4 out of 5

Label: (Unofficial release)

Produced by: ?

“Remixes” of two Saint Etienne tracks, already released on their relative Saint Etienne singles / EPs and collected together here unofficially, sold by…?

I put remixes in quotes because as per these two artists, good luck identifying the source tracks’ elements.

Autechre retains the barest melody and vocal snippet from their take on ‘Like A Motorway,’ – subtitled ‘Skin Up You’re Already Dead,’ which is… brilliant, both in composition and as regards the blunt subtitle. The duo behind the name allow the track to exist in a somewhat minimalist, acid realm to start, and massage ambience more and more into the track as a beat drops moreso in full partway through. It’s such a purposeful journey that, while starting very cold – and produced in a way more reminiscent of AFX – eventually becomes much warmer (and more Autechre-y), which is maybe some conceptual middleground for the way Saint Etienne’s version blends some hypnotic / repetitive elements with the group’s drowsy pop-folk.

AFX, meanwhile, takes on ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ – SE’s fairly accurate cover of Jigsaw’s 70s tune from the same name (recast with a female narrator, which did give it an interesting flavor) – retains a vocal snippet, but if I can make up that the Autechre sample says “Skin” and that words appears in ‘Like A Motorway,’ I have zero clue on the AFX sample. Similarly: the melody that floats backgrounded to the clanking percussion is not one I would tie to the SE tune, but, again, so goes the way these folks tend to remix. Anyhow, ‘Quex-Rd’ is the lesser of these remixes, primarily because RDJ doesn’t do much over the 8-minute take except for change up the beat a couple times. It doesn’t evolve; which is, er, representative of the relative simplicity of the original, but that’s a 3 minute single. The production is ace, and there are enough blips in the beat to make the track interesting (and it’s certainly danceable in its own way), but it’s enjoyable-if-shallow, especially stood against the Autechre selection.

All that said, the tonal similarity between these – and then the overall differences in vibes – makes them a really fun pairing, to whichever unofficial body decided to do so.