Desert Dwellers 'The Great Mystery Remixes Part One' Review

Artist: 

The Desert Dwellers

Title: 

The Great Mystery

Remixes Pt. 1

Label: 

Desert Trax

Released:

21^st September

Earlier this year the Desert Dwellers released 'The Great Mystery' which they consider to be their most diverse to date. To celebrate they embarked on a re-mix project of established and up-and-coming artists from across the globe with the intention of being just as diverse. The second part will be released in late October with contributions from Emancipator, Whitebear, Sixis, Mystral, Supersillyus, Halfred, Master Minded and many others.

Moving back to the release in question they begin with Liquid Stranger a producer whose releases are just as diverse, but whether he's focusing on dub-step, reggae or chill you can be sure there's plenty of low frequency bass. His take on 'Wings of Waves' is light and summery with flutes and chimes and subtle yet effective use of speaker shattering bass. Following on from the enticing opener is Gaudi's take on 'Our Dream World' where he's clearly put his knowledge of vintage synthesizers and gadgets to get this ethnic dub chugging along nicely. If you're not suitably impressed by the re-mix talent employed so far they're not slipping with Kaminanda joining the throng and taking on 'View of Laniakea' which he's kept down-tempo and melodic utilising the chorus and strings at times some of the fx tease and fool you it's going to go mental and then he pulls back at the last second.

At this point I'm guessing the album moves to the up-and-coming (well at least for me as it's an artist I'm unaware of) with the Tribone Re-Stomp of the title track. It's an interesting style slightly harsher than it's predecessors with an electro feel to the bass line, plenty of psychedelic twists before the atmospheric breakdown where the emphasis is placed on manipulating the Arabic vocals and strings while the final section pulls it altogether. I'm not overly familiar with Twin Shape either and their Lost Tribe re-work of 'The Sacrament' fuses spacey synths and harmonic voices with psy-bass and synthetic dialogue. Following on Acid Crunk pioneer An-Ten-Nae offers an alternative take of 'View of Lanaikea' where he masterfully manipulates the vocals and strings over intermittent choppy breaks.

Once again we move into the up-and-coming territory with AtYya's take on 'Birds Over Sand Dunes' slower and more minimal than the original echoing the vocal samples with a series of looped sequences and gated vocals sections which are pleasant in places but it didn't grip me overall. Land Switcher move back to the realms of psy-bass with their take on 'I Dropped It' with plenty of rapid loop sequences and drum rolls over the dubby main body they still manage to keep an overall down-tempo feel to the piece. While Drumspyder keeps us firmly placed in the east with his trademark doumbek infused alternative to 'Our Dream World' although much lighter than Gaudi's in places it still chugs along nicely in the appropriate sections.

Govinda deliver what I would describe as a minimal psy-bass take on 'Crossing Beyond' and once again maintain the eastern feel of the piece throughout. Finally, we're back were we started with the Hibernation alternative to 'Wings of Waves' a light and harmonious rug thrown over a slow and bass-heavy floor.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links https://desertdwellersmusic.bandcamp.com/