Of late, the half-Chilean, half-German minimal techno master, Ricardo Villalobos has been digging deeper than most to find his samples. Early 2015 saw him famously reworking Turkish electronic folk group Insanlar’s crazy 27-minute track, and actually making it shorter for what seems like the first time in his career. Over the coming months, Villalobos is set to release on a number of labels such as Rawax and Raum Musik. Having previously spoken about wanting to slow down the touring to focus on production, we may be seeing the beginnings of Villalobos’ new direction.
Here, Villalobos works with long-time production partner Max Loderbauer. Together, he and Loderbauer released Re: ECM, the double rework album of jazz and classical works from ECM Records, and they now pick up where they left off with a new album forthcoming on Perlon (watch this space!). The project has confirmed what many already know: while remaining true to the story behind the originals, the pair are uniquely capable of reworking any genre, not solely aimed for the dancefloor, but also for home listening delight.
Tony Allen’s original version of ‘African Man‘ is a joyous affair with tinkling percussion and warm bass melodies. The rework loses none of the soul innate in the original, but manages to split the constituent parts and bring them back together in a different orientation with the addition of a wonderfully mad modular synth, a trademark of these two producers. In short, Villalobos and Loderbauer succeed in producing a celebration of the original piece.
‘African Man (Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer Remix)’ is out now on Harmonia Mundi’s label Jazz Village. It’s available to buy from all good music retailers and online stockists.
