[dropcap style=”font-size:100px; color:#992211;”]A[/dropcap]ll too often, album remix EPs just present multiple versions of the same track.
So it’s refreshing to find four different tracks from an album given different treatments, including one by this Glaswegian producer re-mixing his own work (which is also fairly unusual). Bouffmyhre‘s 2014 remake of ‘Fortress’ is the brightest track of the four but has an undercurrent of cold detail.
Oscar Mulero takes ‘Bring It Back’ into much colder and bleaker territory. It’s organised around a nagging, icy fragment joined by a dirtier acid sequence that drops away to classic minimal percussion. This is a very well-crafted remix, tense from start to finish.
There’s a change of gear with Rebekah’s remix of ‘Fourteen’ – a dancey but very strict and focussed mix with a wide range of details. The squelchy lead sequence and tight, flanged elements have an addictive effect and at one point a quasi-choral undertow adds a colder undercurrent.
This wintry aspect of Bouffmyhre’s work takes centre stage in the Giorgio Gigli variance of ‘Dominator’. Relatively short by his Gigli’s standards, it’s still a characteristically epic production and in some ways the toughest track on this release. It sounds a little like a belated sequel to F.U.S.E.’s 1993 rail techno release, ‘Train Trac’.
The tumbling but regimented percussion combined with the sonic ‘haze’ that hangs over the track generates an atmosphere that’s simultaneously militant and melancholic. Gigli is at the peak of his powers here and if this mix was a one-track release it’d be totally satisfying. As it is, it’s the highlight of a very strong selection of mixes.
Hans Bouffmyhre
Where I Belong – The Remixes
Label. Sleaze Records
Artists. Hans Bouffmyhre
Remixers. Oscar Mulero, Rebekah, Giorgio Gigli
Title. Where I Belong – The Remixes
Format. Vinyl & Digital
Cat.Number. SLEAZE093
[button link=”http://www.sleazerecordsuk.com/” newwindow=”yes”] Sleaze Records[/button]
