Pagainini Rocks

In a move set to infuriate Middle England and send Classic FM’s phonelines into meltdown, Rob da Bank, Tom Middleton, and Au Revoir Simone have reworked Paganini’s ’24th Caprice’ into ‘Paganini Rocks’ – a club anthem 200 years in the making…


In the eyes of most classical music buffs mixing classical and dance music is about the most sacrilegious thing you can do. But while Robortom’s ‘Paganini Rocks’ will undoubtedly rankle the classical world, it’s the latest in a long line of reinterpretations of Paganini’s original composition.

Since 1819, his ’24th Caprice’ has been reworked by a long and illustrious list of composers from Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann, to Rachmaninoff and Lloyd- Webber. It was also used as the theme tune for the South Bank Show. In 2009, it was the turn of British composer, Tom Hodge (featured in recent ad campaigns for Audi and Guiness). Hodge’s interpretation caught the ears of Rob and Tom, who enlisted the vocal talents of Au Revoir Simone to complete their own version. ‘Paganini Rocks’ is the title music to the 2010 Orange RockCorps show, and is set to appear in CSI New York in October, making Paganini’s theme one of the most ‘synced’ pieces of all time.

Rob da Bank is Radio 1’s leftfield extraordinaire (with 2 shows), daddy to the UK’s finest festival, Bestival and its younger upstart, Camp Bestival, and one half of Lazyboy (with Mr Dan). He’s also head honcho at Sunday Best, the imprint that’s home to Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, and more.

Tom Middleton is one of electronic music’s most inventive and ardent ambassadors, with a thirst for all musical forms from baroque to breakbeat. As part of Global Communication and Jedi Knights (both with Mark Pritchard), he defined 90’s electronica. He’s also flirted with chart success as Cosmos, helped Aphex Twin sign his first record deal, and has remixed Prince. And these achievements form only the very tip of an enormous creative iceberg.

Au Revoir Simone makes dreamy electronic pop music using elemental materials: keyboards and voices braid together in a warm thrum of whirring machines and soft melodies. In addition to their music, Annie, Heather and Erika are widely recognized for their inimitable sense of style and involvement in the fashion world, they’ve featured in Vogue and The New York Times Magazine, and worked with fashion icons including Kate Spade, agnès b. and Isaac Mizrahi.

Tom Hodge’s compositional style draws on elements of classical minimalism, groove-based jazz and electronica, he has written music for approximately two hundred commercials, films, TV and theatre pieces. Recent credits include the classical remix of Daft Punk’s Aerodynamic, the score to the feature film “Pimp” as well as adverts for Boots, Ikea & Max Factor.

‘Paganini Rocks’ comes with remixes from: Mighty Mouse, Louis Laroche, James Talk, and Digital Soundboy, Tom Middleton himself and many more…