Hiatus Kaiyote is a Melbourne alt-R&B group who made their recording debut ten years ago with the album Tawk Tomahawk. Just about a year ago, they released their third and most ambitious album to date, Mood Variant. While we wait for more new music, they have now come back with a remix album, Mood Variant (The Remixes).

It’s very easy to phone in a remix collection. You can just run a song back and add a guest verse or two, or maybe just extend a song with the same beat and call it a dance remix. This is to say that there are a lot of remix collections that will make you shrug your shoulders, and you’ll move on and forget that it ever happened. Every once in a while, though, you get a remix collection that is actually done with care, bringing in a lot of different and varied artists who work at a high level, who can all contribute something interesting and enjoyable to the collection. Fortunately, that’s exactly what Hiatus Kaiyote have done here. With a roster of remixers that includes Stro Elliot, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Salami Rose Joe Louis, DJ Khalil, Mndsgn, Omari Jazz, Silentjay, Teebs, Ki Pharaoh, and Nick Hakim, you get plenty of great musicians in on the project. The great thing here is that not only did they get a top notch roster together, they got a bunch of artists with different styles and points of view who can all take the source material in really compelling and enjoyable directions. Each time through, something new catches my ear and let’s me appreciate the collection on a new level. My particular favorites are the Georgia Anne Muldrow’s remix of “Get Sun,” which brings in that fonk to the song, just begging you to turn the music up and dance with your friends, and Nick Hakim’s remix of “Red Room,” which goes in the opposite direction, giving you a really soulful and introspective listening experience.

Mood Variant (The Remixes) has everything going for it. You’re starting with great source material, and then you’re letting some of the best artists working today come in and reimagine the music and take it in all sorts of different directions. The result is a remix album that is a really nice companion piece to the original album.