[Mule Musiq]

Ramping up to re-release their album III this summer, Force of Nature enlisted a couple of high-profile remixers to re-introduce the album. Force of Nature, a Japanese producer duo, keeps their arpeggiators slow and wide-eyed enough to be pretty malleable fodder (a trait shared with M83). So it’s no surprise that “Remixed” is as good as it sounds on paper. Unlike the earlier remix work of Prins Thomas and Matt Edwards – who slowed down Force of Nature’s tracks to emphasize the groove and menace – “Remixed” has two artists ready to speed off into other directions.

For Stefan Goldmann, it means throwing away all the defining characteristics of “Sequencer.” Gone is the heavy throb, the playful imbibing of Jean-Michel Jarre’s “Arpegiator” melody, the slo-mo Doppler EQ effects. Goldmann sounds like he’s still chasing the hiccup and pop of his “Lunatic Fringe.” Rebuilt from the woodblock up, glimpses from “Sequencer” are gradually layered until the remix hits full gear (and full shimmer) in the back third. It’s bucolic enough to be mistaken for Border Community but never gets lost grazing. And Goldmann even gets upstaged by Still Going’s take on stand-out “Transmute.” The original pours arpeggiators on like warm syrup, but Still Going hollows the track out. Leaning hard on the Schaffel, the duo peppers the track with just-there ticks, a delicate soup of delay, and a two-note bass. After Goldmann’s rehaul, Still Going’s remix of “Transmute” might sound straightforward. But the track is pitch-perfect – from the modest start to the monster denouement – splitting the difference between Balearic bliss and ambient house.