Between the ages of 12-18 I really learned to appreciate the greatness of Cajmere’s “Percolator.” I was pretty much obsessive compulsive when it came to listening to live DJ mixes on the radio on Friday and Saturday nights, and in the hip house obsessed late 80s and early 90s, Cajmere’s Chicago house staple was a key element of my weekly house and club music radio experience alongside Rod Lee’s “Dance My Pain Away” and Foe’s Bmore Club Classic “Are You Da Bomb” featuring Diamond K. Those three tracks were probably more responsible than anything for me growing into being a devotee of most dance music styles, so you can imagine the look on my face when I noted that Green Velvet (the DJ persona that Cajmere evolved into) was doing a “Percolator” remix project involving some of the current kingpins of underground EDM that dropped on August 30th. I was not shocked, but I was flabbergasted, and couldn’t wait to hear more about the project.
Well, leave it up to NY legend and Plant Music chief Stretch Armstrong to start blowing my mind as at Will Eastman’s most recent Bliss where he was the guest, he dropped the Major Lazer remix that is part of the project. The computerized bleeps and blips that comprise Cajmere’s track meet up with the marching band drumline of “Pon de Floor,” and madcap insanity ensues, making the track both spastic and percussive, more ready for Brazillian Carnivale than a night at the club. It’s a minimaist change, but it completely alters the DNA of the track and completely makes it feel like Cajmere doing Major Lazer instead of the other way around.
DJ Chuckie’s Dirty Dutch remix does not have a clip, but imagine the Dutch house drumlines favored by Major Lazer getting a break laden and ravey workout from the man who made “Moombah” an international smash.
Gant-Man is a second generation Chicago house legend, so, his juke remix finds the elements of Chicago house that educates it’s hip hop progeny, and in involving the swinging melody of Cajmere’s “Preacherman,” the track is solid and understated with an unexpected kick.
Bad Boy Bill is a top tier DMC competitor and Chicago house hero. So in his mix sounding like something very New York and Progressive, it underwhelms, but likely fits where he’s at now as a live DJ, the remix an opportunity to take a legendary track somewhere very odd to fit his purposes. So while underwhelming for us, it’s likely overwhelming for him in the nature of what he’s spinning these days.
Italo-English big room house champion Riva Starr attempts to make “Percolator” even dancier by making the loops of of the familiar beeps and blips shorter, throwing in a tight drum break, and filtering the track through “Preacherman’s” hypnotic swing and some trance synths creates the most successfully forward thinking of the remixes on the project.
Happy to hear a hard house mix on the project from Chicago’s Mixin Marc. Hard house may not be as commercially popular of a style as it was at the start of the 2000s, but as sounds get heavier and more percussive, I’m waiting for the melodies to get heavier, less complex and more physically powerful, and this mix more than brings that sound to the table. Voice box use, heavy computerization, this mix is not groundbreaking, but is typical of what could be the next re-evolution.
I’m absolutely digging Claude von Stroke’s edit. It’s completist of everything Chicago without appearing unbalanced or poorly crafted as a remix. There’s elements of juke, the flavor of the original, and current house effects as well and is a definite call to arms to groove on the dance floor.
In final, check for Cajmere’s “Percolator Remix” EP on Beatport, and if not a DJ check for these sounds in the club. They’re going to be a supporting cast memeber and instantaneousmood shifter and pace quickener of probably every major set you’ll hear this fall, winter and beyond!
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