Various Artists - Skyhook EP

  • Share
  • Probably the most devastating record I've ever owned, back when I was DJing breaks (yeah? so what?) was a tune called "My House" by Phil Kieran. I always thought of him as a guy who consistently nailed a number of different genres with obsidian killers, and "Skyhook" in 2007 was caned by A-listers such as Vath, Hawtin and Deadmau5. Despite remix demand for the tune, an apparent lack of a label for distribution resulted in the project being shelved until the recent creation of Phil Kieran Records. The happy ending is this package with a no-brainer selection of remixers turning out dark, intense and massive interpretations. The Stockholm techno fraternity is represented with a track that plods more than storms, but brews evilly with wheezing and circuit buzz stuttering throughout, as clouds of smoke echo portentously. Chilean Ricardo Tobar, with releases on Border Community and Traum, turns out the only non-Richter scale offering, an ambient, lumbering and benign mass of deflating synths and a floppy kick that doesn't quite make it to every eighth beat. Paul Rose has two remixes here, and the Scuba mix is my personal favourite, with a monumental, catastrophic drop into pure urgency near the beginning with skittering hi-hats upping the motion a level over a sparse dubstep skank. The escalating alarm of a riff that rises and descends throughout is central to a track that oozes club destruction. The SCB edit is also great; cool, dark and completely collected, but completely powerful. Techy rolling of the drums is joined by a brooding creature of an analogue bass riff clacking its chains more and more furiously. Green Velvet's is the most similar to the nasty original but straightens out the structure into an Alter Ego-style electro smasher, adding drops that make for lots of tension. For proponents of a range of different styles, this slab is a serious and deadly weapon.
  • Tracklist
      01. Skyhook (Adam Beyer & Jesper Dahlback Remix) 02. Skyhook (Green Velvet Remix) 03. Skyhook (Ricardo Tobar Remix) 04. Skyhook (SCB Edit) 05. Skyhook (Scuba Mix)
RA