| On both the Portal
and Yellow6 remix discs,
i have been very impressed by the remix work of Innerise. Checking
out the
Innerise website i was pointed at both the Ti-cal
disc and this little release, conveniently enough also on
the MakeMineMusic label that is home to both Portal and Yellow6.
(The music world is very insular. Go figure.) And, being the
geek that i am, i went ahead and ordered this CD from Schengen,
who i had not yet really heard. (Well, they did do a remix on
that Portal disc, where i
was underwhelmed with their work.)
Anyway, the point is that despite the random nature of my first
hearing this disc, i am quite pleased with it. It consists of
5 tracks. The first 2 are, to quote the press stuff on the
Schengen website, "written and recorded live, together with
Portal". So, 2 collaborative tracks. There are also 2 remixes
of the Schengen tune Seti, one by Innerise, the other
by Weyland, and one brand new Schengen tune. Let's examine each
briefly.
Capitol is the lead off track, as well as the first
of the 2 collaborations with Portal. This is a nice, lightly
glitch tune with groovey bass riffage reminiscent of the most
recent Portal album. A nice enough tune.
The second collaboration, B'Leaf, is really good. Portal
apparently contribute a sparse piano and some very nice Robin
Guthrie-esque guitar meanderings, and Schengen combine this
with some spacey keyboard bits and some computerized beats.
This is really excellent drone/electro fusion to rival the best
moments on Source:
Remix or Portal's Remix
album. I really like this tune.
The long-awaited Innerise remix of Seti is next on the
CD. I have never heard the original of this song, but Innerise
has crafted a very nice ambient tune that swells in a slow,
logical fashion to head-bopping grooviness. Another fine remix
-- when is the Innerise album coming out?
Grace is the next tune, and it is the one brand new
all-Schengen song on the disc. It is a pleasant enough piece
of wavering electronic drone. Not challenging, but not bad by
any stretch.
Finally we wrap things up with Seti on Safari, the remix
by Weyland. This is my least favorite track on the disc. Weyland
have turned Seti into a very spacey and oddly disorienting
tune. (At least, when listening to it on headphones i find myself
getting a headache. And this happened more than once. I think
it has something to do with the panning effect.) Still, it's
not a terrible tune, and it does seem to fit in well with the
EP as a whole.
Overall: 5 tunes in about 25 minutes, two of which are really
nice, two are pretty good, and one is decent. That adds up to
make this another worthwhile purchase.
You know, if the MakeMineMusic label keeps this up, they are
going to spoil me! Here's to hoping they do keep it up.... |
