'Ollopa:Apollo remixed' came out early last week. I have waited til now to update you on this, however, as one of the vagaries of the music industry is that different countries have different release dates. I am not entirely sure why America releases albums on a Tuesday or New Zealand on a Friday, but they apparently do, and we have to put up with it. Anyways, enough grumbling about the business and on to the music!
As mentioned in my last post, I never intended to create a remix album: the plan was to solicit remixes of only 4 of the tracks, and release those around the solstice and equinox dates (my label manager is such a hippy!).
So I emailed my friends and allies in the music world and was blown away by how many folk were up for remixes, and in that way 'Ollopa' was born. As the mixes came in, it became obvious that there was an opportunity to remix the album concept as well, by flipping the order (and then the name and the artwork), so that the collection would begin softly and end with a bang.
'Ollopa' opens with Tripswitch’s sublime remix of 'Acquiescence', which builds slowly from an ambient opening into a downtempo delight, setting the tone nicely for both Antipodean duo, Deep Fried Dub, who add a cheeky dancehall lick to 'Oreia', and the high priests of sacred bass, Desert Dwellers, whose jittery yet soothing remix of 'All Sleeping' is like sonic incense.
The sinewy melodies of 'Hu!' are strengthened and complimented by some tough, bass-driven beats on the Unusual Cosmic Process remix, while Kaya Project’s worldly ears (and added vocals) guide 'Apollon' to new enchanted places, and the essence of 'For Such A Time' is retained and enhanced by System 7, as they add their distinctive twisting and playful style to the track.
I transformed 'Eternal Sunshine' from something designed for the dancefloor to something perhaps more suitable for sofa stimulation, which was great fun to do. My former Planet Dog labelmate Eat Static provided a suitably bonkers psychedelic Gypsy/Balkan mix of 'Wimble Toot', leaving Gaudi to end the collection with his remix of 'Lamentations', which encapsulates the emotion of the original within a funky, bass heavy breakbeat.
Dave Whitehead once again provided amazing artwork, flipping 'Apollo''s sun into a moon, and transforming the fiery oranges into soft blues. Plus he added some cheeky footsteps on to the moonscape in the middle.
Some of the remixes were made for swaps: the Gaudi remix is up on Soundcloud for free download, my Kaya Project remix is available via their Bandcamp page, and the Desert Dwellers have yet to release my take on their 'Shiva Nataraj' tune.
