James Blake rants on remixes: ‘like musical prostitution’

The post-dubstep scene’s great young hope James Blake has enjoyed a bumper start to 2011, with his self-title debut LP receiving rapturous acclaim, propelling him to stardom and the car stereos of ‘hip’ parents everywhere.

But despite his booming profile Blake’s refusing to go the traditional artist route and pimp out his work with a slew of remixes. In fact, the demure UK producer has something of a vendetta against the remix industry, likening remixes to artistic “prostitution”. (*places $20 note on dresser*)

“Remixing is like musical prostitution,” Blake fumed to US mag Spin. “I think it’s really cynical and vacuous; I’m batting offers away like flies. It never used to be like that. Ray Charles didn’t need five remixes. The song speaks for itself.”

It’s unclear whether Blake’s referring to other artists remixing tracks from his album or offers for him rework others’ material, but it rings strange considering Blake himself has previously turned in mixes for the likes of Untold and Mount Kimbie and bootlegs of Destiny’s Child. Either way, we don’t think he’ll be particularly excited for the release of that Ke$ha remix album.