

Rekids are unashamedly all about the bangers. Earwoom hooks, insane rave noises which make crowds go "oooh" and "aaah'" and simple, dumb repetition are the order of the day here; each track locks itself swiftly and with the barest minimum of fuss into an infectious groove, and cheerily remains there for eight or so further minutes, Geht's Noch-ing its way into your brain. It's an unsubtle strategy, and it works because the hooks are so great: Radio Slave's 'My Bleep', for example, is an extraordinary machine of a track, screaming high end giving way to a riff which sounds like household appliances malfunctioning. Various deranged noises ping-pong around Luke Solomon's 'Ghouls', the baton constantly being passed between low-pitched whistling, gibbering treble and metallic bouncing sounds.
It's also surprisingly varied. Sure, the Rekids signature sound - grinding, drawn-out sounds married to languid tempos, an effect which makes the tracks feel simultaneously menacing and decadent - is omnipresent; but the variety of ways in which it manifests itself is wide enough to ensure that it never becomes stale. There's the dry, clicky tech-house of Spencer Parker's 'Beautiful Noise'; Audiofly & Paul Harris's smooth, pristine 'Miscalate', which wouldn't feel all that out of place on Get Physical; Radio Slave's 'Secret Base', harking back to the electro-house which dominated 2004; and, possibly best of all, the deep funk and vocal samples which constitute Rekid's 'Next Stop Chicago'.
The CD of remixes is less consistently magnificent - the Rekids gang have always been better remixers than remixees, possibly because the immediacy of their originals means that any meddling inevitably lessens the track's impact. But Prins Thomas's Disko-Tek Miks of Toby Tobias's 'A Close Shave' is a triumph, elongating and stretching it out into something even more blissful, bringing its latent Italo tinge to the forefront. The Partial Arts take on 'Miscalate', too, is satisfyingly chunky and percussive.
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Published /
Mon / 16 Jul 2007 -
Words /
Alex Macpherson -
Tracklist /
CD1
1. Rekid – Next Stop Chicago
2. Toby Tobias – A Close Shave
3. Radio Slave – My Bleep
4. Luke Solomon – Ghouls
5. Spencer Parker – Beautiful Noise
6. Audiofly & Paul Harris – Miscalate
7. Mr G – E.C.G.’ed
8. Radio Slave – Secret Base
9. Toby Tobias – Dave’s Sex Bits
10. Discemi – Von Wright Code
CD2
1. Toby Tobias – Dave’s Sex Bits (Quiet Village remix)
2. Toby Tobias – A Close Shave (Brontosaurus remix)
3. Mr G – E.C.G.’ed (Rekid remix)
4. Spencer Parker – Beautiful Noise (Tiger Timing remix)
5. Matt O’Brien – Serotone (Radio Slave’s Panorama Garage remix)
6. Audiofly & Paul Harris – Miscalate (Partial Arts remix)
7. Luke Solomon – Ghouls (Claude Von Stroke remix)
8. Rekid – Next Stop Chicago (Jesse Rose remix)
9. Toby Tobias – A Close Shave (Prins Thomas Disco-Tek Miks)
10. Radio Slave – My Bleep (Roman Flugel remix)
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