Doing collabs and remixes is a proven way for artists to stay in the public eye between album releases. That’s what Brooklyn artist Oceanator (Elise Okusami) and talker (Celeste Tauchar) have done with Elise’s inventive remix of talker’s song “Don’t Want You To Love Me”.
While the original is heavily guitar-driven, the remix features lush synths. “I love how whimsical the remix is while still keeping a lot of the core essence of the song,” says talker. “Elise added some really sick synths and weird, atonal guitar lines and really awesome textures that I think make it sound way more bombastic than the original.”
Elise explains why she records under the name Oceanator: “It’s superhero adjacent. I was thinking about what the name of a superhero or supervillain would be who turned all the land into ocean – and it was like, oh, the Oceanator.”
The two artists have actually never met in person. “But we run in a lot of the same circles and I’ve really loved Elise’s music and admired her artistry for a while,” says talker. “She works with my publicist Jamie Coletta on the management side, so when it came time to think of some people who would be cool to include in these remixes, she came to mind. I’m hoping we can meet in person at some point this year, either in New York or LA.”
Although Oceanator doesn’t have an album dropping imminently, she did release a brilliant single last month called “A Long December” – a sad song about L.A. that feels musically inspired by the late Warren Zevon.
Listen to Oceanator’s remix of “Don’t Want You To Love Me” below, or find it on the streamers.
