Words by Natalie Weiner
Suffering from a little Carnival Tabanca after this summer’s festivities? Well, DJ/rapper/producer/photographer/Beyoncé collaborator MeLo-X is bringing you the perfect soundtrack—a minimalist, electro-R&B rendering of Bunji Garlin‘s single of the same name. The track is a natural choice for MeLo, who also happens to be one half of DJ duo extraordinaire Electric Punnany, and Jamaican by way of Flatbush, Brooklyn. The original “Carnival Tabanca,” though mellow for a soca song, generally maintains the genre’s upbeat vibe. To change things up, MeLo frames Bunji’s vocals with a stripped down sound we’d expect to hear next to R&B artists like FKA Twigs and SZA, lending his ode to the carnival season a more melancholy, edgy sound. Eventually the irresistible piano groove returns though, bringing the track back to its festive roots. Listen to the remix below, and stream/download the entire Inside the Mind of MeLo 4 mixtape on Soundcloud.