Perhaps the thing that's most surprising about Detroit techno is how hard it is to define. Instrumentation (and sometimes not even that) was often the only thing that Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Eddie Fowlkes and Juan Atkins' music had in common. And so it goes on the newest release from fellow Detroit DJ and producer DJ Bone, who enlists a variety of Detroit-based or –influenced beatmakers to remix "Music."
Trench, for instance, speeds the thing up for a beautifully fucked electro version, while Santiago Salazar luxuriates in one of his most laidback and soulful productions of recent vintage. Aaron-Carl provides a typically upbeat mix that shakes and shimmies, and DJ 3000 doesn't stray too far from his wheelhouse either, riding a hi-tech soul beat over seven minutes. Samuel L. Session offers up one of the less exciting versions of "Music," awkwardly piecing together a workmanlike take.
He's forgiven, however, by Rennie Foster and Stephen Brown. Foster finds an emotional resonance in Bone's original that Session couldn't, piling on synth line after synth line that reaches further and further to the sky. Foster's bald emotion is brought back to Earth by Brown, but it's a satisfying grounding: The Scottish producer takes a tiny bit of melody and wraps it around a shifting little beat. It flits by without much fanfare, but like the best of Detroit techno it sounds like nothing else on this extensive remix package.
Buy DJ Bone - The Music Remixes at
Tracklist: DJ Bone - The Music Remixes
 A1 DJ Bone Remix (Edit)
A2 Trench's Still Here And Buckwild Remix
B1 Samuel L Session Remix
B2 DJ 3000 Motech Remix (Edit)
C1 Rennie Foster's No Lights, No Fights Remix
C2 Santiago Salazar's Seldom Seen Remix (Edit)
D1 Aaron-Carl Remix
D2 Stephen Brown's Just Soul Remix (Edit)
| 
