reKonstruKtion
Following the release of their debut album Baustelle on monika last year, the Greie Gut Fraktion, also known individually as AGF and Gudrun Gut, now present you with reKonstruKtion; a full length album of remixes based on material taken from Baustelle and featuring remixes by Wolfgang Voigt, Alva Noto and many more. Any construction opens up the possibility of reconstruction, or in most cases even implies a need for reconstruction. The constructivist movement of the 30s wanted to openly remove the copy-cat character from art. With the remixes of GGF's Baustelle its similar; it's about finding a different approach to good material. Through progress in technology and networking, the boundaries between producer and DJ continue to blur more and more. Remixes are an integral part of this process and the results are often pleasantly surprising, as is the case on reKonstruKtion.Both exceptional solo producers in their own write AGF and Gudrun Gut have naturally each done individual remixes. And so the album kicks off with Antje Greie's remix of Drilling An Ocean, one of the tunes from Baustelle which came with a stunning video, followed closely by Gudrun Gut's new Ruberboots take on Betongiessen (trans. Pouring Concrete). We have Kompakt boss Wolfgang Voigt with his Freiland Klaviermix 1 of Wir bauen eine neue Stadt; a superb minimal rendition of the Palais Schaumburg classic which you might know if you got the Stadt Mixe 12that came out to accompany the original album. AGF has obviously drawn on her connections to Finland, where she is a resident, by recruiting Mika Vainio, one half of Pan Sonic, to do a remix. Mika also chose to mix Drilling An Ocean and his industrial-noise style lends itself perfectly to the subject matter, resulting in a dark atmospheric piece of sound-art. Keeping it in the family, monika artist Natalie Beridze aka TBA is the next to lend a Baustelle reKonstruKtion to this mighty collection. The Georgian artist who's fantastic album ForgetFulness recently came out on the label delivers a fine version of We Matter in a cut-up electronica style. French minimal DJ and producer Jennifer Cardini is highly regarded as a remixer as her rmx of the functional track Make it Work proves. She brings a relaxed minimal-dubby twist to this number so as to make it just right for a club context. Staying on the dance floor, Stuttgart's acclaimed producer and Philpot label owner Soulphiction aka Jackmate supplies a prime cut with his Late Dub remix of Mischmaschine. This is a truly funky mix. As Gudrun Gut was kind enough to do a remix for the recent Barbara Morgenstern remix EP Fan No. 3 on monika, Barbara has returned the favor with a delightful pop-mix of Cutting Trees. As one might expect from Morgenstern, she brings the melodic elements of the original song to the forefront while of course finding new room for creative development within the composition. Gut's second mix on reKontruKtion is another version of Make It Work. It's interesting, as with the two differing mixes of Drilling An Ocean, to be able to compare just how far apart two remixes of the same tune can be. Indeed Gudrun Gut's mix of Make It Work is possibly the most danceable number on the whole album. Ever supportive of new talent, monika introduces three new stars with reKonstruKtion. Greie Gut Fraktion ran a remix competition on the network female:pressure - three of the best have their remix included on the album, the first being Hamburg based DJ Donna Neda whose mix is up their with the best of them. AGF's take on Make It Work is a short interlude and again its fascinating to hear how the two composers in the Greie Gut Fraktion interpret their collaborative compositions independently in the context of a remix. The Alva Noto remodel of Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt was also included on the a fore mentioned remix 12and fans of the raster noton boss won't be disappointed as the exclusive reKonstruKtion remodel edit contains all the key elements of that Alva Noto signature sound; moody distortion, broken beats and plenty of surface noise. Antje Greie has a second mix in the form of her Space Place version of the chainsaw propelled Cutting Trees. The album draws to a close with two more winners of the female:pressure remix competition. The penultimate remix comes from Chra with the sombrero alto remix of White Oak. And reKontruKtion ends in ambient bliss with Villinette turning China Memories into a multi-layered soundscape. The fascinating thing with remixes is always hearing the original track mutated into something entirely new and to what extent the remix artist manages to bring their own personality into the new rendition; just how far the remix deviates in style and structure from the original material. ReKontstruKtion presents 15 high quality remixes based on tracks from 2010's Baustelle album. With remix artists as diverse as Alva Noto, Barbara Morgenstern, Wolfgang Voigt, Soulphiction and Jenifer Cardini plus many more, while the collection does of course span a multitude of styles, the spirit of the Greie Gut Fraktion remains ever present in every tune. It's particularly interesting to hear Gut and Greie's individual interpretations of the duos collective compositions. No doubt reKonstruKtion is an exciting development and step forward from the Baustelle album.