Oliver Hacke: Millepieds Remixe
Level Records

Level Records auspiciously inaugurated its premiere release Quartett EP with Oliver Hacke's “Millepieds” and now revisits the buoyant tune with a 12-inch quintet of remixes from Slg, Fax, Daniel Fritschi, Anders Ilar, and Jeff Milligan. Credible results are a virtual certainty when the originating material is so strong but the guests' showings are memorable nonetheless. In general, the A-side pumps hardest while the flip tips the balance slightly more to atmosphere. Prodded by a slithering bass line, Slg's jacking opener drapes a seething storm of whirrs and crackles over the tune's soulful backside, while Fax's swinging micro-house treatment skips purposefully, its grooving pulse overlaid by gossamer chords. Having skinned it to its bass skeleton and drenched it in dubby washes, Level head Daniel Fritschi takes Hacke's original for a laid-back stroll through rain-soaked back alleys. Anders Ilar closes out the B-side by peppering a sweetly roiling pulse with steely atmosphere, before Jeff Milligan situates silken chords above the clouds while beats alternately coalesce and splinter down below. Needless to say, Background Records and Traum fans in particular will find much to enjoy here.

June 2006