ARTS label boss Emmanuel taps his favorite producers Chontane, Regent, and OFF / GRID for remix duties on his “Planned Obsolescence” release from last year with “Planned Obsolescence Part 2”.
Something’s definitely in the water over there in Rotterdam.. or is it in the air? These remixes from Chontane, Regent, and OFF / GRID serve as a reminder of Emmanuel’s release last summer and bring about grooving, and chopped-down versions of his bold, emotive, and deep techno style.
When we look at Chontane’s ‘95-style version of “Lost in Translation,” we see a lot of crushed elements, possibly bit-reduction and compression to give a 16-bit meets hi-bias VHS take on what normally is Emmanuel’s lush and hi-res audio. Both producers are on top of their game right now. Chontane being the lauded frontrunner of 24/25’s fresh new techno scene, and Emmanuel preferring to focus on putting out sonic masterworks that have his entire heart behind them.
Similarly, Regent’s take on Emmanuel’s abstract sonic landscape in “Illusion of Choice” has a lot of the abstracted sonic curiosities looped up and put in the background as a bubbly sound bed, while the focus is on the chugging drums over top and carefully tamed 909 rides, adding a classic crunchy edge to a somewhat cerebral original track.
Last up is OFF / GRID’s mix of “New Media,” where Emmanuel’s face-melting bass wash is pushed to a level in the far back of the track and somewhat replaced by a kick and rounded bass pattern. With this pattern, OFF / GRID sets up pitched, chopped, and filtered versions of the sonic bits and baubles Emmanuel presents in the original. The result is a more energetic and machine-like version of a track meant to overwhelm and subdue an unsuspecting audience member who hasn’t yet fully understood the powerful musical possibilities within techno.
Overall it’s great to see new approaches to Emmanuel’s style that present a gritty and straightforward dance floor take on Emmanuel’s broad, bold, and heady sound design.
The real DJs out there will most likely find it an excellent maneuver to marry the remixes to the originals in their crate to get a lot of sonic possibilities out of each of them when layering in a set. Hearing something like that out at a warehouse would be outstanding, since the contrasting layers and ideas would fully complement each other.
-Sean Ocean
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