Bleep

After focussing on soundtrack work for more than a decade, David Holmes follows up his first solo album in 15 years with an energised remix package. Blind On A Galloping Horse dropped in late 2023 containing a wealth of analogue synths and drum machines, alongside vocal features from Raven Violet that picked apart the woes and curiosities of modern Britain. Now, a host of remixers take those conscious, imperative, and at times motivating lyrics and repurpose them for nocturnal club atmospheres.

Propelling ‘Stop Apologising’ even further onto the dancefloor, Horse Meat Disco create an intense sense of drive with a jumping bassline, and electrifying synths that grow ever more charged up till they reach a totally razed finish. Bright piano chords are folded in halfway through to jazz up those glitzy melodic glitters. Colleen Murphy meanwhile taps into classic house filled with swagger on her Cosmodelica extended mix, switching a clean funk bass into a playfully rocking guitar solo as anticipatory elongated filter sweeps and frequency shifting synths launch into the air.

Belfast band Skymas take Raven Violet’s lyrics “I believe in rock and roll” to heart on their remix of ‘Necessary Genius’, adding menacing electric bass and stuttering details, while Phil Kieran’s dub combines layers of techno rhythm culminating in a pounding four to the floor, complete with thrumming bass stabs, cymbal hits riding out like bells, and dystopian tinged walls of synth buzzes. Decius’s remix is perhaps the most high octane of the bunch; its spectral synths and squeaky, popping acid effects wreck strobing mayhem on the dancefloor, with vocals completely torn apart into a euphorically chopped chorus, mixing golden age house and techno with modern manipulations.