Aufgang: Dulceria EP
InFiné

Aufgang's Dulceria EP reprises the title track from the recent Air On Fire release and supplements it with remixes of same by Clark and Akiko Akiyama and throws in a Team Ghost remix of “Good Generation for good measure. Given that it's still fresh in our memory, we'll essentially reiterate what we said about “Dulceria” in our Air On Fire review. It's, in a word, terrific, a transfixing fusion of house, funk, and electro that finds Aufgang exploring new terrain without losing its trademark, double-barreled Grand Piano attack in the process. For seven transporting minutes, banks of creamy synthesizers shore up the group's keyboard sparkle, and a charging groove bolsters the tune's euphoric vibe, the exception being the track's coda where the tune becomes a beatless reverie.

What recommends the Clark and Akiko Akiyama versions most is how radically their remixes depart from the original. Warp's Clark remodels “Dulceria” into a more heavily synthetic beast, all twitchy flickerings and low-end groovesmithing, before flaming out in dreamscaping blur. A mid-song vocal melody draws the firmest connection to Aufgang's original but aside from that Clark's treatment could pass for a different composition altogether. Akiyama's hews more closely to Aufgang's—the main melody line is retained, as are the effervescent piano parts—but still recasts it as a clubby tech-house workout powered by a thumping pulse and tinged with Eastern flavour. Team Ghost (Christophe Guérin and former M83 member Nicolas Fromageau) opts for an entirely different approach in the “Good Generation” makeover by reimagining the tune as an ethereal swirl of shoegaze grandiosity with vocals buried under a blaze of synthetic fire.

October 2010