amber - anyway (steve porter's mix 1)

chances are that this was introduced to me through a set but since it was on bedrock it could have been through different ways. during the phase i had when i was sick of regular epic trance the i did start to gear towards bedrock, baroque and all the labels delivering progressive house & trance. however it was heard the first time, it always struck me how weird it was for a label like bedrock to release anything containing something like this.

steve porter's name wasn't estranged to the label as bedrock released a track the year before this that was done in collaboration with john debo called "deported". but amber was as far removed from the sound of bedrock with the regular output of her music, if you don't count the deep dish remixes for "sexual" that was commissioned by ministry of sound. i'm not completely sure on the state of release but from what i've read amber's label tommy boy didn't go for these remixes at the time of the original.

never the less they got a release a year after the original single release of "anyway" and they use quite a lot from chris cox's original production. the main difference is that porter removes everything else and then shapes it into two different cuts, the a-side is the more moody and something for early in the sets and the flip is when you need to get down to business. for me i fell in love with the first mix, and i've used this sentence quite a lot the last couple of entries, but it was that bassline.

the mix on the b-side has a more of a rhythmical bassline where as this one uses one of those legato basslines that progressive house & trance producers utilised in almost in abundance during the period. one of the main draws for this remix was it's structure as it was done with breakbeats in the first half of the song and then flips into four on the floor. the change isn't that noticable either and but it's good to have something this like to when switching and wanting to do it smooth.

as mentioned the bassline was the focal point for when i first heard the remix but the atmosphere and amber's vocals was something that i also really liked. the pads was broad and bellowing and you hear amber's vocal hazing through with effects and then halfway in it's heard clearly the first time. it's done brilliantly and the hints of the vocal that is heard after the main run is nicely effected. proper funky vibing.

buy here (junodownload)