| Last year James Rutledge (Pedro) impressed the world with his debut, self titled album. His ability to add a sense of warmth to the otherwise cold world of electronica is what struck a nerve with so many journalists. And while good producers are in high demand right now, Rutledge somehow got some of the hottest to give one of his tracks their own personal touch. What has resulted is this album of six remixes (and a little bonus track) of "Fear & Resilience." Heavyweights Prefuse 73, Cherrystones, Danger Mouse, Home Skillet (which is a new project between Padraic Mcguire and Koushik Ghosh), and Four Tet all take a swing with their own interpretations of this track. At times the remixes hardly resemble the original, but all maintain the feel. It’s soft, cool and relaxed. First up is the cut from Prefuse 73, dripping with his touch and style. It’s undeniably Scott Herren’s work. The clichy work of Herren keeps the soul of the original, but ups its hip-hop appeal. UK producer Cherrystones takes his remix a bit darker. Only very minimal elements remain from Rutledge’s song. It’s got a sleazy feeling, but heavily doused in hip-hop swagger. Danger Mouse produces a track that almost seems like a b-side from Portishead. The track is slow moving and relies on non-electronic instrumentation (I think his use of a Double Bass and the eerie, far off vocals are what give it its Potishead feeling). Rutledge even takes an attempt at his own song, creating a stripped down, hip-hop fueled cut. It’s going to be one of those tracks that ends up in DJ sets all over the world. It also acts as nice contrast to the next remix by Home Skillet. They basically deconstruct the song into bytes and blimps that resembles binary code more than musical composition. At first it seems that this one sticks out a bit amongst the others, but I actually find it quite beautiful and a perfect fit after a few listens. After a brief interlude (that aforementioned ‘bonus’ track), Four Tet launches into a 21-minute epic. Covering so much ground it’s amazing. Opening with minimalist noodeling, it suddenly explodes into a beautifully frenzied free jazz jam. The song just continues to fold over itself until it falls back into an ominous experiment of sound, and keeps that form until it trails off into nothingness. Generally remix albums (especially if it’s an album remixing one song) tend to be boring and monotonous. But with the talent found herein, it doesn’t seem like a remix album at all. Each artist puts their distinct stamp on every track, creating a fulfilling listen that will make its way back onto your stereo for a long time to come. - Indie Workshop |
1XEP/Out Of Print