- Five years of operation has seen the Sydney-based Beef Records rack up a diverse catalogue, with contributions ranging from the efforts of globetrotting Europeans (Robert Babicz, Ramon Tapia) to part-time producers scattered throughout Australia (Rif Raf, Murat Kilic). Now 33 releases in, Beef have enlisted the services of Northern Irish duo on the rise Jet Project.
Jet Project adds to the Beef catalogue with bass-heavy tech house cut, thick with congas and brass samples. Clocking in at just under eight minutes, "Message from Chi-Town" for the most part, seems just a tad too busy. Vocals are arranged in homage to Chicago, but ultimately seem to fall short on achieving their intended significance.
The remix front is an all-Australia affair. Mic Newman leads the way with a dark and rhythmic offering, enhancing the original's bassline with a distorted layer of instrumentation. Garry Todd gets spacey, making use of an arching synth line and a series of energetic drum patterns, launching into a four-minute Chicago throwback at the track's midway point. Both remixes, in staying true to the original render themselves rather constrained by its hyperactivity, but nonetheless serve as handy club tools.
Beef Records founders Shades of Gray strip away most of the original's bustle, putting together a relatively minimal remix that creeps forward with warped vocals and infectious hand claps. Despite its B-side allocation, Murat Kilic's deep rework stands as the release's most dance floor friendly track. Structurally the most simplistic take on the original, Kilic's accessible bass, vocal reverb and banging drums happily takes "Message from Chi-Town" into peaktime territory. As a result of their comparatively minimalist nature, the stripped back efforts of Shades of Gray and Kilic are the highlights of this package.
Tracklist 01. Message from Chi-Town
02. Message from Chi-Town (Mic Newman Remix)
03. Message from Chi-Town (Shades of Gray Remix)
04. Message from Chi-Town (Garry Todd Remix)
05. Message from Chi-Town (Murat Kilic Remix)