Various Artists - Various Versus (Album)
Let’s get one thing straight; I am not a remix fan. I love New Order, yet my copy of the “Club” CD – it contains the remixes on the “Retro” box set – has largely gone unheard. So imagine my surprise when I receive the Various Versus remix compilation by Various Production. The group have be described by Stylus Magazine as featuring a dizzying collection of styles including: dubstep, playgirl grime and spartan folk.
Anyway, the story goes that they are a cat’s whisker away from their second full length album but to enable them to whet fan’s appetites, they were asked and agreed to compile an album containing their 7-inch singles spanning back to their 2005 song, Hater. Instead, the project transmogrified into a mix of rarities of the remixes previously done for other acts, that were either unavailable or digital only releases; in addition to five new reinterpretations of their own original compositions.
One thing's for certain, the eleven songs are an eclectic bunch, fusing weird and wonderful sounds and they occasionally achieve this via hypnotic techno music. The artists have good ears for picking out really nice, diverse vocals like Sia and Ian Brown, as well as oddball samples. A remix of the SugarbabesToo Lost In You kicks off the release and this actually makes girly pop fun for a cynical bitch like myself.
Various Production Vs Emma Pollock offer Limbs, which is an extremely unexpected Little Italy romp, while acts Apollo and In This perform rap music. The standout track is a remix of Ian Brown’s Sister Rose. The music acquires an intergalactic quality with Brown scouting another world and leading devotees to the promised land. And this is the former Stone Roses’ lead singer like you’ve never seen him before, almost becoming a faux-David Bowie.
In Hater there are some breathy, echoing monosyllables and the volume changes to the point where you could almost see the needle jumping if you were looking at an old skool amp. And Foller sounds like dandy men bowing and flamboyant women curtseying, as they eventually ready themselves for a sweet dance.
In sum, the compilation is an eclectic mix of oddball rarities and some good re-interpretations of other peoples’ songs, leading Various Production to make the “new” material completely their own.
