The release is a double-CD set of remixes of iiO’s 2002 club hit Rapture. Does anybody really need 18 remixes of any track?

After giving the release a few listens, though, I’ve changed my attitude.

Rapture Reconstructed brings together some of the strongest talent in the world of club remixes and showcases what a great remixer can do with a strong track. There are versions by Armin Van Buuren, Starkillers, Paul Van Dyk and Deep Dish – and that’s just getting started. Hardware & Orue take the track into electro land, and the Lametta Made2Chill Remix turns Rapture into a chillout slow dance.

If you’re interested in remixing, iiO’s Rapture Reconstructed is a case study in how it’s done.

Van Buuren’s remix shows how he can take a song that’s already a strong club track and make it even harder and tighter. It also shows how you can stretch an intro to three minutes – as long as the typical pop song – and still keep things moving.

Starkillers turn in four remixes – all of them different, but also all with a Starkillers twist.

The highlight of the disk is Deep Dish’s Space Remix. Deep Dish take Rapture and slap it up, flip it and rub it down, dropping the vocals and stretching the track into a 10:57 techno house opus.

18 versions of one song isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea. If you’re interested in remixing, though iiO’s Rapture Reconstructed isn’t just a fantastic collection of remixes of a classic house track, it’s like going to remix school.

The second CD is also an enhanced CD that contains two versions of the Blade Runner-esque Rapture video. Unfortunately, the video is presented in a fairly low resolution – not much better than what you’d get from YouTube.

Tracks:

Disc: 1
1. Reconstruction [Starkillers Dirt Girl Made Single Edit]
2. Reconstruction [Starkillers Dirty Girl Remix]
3. Reconstruction [Starkillers Undone Made Single Edit]
4. Reconstruction [Starkillers Undone Remix]
5. Reconstruction [Hardware & Orue Electro Remix]
6. Reconstruction [Hardware & Orue Electro Dub]
7. Reconstruction [Friscia & Lamboy Remix]
8. Reconstruction [Friscia & Lamboy Dub]
9. Reconstruction [Lametta Harmony Remix]
10. Reconstruction [Lametta MADE2CHILL Remix]

Disc: 2
1. Reconstruction [Armin Van Buuren Remix]
2. Reconstruction [Paul Van Dyk Remix]
3. Reconstruction [Deep Dish Space Remix]
4. Reconstruction [Riva Remix]
5. Reconstruction [Creamer & K Remix]
6. Reconstruction [Aloud Remix]
7. Reconstruction [Soulside Remix]
8. Reconstruction [Original Extended Mix]
9. Rapture [Limited Edit][*][Multimedia Track]

Deep Dish recently rocked Costa Rica so hard that even an earthquake couldn’t stop the party. Rogelio Jimenez reports:

On November 19, Club Vertigo finally saw one of its most anticipated House events. It was the last of three dates which marked electronica history in Costa Rica:

• Paul Oakenfold – November 5th
• Tiesto – November 17
• Deep Dish – November 19

With a lot of effort and love, Club Vertigo prepared for this event, with special decorations, new sound equipment, and the new Chill Out room, featuring the local DJs Ali and Guru Sigma. In the Lounge played Sweet Bo and DJ Vega.

A wise choice was selecting Audio Drop, left, for the opening act. The duo, made up of Aaron Wells, on the left, and Patrice Meiner, right, did an excellent job warming up for Deep Dish. They played a set made of mostly deep house and minimal, which created the right atmosphere for the expectations of the clubbers.

At 2:00 am, Deep Dish appeared. The crowd of more than a thousand people pressed closer to see Sharam and Ali, shown in the photo below.

Sharam was playing his first track when the earth starts shaking; it was an earthquake felt in all the country!

The earthquake lasted ten minutes. Some people freaked out, and went out for their safety; Sharam seemed for a while clueless of what to do! The earth was still shaking, but the crowd was staying in the dance floor, shouting, jumping and giving the sign to Sharam that the party goes on, and nothing could stop it. The phrase in the movie Groove “This Shit ain’t over until the last record spins” seems perfect to describe this moment.

Some of the frightened people came back. Sharam continued with an exquisite set of house, who made people shake their bodies. Some people watched the dancers in South America Indian costumes, friends gave each other hugs, and with couples kissing, it was an emotional moment for every one in there. It was happening – Deep Dish live in Costa Rica.

Ali “Dubfire” made his set, lots of the best deep house and people still feeling euphoric. Then they where switching in, back to back, songs like Vertigo, Flash Dance mixed with Money for Nothing and She Sells Sanctuary were some of the themes played in the best House event ever in Costa Rica. Six hours of Deep Dish, and some people want them back soon.

Guest Author – Rogelio Jimenez

Show Images – Alejandro Peinador
http://www.ale-pe.com

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
If you reprint it, please provide an author credit and link to Synthtopia.

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Resources

• Audio Drop

Deep Dish

It was a chance meeting in 1991 that originally brought Washington DC’s Ali ‘Dubfire’ Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi together. At the time, the two were mastering their mixing skills at local DC parties and clubs when a booking mishap put them on deck duty at the same time. Ali and Sharam discovered that they had a great deal in common, mainly a distinct vision for bridging the gap between the varying styles of electronic music.

The formation of Deep Dish Records eventually led to their DJ and production skills attracting the attention of then-pioneering Tribal America Records and culminated with Deep Dish mixing/appearing on the now classic Penetrate Deeper compilation. The doors for them flew wide open globally by 1995; with an anthemic remix of De’Lacy’s Hideaway and numerous collaborations with old school friend Brian ‘BT’ Transeau, the name Deep Dish became synonymous with the flourishing ‘deep house’ scene (a term which they helped expand the definition of).

In 1998, Deep Dish released their debut artist album Junk Science, a blistering mix of deep lush house, rock/dance fusion, jazz-tinged soul and moody atmospherics. Propelled by the success of singles like The Future Of The Future (Stay Gold), featuring the vocals of Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn, Junk Science underlined their talent for making records that sound as good on the radio or on the stereo as they do on the dance floor. Following Junk Science, Deep Dish continued with the mix compilation albums Yoshiesque (1999), Renaissance Ibiza (2000), Yoshiesque Two (2001) and Global Underground – Moscow (2001), all dynamic examples of the Deep Dish clubbing experience. Infusing their trademark eclectic sound with house, techno, and trance, their mix albums are lovingly crafted melting pots of dance floor styles and genres

Meanwhile, Deep Dish continued to remix works by artists across mainstream and underground echelons, which garnered them some of the highest accolades in the dance industry. Classic remixes including Brother Brown, Gabrielle, Morel, Beth Orton, Sven Vath and Depeche Mode along with breakouts for mega-stars like Janet Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, ‘N Sync, and Justin Timberlake, sparked Ali and Sharam to become two of the most sought-after remixers around. As the offers came pouring in, Ali and Sharam selectively chose projects which reflected their taste for diversity and experimentation.

In 2001, Deep Dish earned their first Grammy Award nomination in the “Remixer Of The Year” category for their mix of Madonna’s “Music,” Amber’s “Sexual (La Da Di)” and their own “Mohammed Is Jesus” original production to name a few. A second nomination followed in 2002, and landed Deep Dish their first ever Grammy win in the “Best Remixed Recording” category for their mix of Dido’s hit single “Thank You.” The single serves as a prime example of Deep Dish’s expertise in cross-pollinating pop and club sounds. Today the single still continues to chart in Billboard’s Singles Chart. Their remix of Justin Timberlake’s stellar solo debut “Like I Love You” also ranked on Billboard charts this winter, hitting the #1 spot on the Billboard Club Play chart.

Behind the influential DJ, Danny Tenaglia, Madonna’s support proved to be a major force in bringing Deep Dish’s music to the masses. Following the buzz for their Grammy-nominated “Music” remix, Madonna invited Deep Dish to open her one-off North American live show at New York’s Roseland Ballroom which became one of the city’s most talked-about gigs. Madonna introduced good friend Donatella Versace on to Deep Dish’s musical stylings, which resulted in Ali and Sharam providing music for four of her Couture and Atelier shows in Paris and Milan and their exclusive after parties; as well as having them DJ at her private home in Lake Cuomo, Italy for the reception she threw for Jennifer Lopez in honor of her second marriage to Chris Judd.

Deep Dish are widely-regarded around the world for their explosive live DJ gigs. Last year the Los Angeles Times (1/2/02) stated, “…there may be no other live DJ act better than Deep Dish.” And by the looks of their diary, which marks stops in places like Singapore, Milan and Tokyo, this statement is testament to their demand. Over the years, Deep Dish have held residencies at hot international club destinations such as Renaissance in Ibiza, Space in Miami, Release in San Francisco, The End and Ministry of Sound in London and beyond.