As techno’s most successful enigma, Ricardo Villalobos has mastered the art of the uncertain artistic statement. Whether it’s divisive DJ sets or out there original material, being down with Villalobos means being willing to scratch your head while searching for the gems that inevitably emerge. Justin Harris and Luke Solomon‘s Freaks project has been equally inscrutable at times, although the duo has always served up their left-field house offerings with enough of a smirk to let us know where they stood, compared to Ricardo’s proudly stoned stoicism.
Such is the case with this six-minute edit of Ricardo’s version of Freaks’ 2003 album cut “Eighties Throwback,” which gives us about half of the 14 minute main remix currently circulating on vinyl as the b-side to the Let’s Do It Again Pt. 2 EP on the recently relaunched Music For Freaks label. The producer’s usually known for defying time with his extended tracks and heroically long DJ sets, so this would seem to be a more bite-sized portion than he usually offers. But the magic of his edit is that its component parts—comet-like vocal samples, black hole kick drums—balloon and swell to fill any minutes that he shaved off, creating a relativistic sort of dance track that suggests that time and space are, in fact, malleable.
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The package also features a remix of vintage Freaks tunes “Washing Machine” by Soul Clap, as well as an original Freaks tune, “Robotic Movement” which previously appeared on their 2000 album, The Beat Diaries. The digital version, sans Ricardo’s remix, comes out on Feb. 22 and will instead feature a version of “Angry” by Argy and Honey Dijon.
