Agoria: Panta Rei Remixes
InFiné

We weren't totally won over by Agoria's recent full-length Impermanence, but we can most definitely get behind this Panta Rei Remixes set. It's not the first time InFiné has followed an artist's full-length release with an EP-length remix treatment of one of the album's tracks, and hopefully it won't be the last. In this case, remix contributions come from Danton Eeprom, Eduardo De La Calle, and Jon Hopkins, in addition to Agoria himself.

First up is a “Radio Edit” of Sebastien Devaud's original, just in case anyone's forgotten how fabulous “Panta Rei” (Greek for “everything flows”) is in its originating form. The track's feverish, trance-techno vibe makes it as DJ-ready as a track can be, so it's no wonder it was embraced so enthusiastically during the festival season. Devaud also contributes a suitably summery “Balearic Mix” that swings for a delicious seven minutes, with its bubbly chords riding a dizzying wave of caliente-inflected house rhythms. Strings ascend in repeated wind-ups, while claps and whooshes add to the track's syncopated and atmospheric splendour.

Danton Eeprom then gives it a spacey, retro-futurist makeover that's so epic in spirit it feels like the sky exploding. String surges, staccato claps, and the blaze of a warbling, ‘70s-styled synth solo all appear during a light-speed, jazz-tinged treatment that makes Devaud's own versions seem restrained by comparison. In an elastic “Analog Solutions” remix (vinyl only), Spanish producer Eduardo De La Calle augments background synth flutter (a sample lifted from Kraftwerk's “Hall of Mirrors”?) with a thumping bass pulse and broiling house rhythms. It's the most explorative of the EP's tracks (a little piano jazz sprinkle even surfaces during its closing moments), understandably so given its eleven-minute running time. Rounding out the disc is a digital-only rendering by Jon Hopkins (whose profile has been raised in recent days due to his contributions to Brian Eno's 2010 album Small Craft On A Milk Sea) that powers the tune with a heavy, jacking thrust that doesn't skimp on its trance character while also staying true to its rave persona too.

September 2011