General Elektriks: Raid The Radio EP
Discograph
Raid the Radio is issued, naturally, under its creator's name, General Elektriks aka Hervé ‘RV' Salters, but—truth be told—the EP comes recommended primarily because of the involvement of French producer Agoria who contributes two top-drawer remixes (one of them digital only). The lead-off track, his “Space Agoria Motor Mix,” turns Salters' original (from his Good City For Dreamers album) into a tech-house raver that burns for nearly eight steamrolling minutes. With the original's vocal reduced to little more than a phantom trace, the focus shifts to a thrusting bass-powered backbeat that's as unstoppable as an out-of-control locomotive. The feverish, nine-minute club anthem “General Agoria Motor Remix” (digital-only) starts out a tad less ferociously, but it gradually swells in intensity as the seconds tick off and it's joined by the rebellious chant “Raid the radio / ‘Cause we're tired of hearing the same old song / We're gonna change the dial to something new / Bring some truth to this town.”
Salters contributes a version too, though its soul-funk, laid-back vibe is totally unlike the Agoria treatments. Nevertheless, his sing-song “Lazy Uprise” mix, replete with clavinet(!) and whistling, oozes charm too. The EP ends with the previously unreleased “How She Got Away,” whose old-school vocal pop style (there's even an electric guitar solo) is decent enough but can't help but feel anti-climactic, given the impact of the material preceding it. Needless to say, the EP's primarily value lies in the “Raid the Radio” treatments, with Agoria deserving a special round of applause for his versions.January 2010