- Large-scale historical remix projects are nearly always uneven. With stellar work from Mathew Jonson, Loco Dice, and Carl Craig, however, Kevin Saunderson’s History Elevate series has seen far more hits than misses. With a well-selected and diverse set of remixers and some legitimately classic raw material to work with, History Elevate may go down as the remix series against which all others are judged.
Leading off the latest edition, Jesse Rose’s mix of “World of Deep” pops and locks in all the right places, bouncing on an undulating bass groove and a simple analog riff for what amounts to a classic jacking groove. A great party track in the classic Detroit mold, Jesse’s "Respect to Detroit" mix might be showing a bit too much respect, as it doesn’t show very much deviation from the formula deployed on at least half a dozen Saunderson bangers of the past. That isn’t a criticism per se, but for a remix project like this, you might expect something a bit more distant from the original artist’s signature sound.
On the other hand, Luciano’s take on Inner City’s “Good Love,” is shaping up to be one of the anthems of the summer, living up to (and exceeding) the high bar set by the previous releases in the series. It works Paris Grey’s vocals in layers over a stripped down groove that sizzles along over a lightly acidic one-note riff and chattering Cadenza-style percussion. Neatly summarizing Luciano’s recent turn toward deeper house sounds, “Good Love” fuses Saunderson’s soulful techno with the Chilean School of Minimalism for one of the highlights of 2008 thus far, as well as the History Elevate series. If you haven’t heard it yet this summer, you haven’t been going out enough.
TracklistA World Of Deep (Jesse's Respect To Detroit Remix)
B Good Love (Luciano's Good Love Remix)