The re-edit has become a respected medium of late, where the mashup often has become a cliché, the re-edit heads for higher ground, where it gains the respect by staying true to the original, not venturing too far from the original template.
Purple Brain are a new outfit in the re-edit game, and they hail from our own shores, and its great to see some great quality in this field, gaining comparisons to Finders Keepers and Dirty Edits with a finely tuned ability to dig up those hidden gems very few people have heard, and assemble them in a coherent presentation. Purple Brain have packaged together an intriguing set of 7” vinyl and CDR mix for our education.
The 7” opens with a re-edit of ‘The Riot’ by Barry Devorzon & Perry Botkin Jr, a highly percussive funk track, before Purple Rain assemble a plodding tribal dirge for ‘Purple Brain Theme’. Their re-edit of ‘To The Comrades’ by Bahumutsi Drama Group heads into afro-rock territory, the whistling intro leading to an afrocentric dancefloor pleaser. This is definitely top shelf material.
Nicely packaged with a mix CDR, Purple Brain dig even deeper, pulling out some absolute gems, and mixing them into a psychedelic haze, adding cruelty by not telling us what gems are included here, a sample spotters dream… It’s a massive melting pot of krautrock, latin, jazz, funk, soul, electronic, psychedelic rock, afro-rock, progressive rock, disco and avant guarde, containing the re-edits from the 7” vinyl also.
This is an engrossing psychedelic trip, dipping into the unknown chasm of untapped psychedelic goodness. Tune in, turn on, and drop out.
Wayne Stronell
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