Global Underground レコード& CD

Review: DJ Ashley Casselle's punked up electro outfit release their debut album on Global Underground. The Remote are Ashley Casselle (aka Ashtrax) and frontman Ben Lost, who have joined forces to create a new electronic band project. With a voice reminiscent of Pete Shelley from the Buzzcocks, a young Bowie or Iggy Pop, The Remote has in Ben Lost a frontman for a new generation. Signed earlier this year to Global Underground's GU Music artist label, the band have been playing by the rules of electronic dance but trashing them as they go along. Ashley Casselle has been a respected international DJ since 1999 and is The Remote's musical backbone: providing a lush electronic wash of breaks against a synthetic wall of sound spiked with acoustic guitars recorded on a Dictaphone, all mixed to make a whole that is at times bleak and wintry and at times like immersing yourself in an 80s dream world.

Review: When Global Underground launched their Electric Calm series back in 2002, it was designed to provide a woozy, ambient-leaning accompaniment to the more dancefloor-focused fare showcased on their popular, city-themed DJ mixes. Some six years after the fifth installment, volume six arrives, and it's as becalmed and evocative as you'd expect. Offering a mixture of old-fashioned ambience, James Holden style electronica, IDM and downtempo beats, there's much to admire. Highlights include the woozy chords and twinkling pianos of Romero's "Digital Rain", the low-slung, bongo-laden grooves and fizzing electronics of CJ One's "Pull Out", and the unbridled ambient positivity of Still Life's "Dreams of Forever".