Following the legit release of Paul Woolford’s initially unofficial Offworld remix of The Grid’s Floatation, back in 2020, the big, beloved, 1990 Balearic hit is now being reissued with a further 6 reworks. 

One of those comes from DJ / producer Made By Pete who takes the chillout classic dancing. The tune is still totally recognisable, its familiar John Barry-inspired piano chords, the clarinet solo and Shoom stalwart Sascha Souter’s “sub-Gainsbourg” seductive words (1), are all present, but they bop to rave breaks and bass bleeps (2). 

The remaining 5 re-imaginings are the work of Mark Barrott, His first, Return To Sa Trinxa, is a real curveball. A brave, organic shake of the electronic landmark, it’s a live-sounding, kinda jazz combo take. Swapping the OG’s massive Yamaha SPX 90 reverb-ed beat for funky trap drumming and adding fresh – likely improvised – key and flute solos. The second, God’s Cinema Sunset – this title perhaps a nod to the fact that Flotation was conceived as a movie end credits theme – is near classical. Symphonic, boasting some virtuoso piano, and beatless, bar triumphant timpani crashes. Retaining its source’s reflective “happy / sad” vibe (3). This emotional epic eventually falling to a coda of gentle Fender Rhodes. In contrast, Barrott’s Ibiza Sunrise 90 excursion is much more electronic. Cymbals shimmering amidst slow waves of wonky, warped sequences. Winking and wobbling like buoys bobbing on an eddying tide. 

Barrott confided in me that he blew his whole budget on strings. Something that certainly shows. His opening offering starts with a soaring, uplifting, orchestral intro and its stirrings continue throughout the rest of the EP. Interestingly though on each version they get softer. Barrott sequentially, with each interpretation, strips the mix back. Losing elements and layers, as if the next reading is a whisper of the last, so that his Somnolent Reprise scatters sparse keys amongst sonic scenery constructed from birds, cicadas and synthetic sighs. In his final Slo-Motion shot little is left save a caress of sustained vapour. This also means that Barrott’s mixes, step by step, move further and further away from The Grid’s original track. However, it’s a testament to his ear and technique that its spirit is still there as the hooks, and sonar blips, fade into the distance, and memory.  

The Mark Barrott and Made By Pete remixes of The Grid’s Floatation will be released throughout September and October, via GMG.

NOTES

1. This is how Richard Norris describes them. 

2. For copyright reasons, I guess, the Shelia Chandra samples and bongos bitten from Herb Alpert are absent. 

3. Again, this is how Mr. Norris himself describes it.