Pitchfork

Laurie Anderson's recently reissued Big Science and its 1981 single, "O Superman (for Massenet)", helped to establish the Illinois-born performance artist as an avant-garde recording artist, as well. On this previously unreleased remix by hip-hop producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Big Science opener "From the Air" begins with the original's portentous last words: "This is the time. And this is the record of the time."

Gone are the honking woodwinds. Ominous synths, glassy pianos, and vinyl scratching play out over the Big Science version's trance-inducing beats, as Anderson does her best impression of a pilot's macho Chuck Yeager impression. "We're all going down, together," she says, and her pitch gets shifted down. Given our paranoid times, "From the Air" might not need an update-- and, speaking of dates, most of you probably haven't heard from the Automator since Gorillaz' 2001 debut-- but this is still a profoundly disturbing record. Now we just need a song about putting your liquids in three-ounce containers.