It is no secret that I am a passionate fan of the music made by Passenger S, in both Metroland and 808 Dot Pop, 808 Dot Pop released their debut album "The Colour Temperature" in June last year, which is heavily inspired by not only Kraftwerk, but bands such as Orbital and Komputer. The album and the singles released from it have a lighter sound than what you hear in Metroland releases.
Passenger S, always very creative with his ideas, wanted to hand over the songs from the album and singles over to fellow Belgian musician, Cubic, so he could re-work the tracks for a remix album, which has resulted in the release of "The Cubic Temperature", which features Cubic's take on 11 tracks.
A brave move on the part of Passenger S.......
The opening track is actually a track that featured as a "B-Side", "CIE 1960 (Chromaticity)", a mellow sound mixed with layered sequencer patterns and a strong bass-line, the melodic synth sounds are retained for this remix, superbly produced with every instrument having it's space in the mix.
Fans will be familiar with the track "Kelvin" as it was the first single to be released off the remix album, I have always liked this track with it's dreamlike core and dance beat and haunting choir pads, and in it's long format here (Kelvin 4500) is a pure delight to listen too, fully deserved to get released as a single.
"Blackbodies (Lampblack)" is a much darker version than what appeared on the original album "The Colour Temperature" and versions released on singles, it takes the track into a completely different direction and in parts it reminded me of the darker side of some of Depeche Mode's music, some excellent drum parts and sinister synth parts are the perfect backdrop for the remixed vocal parts, a track that grabs you, the more you hear it, excellent work by Cubic.
There is definitely an 808 State vibe with "Thermodynamica (Neon)", which please me, as 808 State are a Manchester band, we have the beautiful blend of sequenced parts and a strong main synth lead, think 90s acid scene, excellent remix.
"Illuminants (Measured)" makes great use of speak & Spell voice parts, a dreamy synth backdrop and a Dusseldorf rhythm section, mixed with more excellent sequencer patterns, the trademark sound of 808 Dot Pop, that's the thing I like about this remix album, Cubic has retained some of the key elements of the songs but used his own sounds and hasn't created remixes that are so far removed from the original
versions. This song has a nice "pop" feel to it.
Next is the second single released off the remix album "Ultraviolet (Phototonic)" (the version included in the digital download bundle is longer than the album version), very upbeat and Cubic has kept things simple on this remix, everything has it's space in the mix, one of my favourite tracks on the album.
I love the intro on "Thermal Contact (Cryogenic)", perhaps the strongest Kraftwerk influenced track on the album, I love the mood of this remix, fantastic use of synth sounds and the acid bass-line, very cool, outstanding sequencer work too, another very strong track.
The longest track on the album is "Planck's H (Boltzman)", which clocks in at nearly 9 1/2 minutes, again this shows a darker side to the 808 Dot Pop sound which showcases the sequenced sounds to great effect, with melodies created with much more sombre sounds, interesting drums and percussion parts too, which keep the track interesting.
I loved the original version of "The White Tone Of Lamps", so was intrigued to hear what Cubic had come up with in his remix, it has a strong Orbital and 808 State influence, with it's pulsing main synth lead over a dance beat, to me the lead sound becomes to much of a distraction and is my least favourite track on the album.
Next we have one of the B side tracks, "Seeing Heat (Peripheral)" reworked, I just love the cool sounding sequencers, a fabulous strong bass-line and some truly excellent synth work, quite a lot of layers in the sound too, a great track to listen to with headphones :)
The album closes with the track "Inside The Light Bulb (Porcelain)", the pace of this track is superb, mid-paced with some fantastic sequencer parts, a lovely blend of sounds, an album highlight, it almost has a chilled out feel to it.
It is fair to say that Passenger S definitely made the right move to approach Cubic to remix tracks from "The Colour Temperature" and associated releases, it was a masterstroke of an idea which has clearly paid off and Cubic deserves a lot of credit for the work he has undertaken here.
A fabulous way to round off the recorded work for the whole project, what will Passenger S have up his sleeve for the next 808 Dot Pop album.......we will have to wait and see.
9/10
The album is released on March 26th and is available as a Digital Download from Bandcamp:
https://alfamatrix.bandcamp.com/album/the-cubic-temperature
It is also available on CD via the Alfa Matrix Label store:
https://alfa-matrix-store.com/808-Dot-Pop-The-Cubic-Temperature-CD
Visit the official 808 Dot Pop website here
Visit the Cubic Facebook page here
