- Troy Pierce calls in friends, inspirations and labelmates to rework tracks from his album ‘Enemy Love’, an album of mentally disturbed techno for rainy, murky evenings when you’re locked up at home. On remix duties are the very capable Vivianne Projects, Donnacha Costello, Rosaire Argyle and Osvaldo, but they’ve got a tough assignment – can they top the unhinged originals?
‘Grace Anxiety’ kicked off the Tiefschwarz Fabric mix a few months ago (to devastating effect) and here it’s revisited as ‘Grace Boosted’ by Vivianne Projects (aka Jesse Siminski, the mind behind ‘Time For Ensor’). Siminski works in a driving offbeat kick and surrounds it with the original otherworldly vocal, but this time its cut up, stretched and morphed. More compact and straight up than Pierce’s track, whose mission seemed to be to drive the club insane, ‘Grace Boosted’ is a track of rolling beats and evolving, layered basslines that’ll uplift the mood. Heartthrob’s Atari partner Magda might road test this late into the morning when ears get warm and pretension levels drop past zero.
‘Vital Final’ by DC (aka Donnacha Costello in a shy mood) clutches a glitchy synth and shakes out stardust and nostalgia before the track accelerates into super-ferocious, apocalyptic swirls and driving samples – very dark indeed. Troy Pierce remixed Costello’s ‘Bear Bounces Back’ and I guess this is returning the gesture. The result: I could picture Richie Hawtin reaching for this.
‘Asteroid Compound 2’ by Rosaire Argyle sounds oddly like a Troy Pierce number with its deep, moaning bassline and oodles of macabre melody. The jacking chords and choppy Atari game-like samples will invite shoulder shuffles from crackheads and rude boys – definitely one for Superfreq@DC-10 late into the evening.
The EP finishes on ‘Vacuum Packed’ (Suck The Blood mix) by Osvaldo, who rumour has it might be Bruno Pronsato, the mind behind ‘Wade In Water, Children’ on Unfound Sound. Pronsato’s cut will be a weapon of choice for many DJs, and here he leads from the front, kicking off all broody and sensual with the slow overhang of the deranged vocal – it’s a “wrong meeting” type of track that will confuse any nightclub into submission.
On these remixes Underline proves again vinyl is very much necessary: Like Leftroom and Contexterrior they keep value for money very high by pressing four separate and tight edits. These remixes are packed with contemporary ideas that push the boundaries into future confusion, with added style and grace.
TracklistA1 Grace Boosted (Vivianne Project Remix)
A2 Vital (Donnacha Costello Remix)
B1 Asteroid Compound (Rosaire Argyle Remix)
B2 Enemy Love (Osvaldo Vacuum Packed Suck Tha Blood Mix)