| Her Space Holiday (or rather, Marc Bianchi) gets his kicks and made his name by working his strange magic on relatively innocuous samples and loops so they sound like ice crystals and streams of pure, shining color. Then he mixes in some disturbing lyrics and calls it a day. The results are always fascinating and occasionally downright transcendent. Here, a number of A-list talents rework songs from his 2003 The Young Machines. I haven't heard the original, but now I wish I had. Not only would this review be considerably easier to write, but the evidence presented here suggests that The Young Machines must have been quite something. The Album Leaf's take on the title track moves the glittering aspects of Bianchi's work to the fore, bringing the patience displayed on the glacial In a Safe Place to bear on Bianchi's more traditional structures, with excellent results. Matmos's contribution, a remix of "Tech Romance," is (predictably) jaw-droppingly good. I don't know why we bother reviewing anything these guys do anymore - at this point, you can safely assume that anything with the name Matmos on it is pure gold. They really make the song their own, treating us to five minutes of increasingly unhinged (but always beautiful) violin and glitter. Dntel's "Japanese Gum" is predictably brilliant, and showcases some of Bianchi's strongest lyrics. Consider this character sketch: "And this is what she's saying / It's not like I'm a slut / Or that I love sex all that much / I just want every boy I see / To walk away with part of me / Until there's nothing left to hold / Until there's nothing left to hate / I appreciate your help but even you can't save me from myself." To anyone who has known a girl like this, the words ring painfully true. Bianchi has struck the heart of the matter. It is just like that. The question is, who exactly wants a copy of The Young Machines Remixed? I wouldn't suggest it to people who haven't heard the original album - better to start with, you know, the artist who actually created something - and most people who own the original disc won't have much need to own the remixed version. But by golly, some of them must. If you're not sure whether or not you should buy a remixed edition of an album you bought and loved a year ago, chances are that you should. You must have liked it a lot. - Splendid |
1XLP/Out Of Print