Miscegenation

Have a blast on this, then read on.

Not so long ago, the remix was a record company whip to boost credibility and sales. We'd dance slowly but furiously to Maxi Priest... and oh, how we danced. It was different then.

Steve "Silk" Hurley could slap a few house beats and strings over the new Dannii Minogue single and cash his cheque. We'd pay £1.99 in Our Price every Monday. It all stacked up.

The best remixes take a fantastic song and kick it into a new dimension, even if they date faster than sushi in the process. Norman Cook did it with Cornershop's Brimful of Asha. Andy Weatherall likewise with New Order's Regret. Coldcut brought DJ kicks to UK hiphop heads with their thieving Paid In Full classic. Witness also Orbital's stunning encapsulation of Meat Beat Manifesto's Mindstream.

Credit crunch economics have seen the remixer's art move from the corporate to community and the easy sharing of digital files has led to a reinvigorated culture of cross-pollination among today's underground musicians. Mash-up culture is now our Lingua Franca.

We're no longer children of the sampler, so the old cut and paste metaphor no longer applies. Rather than sticking a DAT in the post, we share stems and we drag and drop.

Which is a convoluted way of introducing you to Tiger Mendoza.

Missing On The Motorway, his mash-up of Everything But the Girl's Missing and DJ Shadow's Mashing On The Motorway recently took joint prize in Shadow's own remix competition on Soundcloud. Tiger's own tunes are even better.

Here's the first fruits of a remix swap between the Tiger camp and Stately Homes of England. It could be the second greatest shoegaze power ballad.

The Stately Belleville project is now on the runway. Click the button below for an in-house remix to whet your appetite.