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Looking from a Hilltop (Wrangler Remix)
New Horizon (Shadowless Hand Remix)

SECTION 25 Eigengrau

CD album | gg179
Blackpool’s most famous music export Section 25 are best known for being a legendary band on Manchester’s Factory label. They were labelmates of Joy Division and were produced by Martin Hannett in their early days. We at Klanggalerie think that SXXV are not only known and loved in the postpunk scene, but also in the avantgarde and Industrial genres. So we asked some great bands from those scenes to remix classic Section 25 tracks. The result is an incredible variety of styles and approaches, nevertheless the whole album sounds homogenic. The impressive full track list is as follows: 1. Girls don't count (Atomizer Remix) 2. Beating Heart (Absolute Body Control Remix) 3. Desert (7JK Remix) 4. Colour Movement Sex & Violence (Monoton Remix) 5. Inner Drive (Dust Orchestra Remix) 6. Looking from a Hilltop (Wrangler Remix) 7. Desert (Samy Morpheus & Erge Storman Version) 8. The Process (Volcano The Bear Remix) 9. Uber Hymn (DDAA Remix) 10. Desert (Shane Fahey Remix) 11. New Horizon (23 Skidoo Remix) 12. Girls don't count (Renaldo & The Loaf Remix) 13. Desert (:zoviet*france: Remix) 14. Dirty Disco (Portion Control Remix). Experience a different and new Section 25. The postpunk roots are still there, but the collaborators have taken their songs to a new level where avantgarde meets rock and electro. Price: € 9,-/copy incl worldwide shipping.

For my money, some of Eigengrau supersedes previous self-rerecorded/remix project Retrofit, primarily because these versions are so far from the originals, yet retain the band's experimental trademarks. So Atomizer transform Girls Don't Count into a throbbing club-banger, the Absolute Body Control name pops up again, this time on Beating Heart (possibly the best version since the original) and 7JK turn Desert into a funereal road-trip that works best with the lights off. Dust Orchestra actually turn out the best ever version of Inner Drive, morphing it into an unlikely tribal romp that sounds like it was powered by bodhrans or Kendo drummers.The most notable amongst the remaining contributors include John Foxx's Maths collaborator Benge with Cabaret Voltaire's Stephen Mallinder (on the moody Looking From a Hilltop), 23 Skidoo offer a drum-heavy reworking of New Horizon while Portion Control keep things simple with their take on Dirty Disco. (...) Personally, I'm not a huge fan of remix-albums but Eigengrau is a brave effort and doubles up as both a serviceable introduction to a band crying out for a new generation of admirers and a showcase for some smart remix work throughout. Wins all round, methinks."
(Flipside, July 2013)

What's especially interesting about these mixes is that many of them are the work of Section 25's post-punk peers and fellow avant-garde electronic pioneers. (...) The Residents' old mates Renaldo & The Loaf recast "Girls Don't Count" with the help of what sounds like a violin played with an iron bar, while Zoviet France reduce to little more than effects-heavy vocals, a widescreen synth wash and some tinkling piano. The best of the "Desert" mixes, however, comes from Samy Morpheus & Erge Storman, who deliver a beautifully luxurious version of the track which wouldn't have sounded out of place on one of the legendary "Freezon" albums that ex-Minimal Compact man Morpheus put together in the 90s. It's a real head swirler. (...) Top prize must go to 23 Skidoo for their lengthy overhaul of "New Horizon", which is a typically percussion-heavy alt-funk frug. It's more than 10 years that we last heard from 23 Skidoo, so let's hope this means we're going to get some fresh material from them soon."
(Electronic Beats, July 2013)

Vor drei Jahren haben Section 25 aus Blackpool mit „Retrofit“ noch ihre eigenen Remixe bzw. Neubearbeitungen ihrer Stücke abgeliefert und so für einige Ratlosigkeit gesorgt, denn es gelang nicht, dem eigenen Werk eine zusätzliche Note hinzuzufügen. Im März erschien dann das Comebackalbum auf Factory Benelux und SXXV präsentierten in beeindruckender Aufgeräumtheit. Die Wiener Klanggalerie nimmt sich nun mit einer Remix-Sammlung des Factory-Urgesteins an. Für „Eigengrau“ haben sich verschiedenste Acts aus Avantgarde und Industrial mit den Tracks ihrer Helden beschäftigt und dabei eine durchweg spannende atmosphärische Collage geschaffen. So werden stets andere Stärken betont und der Fokus auf Aspekte gelenkt, die in den Originalen oft gar nicht auffallen."
(Westzeit, September 2013)