- Originally released on the ‘Untitled Acid EP’ by Dutch prog label Deep Focus in 2005, ‘Freak ‘N Love’ is a bangin’ slab of quality acidic progressive. Notably different than most of Petter’s productions, the track was somewhat overshadowed by other tracks on the same EP, not to mention his more popular releases on Border Community. Good then as a choice for revival as the track is worth the attention.
Things kick off with the Dousk ‘Vectored’ Mix. His past releases have touched on downtempo, breaks and tech house, but Dousk is most noted for high-quality deep progressive with lush synths and spacey atmospherics. He turns out to be an excellent choice of remixer, too, as his style works well in adapting the original. His remix keeps the vocal samples and contagious bass hook of the original as the focal point, but dolls them up with subtle tweaks, extra synths and the big room spaciousness common to most of his material. There are some clever breaks and segues, and the track takes a more laid-back rhythmic approach, building toward a funky house groove that works perfectly with Petter’s bass riff. The result is another solid offering from Dousk, and by far the best mix on the release.
The label might have done well to exclude the Chloe Harris and Deeburn remix. The duo take a bit of creative license with the original, but ultimately their effort falls short on production and sound quality. Plus the track simply goes nowhere.
Dutch house producer Muzikjunki rounds out the release with a surprising twist, fusing a bare bones musical arrangement of ‘Freak ‘N Love’ with the full vocal from 'Work It' by Muzzaik. The two songs work very well together, and Muzikjunki does a good job of raising the intensity at key points in the track without compromising the minimal arrangement. I’m not a fan of mash-ups, but there’s something compelling about this one.
Bottom line, there’s nothing new here, and these are not the anthems of Summer 2007. But the mixes that work are decent and worth a listen.
Tracklist1 Freak 'N Love (Dousk Vectorex Mix)
2 Freak 'N Love (Chloe Harris & Deeburn Mix)
3 Freak 'N Love (Muzikjunki Freak 'n Work Mix)