- Available as a 2CD set (also on vinyl, natürlich), this 22-track collection is an overview of 50 Weapons' remix history to date. As with most label compilations, not everything here is gold. DJ Friction's rote, polished drum & bass rework of Addison Groove and Sam Binga's "Rzor," one of four previously unreleased bonus tracks, is hardly precious archive material. Some of the remixes are too faithful to their originals: Robert Hood's version of "Delirium Tremens" may be tougher than Benjamin Damage's track, but it doesn't expand on it creatively.
Yet as predictable as some of these remixes are, they still offer a lot of pleasure. The almost bewildering rhythmic interplay in DJ Rashad's version of Addison Groove's "I Go Boom" is stunning, as is Shackleton’s poignant, pitched-down rework of Moderat's “Rusty Nails.” Taken together, Dettmann's retooling of "Bad Kingdom” as a dusty, relentless Berghain banger, and his more melodic re-rub of Cosmin TRG's "New Structures For Loving" neatly encapsulate the yin and yang of his sound.
As for more radical reinterpretations, T++ delivers a clever late-night jazz club version of "Rusty Nails," while Lee Gamble and Miles Whittaker both deconstruct "Noise Code" in intriguing fashion. Chris Liebing's edit of SCNTST's rework of Benjamin Damage's "010X" shows how a remixer can bring a new imaginative slant to a track while retaining its intrinsic character. Liebing drops the original's breakbeat in and out and leaves its wistful pianos reverberating in a chaotic, windblown atmosphere. The result is a peculiarly enigmatic banger, and one of the collection's many moments of high drama.
TracklistCD1:
01. Moderat - Rusty Nails (Shackleton Remix)
02. Moderat - A New Error (Headhunter Remix)
03. Moderat - Rusty Nails (T++ Remix)
04. Addison Groove - I Go Boom (Rashad Remix)
05. Addison Groove - I Go Boom (Doc Daneeka Remix)
06. Benjamin Damage - Delirium Tremens (Robert Hood Remix)
07. Benjamin Damage - Delirium Tremens (Long Version by Benjamin Damage)
08. Modeselektor & Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team - Negativity (Bambounou Remix)
09. Benjamin Damage - 010x (Truncate Remix)
10. Benjamin Damage - 010x (SCNTST Remix)
11. Cosmin TRG - New Structures For Loving (Marcel Dettmann Remix)
CD2:
01. Cosmin TRG - Noise Code (Lee Gamble Remix)
02. Moderat - Gita (Anstam's Dustified Dance Edit)
03. Siriusmo - Stinky Wig (Anstam's Bustified Breaks Edit)
04. Cosmin TRG - Terminus Abrupt (Legowelt Remix)
05. Cosmin TRG - Noise Code (Miles Against The Grain Remix)
06. Moderat - Bad Kingdom (Head High Remix)
07. Moderat - Bad Kingdom (Marcel Dettmann Remix)
08. Cosmin TRG - Vertigo (Tale Of Us & Fango Remix)
09. Benjamin Damage - 010x – SCNTST Remix/Chris Liebing Edit)
10. Moderat - Bad Kingdom (Marcel Dettmann's Pitch & Stretch Mix)
11. Addison Groove & Sam Binga - Rzor (DJ Friction Remix)