[aka the renegade soundwave remix]
before william orbit became known for his involvement with madonnas ray of light album, he was a producer who like to dabble in all manner of genres and help out anyone who was wanting a bubbly synthetic studio spit and polish to their pop. over the years, beth orton, one dove, all saints, u2, and even 18 wheeler have, along with many others, called upon his skills as a remixer/collaborator.
however, for his own bassomatic project, it was the happy dubbed up late 80s dance pop music that propelled his name and songs into the charts.
sometimes corny, sometimes lightweight, the results spread across two albums were varied, but often wonderful.
the occasion on which williams skills as a producer and writer of radio friendly pop really hit the high spot for me was with the gorgeously deep reggae based track, fascinating rhythm.
the song worked on so many levels, it was deliciously funky, sounded great on my boombox, and yet managed to smooth out any tensions of the day.
so, following recent revelations that the renegade soundwave remix is somewhat rare and in demand, i felt duty bound to go on a mission into the ireallylovemusic archive and do the honourable thing.
of course, this is perfectly timed, as his more serious solo project, strange cargo, of which there were four volumes released i believe, are to be re-released.
though being honest, relistening to the solo experiments of strange cargo 2, the studio crafted music often sounds as if he was trying to come over as a hybrid of bill laswell and brian eno, and quite often the sounds used don’t really stand the test of time, certainly nowhere near as much as this piece of perfect throwaway pop fluff.
still, if i were making music in 2008, william orbit would be listed just underneath adrian sherwoods for a remix.
and that’s serious praise in my world.
more detail : here