fijiama.net – more f*ing house music

Via Versatile blog: Etienne Jaumet’s album “Night Music” will get a remix/re-interpretation by Carl Craig. It’s supposed to see release in September this year and will include 5 tracks, including a track of 22 minutes’ duration.

Both guys being regulars on this blog, this is definitely intriguing news. As for the 22 minute track, it sure sounds like a hangover from the “ReComposed” installment, a collaboration with Moritz von Oswald (of Maurizio fame) reworking the most famous works of 20th century classical composers Ravel and Mussorgsky.

Klang Elektronik – KLANG 132

It took me a while to settle into this epic overflowing madness. Everything’s shrinking to minimal these days, so it’s hard for a modern house music consumer not to be blown away by such large storm of sound. Even Carl Craig has recently shown more of his ‘spartan’ style of composing. So the remix of Gary, as well as the original, is like enjoying a nice Russian Cheburek (a pie filled with grease, basically) after a long fibre diet. By the first taste of it, I couldn’t quite digest it. But once I got my thinking set to the right context (think Gary Numan and maybe a bit of Kraftwerk), it started to grow on me pretty fast.

In this context I’d even prefer the original over Carl Craig remix, with its robust drum programming and more exciting variation on the bassline. But would I spin it on a club night? Honestly, it’s a pretentious track with such strong character that it would definitely need some serious fitting into my usual playlist. So I’d be careful about this, but probably would take the chance. Especially while focusing on some 80s stuff.

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A: Original Mix
B: Carl Craig Remix

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Planet E – PE 65292

It’s always making my palms sweat instantly to see a Planet E record on the new releases’ list. Not many labels do that to me these days, but I really cannot recall any disappointments from this label during the years. Not to mention that Planet E is one of the most respected native Detroit techno and house labels since its early ages and is run by Carl Craig, who has pretty much shaped every scape of the modern house and techno sound.

I admit I’ve never heard anything about Sebastien San, and it appears that the guy has a quite short discography so far. But “Rising Sun” got me and my sweaty palms on the first beat. It is built on one short and simple hook and has quite a linear structure, but (typically for Carl Craig) it never gets boring. And works like a Chippendales show on a bingo night – I cannot wait to let this one loose on the dancefloor. Carl Craig edit on the flip restructures the original a bit and offers another buildup scheme.

A: Rising Sun (Original)
B: Rising Sun (C2 edit)

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On Monday, I put together a short mix to showcase some of the tracks that have been featured in the past posts. Well, in fact only two of them ended up in the mix. But who cares. The result ranges from minimal to techno to deep house, so if you’re cool with the non-purist approach, here it is for you to listen, judge and burn for your car stereo.

Ricardo Villalobos – Hireklon – Perlon 2004
The Mountain People – Mountain003 – Mountain People 2007
Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts – Sous L’Arbe – Circus Company 2007
Haruki Matsuo – Side Step Test – Rush Hour 2007
Shinedoe – Enjoy The Moments (Ripperton Rmx) – 100% Pure 2007
Beanfield – Tides (Carl Craig Remix) – Compost 2004
Ripperton – Zugunruhe – Connaisseur Supérieur 2007
Kabale Und Liebe & Daniel Sanchez – Mumbling Yeah – Arearemote 2007
Infinite Roots – Sunday Morning (Matt’s Innersoul Mix) – Kusic 2007

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Download (user: fiji / pass: fiji)

Imprime – IMP001

I actually haven’t kept myself posted with Markus Enochson production since he sounded less raw and more MAW (I couldn’t resist the lame pun here, sorry). According to Juno, he has now subtly moved from the “Funky/vocal/disco/club house” section to “Minimal/tech house” category. So it is official now and purists can either start or stop listening to it.

With the Red Coffe, Enochson really shows the modern techy and a bit more raw approach. Even so, the original track gets no novelty points and is not much more than solid basic material for the Redshape mix. Well, I probably would have listened to the original a bit more carefully, if there was no tempting Redshape interpertation on the flipside. That’s what you get with bulletproof remixers on your 12″ single – you might get better sales figures, but noone will ever remember what the original track sounded like.

The ever mysterious and unidentified (he still is, isn’t he?) Redshape is definitely one of my favourite producers of the present time. Not so much because of the mystery part, more because of his freshly chaotic arrangement style. You may understand why lot of people firmly believe that the person behind the red mask on Redshape DJ-sets or live sessions is Carl Craig. Red Coffe remix has the nice 80s italo disco tension in it, building a nice drum programming with playful hihats and slowly rolling up an epic bassline with sharp synth stabs. The sound is probably a bit more laidback and relaxed than the usual Redshape production – compared to the previous Redshape singles like Unfinished Symmetry or Dog Day. But still a worthy dancefloor material.

Still not sure if it’s worth to buy? Get this – you can have it in transparent 12″ pressing!

Here’s a discussion about the identity of Redshape.

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A: Red Coffe
B: Red Coffe (Redshape Sweat mix)

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