Make yourselves ready, as once again we enter the wonderful world of Banco De Gaia, this time with a little help from his friends.
After the success of his most recent album, Apollo, Banco returns with Ollopa, a remix album that turns its source on its head: not only have the name and original track order been reversed, but the artwork is inverted too, with the sun becoming the moon and other symbols flipped upside down.
The collection starts with Tripswitch’s sublime remix of Acquiescence, which builds slowly from an ambient opening into a downtempo delight, setting the tone nicely for both Antipodean duo, Deep Fried Dub, who add a cheeky dancehall lick to Oreia, and the high priests of sacred bass, Desert Dwellers, whose jittery yet soothing remix of All Sleeping is like sonic incense for the mind and body.
The sinewy melodies of Hu! are strengthened and complimented by some tough, bass-driven beats on the Unusual Cosmic Process Remix, while Kaya Project’s worldly ears (and added vocals) guide Apollon to new enchanted places and the sheer beauty of For Such A Time is retained and enhanced by System 7, as they add their distinctive twisting and playful style to the track.
Eternal Sunshine undergoes a radical change, courtesy of the Huff And Puff mix: the complex yet effortless new version rises from the ether, managing to be both epic and understated at the same time. Former Planet Dog labelmate Eat Static provides a suitably bonkers psychedelic Gypsy/Balkan mix of Wimble Toot, leaving Gaudi to end the collection with his remix of Lamentations, which encapsulates the emotion of the original within a funky, bass heavy breakbeat.
released October 7, 2013
All tracks written by T. Marks except Lamentations and Acquiescence, written by T. Marks and Z. Mahdi-Nau.
Additional musicians:
Lamentations: Vocals by Zhenia Mahdi-Nau
Wimble Toot: Saxophone by Matthew Jenkins
Hu!: Additional drums by Ted Duggan
All Sleeping: Flutes by Tim Wheater; Violas by Patrick Dunn; Guitar by Toby Marks
Acquiescence: Vocals by Zhenia Mahdi-Nau
1. Acquiescence (Tripswitch remix)
Recorded at The Treehouse, MK, UK
tripswitch.mu
2. Oreia (Deep Fried Dub Refried remix)
deepfrieddub.com
3. All Sleeping (Desert Dwellers Remix)
desertdwellers.org
4. Hu! (Unusual Cosmic Process remix)
Produced by Runar Kristinsson at Photosphere Studio
soundcloud.com/ucp-1
5. Apollon (Kaya Project Remix)
Remix & Additional Production by Seb Taylor & Natasha Chamberlain. Recorded at Foxglove Studios, Brighton.
kayaproject.com
6. For Such a Time (System 7 Remix)
a-wave.com
7. Eternal Sunshine (Huff and Puff mix)
Remix and production by Toby Marks
banco.co.uk
8. Wimble Toot (Eat Static Remix)
Programmed and remixed by Merv Pepler
Recorded @ LabUFO, darkest Somerset
eatstatic.co.uk
9. Lamentations (Gaudi Remix)
Remix produced by Gaudi at Metatron Studio London
Gaudi appears courtesy of Six Degrees Records
gaudimusic.com
Mastered by Toby Marks
Artwork by Dave Whitehead
except
Front cover design based on "Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon" by Claude Lorrain.
Original photograph (c) 2012 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Used with kind permission.
