Artist: Starecase
Title: Faith
Label: Hope Recordings
By: Simon Jones | 26 March 2002
Tracklist:

• A: Original Mix
• B: Loafer Mix

Starecase "Faith"

Starecase have become known over the years for their tough breakbeat and 4/4 numbers such as First Floor Deadlock, Undecided, Love The Bomb (with Max Graham) and remixes of tracks like Der Dritte Raum's Hale Bopp (with Nick Warren). More recently they showed a new diraction with the single Bitter Little Pill, and now follow it up with the vocal driven breaks of Faith, featuring the vocals of fellow Bristolian Jokate Benson.

The Original mix is a slickly produced cut of vocal breakbeat action, with Jokate's vocals rolling over and inbetween the beats subtly and with ease, dropping into a vocal led break which takes the direction of the track slightly deeper before letting the beats roll once more. A great example of how much Starecase have diversified. and a track that seriously rocks in their live show as well.

On the remix is one Mr Alan Bremner, better known to many as Loafer, brings us a club interpretation of the track, a deep beat bassline that slowly twists and turns as it builds, effects whizzing back and forth in the background, before the atmospheric main bassline kicks in, and Jokate's vocals are shown off to their full extent, powering through the speakers with reckless abandon. The track fades to just the vocal in the chorus before building and building. A deep, deep sound just breathes as this track gains momentum, drawing you in and letting the vocal work its way around your mind. A very intelligently crafted track.

As a precusor of what to expect from the guys debut long player Firstfloor, it looks as if Starecase have spent lots of time reworking their sound into something that can cross boundaries and genres and work at both the commerical and underground ends of the spectrum, and have done so with relative ease. Watch out for further remixes in the near future.