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Tiga & Zyntherius - Sunglasses At Night - 02-Jun-04 08:48 AM
I can see why this single was only a limited edition, both remixes use samples from other tracks, with no credit anywhere on the record, almost a bootleg single. The Medicine 8 remix is IMHO the better of the two, a more club-orientated re-edit with Felix Da Housecat's vocals from Silver Screen Shower Scene layered over the intro. They fit okay at first, but the beatmapping seems to slip a bit further in. The recomposition is quite well done, the edited bassline makes quite a difference to the track. The overall end product is the original track beefed up for dancefloor use, with not so much of a melancholy feel.

I must disagree with the above comments on the Cosmos remix, it's incredibly poor for such a generally good artist. The first four minutes are simply the original Sunglasses At Night, then all of a sudden Blue Monday by New Order starts. At first it fits nicely, then the tunes start to conflict and it all goes downhill. By the time the BM beat starts, I've generally taken the vinyl off the platter and put it back in its sleeve. Tiga's vocals don't fit the BM tune at all either, which sort of defeats the whole point of the mix. Blue Monday is admittedly quite well remixed in the usual Cosmos style, but it still doesn't fit with SAN. The whole feeling is that Middleton couldn't get permission to remix Blue Monday, so he slapped the start and end of Sunglasses At Night onto it and gave it to City Rockers to release, that's how little is done to the SAN portion of the mix. I expected more from such a revered remixer than a rather shoddy bootleg mix.

U2 - Discothèque - 03-May-04 08:54 AM
Discotheque is, in my opinion at least, one of U2's better recent singles, and these are some very good remixes.

The David Morales mixes are very 1997, they seem almost about to erupt into hip house at times. Their style is more of a light dancefloor track, and rather unlike U2.

Howie B's 2 mixes are similar, but also very different. The Hexidecimal mix is a chunky clubrock stormer, with a great bassline which stays true to the original track while simultaneously beefing it up for the clubs. The Hairy B mix is almost a dub of the Hecidecimal mix, removing some of the tune and lyrics, and bringing in weird sampled vocals near the end, almost a Tone Loc style rap.

The Hecidecimal mix is probably the better of the four, but it's also on the 1990-2000 Greatest Hits album. If however you also like the DM mixes this is worth a buy, for the variation between all four versions.

Matthew Dekay vs. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic - 02-May-04 06:12 AM
Most descriptions of this single that I've seen cite the artist as Matthew Dekay vs Beastie Boys, but the vinyl itself has no information whatsoever on it except the MdK-logoed mechanoid on the blank side. The track itself is to me exactly the definition of progressive house, a long sweeping soundscape building up to euphoric peaks and dropping into breaks built around Beastie Boys acapella samples. Also, for a track of its length (in excess of ten minutes) it's remarkably un-repetitive, mostly because of the way it grows and breaks. It's a good purchase if you can find it, and the grand robot illustration takes pride of place among my other white labels.

Black Strobe vs. Sonovac & Soft Verge - Innerstrings - 30-Apr-04 11:59 AM
The rarer 7" edition of Innerstrings is entirely remade by Mike Silver, each mix using a different alias of his. The Sonovac mix takes the already great No Shuffle Mix from the CD/12" and adds their unimitable style. All the lyrics are resung, and some more added on a similar theme. The tune itself is a glitchier, darker rendition featuring some unusual effects to spice it up.

Unfortunately, the B-side by Soft Verge lets down the single a bit, being very featureless and bland. Basically, there's a low 'wub' sound every few seconds, and eventually some squeaky noises. Pretty boring listening, although the style must have its fans I don't number among them.

Another good Black Strobe single, although not quite up to the quality of their original productions. The Sonovac mix and the rarity value are worth the price in my opinion, but the Soft Verge is for dedicated fans only.

Black Strobe - Innerstrings - 30-Apr-04 11:52 AM
The original Innerstrings is a rather housey tune, with a string-based melody (amazingly enough). It's very pure tune-wise, with just the sweeping strings and some mild electronics. To be honest, it's slightly bland, but the main riff is very catchy, which redeems the track a lot.

The No Shuffle Mix on the other hand is Smagghe's electro vision of Innerstrings, with a much more synth-based construction. This mix is where the track really begins to shine. The mix of soft instruments & harsh electronics gel together very well, there's only a few places where the rougher new tune conflicts with the older one. Also, slightly nonsensical lyrics are added, as is almost a Black Strobe trademark now, which sound to be Smagghe himself instead of Rebotini as normal.

Rebotini's The First, The Last And Everything Mix of the No Shuffle Mix takes the electro vibe and moves it back towards his own area of orchestral house, with softer synths but heavier beats. It almost could be classed as glitchpop in places due to the enormous amount of melodies going on, and doesn't come over as smooth as the other two versions.

All 3 variations of Innerstrings are in the end all very good tracks with a tune I can't stop humming, but each version has a slight letdown, meaning all are good but none are perfect. Still, a highly recommended buy, although this CD seems to be the only format still in production.

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