Reviews
Quantic
It’s that time of the year; you think you catch a glimpse of the sun but it’s just someone shining a torch in your face. And you know full well that the only tan you’ll be getting any time soon is via a sun bed or straight from the bottle. Note: fake tan not shot of Jack.
But fear not! For a taste of the summer days that lie ahead is at hand with this collection of remixes from Will ‘Quantic’ Holland et al’s 2009 funk-filled LP – ‘Tradition in Transition’. There aren’t too many groundbreaking changes although what follows is a cunning reminder of the strength of that album.
We start with an alternative version of ‘Albela’ (English = ‘Besotted’…Hindi speakers feel free to correct me). Not a remix per say and what was once a beguiling track with sax thickly served up on top of ethereal vocals remains pretty much the same.
The Daedelus Remix of ‘Undelivered Letter’, however, strips away the original and replaces the sweeping strings with a driving dancehall beat rewired through a Commodore 64. And what little’s left in the form of the piano melody swirls around on the outskirts.
Then we have ‘Mas Pan’ which is a fantastically vast repurposing of the afrobeat-centred original. It keeps the warmth and groove of the original – replete with guitars and horns – and adds a squelched synth which takes it out of its previous roots state.
‘Un Canto A Mi Tierra’ is awesome anyway in its own right. J-Boogie brings some carnival fun to the procession while Cut Chemist adds his own quirks to his version. ‘Cancao Do Deserto’ (Jeremy Sole’s Verocai Dub) thankfully keeps the filmic (think 70s-Exploitation film) quality of the original while increasing its sense of dread.
In totality, the ‘Caliventura EP’’s limitations are typical of many remix compilations. But it is what it is and – if this brings Quantic closer to more listeners by making the tracks more DJ-accessible and distances the winter blues – then I’m all for that.
Words: Ben Nicholas
The Caliventura Remixes EP is out now on Tru Thoughts.
