Legowelt - Elementz Of Houz Music (Actress Mixes)

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  • Given Actress and Legowelt's status as two of house and techno's best loved outsiders, this 12-inch, which sees Actress pull apart Legowelt's "Elementz Of Houz Music" and reassemble it to his own spec, is something of a dream pairing. The original, taken from last year's Paranormal Soul LP, has just the sort of chilly mood you'd expect Actress to gravitate towards. As such, "Mix 1" isn't a radical overhaul so much as a subtle retooling, but Actress strips away the varnish to reveal cracked, raw textures, and thickens up those trademark Legowelt pads until they take on an intoxicating richness. In line with the original, he veers close to straight techno, but tinkers with the rhythmic architecture in subtle ways, removing a support strut here and there to leave it subtly lopsided, but all the more compelling for it. "Mix 2," in an an act of perversity typical of Actress, is essentially the same track but pitched down to a sluggish crawl. The result is codeine-addled dub in the vein of the recent "Silver Cloud Dream Come True," but abstracted even further, the gaping holes in the texture plugged with insulating tape hiss. It's an appealing concept but, at 12 minutes, a listen through is something of an endurance test. Still, you get the sense that he wasn't trying to impress so much as make a point—though precisely what point is, as always, unclear.
  • Tracklist
      A Elementz of Houz Music (Actress Mix 1) B Elementz of Houz Music (Actress Mix 2)
RA