Priming the pump for their new 2008 studio album,
the Cure invite five of their modern-day disciples to remix the first round of singles from their forthcoming 4:13 Dream -- all released during the summer of 2008 -- for the
Hypnagogic States EP. All the acts here -- Pete Wentz and
Patrick Stump of
Fall Out Boy, Jared Leto of
30 Seconds to Mars, Gerard Way of
My Chemical Romance, Jade Puget of
AFI and
Cure opener 65 Days of Static -- do demonstrate some clear debt to
the Cure, which manifests not in a doomy, sultry fashion but oddly, in mixes that are somewhat reminiscent of early-'90s
Cure B-sides -- an appropriate enough sound given the ages of the musicians, but not quite the classic
Cure that provides their inspiration (although to be honest, apart from parts of
MCR and
AFI, none of these bands really sounds that much like
the Cure, they just like Robert Smith's makeup). As it's glitzy, splashy stuff that only gleams on the surface, it's not going to appeal much to longtime
Cure fans -- it sounds more
now than they have in a long time, for better or worse -- but it's really not meant for them: it's for the hardcore fans of the remixers, who will now maybe buy the new
Cure album because Gerard or Jared remixed a couple cuts from it. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi