The remix once held an air of mystery, a rare and somewhat niche practice in music. In today’s world, however, it has become omnipresent, an integral part of the musical ecosystem. The roots of remixing can be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s dancehall culture, where dub and reggae producers began to strip away vocals in existing tracks, making space for reverberated echoes and experimental effects. This laid the groundwork for entire genres, expanding the boundaries of what music could be during the next few decades across hip-hop, sampling and club culture. What began as a form of underground creativity undoubtedly became one of the most important revolutions in modern music. Enter Another Country $$$$'s Body Farm EP.
In a curious twist, remixing, this once-defiant form of artistic expression has been commodified in the digital age, particularly through the rise of social media. It has become so ubiquitous that it now defines much of our interaction with culture. From reels to viral dances, the remix is a constant force, shaping trends and circulating them around the globe at 5G speed. Songs that gain new life through remixes often eclipse their original versions in popularity, or their mutations become an active part of the artist's ongoing work. Take, for instance, the uproarious Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud last year, which saw millions of fans crafting their own lyrics over the rappers’ instrumentals. The remix has become, in many ways, a tool for mass participation: one that is less and less part of the artistic expression.
In this context, when an artist steps forward to reclaim the remix as a conscious art form, it is nothing short of an act of rebellion. This is precisely the mission of Another Country $$$$, an experimental electronic duo from Manchester whose latest EP, Body Farm, is composed entirely of remixes, by other artists, of their own track. Their music exists on the fringes, somewhere between glitch-pop, UK garage, and hopecore, and through the Body Farm, these already avant-garde genres are pushed even further into uncharted territory. By embracing reinterpretation, the duo’s sound becomes a melting pot of diverse influences, resulting in a truly distinct experience that appears to stand out against the cultural landscape of our time.
We had the privilege of sitting down with Sam from Another Country $$$$ to discuss the Body Farm EP, which was released today on experimental Bristol label Spinny Nights.
Your EP is such a fascinating project, congratulations on its release! I’d love to hear more about how the idea for a remix EP came about. You released the original Body Farm in November 2024, but how long had you been thinking about doing the remix versions? How did the concept evolve?
Thanks so much! I guess it all started with the Creature Remix we released last year — we addressed it in a kind of open-ended way that we’d collab and do a remix swap, at the time it wasn’t really a pre-planned thing. I think I sent Beth [BUFFEE] a message back in February or March time asking whether she’d be up for collaborating again, but we hadn’t even confirmed with Spinny at that point we didn’t really know whether it was going to come out or how it was going to come out, we just knew we wanted our friends to feature alongside the release and that the rest would fall into place, I think we were just generally pretty eager to collab prior, regardless of the specific outcome.
I think we were really excited for Body Farm as it has existed as part of our set for a few months already and we knew it was going to be the kind of bookmark release of the newer material and the different direction we were moving in. I think especially with Crimewave and BUFFEE who we’ve both remixed in the past, it kind of felt right to bring it full circle and that it needed to be special. Especially with a single that kind of marks a key point in our growth as a band, but BUFFEE’s was the first remix that we’d discussed and that we’d got back, and what she produced was so exciting it kind of spurred everything else on and made us want to explore it in more depth!
I think we were really excited for Body Farm as it has existed as part of our set for a few months already and we knew it was going to be the kind of bookmark release of the newer material and the different direction we were moving in. I think especially with Crimewave and BUFFEE who we’ve both remixed in the past, it kind of felt right to bring it full circle and that it needed to be special. Especially with a single that kind of marks a key point in our growth as a band, but BUFFEE’s was the first remix that we’d discussed and that we’d got back, and what she produced was so exciting it kind of spurred everything else on and made us want to explore it in more depth!
The title Body Farm is intriguing, especially now with multiple mutations of the same song. A body farm is a place where human and animal carcasses are studied during decomposition, so there seems to be a connection between the idea of decomposition and your art being reinterpreted by other artists. Can you explain what the Body Farm concept means to you personally?
It’s in large a response to specific periods of grief, which is kind of the central theme that ties the song together with the visuals. I felt there was this connection between this and periods of reflection, and how loss tends to loom over us. You begin to question the presence that people had as well as the impact they had whilst they were alive. It kind of feels like a rebirth in a lot of ways, like nothing is going to be the same but because your mindset can change so drastically you can’t help but examine and look at everything differently. The idea of patchworks, collage and art built from archival works has always really inspired it as well, in the tradition of vapourware and breakcore music and how it prioritises familiarity and tries so hard to evoke this sense nostalgia, even with things that you’ve not even experienced. There’s something so melodramatic about it I just love it!
That’s always been something that drives our live performances and visuals, we constantly remix and reinterpret our own songs as part of our performances or throw remixes into the mix often trying to heavily re-contextualise songs. The visuals have an archival aspect alongside this, they’re often based around re-structured archival footage, repurposed from old experiments or other aspects of other visuals. I’ve always loved the idea of being somewhat constantly shifting and ever changing, having the art begin to consume itself, it’s part of our DNA as well as being something that we wanted to explore in a thematic way!
That’s always been something that drives our live performances and visuals, we constantly remix and reinterpret our own songs as part of our performances or throw remixes into the mix often trying to heavily re-contextualise songs. The visuals have an archival aspect alongside this, they’re often based around re-structured archival footage, repurposed from old experiments or other aspects of other visuals. I’ve always loved the idea of being somewhat constantly shifting and ever changing, having the art begin to consume itself, it’s part of our DNA as well as being something that we wanted to explore in a thematic way!
Another Country evokes a sense of a distant place, capturing the transportive nature of your music. While it’s also the title of a British play from 1981, I’m not sure if that’s a direct influence. Could you talk us through the concept of Another Country $$$$, who you are within that, and what drives you to create your art?
Yeah embarrassingly enough it isn’t a direct influence or reference although people do ask us whether we’re fans, I’m always a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve never actually seen the play or film though I’ve heard its good (laughs). I think I happened to see it written down in a list of films, I read into it a little bit and its reference to this sense of othering was linked into it but I was more intrigued by the phrasing of it when taken out of context, I found it so vague as if alluding to something metaphysical and otherworldly, as if referring to somewhere that exists on another plane or something, which I suppose does also have very real world connotations. I guess it’s almost a bit Lovecraftian, I thought there was possibly something kind of scary about it but also perhaps something heavenly that I just found really intriguing.
When I first started the project I’d found myself becoming more and more inspired by music and film that feels like a world has been built around it and puts a sense of immersion at the forefront. I went on to start field recording around the inception of the project as well, which kind of solidified this idea and a lot of these recordings became a big part of the songs that I was writing. Not only just as a spacial ambience but being embedded into the sound of the synths and the percussion so it just felt like it fit perfectly at the time.
When I first started the project I’d found myself becoming more and more inspired by music and film that feels like a world has been built around it and puts a sense of immersion at the forefront. I went on to start field recording around the inception of the project as well, which kind of solidified this idea and a lot of these recordings became a big part of the songs that I was writing. Not only just as a spacial ambience but being embedded into the sound of the synths and the percussion so it just felt like it fit perfectly at the time.
For this EP, you collaborated with three formidable artists: Crimewave, BUFFEE, and Elsa Hewitt. What brought you all together for this project? Are they based in Manchester like you, or is there another connection beyond your shared artistry?
Yeah, the majority are connections we made through playing in Manchester — I met Jake (Crimewave) quite a few years before Another Country existed, but we reconnected after playing together way later down the line and began collaborating and becoming a dear friend of ours. Beth (BUFFEE) was connected with Manchester as well, specifically when we played at Fair Play Festival, she came down to one of our shows at The White Hotel the same week we were playing at Fair Play because we both got featured on the Freak Zone playlist, but me and Oli were big fans before that! Elsa Hewitt is someone Oli connected with from playing in York but we were really excited to get her involved in the project and have her reinterpretation be the grand finale.
How has the Manchester community influenced your music and your creative vision?
I think the community aspect of Manchester music is a massive driver behind our music. I do kind of think it’s in a bit of a golden era, there’s so much amazing stuff coming out of Manchester at the minute. Do Your Best was at the very centre of this, which has become almost like a collective of sorts, through which we’ve got to know so many fantastic artists. It’s pretty vibrant and eclectic, but we’ve always felt like we’re so lucky to be part of a community that platforms experimental music but has always been such a collaborative and supportive space. It can feel like quite a rare and sparse thing that idea of a community these days, but it always feels like our friends, in reciprocal ways inspire and drive each other and are always working on different projects together!
This project highlights the transformative power of art, and its infinite ability to recreate, reinterpret and reinvent itself. When you listen to each remix, do you still recognise your original song, or do you see them as entirely separate works?
Yeah I think that treating a remix as a separate work is a way better way of approaching it. I always love the idea of going beyond the limits of what an edit or remix is meant to be, obviously there are still those distinctive elements that you can lock into but I always think remixes are at their best when they rebuild from the ground up. I guess there are perhaps limits to this idea but I don’t always think the idea of remaining faithful should be a concern. I feel like its so much more satisfying when you listen to a remix and those original elements almost creep up on you or reappear in a way that you don’t necessarily expect. I think everyone did a great job of really running with the concept and embedding their own sensibilities into their songs. I think if you begin to worry about how far you are taking it maybe you’re limiting your own creativity or almost like censoring yourself like you’re almost creating it for someone else and not for yourself. I don’t know why it is, but I always think of those songs that use samples, I feel like it’s always way better when you don’t spot or realise it’s a sample you know — the separation kind of works!
Sending a song out for a remix must feel like handing over a piece of your soul, especially after all the work you’ve put into making it unique. You’ve already explored this process, collaborating with Hyperdawn on their remix of God and creating your own remix of BUFFEE’s Creature in 2023. Is there still a part of you that feels nervous or vulnerable when you hear your songs reinterpreted for the first time?
I don’t think I felt nervous it was definitely a more exciting feeling, I think Crimewave, BUFFEE and ELSA are all so fantastic I feel like I had full faith in what they were going to do. I guess the idea of ownership is always a contentious thing to me, I’ve never felt particularly protective over what I do in that way. I guess with TikTok and Instagram anyone can make an edit or completely re-contextualise what you make to create new meanings or messages outside of its original intention, for better or worse it’s a little out of our control. I don’t actually feel too nervous or apprehensive of it to be honest I find it really exciting. I think it definitely helps when you genuinely love the music the other people make but I loved hearing reinterpretations and re-imaginings of our songs. I always find it so refreshing. I think it’s a big part of my own process anyway, I quite often write entire songs just to then remix them and rework them into something else it always just feels so much more fresh.
Each artist on this EP brings a unique perspective to Body Farm. Crimewave’s glitch and distortion lend the song a heavier tone, while BUFFEE injects a sense of euphoric energy, and Elsa Hewitt’s remix is ethereal and ambient. Do you think elements of these remixes will influence the direction of Another Country $$$$’s future music?
Yeah absolutely! I think that we definitely made a conscious decision to choose artists who we found inspiring before anything was even created. That’s just a result of the specific connections you build with certain artists, I do think we’ve tried to make an effort not be stuck and set into specific genre conventions or rules and try and be as open as possible to what musical direction we could be taken in. It links back to that idea of the organic and electronic marrying of elements, we’re definitely trying to find ways to put that at the forefront of our music. We’ve been experimenting more, use of guitars is a big way that we’re moving forward and developing new music. I think that’s definitely a way that Jake (Crimewave) has influenced us because he has such knack for blending styles and just generally making a guitar not actually sound like a guitar. I think the shoegaze and influence of post-hardcore is one that we’ve been trying to explore more and more. Artists like They Are Gutting a Body of Water and Jane Remover who are bringing shoegaze and electronic elements together!
The Body Farm music video features intriguing visuals that seem to play with the tension between technology and nature. This duality mirrors the themes in the EP and feels very self-reflexive. How do you view the relationship between the synthetic and technological with the organic and human in your music? And how do you think the other artists on this project have explored that contrast in their remixes?
It’s definitely something that connects us all as artists, the space between bands and traditional acoustic instruments and how that becomes married with electronics is one that we all explore in one way or another. In terms of how it connects us, I think the freedom that electronic music offers is amazing but marrying it with the limitations and the musicality of the more human aspects offers so many more challenges and ultimately more routes of exploration. There was always this funny dialogue that began when me and Oli first began practising together, where when I’d present an idea for songs, Oli would say that he can’t play it. My initial reaction would always be that of support and encouragement, to not be so hard on himself, but he’d have to stop me and be like, no I literally can’t play that it’s physically impossible and so we’d have to go back to the drawing board (laughs).
The video’s video-game-inspired title screen immediately evokes the feeling of starting a new game in DOOM or Resident Evil, which will surely resonate with horror fans. What does the horror aesthetic in the video symbolise for you, and how does it fit within the wider context of your art? Also, what’s the significance of the CD being unearthed from the ground — almost like a digital grave?
Yeah, the sort of horror survival video game and the horror film aspect was a big part of it, funnily enough the title screen itself was a specific visual reference original box art of this survival horror game from the 2000s Phase Paradox — it was very much purposeful, the whole video and artwork is a load of references buried on top of each other film like I Saw The TV Glow and The Blair Witch Project that take a reflexive approach that call attention to the process and film and media in general. In terms of symbolism I thinks there was always something quite powerful about the feeling of being scared, it was always something I was drawn to as a kid, and I guess media often punctuates those key moments in everyone’s lives. I remember there were quite a few occasions where my dad had showed me old horror films that I was most likely far too young to watch, that just scared the life out of me for weeks, but I think it’s became something that I actively kind of sought out, almost out of morbid curiosity and I was kind of obsessed ever since.
That feeling when you behold something that is truly terrifying or unnerving is really powerful. It feels like the ground been taken from under you, it’s this manic crazed almost hyperactive feeling, you know like fight or flight. I always thought that it feels more true and vulnerable than other emotions, it’s something that I was really drawn to, it like anchors you to the earth. It feels more real, like there’s no space for artifice. It was something I hadn’t felt in years until I went through grief and it came back, and there was something oddly nostalgic about that feeling, but as you get older, the context in which you experience fear dramatically changes and is focused on problems in the real world as opposed to ones your imagination has conjured up.
I think that’s very much a shared experience of horror fans but it kind of naturally allowed for a way of exploring one’s past and that idea of nostalgia and grief. There was always this recurring motif that I found of searching and seeking out something in my head while writing a lot of music. The disc is kind of representative of actively seeking out ways to find new meanings. I liked the idea that the disc is some kind of cursed or haunted object and recovering it ultimately places you in something cyclical. I liked the idea that there were quite morbid, nihilistic ideas buried in something inherently frenetic and euphoric.
That feeling when you behold something that is truly terrifying or unnerving is really powerful. It feels like the ground been taken from under you, it’s this manic crazed almost hyperactive feeling, you know like fight or flight. I always thought that it feels more true and vulnerable than other emotions, it’s something that I was really drawn to, it like anchors you to the earth. It feels more real, like there’s no space for artifice. It was something I hadn’t felt in years until I went through grief and it came back, and there was something oddly nostalgic about that feeling, but as you get older, the context in which you experience fear dramatically changes and is focused on problems in the real world as opposed to ones your imagination has conjured up.
I think that’s very much a shared experience of horror fans but it kind of naturally allowed for a way of exploring one’s past and that idea of nostalgia and grief. There was always this recurring motif that I found of searching and seeking out something in my head while writing a lot of music. The disc is kind of representative of actively seeking out ways to find new meanings. I liked the idea that the disc is some kind of cursed or haunted object and recovering it ultimately places you in something cyclical. I liked the idea that there were quite morbid, nihilistic ideas buried in something inherently frenetic and euphoric.
Another Country $$$$ has been active on the live scene, already supporting big names like Fat Dog and Proc Fiskal despite being early in your career. Do you have any major performances planned for 2025, or are there any artists you’re particularly excited to work with in the future?
Yeah, we feel super lucky to have got to support so many fantastic artists so early on, especially with artists that we find so inspiring in our own music and live work. We’ve not got any big performances currently set in stone but we’re still working to gig more and keep writing new music, evolving, keep growing and keep the announcements coming!
Looking ahead, what can we expect from your next project? Is there a possibility of more collaborations or remix albums on the horizon?
We’ve got new music coming very soon, I think that because of the way that we play live, we always try and make room and use it as a staging ground for new material, our ideas and development is kind of a shared experience, but it’s meant that we’ve built up so much new material and new music so we’re definitely looking forward to putting out more music. We’re always trying to think a few steps ahead of where we’re going to be in a half a year or a years’ time. We’ve got a list of people we possibly want to collaborate with in the future some are locked in, some are less so. I can’t really say for definite, so watch this space for now!
