182500-20-questions-rac-matthew-koma-video-premiere

20 Questions: RAC + Matthew Koma (Video Premiere)

RAC has been remixing indie wunderkids (and video game themes) for years. Matthew Koma co-wrote songs for Zedd and Carly Rae Jepsen. Together, their song "Cheap Sunglasses" is unquestioned pop perfection.
RAC
Strangers
Interscope
2014-04-01

There’s a good chance you know the work of André Allen Anjos, even if you can’t quite place the name. It’s OK: he’s used to it.

You see, Anjos is the mastermind behind RAC, otherwise known as the Remix Artists Collective, which has been an active concern since about 2007. Born in Portugal, Anjos has a deep-seated love of pop music, and his electronics-heavy remixes remain remarkably skeletal in structure, often stripping things down to their very basic elements before giving ’em that nice melodic amp-up that all good remixes do. When not tackling reworkings of indie stalwarts like Bloc Party, Tegan & Sara, or Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, RAC was also shoring up support from the nerd contingent by being the guy who totally nailed what makes a video game theme remix actually work.

While Anjos has experimented with original songs before, his two-part debut album, Strangers, is pop music at its most essential: it’s dance-pop without any unnecessary ephemera. By utilizing the skills of his numerous guests (including all of the folks listed above) to give flavor to his minimalist production work, Strangers proves to be a one-of-a-kind pop album where melody absolutely rules the day, each hook carefully crafted and instantly memorable. PopMatters is stoked to premiere the lyric video for what may be the album’s out-and-out highlight, “Cheap Sunglasses” featuring Matthew Koma: