This is a classic single that pairs one of Detroit’s most enduring and soulful artists with two in-form dub techno producers. The three cuts here are all staggeringly good, not only individually, but as complementary tracks across different styles. The source is Aaron Carl’s 1996 garage house track ‘Crucified’, which opens with an acapella “Drowning in despair…” sung with such conviction that you are instantly down there with him. So sonorous and yet so sweet, the vocals are soon swept up in lush piano chords and deep house rhythms that recall the best of Theo Parrish or Main Street Records. The percussive high end in particular is agonizingly good.
Quantec takes a less soulful but more intense approach. His remix is a Chain Reaction-style workout that buries the vocals deeper in the mix, trapping them behind a shimmering veil of delay and piano chords hardened into a metallic shell of deep space echo. The bass and percussion, meanwhile, are pure Maurizio-like bliss. It’s a mix that contrasts the voice with a more static and industrial exterior, and it is wonderfully engaging.
In contrast, Rod Modell’s mix is completely organic, more in tune with Aaron Carl’s original or the housier output of his Spectral Networks project than the Quantec cut. Instead of the whole vocal, it fixates only on repeating the phrase “Like a river” over the entire length of the second side. Like Quantec, Modell uses the vocal to create a sense of motion, dubbing and phasing it through the music like a ghost passing through walls until it eventually it becomes an unrecognizable shimmer.
Out now and pink coloured vinyl to boot. Unmissable.
Published /
Mon, 10 Mar 2008
Buy Aaron Carl - Crucified at
Tracklist: Aaron Carl - Crucified
A1 Crucified (Vocal)
A2 Crucified (Quantec Remix)
B Crucified (Rod Modell Like A River Remix) | 
