Isolee’s upcoming Western Store is an odds n’ sods collection better than most artists’ full-length albums. Fittingly, some of the leading lights of minimal house have stepped in to remix several tracks for the accompanying 12″ single. Sadly, everyone involved seemed to think that stripping back Isolee’s already Spartan sound even further was a necessity. “Cite Grande Terre,” originally an icy four-minute dubscape, gets turned by Luciano into a twelve-minute yawner with excessively awkward glitch effects sprinkled on it, as unwelcome as PCP dropped on a joint. The version of “Lost” (fittingly described as ’stripped by’ the usually on-form Glimmers) reduces the great danceability of the original to a loop that runs on repeat for six numbing minutes.

The in-demand Villalobos put his trademark stamp on “Djamel Et Jamshid,” a track which actually doesn’t appear on the upcoming Western Store CD. Much like his highly-touted original material, I find his remix here pleasant for background or headphones but without the sparkle and excitement of Isolee’s tracks which allow them to translate to the ride or the dancefloor. The only discernible difference between Dixon’s remix of “Bleu” and the original is that it’s neither as dynamic nor as dubby. Perhaps those called on to remix this well-regarded artist were scared to make a misstep, but the ginger handling of such strong original material inevitably produces tepid results. Of course, as with much on the minimal front (see the entire Spectral catalog and much of Kompakt’s), it’s in their elaborate mixing with other tracks that their true intricacies develop, but as straight-ahead listening material there is little to enjoy in these versions.

Playhouse / 120
[Mallory O’Donnell]