Remixing a tune that is already pretty punchy can be a tough gig. Toddla T & Roses Gabor’s combo effort; Pandora’s Box, came about from Bacardí’s innovative Beats Per Minute concept, which sees established hit makers team with an up and coming understudy. The result; crisp kicks and snares layered with hypnotic phasing synths courtesy of the Toddla. Ms. Gabor’s breathy, echoing vocals complete the picture perfectly. It hooks you in for sure, but it did leave me wondering just what was in that box? Enter Barny Rubble…
Beats Per Minute not only brings artists together to create a fresh track from scratch, it opens the door to the beat making community by inviting the great and the good to remix it too! The winner of this bought was Barny Rubble (or Barney Wilson to his mates back home in Gloucestershire). His remix won Toddla T with “…his original and individual take on the track” and “…that it can’t be put into a genre”. You know what, he’s dead on with that description.
The thing that grabs me about this track is the way Rubble takes influences from across the dance spectrum and brings them together coherently in one song. The track comes flying out of the blocks with a similar chest thudding kick to the original before building with a pretty aggressive, sharp synth. The calm before the storm is Bashmore-esq with a tropical spin of its own and splattered with vocal loops. The drop takes me back to my debut outing in Ibiza, strobes in full effect, pyrotechnics a go go. The snare snap that runs throughout has something of New Order’s Blue Monday about it, with the same subtle aggression and almost mechanical sound. One things for sure, Pandora’s Box is well and truly opened up in Rubble’s remix, but there’s no sign of the evils of the world lurking in there, this box offers nothing but goodness.
Rubble’s production is playful and energetic, not just on his remix of Pandora’s Box, other remixes and original offerings showcase it too. I can see the winter months and the return of hardened dance floor fiends to the myriad of indoor venues across Europe being good to Rubble. His sounds will definitely strike a chord with DJs from a diverse range of genres. This should set him up nicely for a 2014 summer littered with sets on the Croatian shores, Spanish party islands and who knows, maybe the Yanks will keep pace and pick up on him early too.
Fancy hearing more? You should! Check out his Soundcloud or download his freshman Distractions pt. 1 EP, out now on iTunes and Beatport.
Guest blog from @dashnverve on behalf of @hijackerrecords
Andy Chandler
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