Upside Down

Albenrezension

Finally! There have been numerous remixes of Jazzanova's work over the last few years, appearing on 12"s, usually in very limited editions; most disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Upside Down, issued by Sonar Kollektiv, has compiled them en masse. It's available either as a single CD or a pair of vinyl LPs. These ten tracks feature the work of some of dance music's finest producers, including Âme, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Atjazz, Ye:Solar, and more. Jazzanova member Alex Barck (who offers a fine remix of the group's "Little Bird" with José James on vocals) also teams with fellow live member Stefan Ulrich and Alexa Voss as Neve Naive to remix "Lucky Girl," one of two cuts here that feature Paul Randolph's vocals (the other is the blissful groover "Let Me Show Ya" done by by Henrik Schwarz). Other standouts include Mr. Scruff's "Boom Clicky Boom Klack," the Midnight Marauders' upside-down techno move on "I Can See" with Ben Westbeech (he's kept inside the Ye:Solar's club jazz rework of the same tune). The Soldiers of House stretch "Lie," featuring Thief, into something approaching house-gaze in the first half of the cut. The best number here, however, is Atjazz's "Dance the Dance," with its skittering cymbals and tom-tom loops, flutes and kalimba, piano, muted trumpet, soprano sax and bass. Together they create a spaced-out meld of club jazz syncopation and house — with some well-placed, gorgeous synth washes in the mix to boot. When the house part of the jam finally kicks in, it's almost as if one is hearing Ronnie Laws' group from the early '80s meeting a Chicago house DJ live. Ultimately, whatever format you choose, Upside Down is a remix comp that is welcome and necessary, not only for Jazzanova fans, but dance music devotees as well.