- What a wonderfully eye-opening and educational label Offen Music is developing into. The label, run by Vladimir Ivkovic, specialises in archival recordings, but this same flavour is sometimes discernible in its work with contemporary artists like Ivan Smagghe or Tolouse Low Trax. It's also apparent in its latest offering, Metaclaw.
There's a backstory to Metaclaw. As it goes, Nash and Reyenga were toiling over their rarely seen Sombrero Galaxy project in the Düsseldorf studio of local luminary Ralf Beck. On their final night of recording, Beck was invited to collaborate with the pair on a sort of Sombrero Galaxy remix. The result is the soaring "Metaclaw," a 16-minute synth epic that has lived in limbo for nearly a decade.
Then there are two B-side reworks that do everything you want remixes to do. The Düsseldorf staple Gordon Pohl offers a drastic reduction formed around a trudging 75-BPM groove that feels like walking through an endless tar pit. The drama slowly unfolds to a hypnotic whole before fading into silence at the nine-minute mark. By contrast, Versatile boss Gilbert Cohen delivers an unclassifiable remix rife with nervous percussive energy. The first remix under his given name, Cohen's work can only come from someone caught up in the powerful spirits that channel through Salon Des Amateurs.
TracklistA1 Metaclaw
B1 Metaclaw (Gordon Pohl Remix)
B2 Metaclaw (Gilbert Cohen Remix)