While the preceding two volumes in this series of four limited coloured vinyl 12 inch releases have seen the focus fall distinctly upon techno and deep house sounds, with the likes of Thomas Melchior, Dimbiman, The Mole and Frivolous all lined up to rework tracks from Pole’ Steingarten album of last year, these concluding two volumes throw things into considerably different territory. Released on eye-catching blue and red vinyl respectively, Steingarten Remixes 3 places the emphasis on “dubstep and beyond’, with current scene stars Shackleton and Peverlist being called upon for remix duties, before Remixes 4 wanders out into dancehall-tinged electronics, with reworkings courtesy of ~scape labelmate Deadbeat, Gudrun Gut and recent Ninja Tune signee Ghislain Poirier.
On the A-side of Remixes 3, Shackleton’ sinister sub-bass laden reworking of “Achterbahn’ opens with menacing buzzing synth bursts slowly giving way to an intricate backdrop of fragile-sounding clicking tones, before scissor-sharp dubstep rhythms arrive amidst vast sub-bass pads that dip perilously below the range of most home systems to take things off amidst eight minutes of blissfully narcotic sustained tension; the flickering melodic dub tones of the original version being cast in a considerably more forbidding light by their surroundings. On the flipside, Bristol-based producer Peverlist’s remix of “Winkelstreben’ offers up comparative respite, injecting an unmistakable techno undercurrent as it threads flickering reverbed-out snares and kick drums beneath some seriously filtered synth pads whilst letting some of the more percussive textures ricochet back and forth through the mix in a manner that pays more than fitting attention to the intricate layers of rhythm subtly teased out by Stefan Betke’ original album version – indeed, I found it to be easily the more intriguing side of this particular 12 inch.
Over on Remixes 4, Montreal’ Deadbeat contributes a reworking of “Sylvenstein’ that certainly continues the increasing move towards dancehall influences evident on his recent Journeyman’ Annual album, introducing a bhangra-tinged edge as tribal drum rhythms rumble alongside clattering metallic tones, flickering massed handclaps and eerie off-centre harmonics, shortly before voodoo rhythms take things out amidst a blast of psychedelic timestretch action – indeed, it’s easily one of the most interesting recent productions of Scott Monteith’ that I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. By contrast, Ghislain Poirier’ clattering, bass-synth loaded reworking of “Winkelstreben’ almost calls to mind one of Spank Rock’ party-centric broken electro excursions, with male hip-hop vocal samples peppered amidst its fluid handclaps and filtered reverb, before Gudrun Gut’s brooding downbeat techno remix of “Maedchen’ places sinister bass swells and spikily minimal rhythms beneath the original version’ ethereal-sounding jazz samples ; it’s also notable in that it shows Gut contributing her own vocals to the mix; in this case, a curiously detached-sounding A to Z of women’ names that adds to the seductive layers of intrigue generated throughout. Given the subtlety of Stefan Betke’ production approach, remixing Pole with successful results was always going to be something of a tall order – in this case, all of the reworkings on show here manage to generate interesting and worthwhile results; a testament often to the level of care and attention paid by the various remixers here to the original versions. Those who fail to swoop on this limited coloured vinyl set have little to fear; with all the complete tracklisting of all four 12 inches appearing as a single CD release during late November.
Chris Downton
