Brutal Remix
On The Camper, 2020
8/10
The Ontario songstress Camilla Sparksss sees her 2019 album, Brutal, remixed by 15 different artists, where the sounds shift from dance to noise and just about everywhere in between.
Fakear starts the listen with chilling house beats on “Are You Ok?”, and Rebeka Warrior follows with bright electro-pop fun on the club friendly “Womanized”.
Elsewhere, “Messing With You”, by Mike Mare (Dalek), relies heavily on ambience in the ominous setting, while Vadim Vernay tweaks “Sorry” with clever manipulation amid a mysterious landscape. A listen where each track offers surprises, Kevin Shea’s “Walt Deathney” is particularly atypical with plenty of spacey sounds alongside throbbing gestures that converge into a cosmic dance track.
Deep into the listen, "She’s A Dream” indeed gets blurry with Tam Bor’s artistic trip-hop textures guiding the journey, and Bitter Moon’s “So What” turns restraint into a highly refined art form. IUEKE finishes the album with their version of “She’s A Dream”, which follows a darker path that’s no less creative in its droning appeal.
A record with something for everyone, various aspects of trip-hop, electro-pop and techno influences are explored here, as are dirge like moments of noisey song craft, all of which are delivered with precision and intrigue.