- No matter how high the quality of product throughout an artist's career, they are often remembered mostly for their first steps into the spotlight. Octave One released "I Believe" way back in 1990 on Transmat and, for me at least, it's as memorable as anything else that has come before or has since. Sandwell District get the honour here of remixing this titanic piece of anthemic originality, and they do an absolutely splendid job. They bring you slowly but surely into a world every bit as ethereal as the original, with Lisa Newberry's vocals rendered more and more brittle as the bass envelops them. My only real complaint is that it's far too short: Just as the track starts to reach another level about forty seconds from the end and threatens to fulfil its trance credentials (that's trance as in adjective, by the way), it's gone.
Aril Brikha does a similarly wonderful job with "Daystar Rising" which originally saw the light of day as part of a double-header, along with Rolando's "Aztlan" on Underground Resistance. The original metallic synth stabs that underpin the track are kept intact, but are more subdued than in the original. Over the top, Brikha glides washes of spaced-out colour in tandem with linear keys that sound deadpan against the backdrop. It's a powerful, driving and well-disciplined piece that sounds quintessentially northern European in tone and is also much more typical of Octave One's own sound.
Tracklist A I Believe (Sandwell District Remix)
B Daystar Rising (Aril Brikha Remix)