Artist: Nathan Fake
Title: Drowning In A Sea Of Remixes
Label: Border Community
By: Andy Dixon | 8 August 2006
Tracklist:

• A1: Charlie's House (Apparat Mix)
• A2: Long Sunny (Vincent Oliver Mix)
• B1: Long Sunny (Fairmont Mix)
• B2: You Are Here (Fortdax Mix)

Nathan Fake "Drowning In A Sea Of Remixes"

Playing off the title of Nathan Fake's Drowning In A Sea Of Love' album from earlier this year, 'Drowning In A Sea Of Remixes' offers four innovative remixes of three of the album's tracks. As one might expect 'Drowning In A Sea of Remixes is fairly consistent with the label's sound and charm: blips, beeps, overtly teched out beats, and strong padded layering that Holden himself helped pioneer.

Apparat's mix of Charlie's House is an interesting take on Fake's original version. A slow build as the melody forms and a number of filters and effects applied to the relative stable beat keep it in constant motion. A numbers of layers are broken down to repeating 16th and 32nd notes and an abundant use of a Saw wave help further drive this track, which is also featured on James Holden's 'At The Controls' compilation.

The remainder of side A is the first of two remixes of 'Long Sunny. Rarely do you find a remix that adds a vocal to an instrumental original, but Vincent Oliver's mix does just that. While it is an unusual addition, it works. The vocal helps reassure an odd mood that matches the mix's more jumbled beat and discordant accents; even paying homage to the originator himself with the line "It could be the pollen. Nathan Fake agrees. Makes his Computer Sneeze." But by the second half of the track the original comes on full force with an emotive scream before the first theme returns to tie it all together.

The second Long Sunny remix comes from Fairmont and it's the best of the lot. A pulsating bass line stirs at it from the beginning and although the beat itself is a simple 4/4 with little variation, a blend of claps, snuffed hi-hats, and what seems to be well controlled noise offer enough to stay interesting. Melodic layers reform in atmospheric pads and muted leads towards the middle of the track before breaking back down to beats and the omnipresent bass line.

The fourth and final mix of the this remix EP is the Fortdax mix of 'You Are Here'. It's a solid production with a very upbeat feel, but personally there’s nothing too inspired about it. It adds fast moving strings that provide a good melody but at the same time loses the ambiance and the underlying mood from the original. It's a bold approach that is definitely worth a listen but it wouldn't get much playing time from my record box.

Overall though, this is a good release that stays true to Border Community's atmospheric techno and featuring some refreshing new remix ideas. None of these remixes are quite as good as the Nathan Fake original tracks but they provide some interesting alternatives.