Redesign: Realize Remixed

Albumrecension

For fans of the international Asian Massive scene, there's nothing better than a new Karsh Kale album. Unless maybe it's an old Karsh Kale album presented in drastically remixed form by an all-star cast of dance-music heroes like Bill Laswell, DJ Spooky, Banco de Gaia, and Kale's Brooklyn homeboy, Mighty Junn. These 11 mixes all stick fairly close to the drum'n'bass mainstream, but there's plenty of variety within that general category: "Destroy the Icon," the only track here that did not appear in its original form on Realize, is given an energetic but relatively restrained mix that rides on a rolling groove built from haunting vocal snippets, chugging breakbeats, and what sounds like a mridingam; DJ Spooky's mix of "One Step Beyond" combines a subtle house pulse with deeply funky drum loops and tweaked-out keyboards; Laswell brings his typically lush production values and dubwise inflections to "Empty Hands." All of it is tons of fun, and a very worthy companion to the original album.