While London/Melbourne-based electronic duo Ollie Brown and Sam Britton first emerged as a drum and bass influenced act back in 1998 with heir debut album ‘Kamikaze’ on Hydrogen Jukebox, they’ve spent the ensuing years moving increasingly towards more leftfield sounds tempered with traces of folk, classical and minimalist electronics, as seen on preceding albums for Temporary Residence and Leaf. In many senses, Icarus’ preceding 2007 album saw the duo pushing this experimentalist bent even further, with the tracks contained being remixes of live performances, which in turn had originally been remixes of earlier studio work. Two years on, this accompanying remix collection on Danish label Rump Recordings sees an impressive and diverse selection of remixers offering up consistently inspired and unpredictable new angles on the originals.
Nabo opens things on a glitch-strewn and ramshackle downbeat tip with his fractured hiphop reworking of ‘Volks!, as delayed-out swathes of guitar fretboard texture and turntable pitchbends roll through a dry backing of Dabrye-esque beats, shortly before Opiate deconstructs ‘Keet’s entirely back down to just its base elements, the occasional flutter of acoustic guitar rising up through a murky backdrop of ambient noise, shortly before spidery breakbeats take control of the mix for the second half. ISAN meanwhile offer up a characteristically gentle retake on ‘Keet’s that sends wistful traces of guitar floating against a serene backdrop of digitally processed samples, delicate keys and distant beeping tones, an aesthetic that certainly sits in sharp contrast to Ital Tek’s doomy, mechanical-sounding electro-dubstep reworking of ‘Selfautoparent’, a moment which rolls with all the brooding minor-key menace of his recent ‘Cyclical’ album. There’s also a dark descent into buzzing guitar drones and sudden crashes of noise amidst Svartbag’s epic 11 minute long remix of ‘Jyske’ that provides what’s easily one of the most vast wanders here, before Coil / Throbbing Gristle collaborator CoH strips ‘Keet’s back to just a fluttering broken rhythmic pulse and delicate, almost Japanese-sounding melodic textures in what’s easily one of this collection’s most surprising and effective moments. A consistently inspired remix collection from Icarus that’s well worth exploring.
Chris Downton
