Francesco Tristano: Idiosynkrasia Remixes
InFiné

InFiné takes little time in following up Francesco Tristano's just-released Idiosynkrasia full-length with a twelve-inch featuring remixes of the title track courtesy of Ben Klock, Ark, Tom Taylor & Paul Woolford, and Fumiya Tanaka. In keeping with an album that was recorded at Carl Craig's Planet E studio in Detroit, the producers generally emphasize the groove-centric side of the “Idiosynkrasia” equation on this thirtieth vinyl edition in the InFiné catalog. Three of the four offer worthy takes on Tristano's material, while the fourth squanders the opportunity with a treatment that's both overlong and undercooked.

Berghain resident Ben Klock brings a similar kind of rock-solid thrust to Tristano's cut as to his own Ostgut Ton material. Powered by an indomitable groove, Klock's remix is an piledriver that retains just enough of the original's piano playing to retain a clear connection to it yet nevertheless goes its own way with steel-eyed determination and unwavering purpose. Tom Taylor & Paul Woolford serve up a high-energy, hard-grooving house treatment that's jacking and funky in all the right places, and, like Klock's, their version retains a goodly portion of the original without being handcuffed by it either. In what might be the release's clubbiest outing, Taylor and Woolford stoke an infectious dance-floor fever for much of their version's ten-minute running time. Slathering the remix with his characteristically bold and experimental sensibility is French electronic producer Ark (Guillaume Berroyer), who gives the tune a suitably tripped-out spin by undergirding Tristano's piano elegance with funky bass lines and splattering it with synthesizer tomfoolery. The sole let-down is Fumiya Tanaka's treatment, which proves to be too repetitive and unwavering to justify a ten-minute running time. Murmured vocal utterances and a rising synth wave surface as mildly ear-catching additions, but they're hardly enough to compensate for a listless pulse that locks too rigidly in place for too long. It's too bad the release is weakened by Tanaka's contribution (one can only imagine what someone like Craig would have done with the track), but the other three are still well worth your attention.

March 2011