RAC

André Allen Anjos, the Grammy-winning producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, conceived RAC—short for Remixers Artist Collective—as his primary vehicle. The project first earned notice through a steady output of remixes before shifting focus to its own uplifting, anthemic electro-pop originals. Across hundreds of reworkings for artists that range from Lana Del Rey and U2 to ODESZA and Bob Marley, Anjos favors fresh instrumentation over simply layering dance beats. RAC’s albums, among them 2014’s Strangers, draw on an equally wide circle of collaborators that includes Tegan and Sara, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, and Jamie Lidell. With the 2020 release BOY, Anjos revealed a more introspective dimension, surveying the span of his recording career.

Born in Portugal to an American mother and a Portuguese father employed as missionaries, Anjos often grappled with divided national identities and found an outlet in music. Near Porto he took piano and guitar lessons, joined several metal bands, and absorbed the sounds of Nirvana, Paul Simon, and Fleetwood Mac. At fifteen he began experimenting with production and recording techniques, a pursuit he carried forward after moving to the United States.

While enrolled in the music-business program at Greenville College in Illinois, Anjos launched RAC in January 2007. The early lineup also featured Seattle’s Aaron Jasinski and Netherlands-based remixer Chris “Crookram” Angelovski; later participants included Brooklyn remixer, producer, and engineer Andrew Maury and Portland’s Karl Kling, with whom Anjos formed the electro-rock band the Pragmatic. Over time Anjos became RAC’s sole member. Its first official remix reimagined the Shins’ “Sleeping Lessons” and appeared as the B-side of the U.K. single “Australia” in April 2007. Subsequent work encompassed Surfer Blood, Foster the People, and Bloc Party, among others; in 2008 Stereogum issued a compilation of the collective’s output to that point, and the same year saw the debut EP Nintendo vs. Sega.

Anjos began issuing original RAC material in 2012 with the single “Hollywood,” which featured Penguin Prison’s Chris Glover. After signing with Cherrytree Records, RAC delivered the Don’t Talk To EP in October 2013, containing both “Hollywood” and “Let Go,” the latter a collaboration with MNDR and Bloc Party’s Kele. The full-length debut Strangers, which incorporated contributions from Tokyo Police Club and Tegan and Sara, first surfaced as two separate EPs early in 2014 before arriving complete that April. RAC maintained a brisk pace in 2015 with the Master Spy soundtrack and multiple singles, among them the Little Boots collaboration “Magic Hour” and “Back of the Car,” featuring Nate Henricks; the latter track later generated an October remix collection. A 2016 Grammy nomination for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical recognized Anjos’s version of ODESZA’s “Say My Name,” and the following year he won the same award for his remix of Bob Moses’ “Tearing Me Up.”

July 2017 brought RAC’s second album, EGO, which paired Anjos with Rivers Cuomo, St. Lucia, Classixx, and MNDR. That year also included production work on Linkin Park’s final album, One More Light. In 2018 Anjos composed the score for Closer, an Oregon Ballet Theatre production. He returned to RAC in 2020, first issuing a Valentine’s Day cover of Third Eye Blind’s “Never Let You Go” that featured Matthew Koma and Hilary Duff, then releasing the third full-length BOY in May. Crafted over three years, the album examined childhood and adulthood while spotlighting Phil Good, Louis The Child, and Gothic Tropic.