Made Records sent over iiO’s Rapture Reconstructed and it wasn’t one of those disks that we had to immediately dig into and check out.

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]