Now this is something you don’t see everyday. A remix album for an album that has yet to be released. Is that like putting the cart before the horse? A greatest hits before the first album is released? I don’t know, but when it’s Isvisible Isinvisible I think all bets are off. And when he’s getting some of the best in electronic music to take a crack at re-imagining his modular madness I say throw caution to the wind.
So here’s the scoop, Simon Pott(aka Isvisible Isinvisible) has a brand new album that was supposed to come out this year called Moon-White Water. It’s coming out via the fellas at Burning Witches Records. Well due to 2020, the year that broke us all, that album was delayed from arriving back from the pressing plant. So instead of waiting till early 2021 for the new release date Pott let some of his talented pals lay some of their sonic magic onto these as-yet unheard tracks. The result is a stunning and urgent remix album that feels like it’s own perfect little beast. With artists like Minotaur Shock, Roberta Fidora, Cory Kilduff, Graham Reznick, Polypores, Espectrostatic, Skeleton Beach and more contributing this is the kind of remix album that sounds and feels like so much more.
There’s so much to devour here. It’s sort of hard to speak about this album in terms of a remix record since I don’t know what the original tracks sound like. But in lieu of the typical techno/dance floor restructure we’re given something far denser and more interesting. You can hear the modular skeleton that I’m sure Pott conjured originally. It seems that foundation continues throughout. What these artists have done is color in the vacancies. They put a healthy amount of sonic flesh on these circuital bones.
I’ll start with the wicked and buzzing “Salt Fire”. It was remixed by Le Bon and you can really hear Isvisible Isinvisible’s world in this track. It’s like MSTRKRFT gone full modular. There’s sort of an urban vibe to the Buchla madness. “Moon-White Water” gets the Graham Reznick treatment. There’s an open skies vibe here, like Vangelis re-interpreting The Cars’ “Drive” with a touch of Bernard Szajner. Cory Kilduff takes a crack at “Year of The Ancients”, giving us a click-clack rhythm that nods to late night dance floor moves. Touches of Rival Consoles and Four Tet come through.
Each artist here works there own specific magic with Isvisible Isinvisible’s tracks. Polypore’s goes full drone-y ambient beauty on “Under The Still Lake”, a nearly 8-minute zone-out track that wobbles and shimmers like fragile light through a fogged over window. Skeleton Beach goes full dystopian sound on “The Raven’s Head” with an electro motorik beat and almost trip hop soundscapes. There’s touches of early OPN here as well.
Quite possibly Isvisible Isinvisible may have just started the next great trend by dropping a remix album before the album that was remixed comes out. Moon-White Water(re-mixes) is exciting, exotic, urgent, and engaging from start to finish. I think it says a lot about the source material when it inspires so much from so many amazing artists. I’m very much looking forward to hearing the album that inspired these reinterpretations.
7.9 out of 10
‘Moon-White Water(re-mixes)’ is available now. Download it at Isvisible Isinvisible’s Bandcamp page. Then check out all the artists involved with this album.
Complex Distractions 