phil ranelin

Remixes

Chicago's inspired Hefty label return with their most ambitious and expansive release to date. Having resurrected Phil Renalin's glorious 'Vibes from the Tribe' and 'The Time Is Now' LP's, Hefty have passed on much of the source material to some of their favourite artists who have have brought together a mouthwatering collection of remixes spanning across the genre's from Hip Hop to Electronica and beyond. Here are the players : Prefuse 73, Kirk Degiorgio, Jan Jelinek, Slicker, Morgan Geist, El P, Micha Acher, Telefon Tel Aviv, Beneath Autumn Sky and Nobody. The music of Renalin is fiercely rich, emerging from the era of jazz music that embraced the soulfire of Gil Scott Heron, the leaving breathing fire music of John Coltrane and the spiritualism's of Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. The remixers on board this huge project have treated the source material with unusually intriacte attention to detail and have managed to convey the impression that they have collaborated with the master tapes, rather then simply re-edited them. Scott Herren's Prefuse 73 is up first : a nocturnal emission of bells sets the tone with some truly breathtaking double bass playing and layered flutes. Faithful to the aesthetic of the original while setting it in a new era, Herren brings the depth to the fore and does so with a moving headnod beat to boot. Kirk Degiorgio takes time out from his many projects (As One and Offworld Productions, to name two) to come with a sweet midtempo extension to 'For The Children' complete with ace percussion, beats and the most uplifting fender rhodes refrain....all placed in a blistering hot Cuban setting. Jan Jelinek's (Farben / Gramm) contribution is breathtaking, sticking to the ideals of his 'loop finding jazz records', Mr Jelinek must have been delighted to receive source material of this calibre to play with. The result is a warm detailing of microscopic sounds infused with tickling slivers of Fender Rhodes and a rumbling double bassline. Stunning stuff. The lovely Slicker reworking of 'For The Children' sets some deep Chicago electronic/post-rock/jazz infusions to a Gil-style vocal produced straight from the stomach, a mellifluous flow of crisp and earthy percussion with delicate sprinkles of jazz essence. Morgan Geist up's the funk quotient on his beat heavy version of 'Sounds From The Village', retaining the fluidity of the original instrumentation while adding an echoed presence to the rhythms, cavernously deep. The mighty El-P, of block quaking Def Jux label renown takes some time out from delivering his masterpiece solo debut and rips into 'Time Is Running Out' like it really is.... running out.. broken gritty beats flow into the understated melodies, abstract avant hiphopjazz at it's best from the antiblingking. Tied and Tickled Trio / Notwist Maestro Micha Acher is up next with a totally reassembled interpretation of 'Vibes From The Tribe' - a spiritual avant jazz horn styling from fellow Tied members Johannes Enders (tenor sax) and Stefan Schreiber (clarinet) alongside the wonderful live percussion of Carl Oesterhel creates a devestating moment of freedom and stark beauty. The soon-to be-massive Telefon Tel Aviv build on the beauty of their sublime 'Fahrenheit Fair Enough' album with this electronic rejig - jazz splinters appear in disguised form, creating a deadly flick of deepest IDM. Crushing stuff. Friends of Scott Herren Beneath Autumn Sky get with the beats on another flawless hiphoptronica excursion, deadly crisp beats and shuddering basslines envelop tasty horns and jazzwise whispers, out-Prefusing Prefuse, so to speak. Ubiquity man Nobody rounds things up with the perfect epilogue - a heads down journey through the city streets of jazzy lush and downtempo radiance. A truly outstanding release, outrageously ambitious, delivering the goods in deadly fashion. Essential.