Tag Archives: Propellerheads

Hola Boppers!  With a personal grin, I bring to you a bit of gold… with a review of Re:Vamped, the new album by Elite Force as well as some words from Simon, the man himself.  For myself, I have been a fan of him since finding a remix by him on a Club Fly’s disc years ago I picked up at a Camelot Music, and knowing I would be hearing quite a bit more from this “Elite Force” guy. Little did I know, at that time, that I was also loving his music from another group named Lunatic Calm, of which Simon was half the duo. He’s gone by many names over the years… Killer Elite, Double Back, Elite Force, Lunatic Calm, Simon Shackleton and most recently, Zodiac Cartel. But one thing is always for certain; he will jack your ears with sounds of bass, and won’t let go until the last synth strums.

Re:Vamped is his latest project, recently released to the public by his label Used and Abused. It’s quite an idea to take so many artists and mash them all up into a big melting pot of electronic goo and hit the blend button… because the business is made up quite a bit by remixes, mashups, refixes, re-edits and the like of not only you’re own music, but others as well. What happens if you did an entire album like that? Well, Simon wanted to find out, apparently. And to make sure he got top-notch music from the project, he got top notch talent, with the likes of Popof, Dylan Rhymes, Stanton Warriors, Propellerheads, Meat Katie, Classixx, Datsik, Bar 9, Wolfgang Gartner, Roland Clarke, Layo & Bushwacka, Deadmau5, Caspa and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs just to name a few of the roster… Some are remixes of songs, some are collaborations of songs and some are remix collaborations of remixes of songs both of his own, as well as theirs.

So how does it sound?

Well, it sounds pretty awesome, actually. If you know the dub, tech, bigbeat bass-ee sound of Simon’s music, you won’t be out of that territory. Each song is definitely stamped with his landmark quality beats, but there are several attempts to stray from the typical sound.  Some of the songs are built on heavy drum ‘n bass, with dubstep influence, enter Bar 9, Benga and Caspa, for example. Others are much more traditional remix fare, such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Maps, which will sound absolutely fantastic dropped into a set for an added build up and drop.

Simon’s aesthetically chosen use of bass and rhythm has never been doubted, and with each track you want to hear the next sound, the next loop, the next drop.  While some of the drums are a bit similar between the songs, it does more for keeping the album smoothly connected than it does sound uninteresting. And, because there are so many different artists, the album never gets stale.  If you’re looking to wake up and move, this is definitely the album for you to put on repeat, in your car. There isn’t a sleeper song in the entire mix, and the whole album will keep you dancing, even when you’re in traffic. Don’t mind the looks from other people as you boogie in the drivers seat; you’ll be enjoying the rumbling sounds of Calvertron or Stanton Warriors. Don’t mind them, they’re just jealous.

And Boppers, don’t forget, when you’re listening to it, don’t forget to smile when you hear the Fireball sound from Mario Brothers.

Listen to the album:

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Bn
Thanks so much for talking with us!

The act of “remixing” is different for each artist (thus making it personal and subjective) — but what do you consider the difference between a remix vs. an edit? vs. a refix? vs. a mashup? vs. a bootleg? vs. your re:vamp?

EF
Generally speaking a Remix is an official re-working of a track for which you’ve been given individual stems / parts, and you’ve been commissioned to do it … everything else falls outside of that ‘official’  tag really. A re-edit can be something as simple as a re-ordering of the track or just cutting out a few bars here & there whilst a mashup tends to involve two or more tracks in the same piece. A bootleg is more an unofficial release of one of the above, whilst this album really focuses more on using elements of existing tracks to create completely new productions, so in that sense it’s perhaps as close to an artist album than a mix album!

Bn
So what’s the remedy you use when you completely hate the way the remix you’re doing is going? More booze? Re-edit the edit? Start over?  Ever had to remix a song you dislike?

EF
lol @ more booze. If I was drinking booze I wouldn’t be in the studio for sure – I work 8am – 6pm as a rule. It’s very very rare that I hate the way something’s going – it can be a struggle to make all the pieces fit together but after doing this for a number of years you tend to have quite a clear vision of how you want something to play out, and the rest of it is just spent getting there. I have started stuff over before a few times though, when the route I decided on didn’t play out as I’d hoped.

When you take on board tracks to remix, it’s really not about how much you like or dislike the song in the first place, it’s more about what you can do with it.

Bn
Are there any really inaccurate things ever said about you that still pisses you off to this day?

EF
Nothing springs to mind – I try not to hold grudges!

Bn
You’ve been in music a long time. What’s changed in YOUR music since you started creating music? (were you DJing prior to producing?)

Pretty much everything! I started making music (releasable music that is) back in 1994 and whilst I was first & foremost a musician I really got into electronic music through Djaying, doing parties at the local Student Union back in 1991. Those sets were a proper education as I was expected to play for 5 hours, and people would want anything from Nirvana to acid house … great fun though and gave me a love of DJaying for life.

In my music I think the core to what I do has always been there  – I don’t like purism. I’m more interested in what happens when you explore the edges around different genres, where they cross-pollinate with one another, and in that sense my interests remain surprisingly true. The first thing I released was a techno EP back in ’94, the next thing was a rap/rock hybrid EP, the next thing a breaks white label, but even within each of those releases they perhaps didn’t hit the BIG audiences because of that unwillingness to replicate the same sounds that other people were using in each of those fields.

Bn
So… Vinyl? CD? Mp3? Is vinyl dead?

EF
I use CDs nowadays & have done for years now – I’d happily live without the constant burning, but that’s all part of the job I guess! Vinyl’s far from dead … on this project we’re on the third repress now of both of the vinyl samplers we’ve released and there’s another one coming in a couple of weeks [ed. check store link below]. I mean, it’s been in decline for a long time but look across the dubstep, drum & bass and techno genres in particular and you’ll see a thriving market for vinyl. MP3s have revolutionized music’s dissemination, but they are more a product of limited bandwidth and data storage than anything else – they’re just digital audio that don’t sound as good as the WAV files.

Bn
Any tracks, when DJing, do you ALWAYS try and fit into your set, or what track do you HATE spinning?

EF
Music’s always shifting … I’ll have a few months where I’ll have key tracks I can’t do without, and then slowly they become superseded by more current ones. Why on earth would I play something I hate?

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Boppernation wants to say special thanks to Simon for taking the time to talk with us.. We’re really excited to hear the new stuff he’s putting out, and so should you!

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Check Elite Force out:

Twitter | Myspace | Blog

Buy the album or Tracks at any number of places:

Re:Vamped Store | Beatport | JUNO (Buy Postage Free CD)