TILT vs Ben Shaw // Sly One [Mesmeric]
Here we have a meeting of British dance music veterans in TILT and Ben Shaw, with both the production team and Shaw being into their third decade of activity – earlier this year Shaw contributed a remix of ‘My Release’, a TILT production featuring vocals from another UK club music survivor, Maria Nayler.
The original version has a superb opening, sounding like a machine of considerable dimensions waking up and gradually kicking into action – this feel continues as the substantial beats arrive in fine style, though the track does not go down the road that introduction suggests that it will. What follows is a nice combination of meaty bass notes, jazzy keys and lots of very nice melodies which entwine further and further as the track progresses – with all of this being fleshed out further with a whole host of lovely effects and little flourishes.
The sound of the melody in the breakdown is very similar to ‘Dead Already’, one of the Thomas Newman pieces that Jakatta sampled for American Dream, and the whole break has an ethereal atmosphere to it, added to further by the addition of a wordless female vocal ghosting around the background – it is a very nice build, and the arpeggio that leads us back in is lovely. Overall it is a fine track, nothing that you haven’t heard before, but it’s still done very well indeed.
The Andre Sobota remix is absolutely beautiful from the first bar, a lovely intro featuring what sounds like digital moths trapped in a jar, leading us into a warm fuzzy low end, which reminded me of some of Max Graham’s finer moments. This version is still packed with melody but is more subdued, boasting a more refined beaty – if the original is full of colour, this feels more sepia tinged. It is a very classy production, and completes what is an impressive release overall.
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Stevie Reid
