Alright the Captain – BINS

As usual with remix LPs there a plethora of confusing sounds and remixer names to negotiate but I can safely say that after a slightly quiet beginning BINS settles down to be a powerful record.

As usual with remix LPs there a plethora of confusing sounds and remixer names to negotiate but I can safely say that after a slightly quiet beginning BINS settles down to be a powerful record.

Incendiary enjoyed Alright the Captain’s LP, Snib a lot when we reviewed it earlier this year and I’m very pleased to say we like this  BINS remix LP (a collection of ATC tracks) a lot too.

As usual with remix LPs there a plethora of confusing sounds and remixer names to negotiate but I can safely say that after a slightly quiet beginning BINS settles down to be a powerful record. It’s a tough edged LP, not one for melody or harmony, more interested in tone with lots of clumping and banging about thrown in. The Psewdo remix of Soundtrack Your Death is a fairly subdued start, but this allows the noise created by Modular Pet’s remix of Rostov’s Pet Badger to sound like something being crushed in a bin lorry. It’s a forceful track…

Then we have the first of six re-workings of Rostov. This, to me, is one of the great things about remix records; namely the entire thing can be made up from vastly differing interpretations of a single piece. Or example, The A Egg / Andrew Perring Mix is best described as a tonal piece whereas the Beats 2Mix and Mender mixes are more beat-laden, almost treading DJ Shadow /Ninja Tunes territory in style. The Mender mix does seem to change tack half way through and decide it’s going to start getting all blissed out round a guitar spiral but that’s hardly a bad thing. So, what else? We have, oh yes, Rostov. This time around it’s the Slowcore Mix by Peter Fraser, a vast slab of synthesizer and coruscating drum samples, moving towards the listener like some towering iceberg in a cold, dark sea before evaporating to a shimmering afterglow of harmonics.

Rostov could get it Way Out is the Way Out (remixed by Kogumaza) is a sludgy afterthought standing on the balcony in its kecks and scratching it’s musical balls, a track that hangs around long enough to remind this old git of Conny Plank’s News or Hamonia’s Oorworm. Following that, Soundtrack to your Breath starts its remixed life as a spooky piece but then morphs into a cod New Age, slap bass work out (well, of sorts…) before turning tail again to present a slightly wonky Philip Glass style synth loop before returning to said bass part. Mental.  Lastly we have (guess), yes! Rostov, this time the Afferate mix, which is a glitchy, spacey and slightly druggy affair.

All round, a good and interesting listen