Sepalcure Love Pressure Remixed
It’s a bit strange that Sepalcure would choose to release Love Pressure Remixed now, 14 […]
It’s a bit strange that Sepalcure would choose to release Love Pressure Remixed now, 14 months after the original EP first appeared. Over the past year, the Brooklyn-based duo of Travis Stewart (a.k.a. Machinedrum) and Praveen Sharma (a.k.a. Braille) has not only dropped another EP, Fleur, but both producers have also released various solo offerings. So why elect to revisit the not-so-distant past?
Listening to Love Pressure Remixed, the answer never really becomes clear. Although the quality of the remixers enlisted is impressive, none of the five tracks here is exactly essential. The EP includes three versions of “Love Pressure,” all of which beef up the airy, melodic spirit of the original. Toronto’s XI delivers a dramatic version with dense, ominous bass tones and winding synths that vaguely recall the golden days of G-funk. FaltyDL keeps the song closer to home, layering its vocal bits and light synths over rolling garage percussion. The most radical “Love Pressure” transformation comes from Lando Kal, who steers things in a darker direction, stripping out most of the track’s “pretty” elements and inserting rubbery basslines and sharp 808 sounds.
Love Pressure Remixed also includes reworks from Detroit electro-funk don Jimmy Edgar and LA’s Daedelus. Edgar twists “Every Day of My Life” into a soulful, workmanlike house cut full of deep, warbling synths. On the other hand, Daedelus’ take on “Down” is the most “out there” song on the EP, and perhaps the most entertaining, simply because it offers such a change from the expected. While his hyperactive remix may not be suitable for most DJ sets, it somehow manages to dabble in footwork, drum & bass, classic rave, and plain-old beat experimentalism in less than four minutes.
As a whole, Love Pressure Remixed certainly isn’t a bad release. The remixes here are all average or better, but the question of “why?” and, more importantly, “why now?” hasn’t really been answered, and unfortunately overshadows the music itself.