- Dirt Crew have been quietly making a name for themselves over the last few years, dropping party bombs like ‘Rok Da House’ and releasing a string of singles on their own label. Their latest output sees the Crew enlist a few choice artists to return the remix favour.
First up is Bpitch Control artist Smash TV, one half of which is Holger Zilske, who has been building momentum recently with releases on Playhouse and Leena, not to mention spending his free time as Ellen Allien’s co-producer. Smash TV’s remix of ‘Places’ is a bit of a creeper. Innocous enough at first, it opens with a deep grooving bassline and ends up beating the original by a country mile. Before you know it you’re caught in a swirl of tripped out echoes followed by an agonizingly long breakdown. After what seems like an eternity, what follows is one of the nastiest, dirrrtiest basslines I’ve heard in a long time. I’m talking Christina Agueliera dirrrty, making Dirt Crew’s own productions look as clean as Pat Boone. A sick production put together with skill – every sound is delivered crisply and with purpose. It’ll make any electro fan go mental.
The B-side ‘Deep (We Are)’ does a complete about face, seeing Francois Dubois, aka Lars Sandberg, aka Funk D’Void (got all that?), deliver what is known by the Germans as handtaschen-house, translation: handbag-house. Monsieur Dubois must be some bizarro land version of Funk D’Void as what we get here is an 8+ minute deep New York-style house track. It’s enough to get the drag queens out onto the dance floor. Why he feels the world needs another track of this ilk is beyond me, this house-lite music has been done a thousand times before.
Overall, ‘Deep (We Are)’ isn’t really able to reconcile with the production values of ‘Places’, and fans of the former will definitely like the latter but not the other way round. Despite the many shortcomings of Dubois’ listless rendition, Smash TV’s remix more than carries the weight, bringing this record high marks.
TracklistA Places (Smash TV Remix)
B Deep (We Are) (Francois Dubois Remix)