Justice remixes, reimagines and quite possibly improves Lenny Kravitz's 'Let Love Rule'
Fans of Ed Banger Records and French electronica purists started scratching their heads when Parisian dance duo Justice remixed U2’s “Get Your Boots On” earlier this year. The rap against the song was that it represented the latest prostitution of Justice’s signature menacing/distorted synth sound. But don’t hate Justice simply because the group has hit that place in its career where being in-demand remixers for hire – by the likes of Britney Spears, N.E.R.D. and MGMT -- doesn’t necessarily preclude having a bit of fun.
Exhibit A: Justice’s new remix for Lenny Kravitz’s "Let Love Rule.” While the 1989 original was a catchy (if blatantly derivative) little ditty, a floaty piece of California psychedelia packed with Beatles-esque melting harmonies and a tinny sax solo, the French guys totally re-imagine the song as an exercise in hard dance-pop. Its tetchy, stomping beat seems to almost make fun of the original “Let Love Rule’s” hippie-dippie aspirations. Call it a remix as implicit rebuke.
Then there’s the video. Set to the closing credits of a fake action movie, it’s one of the more original clips of the year. Names and titles scroll vertically across the screen for the duration of the video in what is clearly the denouement of what's supposed to be some lame shoot-‘em-up. Except here, the words have the unique ability to trip up and disrupt the people and things surrounding them.
All in all, a nice companion piece to Justice’s darkly sensational video for “Stress” from May ’08.
-- Chris Lee
Photo: Screen grab from the video "Justice - Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz Remix)" from Keith Schofield; Credit: Virgin Records