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2009 Ten Favourite Labels
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5
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Mark Templeton
Dorosoto:
Embryonic Audio Restoration
I, Absentee
In many ways a prototypical remix album, Embryonic Audio Restoration finds a motley crew of remixers set loose on three previously-issued Dorosoto EPs for I, Absentee (Hypnotic Gyre, Sounds Look Similar, Rarefied Audio). Like many a remix project, it's hard to get any clear sense of what Warren Kroll's original Dorosoto material sounds like after the remixers are done with them but that's to be expected (in a 2008 review, textura described Hypnotic Gyre as “reverb-drenched, evocative electronica”). What we do get are eleven beat-driven makeovers with roots in acid, IDM, electro-funk, hip-hop, and more. Some names you'll recognize—Anders Ilar, Ontayso, Jack Marchment, and Joseph Auer among them—while some are new (e.g., Weev).
In his take on “Emerald Building...,” Tobacco opens the proceedings with an eyebrow-raising mix of down-home guitar blues and analog electro-synth patterning. D'antini (Steve Lutes aka Mall Security) gives “Trybalake” a midtempo “Tribali Tenebre” treatment that bridges raving acid-techno and Warp-styled IDM genres, while “Memory Circle” in Aelfric Michael Avery 's Acid Elf hands naturally becomes an exercise in Roland TB-303-driven Acid House. Coppice Halifax's (Brian Grainger aka Milieu) sleek remix of “Amber Dub” brings a downtempo funk slant to the album, and newcomer Weev makes a good impression with an acidy dubstep take in his “Shady Acres Dub” treatment of “Memory Circle.”
In a standout treatment, Cru Jonez (drummer Steve Bryant) brings some serious boom-bap to a tripped-out “Amber Dub” makeover replete with a dub bass line that would do Robbie Shakespeare proud. Strong too is the contribution by Boltfish artist Joseph Auer who brings “In Planetary” back to terra firma with an epic, Detroit-styled techno workout that billows and pounds in all the right places. Ontayso's (Esther Santoyo and Koen Lybaert) eight-minute version of “Amber Dub” is as epic and deep an electronic excursion as one would expect from U-Cover's figurehead act. Speaking of deep space, Anders Ilar mans the Mars-bound shuttle in a galaxial treatment of “Dioline” that evokes the image of a spaceship careening through a field of asteroids. While not a landmark release by any stretch (not its presumed goal anyway), Embryonic Audio Restoration is nevertheless a solid enough fifty-five minute collection that hits a generous number of stylistic targets within the electronic genre.November 2009