Having previously been remixed by the likes of Dennis “Blackbeard” Bovell and Andy “Glok” Bell, A Mountain Of One now turn 6 of the 8 songs on their sophomore LP, Stars Planets Dust Me, over to techno legend, Ricardo Villalobos. Ricardo divides his reworks up into “Beachside” and “Klub”. His re-imaginings, track by track, becoming more and more radical. Ricardo’s first re-do, of Star, for example, is simply a fresh mix-down that gives the arrangement more room to breathe (1). The Chilean-German maverick also applies a similar, subtle re-tweak of a previously unreleased “Ambient” crack at Custard’s Last Stand, where AMO slow the OG’s spacey synth pop, to create something more chilled, and stately paced. The vocoder-ed vibrations, petted by gently percolating programmed percussion, starting a little bit like New Musik’s proto- classic, 24 Hours From Culture, and then opening out into an angelic coda of serene, symphonic heavenly harmonies. Black Apple Pink Apple has its Steely Dan, soft rock swing swapped for stripped back synthetic syncopation. Its Christopher Cross-esque crooning at the centre of a 10-minute cut that’s comforting, warm, and hypnotic (2). 

There are two mixes of Make My Love Grow. The Beachside excursion supersizes the original’s slo-mo skank. Beginning with a bite from a Bob Marley interview, where the former Wailer renounces material wealth – “My richness is life” – the Tim / Jeff Buckley-like blues is set to mellow modern dub. Its Klub counterpart, on the other hand, is hot, groovy, garage-y, afro / latin house, where the vocal is pushed way down in the mix, and now sounds like a gospel chant.

These Klub constructions are total transformations. Practically unrecognisable rebuilds. While Softlanding was a cool, calm, sophisticated, collaboration with Dip In The Pool, Villalobos’ version boasts a banging, boisterous beat. Trading the aquatic acoustics for a TB-303, and fragmenting Miyako Koda’s fragile aria. Both this and the closing, re-designed Dealer borrow some frantic, flickering energy from old school electro. The densely detailed latter, ditches its Depeche Mode meet The Eagles stadium-rocking foundations for rigorous rattling rimshots (3). An acid house altered state, it shakes its stuff like a slightly slicker, more polished, Paranoid London. 

You can preorder Ricardo Villalobos Reimagines: Stars Planets Dust Me directly from Vicious Charm.

Notes

1 – This my favourite song on the album, and it didn’t need a radical rework anyway… although I do love the GLOK dub.

2 – As a digital bonus, you also get an epic 18 / 19 minute take on this track. 

3 – This sounded like hail stones hitting my car, as I drove in the Indian summer sunshine.