USB002

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How do you push one of dance music’s most progressive projects even further? Remixe. Fred again.. first released his club-focused <i>USB</i> collection in 2022 and has continued evolving it with the addition of new track. “[It’s] just an endless album that I’ll add to forever,” he told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in 2025, as he prepared to drop new music to bring the tracklist up to 36 cut. “Hopefully, one day, it’ll have 200 songs on it.” <i>USB</i> has since spawned a series of live shows (and an Apple Music Live), and this mutation of the project, <i>USB002 REMIXES</i>, takes seven of the existing songs and hands them to UK-based DJ/producers to transform in their own way. The results uphold Fred’s belief that the music should be made “in a dialogue, like when the thing feels living and breathing.” Read on to discover more about the remixers and their remixe. <b>Fred again.. & Blanco, “solo (KETTAMA remix)”</b> <b>The remixer:</b> On his debut album, 2025’s <i>Archangel</i>, Irish DJ/producer KETTAMA underlined his skill for emotive rave anthems but also showcased a spirit of experimentation and love of ambient—not least on the linkup with Fred and Shady Nasty, “Air Maxe.” <b>The remix:</b> The magic of “solo” was the way it juxtaposed Blanco’s despondent, introspective vocals with optimistic music. KETTAMA builds on that contrast to ensure the rapper/singer’s “Rainy days been getting me damp” only ever sounds like the prelude to better times breaking through. <b>Fred again.. & BIA, “..FEISTY (Oppidan remix)”</b> <b>The remixer:</b> Bristol-based Oppidan sits at the vanguard of artists reimagining UK garage, drawing ideas and influences from across the underground into bass music. “London” from Skepta and Fred’s <i>Skepta .. Fred</i> EP samples Oppidan’s “WAKE AND BREAK.” <b>The remix:</b> Joyful synths and fizzing beats are the jump leads that energize Fred’s trippy, minimalist original into a multihued party cut. <b>Fred again.., Winny & Sammy Virji, “Winny (Lil Silva remix)”</b> <b>The remixer:</b> As a producer and artist tuned into emotions or the energy in a room rather than trend, Lil Silva has never been constrained by genre. Drawing on every strain of electronic music, his productions can be beguilingly abstract and irresistibly direct. “I want to make great music,” he’s told Apple Music. “I don’t want any rules with it.” <b>The remix:</b> No doubt the tempo-switching original appealed to a restless spirit like Silva, and here, he leads Winny’s mesmeric vocal samples on an equally snaking journey that’s powered by clattering breaks and sternum-pounding bass before warming down in a blissed-out finale. <b>Fred again.., Shady Nasty & KETTAMA, “HARDSTYLE 2 (Lou Nour remix)”</b> <b>The remixer:</b> Previously operating as SICARIA—and one half of Sicaria Sound—the London DJ/producer has been one of dubstep’s fiercest advocates during the 2020, often favoring a rich, textured take on the sound that absorbs all forms of 140 music and beyond. In the runup to the release of <i>USB002 REMIXES</i>, Nour joined Fred for his shows at London’s Corsica Studios and Alexandra Palace. <b>The remix:</b> Nour skilfully retains all the original’s woozying, weightless charm while tethering it to skipping rhythms and grimy sub-ba. <b>Fred again.., BEAM & Skin On Skin, “the floor (HAAi remix)”</b> <b>The remixer:</b> Australia-born, UK-based Teneil Throssell began her music career as singer/guitarist in Sydney shoegaze trio Dark Bell, and she’s since transported that band’s interests in psychedelia and abstraction into strains of electronic music that also major on bass and melody. She previously worked with Fred on 2022’s “Lights Out,” also featuring Romy. <b>The remix:</b> Handed a track that was already something of a heater, HAAi maxes it out with ba, beat, and joy in preparation for peak time. <b>Fred again.., Danny Brown, BEAM, PARISI & JPEGMAFIA, “OK OK (Hamdi remix)”</b> <b>The remixer:</b> Dubstep, UKG, grime, all forms of bass music…the Oxford DJ/producer has been at the forefront of blurring and reimagining genre boundaries since he started producing at the of 13, and his sound has been gathering a global reach thanks to collaborations with Fred, Skrillex, Zeds Dead, and Sammy Virji. <b>The remix:</b> Hamdi recasts the track as a transmission from the center of the earth—or at least the center of the dubstep underground. It’s cavernou, haunting, and fitted with a bassline that will leave fault lines wherever it’s played. <b>Fred again.. & Amyl and The Sniffer, “you’re a star (Skream & Benga remix)”</b> <b>The remixers:</b> Whether in their solo guises or in collaboration, dubstep godheads Benga (Beni Adejumo) and Skream (Oliver Jones) did as much as anyone to pioneer the sound during the early 2000. With the pair always willing to experiment in all genre, their supergroup Magnetic Man (formed with mentor Artwork) forged a path for dubstep to enter the mainstream and main room. .

via Apple Music

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