Deck-Brained

A garage producer if ever there were, for years the veteran Chicago DJ Tevo Howard has been crafting obscure-inspired house under his own label, Beautiful Granville Records, and rethinking pop classics under his side project, The Black Electro Orchestra. These pop rethinks—ranging from Joy Division to Madonna—amount to low-fi, beatbox, instrumental-only remixes that you wouldn’t be able to identify, most likely, if it weren’t for the title. But don’t let the muzak-like, tinny quality fool you; it’s pretty high-concept stuff, stripped of emotion and nostalgia. For his latest retooling, he points his gimlet ear to golden oldies from the Pet Shop Boys…

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