- After a colossal 2008, Rene Pawlowitz, AKA Shed, delivers a remix 12-inch to kick things off in the new year on his Subsolo label. On this release T++ and Peverelist give their take on "The Fall," a track originally released under Pawlowitz's STP moniker in 2007.
T++ lets percussional elements build a background upon which a fluttering synth rises and collapses like waves breaking on the shore. Under the surface, a bassline of unfathomable depths looms, barely revealing itself but making its presence felt nonetheless. The track builds up a drive and momentum, but in a restrained and elegant German techno fashion the tension is never fully unleashed or solved.
On the flip, hissing hi-hats tick away against bright and open synth lines that wrestle with each other through pitch and modulation changes. Suddenly Peverelist crashes this bright building atmosphere into darker dubstep territory, the hi-hats keeping the pace against the slow and steady backbeat and a heavy bass line.
If the T++ remix is a submerged beast of bass lurking under a calm seaboard then Peverelist's take on "The Fall" is a ride from mountainous peaks to valley floors and back again. Both mixes explore new yet familiar territories, and are hard to pin down in terms of genre.
In a recent RA interview, Peverelist declared that to him the much-discussed dubstep-techno crossover is a simplistic and convenient take on his sound. I'd agree that lumping this release as a dubstep-techno crossbreed and evoking the Berlin-Bristol axis doesn't fully do the music justice. Dispensing with the boxes, categories or niche-genres, one is reminded of Shed's mission statement from Shedding the Past album: In the widest sense of meaning, this is true techno music, and it's damn good too.
Tracklist A The Fall (T++ Remix)
B The Fall (Peverelist Remix)