(DFA/EMI)

2005 was certainly a hectic year for James Murphy and TimGoldsworthy’s NYC-based DFA label on the release front, with significantly acclaimed albums from LCD Soundsystem, The Juan McLean and Gavin Russom & Delia Gonzalez all dropping on the imprint with the last twelve months, alongside a new longplayer from US art-noiseniks Black Dice. This latest compilation to emerge through DFA focuses on a facet of their multivaried activities that’s perhaps been ignored in the light of the label’s continued ascendance and Murphy’s increasingly high-profile appearances as part of his band LCD Soundsystem; their work as increasingly sought-after remixers for other artists. In the relatively short period of time since they first became active on the remix circuit, Murphy and Goldworthy’s DFA touch has become one of the more coveted rites of passage for any act looking to spruce up its ‘hip’ quotient, and to the duo’s continuing credit, their remix resume is perhaps more notable for the acts they’ve refused than the ones that have made it to the mixing desk. By knocking back the artists they honestly knew they weren’t going to be able to do anything with and instead focusing on tracks they were really feeling, Murphy and Goldsworthy have amassed a backcatalogue of remixes that takes in some of the contemporary music scene’s most dynamic figures, sometimes in a manner that seems positively prescient and the complete antithesis of the ‘cash for remix’ shallow cycle that often pervades in dance music.

What’s also notable about the tracklisting here is that it selects extremely recent remixes (such as the just-released reworking of Hot Chip’s ’(Just Like We) Breakdown’) and includes them in non-chronological order alongside remixes dating back several years, such as the reworking of Metro Area’s ‘Orange Alert.’ In fact, it’s one of the DFA’s earlier reworkings that opens the tracklisting here, Le Tigre’s ‘Deceptacon’, and it offers the perfect intro to the DFA’s expansive, punk-funk centred production approach, Kathleen Hanna’s high-pitched femme-punk gliding over a fluid backdrop of shimmering ESG-esque bass riffs, splashing cymbal work and icy, vaguely Italo-house-informed analogue sequences – it also bucks the predominant trend for the duo’s remixes by coming in at just over six minutes. Their reworking of the Blues Explosion’s ‘Mars Arizona’ meanwhile stretches things out to an epic 11 minutes whilst also offering one of this collection’s most storming highlights, John Spencer’s distinctive bluesman bark dominating a tense backing of panicked one-note keyboards, propulsive punk-funk bass and disco-house beats, some massed layers of overdriven slide guitar fuzz pushing things into overdrive just before the synths turn evil, distorted and vaguely acidic, taking things down a long paranoid tunnel while somehow maintaining the funk. After this frenetic offering, the blissed-out, vaguely Can-tinged reworking of the Chemical Brother’s ‘The Boxer’ that follows manages to take things to a completely different place indeed, Charlatans vocalist Tim Burgess’ soaring soul vocals reduced to a mere ghostlike whisper amidst Neu!-esque cycling motorik snares, funky clavinet keys and wafting vintage synths, evoking the sense of ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’-era Pink Floyd drifting down Michael Rother’s Autobahn perhaps more vividly than anything else.

Fischerspooner’s ‘Emerge’ undergoes a slightly unexpected remix treatment that surprisingly ends up working well, with Casey Spooner and Lizzie Yoder’s alternating verses slowed down to almost half-speed and layering over a curiously off-centre stripped-down backing of blippy electro synths and crunching programmed beats, before the most expansive moment on offer here sees Gorillaz’s ‘Dare’ being reshaped into a twelve minute long slice of analogue synth-laden gliding electro-house that sounds as though it could have crawled straight from the doors of the Hacienda, Shaun Ryder’s distinctive Manchester drawl colliding directly with Damon Albarn’s Essex-flavoured falsetto as the synths buzz and crash like divebombing planes over the ringing cowbells and programmed snares. Finally, this collection closes with the DFA’s most recent reworking – of US labelmates Hot Chip’s ’(Just Like We) Breakdown’, which offers a slightly more pristine electronic edge, layering lush Visage-esque New Wave synths around a stripped-down backing of house rhythms, the stark nature of the melodics bringing out even more of the wistful longing in the original vocal.

An excellent remix retrospective from the DFA that’s made doubly desirable by its unmixed format to collectors avidly hunting down the duo’s often-deleted remix backcatalogue; those familiar with the DFA’s penchant for ‘f*ck the radio edit’ style twelve minute long remix excursions are also unlikely to be troubled by the epic track durations going on here, and hey, if you’re a prog house fan, you’re already used to that anyway. Perhaps the most tantalising piece of news is that there’s a second volume expected later in the year, which will include the duo’s reworkings of Nine Inch Nails, Goldfrapp and The Rapture. If it’s anywhere near as good as this first volume, it should be essential listening indeed. Great stuff.

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