Aloha drummer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Cale Parks has successfully stepped out on his own for a couple of full-lengths over the past few years, and this remix of Ra Ra Riot’s “Dying Is Fine” comes in advance of his new EP of original tunes, To Swift Mars. The RRR reworking is a stand-alone project, and a stand-up one, too: Cale isn’t interested in transforming so much as transferring the track’s emotional and lyrical core, shifting verses wholesale onto a spare, affecting pastiche of electronic beats and keys. The hook nods to Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in the bass and synth’s mirrored melody (and tone), the ride out plies it all over a deep groove all stuttered and subdivided like. Good timing for Cale, but also good timing for Wes Miles; if you like hearing the lead Ra Ra Rioter’s voice fronting something more computerized and beat-oriented here, take it as a tease for the impending release of his project with Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij, Discovery.

• Ra Ra Riot – “Dying Is Fine (Cale Parks Remix)”Download

The original:

The original comes from Ra Ra Riot’s The Rhumb Line, out via Barsuk. Cale’s new EP, recorded by Aloha’s T.J. Lipple and mixed by Apes & Androids’ Brian Jacobs, is out this fall via Polyvinyl. And on the Discovery front, expect the new LP, titled LP, on 7/7 via XL. Ezra Koenig and Angel Deradoorian join Wes and Rostam on a track each.

Parks is finishing up a tour opening for Passion Pit. (Yes, everybody knows everybody in indie rock.) The remaining dates:
06/05 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
06/06 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
06/08 – Richmond, VA @ The National
06/09 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
06/13 – Covington, KY @ Madhatter Club
06/14 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
06/17 – Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
06/18 – Boston, MA @ Paradise