Rediscovered is the third artist album from John Askew, one of the leading proponents of quality trance and techno with plenty of drive and the main man behind Discover Records. This time the album has a difference, with 24 of John’s favourite artists specially invited to remix his back catalogue.
As you’d expect there’s a heavy representation of present and past names from Discover’s roster, with John O’Callaghan and Greg Downey returning home. Askew then mixes them all together in a high speed journey through his back catalogue. The 24 remixes are crammed into a tight 76 minute mix that bears all the hallmarks of John’s techno inspired mixing style.
The mix starts off in calm waters with the chilled chords and laid back beats of the original v Datt remix of Beirut smoothly blended into Genix remix of The Door and then ReOrder’s deeper progressive remix of Homesick, with its chilling piano and lush harmonies. He then gradually picks up the tempo while going down a techier path with remixes from Gate 42 and Peetu S, before an all too brief glimpse of Senorica’s dark, raw remix of Thumb It In.
Brazilian Fabio Stein’s remix of How Can I Put This injects a more uplifting vibe thanks to the powerful riffs and smooth harmonies, but this is temporary as its back to a more techno flavour thanks to Paul Webster’s boshing rework of Fuck Private Ryan, which retains the original techno groove, while injecting a more hard dance edge, which is maintained in JOC’s remix of Vandalism. Tom Colontonio delivers a brilliant remix of Spike which reignites the more uplifting trajectory, with a simply stunning lead riff, which is soon followed by fellow American Sean Tyas’ remix of Fade To Black, which has the biggest most sumptuous break of all the tracks on the album.
More recent Discovery Gary Maguire’s remix of Bored Of You, Bored Of Me quickly gets things toughened up again, with the madness and intensity matched by label stalwarts Sly One vs Jurrane on Giving You Acid, and then the rollercoaster tilts into overdrive with Reaky’s whirring tribal techno interpretation of Z List Uber Star setting all alarm bells ringing at breaking point.
Filthy, dark tech trance remixes from Bryan Kearney and Greg Downey keep things subterranean before new arrival Liam Melly’s more uplifting mix of Slaves To The Machine. Simon Patterson then provides a trademark heavyweight psy-influenced remix of Blackout before unheralded Swede Johan Ekman dusts off old classic Vellum giving it a nice contemporary twist. John then turns to man of the moment Activa for his remix of The Door to bring the mix to a gentle close.
This compelling rollercoaster ride will appeal to all fans of Askew and the Discover sound as well as to broader aficionados of quality underground trance and tech-trance. As well as the mix format, individual tracks are also available via download making this an excellent and unique opportunity to get your hands on contemporary remixes from one of the best tech-trance back catalogues out there.
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Tracklist:
01: Beirut (Original Vs Thomas Datt Remix)
02: The Door (Genix Remix)
03: Homesick (ReOrder Deep Remix)
04: Bad Apple (Gate 42 Remix)
05: This & Then (Peetu S Remix)
06: Thumb It In (Feat. Gary Maguire) (Sensorica Remix)
07: Blue (Bissen Remix)
08: How Can I Put This (Fabio Stein Remix)
09: Fuck Private Ryan (Paul Webster Remix)
10: Vandalism (Joint Operations Centre Remix)
11: Chime (Ehren Stowers Remix)
12: Spike (Tom Colontonio Remix)
13: All or Nothing (Haris C Remix)
14: Misfit (Adam Foley Remix)
15: Fade to Black (Sean Tyas Remix)
16: Bored of You, Bored of Me (Gary Maguire Remix)
17: Giving You Acid (Sly One Vs Jurrane Remix)
18: Z List Uber Star (Reaky Remix)
19: Battery Acid (Bryan Kearney’s ‘For the Neighbours’ Remix)
20: Nail Gun (Greg Downey Remix)
21: Slaves to the Machine (Feat. Matt Hardwick) (Liam Melly Remix)
22: Blackout (Simon Patterson Remix)
23: Vellum (Johan Ekman Remix)
24: The Door (Activa Remix)