various artists - blamstrain remixed review from igloomag.com Merck records assembles a strike force of their flagship artists as they get ready to close their doors with a release cataloged under Blamstrain. In reality, it is attributable to he and ten of his finest label-mates. In the dying era of the full-length LP, Remixed from Blamstrain displays a mature collection of electronic craftsmanship that Merck has become known for. The conceptual structure of Remixed was, at first, a bit confusing. Remix records generally see artists covering specific tracks from an artist's catalogue, neatly delineated on the sleeve. Blamstrain, however, has provided an unnamed pack of sound sources for his companions to manipulate as they see fit. The song titles are simply the names of each remix artist - track one is titled "Mesak;" track two is titled "Funckarma;" etc. This creates an abstract mindscape as one listens to this record. The songs, created from a shared palette of sounds, maintain cohesion from one to the next, while at the same time bringing forward the unique touches and production experience from each artist. Because of this structure, the record suffers a bit when listened start to finish. While it maintains the sonic attention to detail typical to Merck, the listener is quickly reminded that all songs come from the same audio seeds. With that said, once this record was loaded into my portable music player, the motivation behind this unique concept became amazingly clear. It has been said that the era of the LP is dying in the wake of the iPod, where tracks are shuffled together and playlists compiled from select songs. It is in this format that this release truly shines; when played on shuffle, the tracks on this record help create an overlying motif in a playlist, bringing the random music selection a sense of order. Merck's artists have developed a justified reputation for focused and deliberate rhythms amid atmospheric synth manipulations, and it becomes a true joy when one of these songs pops up in my ears. The source material is never truly revealed, but with a complete listen of the record one can discern what must have been given to the artists. The songs incorporate quick glitches of percussion, thick and clean synthetic bass hits, and bubbly riffs of synth leads that come from the streets of Detroit. Each track represents the typical sound of each artist when applied to a given base of sounds. Proem's remix is reminiscent of Negativ while Syndrone syncopates triplet-infused rhythms with gated microsamples. Blamstrain and No Xivic break down the beats to a mental wash of ambience. The Gridlock track deserves mention, as it is the final song from the band. They have enjoyed an acclaimed but underappreciated career, beginning on the Pendragon records label (alongside industrial acts such as Individual Totem & Haujobb) with soul-crushingly hard beats and dark ambient soundscapes. Once Pendragon was swallowed by Metropolis Records, they moved to a more Autechre-influenced sound with their Dryft release (a product of band member, Mike Cadoo). Their remix here finds the band punctuating their career with a style somewhere in between, simultaneously atmospheric and crushing. Fans of Merck records and finely crafted electronics will enjoy this glitch/idm-oriented release. -Matt Simpson various artists - blamstrain remixed review from www.inthemix.com.au Finnish IDM / electronic producer Juho Hietala’s debut offering as Blamstrain through US imprint M3rck (home to the likes of Mr. Projectile and Adam Johnson), 2003’s ‘Ensi’ showed him weaving together a deep and intricate blend of techno, electro and ambient elements to create a blend similar to that explored by Funckarma and Isan, somewhat belying his explosive-sounding moniker. This companion remix album, imaginatively titled ‘Remixed’ sees ten different tracks from ‘Ensi’ receiving the remix treatment from an extensive lineup of leftfield electronic / IDM names such as Isan, Lackluster and Proem, alongside one completely new track by Blamstrain himself. And, in an enigmatic twist, all of the tracks included here are simply labeled ‘untitled’, which means that there’s an element of mystery here – although you know who’s doing the remixing, you never quite know quite which track it originally was. Mesak (one half of Finnish duo Mr. Velcro Fastener) opens proceedings with a gorgeous slice of melodic ambient electro that gradually introduces a sharp-edged breaker’s snap to the gathering furious rhythms below as soft trailing Detroit-esque synth patterns play over the top in a moment that’s reminiscent of Plaid’s work. Fellow M3rck artist Proem introduces a hard metallic edge, with abrupt pulsing rhythms and laser-gun style zaps popping and crackling their way over an ominous buzzing backdrop of bass synths and shimmering ambient effects, before Funckarma drops the pace down whilst also injecting some subtle hiphop elements into his reworking, undulating seismic bass drops and even a slight hint of digital funk lurking behind its stuttering rhythms and washes of synthetic dub ambience. Gridlock contributes a stunning reworking that slowly emerges from trailing harmonic drones into crunching industrial-edged rhythms, slow downtempo snares making their way around an emotive ambient backing that ventures through almost Dead Can Dance-esque film score grandeur with a serenity that somehow fits perfectly with the fierce buzzing processed warfare going on below, while Mosaik takes things right into icy ominous IDM electro, with some arpeggiated melodies that call to mind Aphex’s ‘Icct Hedral’ picking their way delicately with sinister precision over a stripped-down but still buzzingly contorted backing of hyper-edited rhythms. Taho’s reworking offers another of this collection’s highlights, with clicking broken electro rhythms making their way through a vast backdrop of synthetic droning ambience that builds and builds, suggesting some meeting point between Funkstorung’s funk-infused crunchiness and Eno’s ‘deep-blue-sky’ widescreen atmospherics, before Syndrone’s remix takes things deep into whirring, buzzing darkness, furious Squarepusher-esque rhythms powering their way against a vast droning void that eventually engulfs the entire track. Personally, I thought the two extended ambient closer tracks here represented the absolute standout moments here, with No Xivic’s nine-minute long epic reworking emerging slowly from the sampled sound of rainfall amidst vast orchestral drones that call to mind the film score for ‘Baraka’, before the rainfall subsides and the distant sounds of birdcall slowly washes back in around echoing Buddhist-chant vocal intonations, while Blamstrain’s own contribution takes this collection to a close amidst a vast trailing echo of ambient drones, the vast backing slowly condensing like a jet trail into a dull roar. A stunning remix album featuring a diverse range of reworkings that manage to take Blamstrain’s original productions in some quite disparate sonic directions, all the while retaining a cohesive atmosphere of deep IDM electro that lends this collection the feel of an artist album proper, rather than a collection of remixed tracks. Deep, intricate electro landscapes with a vast emotive pull behind the detailed programming – fans of the likes of Chis Clark, Plaid and Autechre should definitely investigate Blamstrain. -evilchris2 various artists - blamstrain remixed review from textura.org This isn't the first time Merck has issued an entire album dedicated to remixes of a single artist's work (Ilkae's Bovine Rearrangement springs to mind as a recent example) but it would be hard to imagine one with a greater unanimity of sound than Blamstrain Remixed. While there are clear differences between the collection's eleven offerings, they're all wholly and unapologetically synthetic, collectively beamed down from some blissful, electro-synth galaxy to our collective good fortune. Needless to say, what one loses in the dominance of Blamstrain's (aka Finland's Juho Hietala) voice, one gains in the riches proffered by sympatico contributors. The album's analog emphasis is affirmed immediately by Mesak's (Tatu Metsätähti) bright electro waves and pumping drum machine beats, a style that re-emerges in Proem's (Richard Bailey) chugging mix and Lackluster's (Esa Juhani Ruoho) jittery electro-dub. Funckarma (brothers Don and Roel Funcken) fashions a funkier minimal groove, while Taho's mix sashays through a forest of Arabian flickers and ghostly chatter before entering dense thickets of hazy smears. Others adopt a quieter approach, as heard in Mosaik's twilight treatment and Isan's (Antony Ryan and Robin Saville) sparkling oasis. Interestingly, the album takes a dramatic stylistic detour in its final three tracks, all of which conspicuously depart from the electro template. Syndrone's (Travis Stewart) is strikingly anomalous, a manic tech-house outing peppered with frog-like voice snippets and blurry rumbles. No Xivic (Henkka Kyllönen) contributes an epic drone of phantom moans and hazy piano shimmer, while Blamstrain himself closes the album with a lush, at times crushing setting of hazy washes and dark tones. There's not a weak moment in this accomplished lot, and Blamstrain Remixed ably meets Merck's usual high standard. -ron schepper various artists - blamstrain remixed review from boomkat.com Limited Blamstrain remix album including contributions from Isan, Lackluster, Funckarma, Proem, Syndrone and many more. Taking Blamstrain's 'Ensi' LP as it's starting point, the various artists involved have managed to retain the feel of the original whilst all adding their signature spice to the mix. First on the blocks is Mesak who cranks up the Manual-style backing, dons his IDM sunnys then gets down to some fantastic 8-bit beat action as all manner of sparkleblushed structures spiral here, there and everywhere. Very nice. Passing the baton to Funckarma, Blamstrain is then put through the micro-house filter, albeit one with a panache for peripheries, before Gridlock gets involved to deliver an IDM monster that'll have you clean out of breath. Elsewhere Isan do what Isan do best; precise and florid, Lackluster risks a 4/4 breakdown and comes out laughing whilst No Xivic finish it all off with a rain drenched, beatless epic that leaves you both cleansed and thoroughly sated. Less of remix album and more of a rediscovery... various artists - blamstrain remixed review in spanish from Ich Hasse Die Media El nuevo trabajo procedente de la prolífica factoría de Florida, bien conocida por ser la casa de Machine Drum, Adam Johnson, Proswell y otros artífices del glitch-hop, es un álbum dedicado a las remezclas. Sin muchas pistas que identifiquen las señas de identidad (una escueta pegatina señalando que se trata de remezclas de Blamstrain) no queda más que adentrarse en el disco, que tras una portada en la que la naturaleza se alía con la mecánica (y ya es eso, ¿no?) descubre un plantel de lujo remezclando los originales (sin definición de origen) del artista finlandés. Abre el disco el momento más optimista y animoso de la mano del recién llegado Mesak (atención a sus maxis en Klankson) y le siguen otros habituales de la casa: los hermanos Funken en otro de sus certeros ejercicios de deconstrucción rítmica y bajos groovies. Lackluster, Proem y Syndrone también transitan por la oscura senda rítmica, mientras Gridlock y el propio Blamstrain juegan a la intensidad melódica. Isan aportan calma a mitad del disco entregando una de sus mejores y más insospechadas remezclas. Un disco sobresaliente que, como deberían ser las mejores remezclas, deja todo el protagonismo a sus nuevos hacedores. [ash]

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