Mourning air

While we're loosely on the subject of death...

Ewan Pearson is a something of a legend round these parts; as I never tire of pointing out, I love him as much for his way with words (check the 'Enthusiasm' page at ewanpearson.com) as for his remixes/productions - which range from the thrilling and essential ('1,2,3 No Gravity' or the Two Fairlight Bitches' mix of 'Me & Madonna') to the extremely fussy and extremely dull (has anyone listened to that 'disco odyssey' remix of Goldfrapp recently? No. Life really is too short.) Anyway, it's always nice when Pearson teams up with his pal Al Usher - under their Partial Arts guise - to dish out some original production shizzle on their own terms. Their last big release was for Dialect's Battle series - the (appropriately) mid-tempo 'Cruising', which had plenty of low-end beef and high-end snap, crackle and pop. If you know what I mean. It was hardly a classic, but, you know, I liked it. Anyway, all this is hardly relevant, because Partial Arts' latest offering for the consistently inconsistent Speicher imprint is a dark, faintly majestic corker [EDIT: this is actually out on Kompakt proper].

"Trauermusik" has been a bit of a labour of love. Trying to do something a bit more affective, lots of chords, violas, cannons going off (you think I'm joking?). Minimal it ain't. Maudlin pseudo-classical self-indulgence like only we know how... :)

On the flip Alter Ego have done an amazing remix which manages to segue from Flügel-fidgit to "Rocker"-ish electro-excess to Belgian new beat and back in the course of 7 minutes and gets away with it. Over-the-top definitely but a dancefloor killer none-the-less.

PS "Trauermusik" means funeral or mourning music. We nicked it from Paul Hindemith [pictured]. Thieving AND pretentious? You betcha.

Just as my heart leaps when Pearson and Usher collaborate, so my heart sinks when Roman Flugel hooks up with Jorn Wuttke as Alter Ego (I infinitely prefer the former's solo productions); still, as Pearson attests, their remix of 'Trauermusik' is nothing if not interesting, and is as silly and dancefloor-slaying as Alter Ego (for better or worse) trackage invariably is.

Download:
Partial Arts - Trauermusik (Alter Ego Remix) // Kompakt

YSI, so very low download limit, so be quick if you want it. Needless to say, it's the original version 'Trauermusik' that's the goer on this 12" so make sure you pick it up from Phonica, Kompakt mp3 or any other of the usual outlets (release date: Jan 15th). What with us living in the age of high capitalism rather than a high-efficiency-farming, clusterfucking moneyless utopia, artists MUST be paid for their work. I implore you to see to it that they are.

Speaking of getting paid (sorry), Ewan again:

If you go to www.myspace.com/traceythorn you can hear "It's All True", the first single from Tracey's forthcoming solo album "Out of the Woods". Darshan Jesrani from Metro Area, Sasse Lindblad and I wrote the music in Berlin last year, and recorded the song in London with Tracey this summer. It's just promo'ing now and was already Essential New Tune on Pete Tong's BBC Radio1 show last Friday.There are a brace of very fine remixes to come too from Martin Buttrich, Kris Menace and NYC's Escort. The single is due for release in February 2007 and the album in March. I produced another 5 tracks on the album, with appearances from Zongamin, Al Usher and Gabe Andruzzi from The Rapture.