rob dougan - clubbed to death (spoon mix by carl craig)

this one came in my peripheral a few years ago and i was actually expecting a techno version being that it's carl craig responsible for the remix. the second thing that i didn't expect was how it would sound as the famous orchestral piece used and the piano melody is devoid in this version.

but neither we're they in most of the remixes in the original '95 release where this track was released under the name "rob d". peshay, la funk mob (note the version they did without dougan) and carl craig went to town and used the original material as they pleased. the only version that kept the piano as it is was by wax doctor.

carl craig's revision of the track starts off with the orchestral piece but regrooved as it loops after two beats and goes down a semi-note for two beats. it's then again pitched down and stays like that for four beats, this re-jig serves as the main theme for the track. it also shows what route craig was planning for the track as it's a slow instrumental hip-hop retake with plenty of experimentation.

sounds are twisted left and right and laid under a bedrock of a deep hitting kick drum and reverbed clap. the kick has this offsetting weird bass trail but it's actually the kick reversed which is in it's own pattern. i've tried playing the whole track in reverse and if the clap wasn't that full of reverb it would have been rather decent.

i quite like this remix now but it took me a long time to appreciate it as the first time i heard it i didn't understand it at all. you can scream out trendwhore and that i'm only talking about this version since carl craig's name & person has gotten a big revival but that doesn't really tell the whole story.

i could have written on the peshay remix but what more else is it to say that here is this nice amen roller with an atmospheric intro*. or la funk mob's second version named the darkside mix which also goes down on the slow instrumental hip-hop route but is less interesting aurally.

listen here (youtube)

*i know that i could easily write about it but fact is that it would be a combination of this one and the entry on source direct's "shimmer"