Token 054 - Inigo Kennedy Remixed

Inigo Kennedy – Requiem Remixed

Token 54 comprises the four inscribed remixes of Inigo Kennedy’s ‘Requiem.’ The raw format hails from the Token label boss’s immaculate 2014 album ‘Vaudeville.’

Remix duty is conferred upon house maverick Efdemin, deep techno proponent Kangding Ray, Fullpanda experimentalist Dasha Rush and the brutal industrial noise of Regis.

Efdemin’s remix ‘Journey To The Stars’ begins with the asynchronous clatter of a train signal crossing which bleeps fading, lost below the waves of reverb whilst the unhinged melody develops. Delayed claps form the locomotive core of the rhythm, complemented with solid kick and swash of hi hats. Each element blurs smoothly into the next.

Kangding Ray’s version ‘Dies Irae’ is somewhat more sinister. A droning malevolent beast, it bumps along with rancour. Kangding Ray is skilled with potent bass heavy moodiness. Low end percussion is heavily delayed, the chugging kick drums roll off each other in a steady cascade. There is a subtle almost imperceptible movement of two distinct rhythmic elements sliding backwards and forwards like the phasing of two out of speed turntables.

Regis enters the fray with the ‘Human Host’ which retains the dystopian melody, moaning and warped, proper horror show. Systematic drum lines and a functional bassline, it is the most techno-conventional pattern out of the four versions.

A great technical sound, with malice aforethought, kinky and twisted vocals and a wicked synthesiser resonance. ‘Human Host’ sounds the most similar to the Vaudeville material.

The final version, Dasha Rush’s ‘Requiem For Humanity’ is moody and jarring in an Edgar Allan Poe kind of vibe. The grand piano melody is vaudevillian in the extreme, decrepit and antiquated. It contains an excerpt from Charlie Chaplin’s famous speech from ‘The Great Dictator,’ where he laments on the deleterious effect of humanity.

Review for CGNY by Alastair Schwarz