Review: Swedish House Mafia, Antidote Remixes EP

There are a lot of potential puns to be made about Swedish House Mafia’s recently released EP of remixes of their massive hit "Antidote." Example: These Swedish House Mafia’s remixes are the ‘antidote’ to a dull night on the dance floor. You get the idea.

But let’s just be clear and simply say that this five track EP from SHM and Australian electro house duo Knife Party are excellent. Quite.

Launching from its initial appearance on SHM’s live One Night Stand LP, here, "Antidote" gets a slew of treatments that range from massive to…massive, if just a touch more mellow than the original. Knife Party and SHM’s stripped down dub versions of the moody head banger still rage with the electro house bombast that characterizes both SHM and Knife Party. And we wouldn’t expect anything less.

Clocking in at just over 27 minutes, the Antidote Remixes EP doesn’t offer much in the way of innovation, and that’s just fine. We love Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello for their aggressively layered beats, immersive synth breakdowns and epic drops, and the trio has made sure that these and other stylistic elements that send audiences around the world completely crazy are all accounted for here. (Speaking of the ‘around the world’, check ‘Antidote’s Asian influenced, and keep in mind that it’s probably NSFW).

Overall, Knife Party’s Dub Remix wins the prize for raging particularly hard while SHM’s own dub treatment is stripped down a bit cleaner. The star track comes courtesy of Australian mix-master Tommy Trash, who speeds up the BPMs and adds a few layers of grime on his ambitious six minute remix, which goes next level around the 3:40 mark.

Check it out:

While the variations between these remixes and the original track are mostly subtle, this EP is a solid addition to the SHM catalog, and damn if it doesn’t make us even more excited for the group’s Coachella appearance this April.