Check out the 12 minute sampler for the next release, and read along with it’s companion track-by-track rundown from Phasen.

Selected Remixes: 2008-2009 sampler by phasen

Got 12 minutes? Push play to hear the sampler for Phasen’s upcoming “Selected Remixes: 2008-2009”, available digitally on the first day of 2010.Then, sit down and read along track by track to get a feel for what to expect.

So Anders Ilar is a huge favorite of mine. His works for Echocord and Merck completely blow me away. There’s something so cold and isolated about his music…it makes me feel like I’m alone on top of a glacier somewhere. Anyways, I really love what he did with this track. I chose this as the first track on the album (but keep in mind the sampler isn’ t in the same order as the album throughout).

The next track here comes courtesy of Mexico based artist and Breathe Compilations manager In Vitro. He brings a remix of my track ‘Wait’ which I released through his project Breathe earlier this year on Phasen II: Progressions. Chopping up the acoustic guitar and adding a delectably funky bass line all comes together to good effect. Jazzy, catchy IDM from a quality producer.

Third up at the 2:35 point is a seasoned veteran in the field of funky Detroit techno. Can I reiterate the funky?!  Joseph Auer took my track “Crystal Dance” and threw down a fatt synth bass line. Releases on Boltfish, October Man, and Rednetic make Joseph Auer one of my favorite artists, so this was really a treat for me.

I first heard Mrs Jynx several years ago through MySpace and immediately was enthralled with her melodic skills. Her music is so bright and lush. I wasn’t the only one to take notice though, as she signed with Planet Mu two summers back and put out her debut The Standoffish Cat, a collection of her tracks from over many a year, hand-picked by Mike Paradinas himself. “Freak” was one of my favorite tracks of hers, so we swapped mixes and I originally released this one on U-Cover in ’08. Well, I decided to work on the “Freak” mix further and put it on this year’s remix selection. It was a lot of fun working on the melodies for this one given the nature of the original track, but I sure felt underachieved compared to this master of melody, Mrs Jynx.

Itokim produces a pretty interesting brand of Detroit techno for labels like Nice & Nasty, Open Concept, and Logos. I got a chance to remix his track ‘Between The Visible and The Invisible’ through my own work for Nice & Nasty (more on that next year). I tried to keep the semi-minimal, rhythmic, shiny feel of the original. I hoped the backwards deep chords would lend a pretty decent ‘swirling’ effect with a nice set of headphones- but you be the judge.

At the 5:20 mark Mick Chillage fades in with his take on my track “Realizing Your Own Mortality”. I intended for the original to be a slow, morose, emotional track and Mick takes those moods and amplifies them greatly by mixing the original parts up in a very wonderful way. Mick’s latest on Psychonavigation Records, Tales From The Igloo, is a huge success right now and giving Mick a pretty impressive reputation.

Next we get to hear Unnamed Label co-conspirator Five Step Path giving my new track “Spihn” a go on the remix tip. He likes his gritty, hard music and he also likes his hardware (he’s got a pretty nice collection of musical goodies in his arsenal). The result is a grimy and head-pounding remix that somehow is simultaneously soothing. I suppose that makes sense…

At the 7:20 mark Monoaxial enters with his interpretation of “Crystal Dance”. Where Joseph Auer chose the funky Detroit route, Monoaxial (a secret moniker of….wouldn’t you like to know?) takes the deep, dubby course. The simplicity of the track makes it all the more gorgeous, for it allows the listener to hear the subtle variations in the swirling pads and their delay effects. Choice, relaxing music  from Monoaxial.

Back when we launched Unnamed Label in January of 2009, we contacted producer Rumorse to donate a track for our debut compilation Friendly Strangers. A few weeks later, he submitted his track “Electrah”, laden with distorted pads, harsh, whiny synths, and shaky white noise that made it a dramatic way to end the CD. Luckily, I got the chance to put my stamp on this tune, and threw in the hip-hop inspired 808 breakdown you can hear in the sample at 8:20. I had a lot of fun with this one.

The ambient track that follows is from the insanely talented and prolific Celer, who, as most of you already know, sadly lost wife and band member Dani at the all-too-early age of 26. I’m honored to have a Celer remix on here, and in the few messages I exchanged with Dani I could tell what a lovely, cheerful person she was, through a few bits of text alone. Personally, I don’t consider myself a fan of ambient music, but Celer is one of the rare exceptions. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but Celer’s output has something that no other ambient music has, but it requires a diligent listener willing to focus on the track. Another true honor for me to be able to include.

Nachklangmusik and I started chatting about music about a year ago I guess. We swapped remixes just for fun, and this track is his remix of my song “The Man With Two Watches”. Coincidentally, Slim Tim, as he is alternatively known, just released an absolute killer EP on Dublin Xpress with a remix from the equally skilled Jay Riordan. I was pretty amazed at how Nachklangmusik used so much of the source material in his remix, but still created an entirely new feel and sound to the track.

Finally, just after the 11:00 mark, my remix of Lackluster’s brilliant track “Dextro” comes in. As far as I know, the original remains unreleased. My remix has a sort of classical, far eastern, techno fusion going on that was one of those infamous happy accidents you fellow musicians know about. Towards the end, some super-compressed ‘wonky’ (that’s the official word now, isn’t it?) drums come in, which later build some more.

And there you have it. A rundown of each one of the twelve tracks from Selected Remixes: 2008-2009.  Artwork is being created by Joebot Kill (http://visualsquid.blogspot.com/). Stop by a little closer to the New Year to grab a free single of bonus tracks just prior to the release. Until then, have a Merry Chirstmas and excellent new year.