The release last May of Kalabrese’s second album, Independent Dancer, was a milestone in the Swiss producer’s career. An expansive and well-rounded collection of charismatic leftfield house grooves infused with live instrumentation and pop music sensibilities, the record was a glorious encapsulation of a style that Sacha ‘Kalabrese’ Winkler had been developing for a half-decade or so. It deserved to be the sleeper hit of 2013, yet for some unfathomable reason it seemed to sink without a trace. Eighteen months later and undeterred comes an equally excellent remix package.
The last few years have seen Matthew Herbert prove himself to be amongst the foremost remixers working today. His cosmic electro reworking of Desperate Man is no exception. A catchy electronic riff loops above a flexing bassline and cascading celestial-sounding synths. The vocals which were so central to the original are pared back and given a slightly out-of-focus scuzzy warmth, becoming a soft centre to the track’s brittle exterior. Kicking and wriggling ever onwards, with the kind of syncopated groove that could have only arisen from the auricular imagination of Herbert, it’s one of the most exciting tracks I’ve heard this year. An instrumental version is also thrown in for good measure.
Kalabrese’s Swiss contemporary Canson has the unenviable position offering an alternative remix of Desperate Man, and whilst it doesn’t hold a candle to Herbert’s work, it’s another solid offering. Here, the vocals are cut into looping harmonics that give the muddy layers of electronics and low-slung bassline a delightful wooziness. It might be a more straightforward offering than Herbert’s, but as the full vocals emerge it proves itself to be a well-crafted, unfussy and captivating house groove that will have plenty of appeal on the floor.
Acid Pauli, like Matthew Herbert, is a producer whose work is situated at the lunatic fringe of dance-music (where all the best stuff happens) and presents himself as another well-chosen candidate as a remixer of Kalabrese. His re-rub of Wanzka takes the freeform horns, drums and guitars of the original pins them down to a steadily whomping low-end and gives them a wonky spin. The multiple layers lend the track a depth that invites headphone listening, whilst its swaggering bassline and poly-rhythms suggests it would be just as effective as a curveball club track.
Finally, Frank Wiedemann of Ame offers a remix of Stone On Your Back. Pushing the tempo up to 120bpm, Wiedemann doesn’t mess with the original’s vocals and simplistic-yet-catchy percussive hook. Instead, the drums become slightly more prominent and a subtle, crunching throughline is added as Weidemann tightens everything into a shape that is likely to work as a smouldering slow-burner on the dancefloor. Retaining the ‘live’ instrumental aesthetic of the original, it’s a cut that you can imagine both being played on stage in a smoky jazz club somewhere and also being worked into a set in the mainroom of Watergate.
| Artist: Kalabrese Title: Remixes EP Label: Rumpelmusig Tracklist Desperate Man feat. Khan - Matthew Herbert MixWanzka - Acid Pauli RemixStone On Your Back - Frank Wiedemann RemixDesperate Man feat. Khan - Canson Ray Of Hope MixDigi bonus: Desperate Man - Matthew Herbert Instrumental Our rating: 8.5/10 |  |
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