Mood Taeg – Anaphora Versions

Happy Robots

Barely six months since Mood Taeg‘s sophomore album Anaphora, the pan-continental collective returns with an album of mixes that uncover the hidden corners and unexpected perspectives of some of those tracks. A few have been dealt with in house, while others have been loaned out and then returned with a little electronic surgery that renders them familiar yet different, certainly enough to justify this little outing.

There is a lovely clarity and sense of newness to their sound which welcomes these interpretations. It chimes with that expansive sense of motorik that Kraftwerk captured here and there, but Mood Taeg have a hint of mystery and that is proven by the excellent cover photo and the strange synthesised voices that are scattered across the pieces. Their open road shimmers in morning mist and the hard shoulder is shrouded by overgrown trees, and where it lightens up, it is possible to reflect on the interweaving synth lines that move in a varispeed haze.

The Vera remix of “Konkord” has beats applied and they are crisp and insistent. A Scottish voice hints at rising against the machines, but delivered in a deadpan manner that implies a march through time. There are a number of variations on this track; Jan The Man‘s being very severe, male and female voices cold as ice like feet on tiles in the depth of winter; while the “Alien Cormorant Version” is very different again; the motorik vibe is really gauzy and echoes off vaulted ceilings in empty rooms. It is slightly wonky but surprisingly joyful, and it is quite extraordinary how varied one piece can become in different hands.

There is a kind of calypso lilt to the Liefergasse version of “Ohrwurm” and it drifts on sea breezes, the chuckling synth line being the only element of discord. The percussion has that lovely soft feel of somebody putting together furniture at the beach. It is a pretty cool and wide variety of styles considering what the group is known for; the “Electric Boogaloo” version of “Goosebumps” moves with an electro shimmer that throws off all thoughts of the European sound. In my mind’s eye, people are breakdancing to this, the muffled haze really picking up the tempo. It moves through many guises, but is in constant thrall to the groove and all the better for it.

The final three tracks are all Shanghai Radio remixes and definitely have a hazier feel to them. They drift in and out of focus, as if distant radio stations were broadcasting their own versions, the phasing effect on “Squirrels Dancing Among Elephants” ushering in a myriad of different elements as the words veer in and out of the unfolding sounds. The three act almost like a mix to top off the journey, a semblance of similarity but sketched from far away, drawing the listener in yet away to distant points.

This is a real success for Mood Taeg and sits well with the previous releases. They are certainly fulfilling their promise so far.

-Mr Olivetti-