Artist:
The Desert Dwellers
Title:
The Great Mystery
The Great Mystery
Remixes Pt. 1
Label:
Desert Trax
Desert Trax
Released:
21st September
21st 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.
