Steve Reich
Reich Remixed (Nonesuch 79552)

Steve Reich has influenced countless electronic artists, blah blah blah. Reich Remixed is a no-brainer from the savvy marketers at Nonesuch, who have successfully managed to make Steve Reich's music appeal to the rock and techno crowds over the years.

I'm pretty ambivalent toward Reich's music in the first place, but I wasn't going to let my natural cynicism get in the way (no, really). This is not a proper Steve Reich album, and I'm sure he's as ambivalent about being remixed as I am about him being remixed, but for what it is, it's a decent enough disc.

Nine tracks featuring current techno artists remixing (mainly) Reich's most well-known works: "Music For 18 Musicians," "City Life," "Drumming," and a "Megamix" tossed in for good (?) measure.

The whole thing is very well reasoned, though most classical people will dismiss it as a crossover trifle, and most electronica people will dismiss it as too highbrow.

That Reich's minimalist compositions lend themselves well to the repetitive groove explorations you'll find in current DJ sets is pretty obvious. That these remixes (like many remixes) have little to do with the original recordings is unsurprising. So the disc is a much better project on paper than in the CD player, though it is fine background music for pretentious college students.

OK, that was harsh. Actually, I'm overstating the boredom factor here. Most of the cuts are pretty engaging, and in fact, the "Megamix" by Tranquility Bass is one of the best tracks on here. Andrea Parker contributes a remix of "The Four Sections" that is a good representation of her style, though not necessarily Reich's – hence, the disc is going to be more or less appealing depending on what you're looking for.

Good contemporary trancey electronica? Sure, this is fine. Vital re- and de-constructions of classic Steve Reich material? Less so.

Probably the biggest shortcoming of the disc is that it's kind of generic (as are more and more DJ CDs as the trend blossoms), with only a couple of the tracks really doing anything noticeably cool (the Mantronik "Drumming" remix is notably good).

The flow of the disc is good, but the vibe I get from the disc is a bit too clean – it's fine music, but lacking a real pulse, just swallowing itself up into its own cerebral vacuum.

It's like a huge corporation getting a really cool young band to play at a fundraiser – it doesn't disguise the fact that the corporation is huge or that the band isn't necessarily the ideal group for the gig.

Target market for this disc: elitist white college kids trying to define themselves, and over-40 year olds trying to stay hip. I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm finally over 40 myself and have to recant all the horrible ways I paint people out who are in that age bracket.

Oh well, I'll worry about that when the time comes – by then the Internet will be beamed directly into people's walls and will be controlled by their thoughts, so my opinions on CDs will be very irrelevant.

Not to mention that CDs will have been superseded by Sony/ICU Medical Hemo-Digital Music BloodStreaming™, and people will have their favorite music coursing through their veins at 150 bpm at all times.

All that aside, too much of Reich Remixed sounds like it belongs in the background of a Discovery Channel special (perhaps about Hemo-Digital Music BloodStreaming™), and the tracks that are challenging (DJ Spooky's "City Life" remix) are kinda annoying.

It's a slight disc, one that doesn't merit very many listens, but hardly a piece of trash. More like a pretty good idea done about as well as possible, neither making art out of techno nor hipness out of Reich. Each is cool in their own way, but the fusion is a misfire.

Now excuse me, I have to go donate blood. In the future that will be the same as selling back used CDs.

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Review by Teensey Weensey