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Taken from Arcana.fm (Aug 13, 2024)
Switched On – Omar Ahmad: Inheritance Remixed (AKP Recordings)
by Ben Hogwood (Arcana)
Omar Ahmad: Inheritance Remixed coverart |
What’s the story?
The ‘sonic invention’ and ‘cosmopolitan outlook’ we identified in a review of Omar Ahmad’s Inheritance album get a second look, courtesy of an imaginative remix project where the whole LP is made over by guest artists.
Ahmad is a Palestinian-American artist, a multi-instrumentalist who has proved a perfect fit for the musically open approach of the Californian label AKP Recordings. The original album saw him take on all instruments, from field recordings to cello, synthesizer, voice and percussion – plenty for the assembled artists to build on.
The tracks of the original are presented in the same order.
What’s the music like?
AKP have cast the net far and wide, meaning the remixed Inheritance veers between widescreen ambience and active beat work-outs. Most of these are extremely effective, too, presenting a tableau that stays faithful to Ahmad’s colourful intentions but uses them as the stimulus for vibrant new creations.
These range from the spacey A Little Time For Me, given a strident hip hop beat by Sam O.B., or Lapses, led by some excellent broken beats with rich colouring from Otodojo. The heat soaked Sham Oasis and roomy Descended from a Wanaque Tree (Borrowed Memory) work really well, remixed by Kirin McElwain and Ki Oni respectively – while Solpara goes the other way, applying a wide-screen view of the clattering beats on Losing A Friend.
More mysteriously, Black Gesso is pulled this way and that by ACE, with mysterious sounds from the depths.
Does it all work?
Pretty much. Sometimes the clatter becomes a bit much on the faster tracks but that’s all a matter of preference – the feeling being that Ahmad’s music is most expressive at a slower tempo.
Is it recommended?
It is – a great complement to the original album, and a lesson in how best to approach a remix album.
For fans of... Thievery Corporation, Aim, RJD2, Blockhead
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