John Carpenter announces ‘Lost Themes Remixed’ + shares Prurient remix

Director and composer John Carpenter has announced a vinyl release of remixed tracks from his early 2015 debut album ‘Lost Themes’. Aptly titled ‘Lost Themes Remixed,’ the record includes 8 remixes of ‘Lost Themes’ tracks on vinyl for the first time, out October 16 via Sacred Bones. Listen to the never-before-released Purgatory (Prurient Remix) via Soundcloud below.

Dominick Fernow (Prurient, Vatican Shadow, Hospital Records) had this to say about his remix of Purgatory: “John Carpenter is the master of sustained tension with electronic music. The fine line between stasis and energy is almost impossible to define but Carpenter consistently achieves this paradox with Spartan means. This remix attempts to break the compositional tension of Carpenter’s Purgatory and through a process of colliding loop cycles – a technique used on the ‘Pleasure Ground’ album reformatting the electronics into a earth like texture outside of the urban environments traditionally connected to synthesis.”

The themes to Horror Master John Carpenter’s features like Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, and Escape from New York have remained instantly recognizable since he penned them nearly four decades ago. In February 2015, Sacred Bones released his first solo record of non-soundtrack music, ‘Lost Themes,’ to overwhelming critical success. Carpenter proved that not only could he perfectly score his own films – he could also score the movies in your mind.

Eight pivotal contemporary electronic artists were moved to reshape the original songs on ‘Lost Themes’ in tribute to one the genre’s great pioneers. Several of the remixes were released as part of the digital deluxe edition of the album, but ‘Lost Themes Remixed’ marks the first time any of the tracks have been on vinyl.

Sacred Bones alumna Zola Jesus remixed Night with producer Dean Hurley, and the result nods to her lo-fi Stridulum-era work. Silent Servant, the Los Angeles minimal techno mastermind, delivers a pulsing rework of Vortex. JG Thirlwell of Foetus’ baroque reimagining of Abyss is in line with the modern classical scores for which he has become known. ohGr of industrial pioneers Skinny Puppy delivers a track on par with the best of that band’s mid-’80s prime.

Ben Greenberg, the Uniform multi-instrumentalist and producer, concurred: “There’s a true minimalism at work in his music, but it’s a means, not an end. It’s simple, but synthetic, so there’s very little going on, but it’s very distinctive and unsettling.”

Preorder John Carpenter’s ‘Lost Themes Remixed’ via Sacred Bones here.

‘Lost Themes’ Remixed track list:
1. Purgatory (Prurient Remix)
2. Night (Zola Jesus & Dean Hurley Remix)
3. Wraith (ohGr Remix)
4. Vortex (Silent Servant Remix)
5. Vortex (Uniform Remix)
6. Fallen (Blanck Mass Remix)
7. Abyss (JG Thirwell Remix)
8. Fallen (Bill Kouligas Remix)

For more information on John Carpenter, visit theofficialjohncarpenter.com.