In late summer of 2006, labelmate Vanilla Sandro and I were wrapping up work on our respective halves of 'Divided States/Territory' [JON7NET018]. He began to tell me about a pool of samples he was creating for an upcoming project, and he suggested that I would enjoy using them as well for a project of my own. We decided then that after finishing work on the other projects we were both working on that it would be fun to each do a release based on those samples. Gradually it came to us to invite some other producers we knew and had worked with to do the same. At highest count, twelve producers/ remixers were slated to submit remixes, and the idea of giving each producer his own release gave way to a compilation of the remixes submitted. A mere seven months after the idea was introduced, it all came together as this release you see before you now.
This is certainly some of the strangest music we have ever released, and is tied with at least one other release for the distinction of being the darkest music we have released to date. The moods and grooves presented come from varying approaches: Vanilla Sandro's tracks have a sleek modern minimal techno groove with subtly changing background rhythms and sounds, while Serocell's tracks present a wintery, hushed, windswept feeling. Emanuele Ciso's tracks showcase the 'lento violento' (slow violent) sound he is developing and have a playful rhythmic quality that is an intriguing contrast. Rezkar's remixes maintain a soft house beat throughout, but display sounds that buzz and warp and float above the beat like a heat mirage. My own remixes have some proto-industrial influences, favor the grungier, noisier end of the spectrum, and seem to come straight out of a sci-fi/horror film.
Obsessives will note that there are two different front cover designs in this release. The original design was considered too disturbing by one of the project participants, so an alternate was designed. Take a look and decide for yourself!