The ‘top 10 chart‘ displayed on his website often reflects which tracks Erol’s dropping around that month. However, heading over to his ‘top 10‘ can be ill advised. It’s as frustrating as going to a strip club: you can look, but you can’t have. He teases us with lists of impossible-to-find, unreleased soon-to-be-big tunes.
Inbetween Erol’s busy DJing schedule, he’s been focusing heavily on production, with Mystery Jets’ superb second album ‘Twenty One’ and Late Of The Pier’s debut ‘Fantasy Black Channel’, while also lending a hand to the Long Blondes’ latest. He recently finished his latest LP ‘Ark 1′ for his electronica-psychedilia sideproject with Richard Norris. You can pick it up at some overtly trendy outlet near you – Urban Outfitters, Rough Trade…
Erol’s remixed the third addition to his ‘Phantasy’ label: Fan Death. They’re a duo hailing from South Korea and are named after a dubious urban legend, revolving around deaths mysteriously caused by electric fans left running overnight. Spontaneuos combustion is so last year.So, with Erol placed on this mile-high pedestal, and in the shadow of his own Godly reputation, surely he can only dissapoint. Well, no. This is no banger à la Water Of Nazereth, but it’s a sweetly melodic track; and as per usual the finer details that impress. The abstruse technicalities of the production are tip-top – Erol delicately reassembles the tune’s breathtaking soundscape with some subtle yet astute touches.
Fan Death’s original (buy it here) features some strained female crooning, uplifting strings and a honed 70s disco sound.
But Erol’s dub (stripped alomst entirely of the vocals) leaves the beautiful intrumentation to do the talking – he weaves together a synchronized legion of clapping percussion, subtle blips and bleebs, gently thudding bass and those seering strings into a melodic masterpiece:
Fan Death – Veronica’s Veil (Erol Alkan’s Extended Rework) [pelski highly recommends]
Erol also remixes under the monicker ‘Mustapha 3000‘. Here are a couple of old classics. His superb re-rendering of Moisture completely transforms it into an all-womping and grinding beast (found on Erol’s incredible 2006 mixmag CD). His remix of Ali Love’s ‘K-hole’ never received enough attention. Damn you Kissy and your silly ways… and your even sillier remixes, this is the definitive K-hole remix:
Headman – Moisture (Mustapha 3000 Remix)
Ali Love – K-Hole (Mustapha 3000 Remix) [zshare link]
Voodoo Chilli vs Trevor Loveys – Look What You’ve Done To Me (Mustapha 3000 Remix)
Now let us wait – with baited breath – on Erol’s remixes of ZZT’s ‘The Worm’ and SebastiAn’s ‘Mommy’. Catch Erol Alkan’s current tour playing alongside a variety of big names, including the likes of Late Of The Pier, Midnight Juggernaughts, Annie Mac, A-trak, Switch and Diplo.
