- Following the release of their self-titled LP earlier this year (and a pre-LP remixes record with Roly Porter, Vatican Shadow and Kangding Ray), Violetshaped offer The Remixes Part 2, another trio of reworks that head out on tangents from the duo's own droning, industrialized style. Keith Fullerton Whitman, Justin Broadrick as JK Flesh and Grischa Lichtenberger have been invited to the lair this time. It's a record that's similar in approach to Part 1—a side-long soundscape backed by two rhythmic pieces.
Whitman is up first with a rework of the gasping "Anesthesia." It's a nearly 14 minute-long immersion in bubbling, sputtering noise, like a vat overflowing with unstable chemical agents. Some listeners will want to jump right in, but for me it sticks around for too long. I'd rather go with Porter's beatless remix on Part 1, which makes an equally enthralling ruckus with six minutes to spare.
Broadrick's JK Flesh reshape of "cX310" on the flip, though, might be the finest thing yet from the label. Its soaring minor-key synths, distorted growls and brutish, jungle-inflected drums summon a wonderfully noir-ish vibe. Rounding out this pack, like the previous one, is a Raster-Noton affiliate, Lichtenberger. His "0113_31_vsh_rmx_b" of "Spectral Nightdrive" is a glitchy, somewhat clinical affair (as you might expect) with space for what sounds like shards of processed violin carved out between stepping percussion. It's a solidly off-kilter contribution that holds the most DJ potential, but overall it's Broadrick's tough yet evocative effort that should prove hardest to resist and, crucially, the hardest to forget.
TracklistA Anesthesia (Keith Fullerton Whitman Remix)
B1 cX310 (JK Flesh Reshape)
B2 Spectral Nightdrive (Grischa Lichtenberger 0113_31_vsh_rmx_b)