Leipzig’s Kann Records, masterminded by Bender, Sevensol and map.ache, kicked off last year with the first of several unremarkable releases drawing mainly from the productions of the label owners. Daniel Stefanik and Sven Weisemann have fashioned remixes of two tracks from that debut 2×12″. Both are frustrating studies in how easy it is for tracks from talented producers to slide into gooey bland ignominy. Daniel Stefanik’s version of a track by Brotherhood, aka the Fröhler brothers, is in his usual style, which seems to involve taking a few elements from a track and stuffing them into a sausage casing made from fairly generic, tribal-ish house drums, boiling them for a bit longer than necessary, and calling it a day. There is a little life in the simple keyboard and sunny vocal samples of “Memorial Smith.” Stefanik’s “Buki Good Remix,” however, develops no tension to draw the listener in over its twelve minute length.
Sven Weisemann’s version of Bender and Sevensol’s “Evol Peed” definitely flirts with delivering more. Sven’s trademark polite, sexy, and finely crafted sound is there, but without its usual brightness and charm. Mr. Weisemann has been on superb form lately, with remixes of Freund der Familie and Gowentgone suggesting that his easily identifiable sound has matured into something more like the calling card of an auteur. “Evol Peed” shows the danger in that sort of mastery: just because it doesn’t sound like anyone else’s music doesn’t mean that it holds its own. This kind of barren, cloudy dub excursion is a difficult exercise, and here the wispy, moonlit synths are not supported by much that speaks to emotion, or dance floor motion. Here’s hoping that now he’s mastered sound design like few others in the business, Sven can keep the hunger that turns out the jewels he’s capable of.
“unremarkable” sounds a bit harsh to me; but then kann00 was one of my favourites from last year. i agree though that this release however is entirely inessential. why daniel stefanik’s remix is classified as such is beyond me. workmanlike at best, pointless at worst. the sven weisemann rework is much better but still below par by his high standards…
the “sunny vocal samples” on “memorial smith” by the way are from michael j. smith’s peerless lp “mi cyaan believe it”
I’m not trying to be contentious, but I really do disagree with the Daniel Stefanik remix. Maybe it could’ve been nipped in by a minute or two, but the changes are subtle and effective. The rejigging of the piano line, the thrusting percussion, and the lovely melody introduced right near the end… Quality business. Agree with the sentiments about the Sven mix, however. Good, but not his best.
I have to disagree. To me it sounds poorly organized and unpleasant. The sax et al. are drenched in cheese and seem at odds with the rest of the track. It’s as if Stefanik didn’t know what to do with the track so he threw the kitchen sink at it unedited. It would rather surprise me to find a dance floor receptive to it schlocky disjointedness.
Hm. Well-considered disagreement is possibly a sign that this release/label has got a bit going on after all.
@Peder: I may have been a bit careless to dis on Kann00, although it didn’t jump out at me on first or second listen. That’s all I meant by ‘unremarkable’, which is not really a very strong insult in its more literal sense.
Maybe it’s just because I’m a complete spaz but I really like the Stefanik mix. Have danced stupidly to it several times.