For our first remix EP, we picked Gain Upwards from Orlando Voorn, as part of Black Diamond double LP, originally released on Out-ER in july 2014. Voorn is one of Europe’s oldest and most prolific electronic music producer. Winning the Dutch DMC Championship in 1986 and being constantly into the scene since ’90, Orlando has been profitably collaborating with the italian label heads Simone Gatto and Andrea Santoro for years, releasing Black Diamond on their own imprint and featuring together on different european ones.
From the twelve gems Voorn created for us, Gain Upwards is the one we selected to be reinterpreted by Orlando’s long-standing friend Juan Atkins, dutch heavyweight ROD, Ostgut-Ton magician Efdemin and Inkblots and Raw Waxes label owner Haiku. Juan Atkins strays from the original version in favour of propulsive percussions and an incisive bassline sorrounded by spacey bleeps. ROD delivers a rising, intense remake sampling just few original elements and adding a majestic kick plus clean, emphatic hats. Flipping on the second side, we can see Efdemin’s unique, dreamy sense of rhythm expressing as a peaceful stormer filled with graceful synth lines and a slamming bassline, drawing the air when pads make the break. Haiku starts slow, a blissful ambient introduces a Rastafarian vocal and a syncopated pulse, gradually adorned by bright claps and bells, closing another delightful EP marked by the italian hybrid dance music label.
