A Nick Holder remix album might not be seen as an immediately logical release for NRK, but when you get a feel for the quality of remixers involved everything falls into place. Holder is known as a deep house producer par excellence, but ‘The Other Mixes’ includes plenty of other styles and is a well-balanced album.
Ian Pooley’s west coast sensibilities show in ‘On My Mind’, sweetly soulful and drenched in sunshine. The smooth edges roughen for Harmonic 33’s take on ‘History In The Making’, a brassy loop that sticks in the memory and provides the perfect foil for the rap. Then it’s the big one, ‘No More Dating DJs’, as restyled in a hip hop guise by Pete Rock. Later John Ciafone points this, one of Holder’s best, towards a pumping house dancefloor.
Chicken Lips contribute a sparse, minimal version of ‘Player 1’, while A Man Called Adam throws several beat styles into the cinematic mix of ‘Back Again’. Solid house material ensues then, from Solid Groove and Freaks who take on ‘Bad Girl’ and ‘My Friendly Neighbour’ respectively.
Even if you have Holder’s ‘The Other Side’ album, on which all these remixes are based, you’ll want to consider this – rather than being a cash cow it’s an intelligently prepared compilation, looking at Holder’s music in a different light.
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