- Released in 2014, Apollonia's Tour Á Tour wasn't a remarkable album. But it did well to convey what the French trio are about behind the decks—namely, warm, groovy, US-indebted house music. It offered the kind of simple yet well-produced club tracks that would appeal to potential remixers. 18 months on from Tour Á Tour, three remix EPs have emerged via Apollonia Music, featuring eight artists from across the house spectrum, Thomas Melchior at one end, The Martinez Brothers at the other. The New York siblings guest on the second 12-inch installment, alongside Lola Ed DJ/producer Terence :Terry: and Giegling's Edward.
Remixing excels when artists from different musical worlds collide, offering a fresh and invigorating perspective on the original material. (Obvious example: Masters At Work and UK garage producers taking on mainstream pop hits in the '90s.) As is, both Terence :Terry: and The Martinez Brothers share too much in common with Apollonia for their efforts to catch fire. The former's subdued, balmy version of "Sona" is pleasant enough, but it sounds like it could've been made by Apollonia themselves. The creepy chug of the Brothers' "El Señor Vador" is more distinctive, but again it's a rolling drum track built for the same dance floors that Dan Ghenacia, Shonky and Dyed Soundorom play to. Edward's remix, however, is a different story. He applies his misty touch to arguably the album's best track, "Haight Street," tightening the burly breakbeat and showering it in a panoply of beautiful, feathery sound. It's a balance of light and dark, soft and hard, that in lesser hands may have felt overly sentimental. Here, Edward hits all the right notes.
TracklistA1 Sona (Terence Terry Remix)
B1 El Senor Vador (The Martinez Brothers' Leap Frog Mix)
B2 Haight Street (Edward Remix)