- You'd have to be a fool to try and cover Daft Punk's "Around the World," surely? Why, when the only conceivable reaction is going to be an unfavourable comparison to the original, would you bother spending time and effort to create a pale imitation of a classic? Aren't some things better off left alone? Is there no respect left in the world!?
And so on and so forth. All good points. But once you've huffed and puffed and generally finished feeling outraged at the prospect, what you're left with, in this case, is actually rather lovely. Benoit & Sergio's reimagining was probably never going to be a straight-up house track, and is actually—bar a re-sung vocal of one of the hookiest vocal hooks in house—pretty much unrecognisable from the original. The effervescent vocal fizzes pleasingly over a low-slung, sultry bassline that carries the weight of the rest of the track, treading the line between reflective downtempo and weightier grooves with well-judged attention to detail.
Slow Hands tackles marginally less-obvious source materials, at least in terms of the demographic at which it is aimed, with his version of Sade's '80s dinner party favourite "Sweetest Taboo." Unlike Benoit & Sergio's effort, it certainly helps if you were a fan of this the first time around. Treading a similar path to Solomun's Love Recycled edits from earlier in the year, Slow Hands teases the pitched down vocals over a lolloping bassline and muted chords, creating something that is at least as appealing as the original and a hell of a lot easier to get down to, surely proof that nothing should be untouchable if handled with care.
TracklistA1 Benoit & Sergio – Around the World Cover
B1 Slow Hands – Sweetest Taboo Cover