Regis - Live In N.Y.C.

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  • Regis has spent chunks of this decade in archival mode, from 2012's Complete Works series to this summer's return to the crucial '96 album Gymnastics. That "stronger, fitter" version of the album, in which tracks were re-mixed from the original stems, highlighted the foresight and terrifying brutality of the early Birmingham sound. Live In N.Y.C. brings the point home. Recorded in a New York club in January '97 (and recently rediscovered by the producer Evan Kreeger), it's no surprise that these tapes favour Gymnastics classics. "We Said No" is presented in an "Alt. Version" that steers the original's stiff, frantic aggression into swampier zones. "Translation" and "Careless Pedestrian" are straighter retreads—except the latter is pitched down a third for some reason. As with many live recordings, they swap studio precision for an in-the-moment energy that still roars out of the speakers two decades later. Two bonus treats round off the EP. Both favour noxious synth sculpting over forward momentum, their phasing atonal loops bathed in delay. These, too, have a dank dimension lacking in the studio originals, thanks to some heavy reverb settings. Live In N.Y.C. doesn't hold too many surprises, but it's a valuable document of a key techno moment.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Untitled I A2 We Said No (Alt. Version) A3 Translation B1 Untitled II B2 Careless Pedestrian
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