comes in and... crap, yup, I know where I know this from...
"Cinema - Laidback Luke Remix" is the next up to the plate, and I'm sorry, but if you've been a reader for a while, you know how much I hate that damn crank and wind sound, and that's it at the get-go here. I would have changed it immediately at that if I weren't trying to listen to the entire work. It goes away almost entirely for the rest of the song, but not enough for satisfaction.
Next up is "Cinema - Maurizio Gubellini Remix." Here we've got that relatively normal remix build-up of a beat into the actual song. This version has more of a dream-like quality to it. It's whimsy in a way (yes! Spell-check didn't tell me whimsy was wrong!). This one's more like, to me, what you'd hear in a club with an actual scratching DJ, which makes it kind of cool and unique in a way.
"Cinema - Andrea DJ Mazza Mazzali Dub Mix" ends our brief stint with Benny for tonight. It takes some time to get in to. The approach to the beat is a little fascinating though. It's not just some weird electronic sound; it's almost kind fo messier. A lot of the lyrical base is lost in this one, something that's a little hard for me to deal with, being a lyric-obsessed being.
And we're done!
Kind fo cool to see what selections of remixes they placed on here. While it's not a collection of different genre approaches to the song, it is a collection where each track maintains some sense of individuality, which is hard to do in this kind of realm. Overall, a decent mix, and the nominated song did itself justice and stood up amongst the rest.