VA: Skåne Revisited
New Speak

Certainly the concept underlying Skåne Revisited bodes well: take “Skåne,” a track issued by Andreas Tilliander (Mokira, Lowfour, Rechord) under his Komp guise for the 1998 album Vena (Komplott), and build an entire album around new versions by a small squad of fellow artists—not remixes, mind you, but new works that reference the original more by way of inspiration rather than literal quotation. Unfortunately, the results rarely live up to the promise of its concept but the reasons are easy to pinpoint.

One first asks “What makes “Skåne” so special that it deserves an entire album's worth of new versions?” The original, entitled “Komp 98 Version,” is placed at the end, so an initial listen to the album is slightly distracted as one constantly speculates as to how a particular version conceivably compares to the original. When it finally appears, one puzzles over what it is about the song that prompted such enthusiasm. Largely bereft of melody, it's a busy, repetitive groove of ticking beats and whirring arcade noises but hardly impresses as extraordinary. Perhaps its generic character isn't a negative at all as such elusive qualities offer interpreters material of greater malleability. And, in fact, the participating artists do offer variations on the original which sound consistently unlike one another, such that only phantom traces of the original remain.

All of which still bodes well for the outcome but a further downside is that few of the tracks impress; they're competent enough, but more sedate than energized. Part of the problem is a lack of dynamic contrast as there's rarely a rise to any feverish pitch, by which isn't meant Godspeed-like extremes, incidentally, just evidence of greater passion. Tilliander contributes two versions in addition to his original, the passable gkitchy opener “Komp” and a later, more abstract exercise in imploding digitalia of distorted grinding and tearing noises. Almost all of the contributors are new or relatively unfamiliar, artists like Ludvig Elblaus, Pluxus, and Bill Yard, yet in virtually every version there's something to differentiate it from the others. Milano Bass Machine's nine-minute, laconic disco-dance take would sound right at home on Ai Records' Station comp; Pluxus provides synth-heavy electropop, Folie a micro-minimal dub treatment, and The Policy Unit a slightly more aggressive and hip-hop mix accented by hand claps and acidic synths. Standard Radio pairs glistening Kraftwerk beats with mellotron-like chords that swirl in the background, imbuing its version with an orchestral aura and a melancholy feel. Ultimately all good but also rather dynamically monochromatic.

Xela's version, though, towers over the rest, and frankly exposes their passable status even more. John Twells places the song's gorgeous glimmering theme front and center, kicked along by a robust cymbal-driven drum attack, and then moves into a churchy episode with symphonic string tones draped over the theme. By raising the track to an anthemic level, exploiting the melody's blissful prettiness, and then deepening it with a rocking groove, Xela masterfully shows the others how this kind of thing should be done. Had all of Skåne Revisited reached such heights, there'd be cause to gush over its greatness rather than describe it as merely adequate.

September 2004