This remix collection assembles an improbable group of producers and musicians to deconstruct and rearrange songs from the Knut back catalog. Justin Broadrick, Dälek, Mick Harris, and Oren Ambarchi are among those who are along for the ride.
Being entirely unfamiliar with the source material for a remix project is often for the better. Remixes tend to have the weight of expectations to deal with and often I find that the most interesting combinations on paper turn out to be the least interesting coming from the speakers. The fact that I know virtually nothing about Knut made Alter work for me in a way that it's not liable to for fans of the band, but that's probably for the best.
The remixes on Alter span a wide range of styles from noisy cut ups of the original tracks to versions that take just a few samples and create something altogether new, to versions that make Knut sound like a guest artist on someone else's record. I like this approach, but it can seem a little schizophrenic when listening to the whole record at once, and obviously some takes are going to work better than others.
Dälek and Justin Broadrick turn in mixes that sound as though they could easily be Dälek or Godflesh songs with someone else singing, which is fine with me and allows producers with a well-established sound to stamp their mark. The Spectre mix is a surprisingly sloppy piece that kills any potential with electronic drums that are stiff and out of time, but more experimental takes on the source material from Francisco Lopez and KK Null work pretty well. Lad + Andres submit a mix that makes me nostalgic for the slickly produced techno metal of late '90s Fear Factory, while the remainder of the tracks all offer something worth a listen.
A project like this is destined to have highs and lows and to have some issues with the tracks flowing like a regular album, but in the end Knut's remix project has made me interested in checking out the original material that inspired it so that feels like a mission accomplished to me.
samples:
- Spectre - Psychopathic Engine
- Ad's - Repressed Babylon
- JK Broadrick - h/armless
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