Florence + the Machine’s Isabella Machine remixes Beyonce’s “Countdown”

I can unashamedly admit that I fucking love Beyonce‘s mega-flop, “Countdown”. I originally chalked the noisy song down to yet another one of Bey’s horrid attempts at recreating Ameriie’s signature sound, but after listening to it several times during the plagiarism scandal where Bey was busted stealing again, it became one of the few tolerable tunes from 4.

See, I can give the thieving liar some credit when it’s due.

The amazingness of “Countdown” actually makes me wonder why the hell eBey decided to lead 4lop with garbage like “Run the World (Major Lazer)”, “1+1 = bargain bin”, and “Worst Flop I Ever Had”, but that’s a whole nother story.

“Countdown’s” fierceness has been recognized by Isabella ‘Machine’ Summers, who puts the machine in Florence + the Machine with her co-writing and co-production on many of the band’s tracks. Izzy Mach has taken a stab at remixing Bey’s No. 71 charting disaster, and let me just say this — I dunno much about algebra, but this shit is HOT!

Much like the original, Izzy Machine’s remix throws in everything but the kitchen sink. It’s incredibly erratic, packing in synthesized harps, fizzy dubstep, booming bass, drum & bass, and arcadey electronic blips. It’s crazier than a headless chicken, and it all works.

But did we really expect anything less from Florence’s machine?

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the Isabella Machine mix is better than the original — they’re both amazing in their own different ways — but it’s killer alternative and breathes some new life into the song.

Take a listen to the spicy remix below via Blah Blah Blah Science.

[Credit: @lild_9]

P.S. I also love “I Care” and “End of Time”, if anybody was wondering.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 at 12:13 am and is filed under Remix. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • sEAN

    LMAO @ ‘i dont know about algebra but this shit is hot!’

  • http://ohdenny.com ohdenny

    Lol eBey
    Countdown is great, and I wish Schoolin Life was on the standard edition.

  • SerferTJ

    Not feelin this remix at all, tbh. But I stan for the origional! Everytime I hear it on the radio in my car, I start howling and wooing along with Bey.

    If you would have added “Party” to your list, we would LITERALLY have the same taste in 4closure songs! haha

  • Mega

    Um, it’s “al-ge-ba.”

  • xxx

    Bey Really chose the wrong songs. 4 isn’t even that Bad – it’s Way better than shitty fierce. There are quite some good tunes on it. I Miss you, Love on Top, Countdown, i was here, i Care, schoolin Life, end of Time….

  • Mega

    Oh and this. sounds. nothing. like. Amerie.

  • Mega

    Oh and this. sounds. nothing. like. Amerie.

  • Mega

    Oh and this. sounds. nothing. like. Amerie.

  • Anonymous

    I was talkin about the original, not this flawless remix lol

  • Anonymous

    Agreed.

  • Anonymous

    Proph I love it! A little Beyonce love … Lol. The thing is, I actually think ’4′ is some of her best vocal work to date… The critics agree so I’m guessing it’s these dud single choices killing the success… Though really, the albums doing quite well considering the flop singles… Loved ‘Countdown’ and I LOVE this remix. . I also think ‘I Care’, ‘I Miss You’, ‘Love on Top’, ‘End of Time’ and ‘Party’ are all FLAWLESS. How ‘Girls’ with it’s blatant rip-off became the lead single is beyond me… I still can’t…

  • Shaniqua

    LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  • Truth

    I respect how you’re a hater (or at least come off like one) but not to the point where you just blast everything she does. Keep it going Proph

  • Guest

    proph is just an undercover bey stan like me. i too hate her thieving ways and overall stupidity but even i admit her music is great. 

    4 is her best album to date, by far! as proph mentioned, ‘countdown’, ‘i care’, and ‘end of time’ are amazing. then there’s ‘start over’ (which is flawless), ‘i miss you’ and ‘party’. ‘love on top’ is great, ‘best thing i never had’ is okay for a total ‘irreplaceable’ recycle, and ‘i was here’ is beautiful. ’1+1′ and ‘rather die young’ i can do without, but they’re still okay. 

    4 is a great R&B album and her most consistent to date. really, all of beyonce’s albums are quite good, but they all just manage to miss out on that high r&b standard (with the exception of ‘sasha fierce’ which was more pop). hopefully her next album will top the rest and finally give her fans the flawless album they deserve. 

  • Anonymous

    LMAO I am not an undercover stan, Lord.

    One of the reasons I do hate her is that, on top of being a liar and thief and many other things that take too long to go into her, her music isn’t even that great. I don’t even like her as a vocalist — she bores me to tears, has no emotional range, and sounds like a studio singer just reading from a sheet trying to hit the notes. 

    My favorite female vocalists are people like Patsy Cline, Fiona Apple, and Kelly Clarkson. Women with soul and character to their voice who can convey powerful emotions. 

    I definitely do love a handful of Beyonce songs, from “Baby Boy” to “Upgrade You”, but her music overall is in no way stellar, and if I had to construct a ranking using all the successful, commercial female singers of the past 5 or more years, Bey would definitely be languishing near the bottom. Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears would be at the top, and to a lesser extent, Christina Aguilera. 

  • Yes, I’m that Leah

    I can’t stand her either and the only songs I like by her are:
    world wide woman
    i can’t take no more
    deja vu
    Me,myself & i
    Her voice is not the same. She sounds so clogged up. What’s that about?  

  • Faithz

    @Prophet   Cosign

  • Faithz

    While  i  do  like  some  of  beys  music  i  still  hear  and  see  other  r&b  artist
    who  or  just  as  good  and  many  don’t  dance  a  lick.

  • Steve

    I always ask myself is she that stupid to steal !
    I can’t deny that she’s one of the most successful artists of her generations !
    she is a great performer, and she’s the strongest performer live because she can sing and dance.. Just go and watch what she did on Glastonbury’s stage.
    She has no emotional range in her voice and I rarely relate to her ballads or even up-tempo numbers but the fact that she gives music videos to almost every song on her album helps giving character to each songs and makes it easier for the listener to somehow love the whole body of work.

  • Mega

    I was talking about the original.

  • Tc23

    I have to say this .. I can’t argue with ur emotional range because I simply disagree LOL I care live from her roseland dvd gives me chills but again that’s based on opinion like my sister hates kelly clarkson and thinks she screams on stage I happen to like her so that’s all opinion .. Now the thieving and the lying I always figure if random ppl on the internet know what a thief and liar she is then ppl in the industry MUST know as well.. Yet they continue to work with her and continue to praise her .. I duno proph if I knew someone was thief I wouldn’t be giving them my shit to steal .. But of course they do because they want a cut of that beyonce money .. But again whatever I’m not trying to change ur opinion of that .. Where I’m confused is the successful commercial female singers .. What xactly is ur meaning of “successful” summing up album sales, tours, singles, branding and accolades how u can say beyonce is at the bottom!?! Beyonce has done one of the most successful branding of herself outside of britney .. She can have a flop single and an album that leaked 3 weeks prior that no one is really liking and still have over 300000 ppl go buy it the first week and sail it to number one.. I consider britney and beyonce to be the top of that pack then christina and pink but kelly clarkson barely makes top 10

  • RyGuy19

    Maybe I’m in a quiet minority but I’m not even a bey fan and I thought 4 was one of the best releases this year .. We’ve gotten music from gaga, britney, rihanna basically everyone this year and beys album is prob one of the only ones that sounds timeless .. I personally just feel she chose the wrong singles .. She and her team need to be bitch slapped for releasing run the world, best thing I never had and 1+1 when she had the FLAWLESS songs End of Time, I Care, Countdown and love on top .. I didn’t even care about the album when I heard the singles but I downloaded the leak and was blown away .. I kno everyone is like beyonces done and finished and again I’m no big fan but an industry without beyonce would be an incredibly dry one LOL I deff think she’s going to have a big comeback after she drops that baby and I’m praying they get it right this time .. This era could of been huge if it was handled correctly

  • Blah

    just came across this today! it’s flawless