ReCollected is that rare beast, a remix of the hard work of a diverse range of artists that plays with utter coherency. Absolutely the best remix set of the year so far and well placed in the running for compilation or why not even album of the year.
Though big enough in Japan, I have no idea what kind of impact Yasuhiko Fukuzono, the brains behind the lambent label Flau, and as Aus one of the nimblest remixers I’ve ever enjoyed, has hitherto had on Europe and the Americas, but I’ll hazard a guess that it’s growing exponentially with each new listener. With love and respect shown to each original artist, he has a knack for zeroing in on the essence of the track in question while maintaining a signature sound of his own.
The self-curated ReCollected brings fifteen pieces, many hard to find, done for as many Japanese and international artists, together in a seamless seventy minutes that provides the perfect opportunity for a good, long listen to his remixing art over the past six years (and that little extra sheen comes from mastering by Chihei Hatakeyama).
Aus’ remixes are jittery and smooth—compare the two opening tracks, by Geskia! and The Storms, respectively—playful and uplifting and unpredictable. “Mirea” by Miyauchi Yuri is a sunshower of glockenspiel and keyboards, and as it spins out it sounds like it could live forever. Miou Miou’s breathy, powder-blue chanson is perfectly juxatposed with Tujiko Noriko’s sparse, splintered Stina Nordenstamism, which in turn transitions just as effortlessly into the elegiac woodland instrumental “Direction” by Northerner and the rain-drenched “Interlude” of Christoph Berg (better known as Field Rotation). Origamibiro’s “Sedimental Value” is a mini overture of strings and clicks’n’cuts heralding a spiritualized version of Fedaden’s originally earthier “Verdad.” Cokiyu is splattered across the canvas like an action painting while Park Avenue Music is looped, spiralled and bicycle-kicked into the dramatic, increasingly ambient half-light of The Declining Winter, Matryoshka and Henning Schmiedt’s angel-dusted solo piano.
ReCollected is that rare beast, a remix of the hard work of a diverse range of artists that plays with utter coherency. Absolutely the best remix set of the year so far and well placed in the running for compilation or why not even album of the year.
ReCollected is available on Plop. [Release page]
