Artist: Future Funk Squad
Title: Towards The Sun (Remixes: Part One)
Label: Default Records
By: Devon Shaw | 13 July 2006
Tracklist:

• A: Evil Nine Mix
• B: R3volve Mix

Future Funk Squad "Towards The Sun (Remixes: Part One)"

From Future Funk Squad's latest album Audio Damage comes sophomore single Towards The Sun (featuring Ben Keenan), a collection of remixes divided up into two releases. This first features nu skool breaks gurus Evil Nine, and upstart new talent R3volve.

Evil Nine have been no strangers to the breaks scene since their breakout on Adam Freeland's Marine Parade label in 2000 and recently appeared on the London soundtrack alongside The Crystal Method. The mix kicks off with their trademark dirty, choppy beats, punctured by complete breakdowns into acapella choruses. The song picks up midway with some additional layers, but on the whole retains the same drums and synth patterns, venturing just far enough to make a generic mid-set filler or a solid layer in Ableton Live performances.

The mix by R3volve is a completely different ballgame. Artist Mike Christensen has been making quite a splash since his BPM contest-winning remix for BT's Somnambulist, and now carries support from the likes of James Zabiela, Sasha, Shiloh and Jody Wisternoff of Way Out West. Coming hot off two remixes for synthpop duo Wideband Network (Show Me Love and Just Like That), Mike delivers in his signature sound of intricately-layered melodies through a driving, uplifting house beat, retaining the full vocals and song structure and discarding all else to create an entirely new song identity. It's pure pop house, and delightfully so.

Make no mistake, the bar was set fairly high by the original mix of Towards The Sun, and nothing less than superb efforts were required to do proper justice. The Evil Nine mix is clearly the inferior of the two, and sadly offers very little in the way of creative inspiration in both sound design and arrangement. R3volve's work alone makes the release a must-buy, and comes highly recommended for both peak-time dancefloor play and concentrated listening.