Reviews are usually a place for critics to spout off, interpret the feelings of the artist and generally nitpick (and of course provide insight and long-reaching interest to the music). While without that, your humble author and editors here at Bassrush wouldn’t be quite so busy, it’s nonetheless endlessly more interesting to hear what the artists themselves have to say. But how do you do that on a compilation or remix album?
We’ve done a few “compilation interviews” before where we’ve asked the same questions to multiple artists on one of these albums to see where they went for it and while that’s fun, it still may have too much interviewer structure and intervention. This time, we simply let the artists loose on the mic (on email thread, in the current times), to talk about their remixes from Droptek’s epic Symbiosis album, the full drop of which was in early December.
The illustrious and oft-berobed head of Korsakov Music heroically chased down all the artists on the remix album for comment and comment’s sake and if any remix album deserved such effort, it was certainly Symbiosis Remixed. A multi-genre pantheon of bass gods including AKOV, Polygon, Levela, Mean Teeth and Clockvice descended on the already near perfect Symbiosis stems and made the album even more than Symbiosis. Bass-wise, it was nuclear fusion.
So how does that fusion look in word form? For once that was up to the remixing artists, in another not-so-scientific experiment, here’s Symbiosis Remixed part 2, in their own words.*
L3mmy Dubz [Remixed Criptos (Bad Sound)]
The reason I chose that tune was because I thought it would be a nice challenge to work in halftime and add my flavor to the that style. I also wanted to see what making a full time D&B remix would sound like with that catchy riff. The remix gave me a nice canvas to try out halftime with my own elements and it was a really fun process to delve into! when creating the remix I wanted to keep the integrity of the original with nice riff still in there and keeping that semi upbeat dancefloor vibe going whilst still pushing that dark mechanical sound that I love to do with my music. I feel like this was executed well in the end and I was proud to call this my remix on such a fantastic tune! Big up Korsakov and Droptek for the amazing opportunity!
Wingz [Remixed The Spire]
I chose the remix based on what I could imagine would work for me and really liked the main hook of “The Spire.” I tried to make a minimal tune out of it at first but shortly after I realized that the tune wanted to be a melodic roller and the rest is history
Levela [Remixed Devoid]
I really like the original “Devoid” from Droptek’s LP, it was my favorite from the album that I was playing out in my DJ sets, so when Korsakov asked me to remix something, I was keen to get my hands on it, twist it up and add my Levela sound to it.
PRFCT Mandem [Remixed Cyclic]
So our idea was to take the most challenging tune to remix to our opinion, which we thought would be “Cyclic” We didn’t want to change the main song too much, but instead give it that kind of “Chapter 2” feel to it. The result came up to be a combination of tekkers and elements of foghorns. We wanted to have the tune flow from Point A which was the beginning to the Point B which is the end without being felt like a copy paste by continuously developing the “story”. Very proud of this project!
Mean Teeth (Marius) [Remixed The Expanse]
I personally chose the intro for remixing because I have never heard someone do it before and I wanted us to take on a challenge. It was extremely hard but at the end we got it all together. First few months I was trying to rewrite the intro into sounds that could be useful to write the drop. After a few versions i gave up. I did like five different versions just to see what worked better and so on. One day we finally found a solid backbone and just continued on that. The whole process took over six months but I’m pretty satisfied with where it found its end.
Clockvice [Remixed Invoke]
Right away, I knew that I really wanted to keep the catchy main hook intact, but also to re-imagine it in an aggressive dubstep setting. Somewhere along the line it took on a life of its own and ended up being the most fun tune I’ve worked on in ages. I haven’t been this excited about releasing a tune in a fair while. It definitely speaks for the direction my upcoming tunes are headed.
AKOV [Remixed Revolver]
I’ve always wanted to explore breakbeat in a heavier context and although I’ve done a few token tracks that could fit into that category before, I feel that this remix marks my evolution into that next chapter perfectly. The original has been a staple in my halftime sets and now I’ve reimagined it in a cyberpunk-esque fashion which is a fitting soundtrack for a Dystopian 2020.
AC13 [Remixed Title Track Symbiosis]
I tried to go with something quite techy and different with this remix. I’ve found my sound has really changed towards this style recently and it was super fun to express that with this tune. The drums were really the main element – super dry and natural!
Polygon [Remixed Illusions feat Holly Drummond]
We listened to the album and loved every single track. The one that stood out was the one we picked to remix. The vocal, the arps and the vibe just screamed for a Polygon remix. Once we got the stems this remix wrote it’s self in record time.
Symbiosis Remixed part 2 is out now on Korsakov Music and can be streamed or purchased on with just the remixes or as the deluxe edition. Click here for platform options.
*High Maintenance could not be reached to comment on his remix of “Illusions.” Check out the link above to hear it.