CD comes in deluxe silver-embossed sleeve.
It's a tricky thing, re-working a
completely unique and peerless piece of music. It is made even trickier
when the personality behind the original music is so vivid and
otherworldly that they are almost sure to continue to cast a long shadow
over whatever new form is chosen for the remix. Of course the questions
of whether or not to remix Gonjasufi's classic "A Sufi and A Killer"
arose, but with that voice and those songs, it was never going to fail.
Of course the fact that Gonja had made fans out of quite a few
incredibly talented artists didn't hurt either.
So, "The Caliph's Tea Party" was slowly summoned to life. Like the
Caliphs of the Ummahs of the seventh century, orchestrating affairs from
their palaces, Gonjasufi has assembled a collection of artists in his
musical world and invited them to exchange ideas. In this spirit, the
symbolic and musical centerpiece of the album, as well as its namesake,
is the result of the mutual admiration formed between Gonjasufi and
Broadcast and The Focus Group. A bewitching, drastic re-working of
"DedNd" it takes the form of a suite of layered compositions and
radiophonic transmissions.
Elsewhere, reinterpretations from new talents shine while established
artists continue to surprise. Mark Pritchard channels Ennio Morricone
with epic orchestral dystopia on his remix of "Ancestors" while
retaining the inherent gravity of Flying Lotus' original production.
Young guns Shlomo and Jeremiah Jae eschew their labeling as 'beatmakers'
and tap into a fractured emotional core within "Change" and "Holidays",
respectively, giving them new leases on life as subtly mechanized
melancholia. Bibio smooths out the rough edges of "Candylane" for a
remix indebted to the 1980s R&B leftfield, while Brooklyn's Bear In
Heaven and Oneohtrix Point Never deal in heavy motorik meditations and
ethereal musique concrete.
That "The Caliph's Tea Party" lives up to it's concept as a companion
piece to "A Sufi & A Killer" is not only a sizeable accomplishment,
but also a testament to the source material. Gonjasufi has emerged in
2010 as the most striking new voice in a vast musical landscape that
continues to outrun true classification. With so many errant strands of
creativity moving in all directions, it may well prove fortunate that a
Caliph has been selected.
2. Candylane (Bibio Remix)
3. Ageing (Dam Mantle Remix)
4. The Caliph's Tea Party (Broadcast & The Focus Group 'DedNd' Remix)
5. Kobwebz (Jeremiah Jae Remix)
6. Love Of Reign (Bear In Heaven Remix)
7. She's Gone (Oneohtrix Point Never Remix)
8. Holidays (MRR Remix)
9. Change (Shlohmo Remix)
10. My Only Friend (Hezus Remix)
11. DedNd (agdm Remix)
12. SuzieQ (Dem Hunger Bowel Blood Remix)
