Isis "'Oceanic' Remixes/Reinterpretations Volume I" LP
[Robotic Empire]
Technically this is not an actual Isis release, though the source material and end results are still generally in keeping with their aesthetic, so... let's get right to it, because this series is fucking amazing. 27's Ayal Naor's take on "False Light" (the "Carry Edit") starts things off with a concretely structured song made up of riffs from the original track, laying down a consistent and plodding drumbeat under crunching guitars and bass with some added noise textures and vicious vocals placed just in front. This is excellent, excellent fucking work, very well put together, tactfully taking the original and turning it into a similar yet totally new composition - going so far as to include a laidback break with female vocals and softer instrumentation with lots of careful electronic effects before building back up. "The Other" (remixed by James Plotkin from Phantomsmasher, Khanate, etc.) begins almost like an old 70's prog rock tune with some really soft, laidback keyboard sounding melodies before harsh vocal shouts fade in. But things never pick up, the music remains soft and usually heavy on the low-end, at times bringing in reversed or tangible guitar passages, but maintaining a very melodic and emotional sort of somberness. Awesome. Closer The Oktopus (Dalek) takes the entirety of side B with another spin on "False Light" (the "Deadverse Remix"). The similarities here are mainly in the presence of the forceful vocal lines, though here the music is far more chilled out and manipulated to have more of an electronic aesthetic. The drumbeats are looped and more simplistic, the basslines are processed to have that grinding sort of throb, and there are some glitchy electronic textures popping up here and there as well. Ironically some of the melodies here have a progressive rock sort of thing happening too, similarly to Plotkin's approach. As with all releases in this series the LP is pressed on clear vinyl and comes housed in a minimal sleeve with high contrast metallic silver/white blotches. The backside of the sleeve has a circle die-cut out of it to reveal the tracklist on the label of the record itself (each record in the series has a different colored label, which is basically the only differentiation aside from the tracklist itself). Talk about incredible. I figured these remixes (or "reinterpretations", whatever you want to call them) would be strong considering the selection of artists involved, but holy shit... these songs are fucking amazing. Absolutely worth tracking down, because this material stands perfectly on its own and these are some of the strongest remixes I've ever heard. Very mature, very effective, very original. They'd best release all of this stuff on one retrospective CD at some point, because it would be criminal to let these fuckers be relegated to a world of limited edition LP's (only 2,500 pressed). (9/10)
Running time - 23:00 (approximately), Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: all three are very nicely executed]
Robotic Empire - http://www.roboticempire.com

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