Baltic Pearls

Polish band Jazxing's Pearls of The Baltic Sea was one of my favourite albums of 2022- this year's remix version came out at the end of October, the eight tracks remixed by eight different artists and was a very worthy follow up. I missed including it in my end of year list last Saturday, a bit of an oversight because it's a wonderful album in its own right. 

The Balearic Ultras remix of Shoegaze Dub is one of the highlights, a slow mo drift with piano chords, dub bass and snippets of conversation, people discussing shoegaze, sound, guitar FX and experimentation. 

Bagging Area regulars Coyote show up with their Whirling Dervish remix of Vijnana that displays what they do so well, a layered, laid back but insistent version of the song, hazy but with a pulsing heartbeat, acoustic guitars, hand drums and an inclusive, everyone sitting round the fire on the beach feel. 

Brighton's Andres Y Xavi take on Hyacinth, the ticking rhythm of an 808 with acoustic guitar and cooing voice conjuring up summer and long, warm nights, something that seems like a dream in late December. 

Opening the album is Danilo Braca's remix of Fala. Fala was the track on the original album that first grabbed my attention, a huge cosmic groove with 80s sax. Danilo spins it out for over twelve minutes setting out with waves, gulls, and a sax solo but then shifting it towards the floor, drums and handclaps, kick drum, piano chords, synths and eventually heavy bass and some acidic touches.  

These four are the current favourites- the rest of the album with remixes by Polotronic, James Bright, Das Komplex and Janca are all well worth investing in. You can buy the whole thing here.