I never heard Dorosote’s original “Emerald Building.” In fact, I’d never heard of Dorosote until Tobacco posted this remix, “inspired by the original.” There’s a crucial difference between splintering and re-assembling the bones of a track and re-interpreting its feel in your own fucked-up fashion. Tobacco, the mastermime behind Black Moth Super Rainbow opts for the latter on his new version.
The original and it’s not-quite-sequel are as eerie as the photo above — a children’s swing stacked in the shadow of a nuclear tower pumping out poisonous smoke. Tobacco’s version makes a regular guitar sound like a banjo, chords seemingly coming apart from the inside — slow drifting notes. Then his mellotron-type synths come in and it sounds like bubble gum getting stuck to your show. The title is “Whiskey Skeleton Wash” and I imagine that’s the feeling it’s supposed to connote. A beautiful corrosion, toxic pleasures and slow decay. It is not supposed to be happy, but it is supposed to be pretty.
