Tosca – Tlapa: The Odeon Remixes

Cat: !K7 310CD
Format: CD
Released: August 19, 2013
Genre: Deep House

BUY from JUNO Records

It’s something of tradition for Tosca to get their albums remixed. Indeed, they once released a record comprised entirely of 13 mixes of one song, 2002’s ‘Different Tastes Of Honey’, variations on ‘Honey’ from 1999’s ‘Suzuki’. It’s a way of keeping things fresh, injecting some uncertainty into proceedings, knocking things out of balance in order to check how they should be re-aligned.

Richard Dorfmeister (he of Kruder & Dorfmeister fame) and Rupert Huber’s most recent album ‘Odeon’, released last year, was darker and more ambient than its predecessors. It tapped in to the Mittleuropean melancholia than runs like a river through their hometown of Vienna. “We’ve always had a darker, ambient side,” says Dorfmeister. “We really wanted to emphasise that aspect of music with ‘Odeon’.”

That’s their take on it. The idea now was to get other people’s. “I like the idea of seeing what comes out of people remixing our music,” says Dorfmeister. “I prefer it when the result is unusual. Dance mixes can be formulaic, y’know, the most important element gets highlighted or there’s a harder beat. It’s difficult if people deliver something that’s a bit formulaic because you have to have an awkward conversation, but 80 percent of what I got was good the first time. Going back to people and saying, It’s not quite right is not my favourite situation. But I never give them directions of what I want, I just let them get on with it.”

The first person the pair approached was New York producer Brendan Moeller, who remixed ‘Bonjour’, turning it into a muted soundscape of drifting synths and keening strings that slowly warms as a bubbling riff fades in. “He does more techno, experimental stuff,” says Dorfmeister. “He has a different approach to things, whether it’s his music or in interviews. He did his remix while Hurricane Sandy was happening in New York. I guess it’s his hurricane mix. He’s got a talent for putting things in different perspectives, you know this spark that makes him unique.”

The choice of remixer for ‘Stuttgart’ was a case of obvious connections. The track already had a bit of a Latin feel thanks to guest Lucas Santtana from Brazil. Dorfmeister is longterm friends with Rainer Trüby, king of the latin-leftfield sound. Plus Trüby lives in Stuttgart. It would have been weird not to ask him. “Rainer always has an affinity for Latin stuff,” says Dorfmeister. “I thought it might fit and it fitted. Gilles Peterson as played it on his show already.”

Of course, Dorfmeister is an accomplished remixer himself, so it would have been remiss not get involved. “I remixed ‘In My Brain Prince Eugen’ with the Madrid De Los Austrias guys, who are friends of mine,” he explains. “We used a sample by a ’70s rare groove band called FPI Project, a track called ‘Talking About Love’. It used to be a rare groove collectors item. I didn’t know it before the guys used it on the mix, which was good because it was really fresh for me.”

Other reworks come from Silver City, two guys from from Buenos Aires who live in London. They apply an ’80s twist to ‘Johnny Waters’. LTJ Experience, an alter ego on Italian producer Luca Trevisi from Bologna, turns in an atmospheric interpretation of ‘Meixner’. Perhaps the most unusual remix is AFG’s version of ‘Cavallo’, which sees spoken word passages thrust to the fore. “That’s definitely the most leftfield,” agrees Dorfmeister.

If ‘Odeon’ was the sound of a band at the top of their game, still relevant after two decades, then the remix album shows they’re still on top of the music scene, pulling together well-judged names, old and new, to give their distinctive sound an equally distinctive twist. Talking about the Tosca mindset, Dorfmeister says: “It sounds like a cliche, but we’ve never really thought about other people’s music when we’re writing our own. We try and create our own sound. We really have always been like that. And I think we’ve developed a trademark sound because of it.” It’s equally true of the remixers they assembled here. The result is an album that’s full of twists and surprises. Even if you know the original back to front, there’s something for you here.

Think of it as ‘the Vienna sound’ via London, Stuttgart, New York and Paris. An album for everyone everywhere.

TRACKLISTING
CD ALBUM (K7310CD)
Tosca – Bonjour (Beat Pharmacy Escape)
Tosca – Meixner (LTJ Xperience Mix)
Tosca – In My Brain Prinz Eugen (Richard Dorfmeister vs. Madrid De Los Austrias Ybbs Version)
Tosca – Bonjour (Brendon Moeller Reshape)
Tosca – Heatwave (Rodney Hunter Bounce-A-Thon Version)
Tosca – Johnny Waters (Silver City Remix)
Tosca – Ende Mai (Joyce Muniz Remix)
Tosca – Stuttgart (Marlow and Trüby Refix)
Tosca – Cavallo (AGF Version)
Tosca – Jayjay (Stefane Lefrancois Version)
Tosca – Jayjay (Makossa Megablast 80ies Remake)

12″ VINYL ALBUM (K7310LP)
Tosca – Bonjour (Beat Pharmacy Escape)
Tosca – Meixner (LTJ Xperience Mix)
Tosca – In My Brain Prinz Eugen (Richard Dorfmeister vs. Madrid De Los Austrias Ybbs Version)
Tosca – Bonjour (Brendon Moeller Reshape)
Tosca – Heatwave (Rodney Hunter Bounce-A-Thon Version)
Tosca – Johnny Waters (Silver City Remix)
Tosca – Ende Mai (Joyce Muniz Remix)
Tosca – Stuttgart (Marlow and Trüby Refix)
Tosca – Cavallo (AGF Version)
Tosca – Jayjay (Stefane Lefrancois Version)
Tosca – Jayjay (Makossa Megablast 80ies Remake)

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