In my opinion most remixers are lazy, worthless slugs that bring nothing of interest to music. Funckarma don’t appear to fall into this low life form category.
Funckarma are Don and Roel Funcken and they like to remix. Refurbished One is a collection of various remixes they’ve done. I’ve heard of pretty much no one apart from Plaid so I can’t tell you how they compare to the originals. The album is mediocre at worst and mildly interesting at best. Funckarma are not the most original artists I’ve heard, the tracks here all follow the well trodden path of late '90s electronica with blips, beeps and synth that sounds like Autechre or Aphex Twin. Although in fairness, originality is not something I associate with the remixing world.
Most of the remixes are entertaining enough, “Duuster & Donker” and “Als het iemand is” being the two tracks that tickled my fancy the most. Other tracks like “”Nore” and “Alive in Arms” do little for me. I must point out that there are no real bad tracks on the album but that Refurbished One just lacks some inspiration. One thing I will celebrate about this album is how unified it sounds. There are fourteen different artists being remixed yet the album gels together like it was the work of one artist. Few remix artists have the strength to put their own stamp on someone else’s work.
Refurbished One is fairly laid back and is something I wouldn’t mind listening to while cooking dinner or having a few drinks but not something I’d put on to immerse myself in.
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