- I don’t know whether to congratulate Ripperton for his balls or commiserate with him for being given such an impossible task. But however it came about he’s made a decent fist of remixing Beanfield’s ‘Tides’ which as we all know originally came out in 2004 with a Carl Craig mix that was so incredible it probably started C2’s current reign as remix czar.
Is it better than the C2 mix? No, not really—it’s not as intense or spiritual. But it comes surprisingly close and puts a new twist on a recent classic, and while it might not live forever in posterity, it’ll sound vital enough in 2008. Much darker and sexier in feel, this version is based around a powerful hip-bobbing bassline, with the vocal floating above it unhindered by any chords or melody except for the occasional intense and slightly rave-y buildup or breakdown. Snappy hybrid drum patterns with a bit of house and bit of clattery old-school Detroit edge give it strong drive (much more so than I’d expect from Ripperton to be honest) and the vocal is as powerful and mind-expanding as ever.
If that other mix didn’t exist, we’d all be wetting ourselves over this, so kudos to Ripperton for pulling it off. This is a great way to tackle remixing a famous track—–dancers will recognize and get off on the familiar vocal but also be able to revel in the unexpected elements and mood of the remix.
The other track here is Invisible Session’s ‘Till the End’ remixed by Panoptikum (aka G.A.M.M.’s ‘7 Samurai’). This previously came out in 2006 on Schema and is an impressively epic 12 minutes long. Not the most forceful of grooves, it is however true modern jazz with endless variations on a simple melodic theme that never gets boring and draws you ever deeper like an audio version of a spiral. The construction and sounds are very subtle and a bit like first wave Detroit minus the angst. This is great beach music and I’d be very happy to hear it drifting over golden sand and swimsuit-clad dancers in a quiet cove somewhere in Europe this summer.
TracklistA1 Beanfield - Tides (Ripperton Mix)
B1 Invisible Session - Till The End (Panoptikum Instrumental Mix)