VARIOUS ARTISTS – “HEAVENLY REMIXES 1” //Heavenly Recordings// (Released 10th December)

Description

£22.99 – 2xLP, Limited Edition Vinyl (plus DL Code)

Heavenly was all but founded on the art of the remix; the label’s sadly departed friend Andrew Weatherall remixed the first ever release, and the label has built up an immense catalogue in the intervening years that demonstrates all that is good about the art form and on Friday 10th December 2021 the label release Heavenly Remixes Vol 1 & 2, a brace of albums documenting this long history.

A label forged in the white-hot heat of post-acid house Britain, these Heavenly remixes are perfectly weighted with respect and irreverence, the remixer in each case carefully chosen to add heft to the song – the tracks across the 2 albums are curated, remixed and delivered with love (and a teensy bit of impertinence) and are a glimpse into the catalogue of one the UK’s finest independent labels.

There may well be no rhyme, nor reason, to how these compilations have been put together, beyond the fact that they are assembled with love, an innate understanding of the power of great pop music, and a skilled marriage of song and remixer.

There is no sense of order to Volume 1. You’ll find a smattering of older tracks: album openers Saint Etienne are taken on a Poseidon Adventure with Underworld, who inject ‘Cool Kids of Death’ with typically manic energy. Elsewhere, ’90s Brum duo Mother add dance-floor pzazz to Espiritu’s innate glamour on an all-funked-up reworking of ‘Los Americanos’, and Mark Lusardi’s remix of Moonflowers’ ‘Get Higher’ is an early Heavenly classic.

Tracklisting:

Saint Etienne – Cool Kids Of Death (Underworld Mix)
Unloved – Why Not (Gwenno Remix)
Nots – Reactor (Mikey Remix)
Mildlife – Automatic (Jono Ma Ascend Mix)
Espiritu – Los Americanos (Mother Mix)
Confidence Man – Out The Window (Greg & Che Wilson mix)
Mattiel – Guns Of Brixton (Rub-A-Dub Style Pt.2)
Baxter Dury – Miami (Parrot and Cocker Too Remix)
Jimi Goodwin – Terracotta Warrior (Andy Votel’s Spazio 1975 de-mix)
Working Mens Club – X (Minsky Rock Remix)
Moonflowers – Get Higher (Get Dubber Mix)
Raf Rundell – Monsterpiece (Harvey Sutherland Remix)
Cherry Ghost – Finally (Time & Space Machine Edit