"Phantom Force", Super Furry Animals' new release is the remix of the recent "Phantom Power" album, where their original pop tunes are now beefed up with a sharp injection of remix treatment, mashed up by a list of eager high profile remixers through to lesser known underground mixers. Originally released as part of
the "Phantom power" DVD it gets a stand alone release of its own and rightly so.
"We asked them to do remixes but we couldn't really afford to pay them," says Bunf "So we decided that the best thing to do to pay them was to do a compilation of all remixes for the album and put that out separately."So now you know.
The lineup of tracks stays the same, honouring the original album, but with one exception, the inclusion of the inane rambling of "Executive (Phantom Power) producer" Kurt Stern, every track of the 15 includes an introduction commentary, but let's put that to one side and concentrate on the music.
First up is the beautifully joyful ambient take of "Hello Sunshine" by Weevil, then Mario Caldato Jr take on "Liberty Belle" with a warm, lifting flute and piano textures and is a complete success. Other remixers push their tracks to unrecognisable dimensions, Wauvenfold - "Sex war and robots" starts with the song intact but explodes off on a Aphex Twins window licker tangent (not for everyone), and the less said about beatbox backing by Killa Kella on "Golden Retriever" the better.
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The excellent folktronica 4 Tet moves SFA into a brilliant journey of discovery on "Piccolo Snare", sounding like Beta Band with a warm ready brek glow; Massimo's "Venus & Serena" is a brooding work out while Boom Bip slows the pace for "Father Father."
Brave Captain deliver their own brand off kilter techno fun, while High Llamas send out for their usual avant garde take away and lesser contributions from Force unknown and Sir Doufous Styles fail but fail trying. The album is far more full of hits than misses and the original heart beats on. Most of the tracks here are intact, and Gruff's voice is never sacrificed unnecessarily with most tunes taking on a life of their own and remaining interesting and challenging.
But this record isn't only just for the SFA hardcore fan base, this deserves its own release. Pay your own tribute and go out and buy this record.
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