THE LEFTFIELD, inventive Mancunian piano trio GoGo Penguin, who work out in the truly creative zones where dancefloor and intelligence and a jazzy feel bump into each other, decided they could be lifelong friends, have announced a remix album for Blue Note, to be entitled GGP/RMX; and boy have they lined up a mighty cast of remixers.
A project that’s been bubbling away in the conception for quite a while now, the trio of pianist Chris Illingworth, drummer Rob Turner and bassist Nick Blacka have finally taken the plunge and offered out last year’s eponymous fifth long player to an absolutely top banana assemblage of inventive producers, including (deep breath) Squarepusher, Clark, James Holden, Nathan Fake, Graham Massey, Portico Quartet, Cornelius and more.
A first single has emerged, and it’s a cracker, absolutely bound for the most hectic of shape-throwing – play this at their home city’s The Ritz and watch that sprung dancefloor bounce seismically; Ninja’s MachineDrum takes “Atomised” and absolutely belts it out into the electro stratosphere as a six-minute odyssey. Take a listen below.
Every track from GoGo Penguin is offered up for a radical reimagining, as well “Petit_a”, a previously Japan-only track which saw the light of day on the digital EP Live From Studio 2.
A truly great remix is a proper artform and it really sounds as if GGP/RMX could be the very best of the form. Squarepusher will bring the hyperactive brilliance that only he can; James Holden gets all cinematic with “Totem”; Clark does that brooding, edgy thing with “Petit_a”, and Graham Massey brings the talents that launched 808 State to “‘Signal In The Noise”.
Add in contributions from Shunya, Cornelius, Yosi Horikawa and Portico Quartet and for me, it’s sounding the most exciting set of remixes since DJ Food’s Refried Food project all those years ago.
GoGo Penguin’s GGP/RMX will be released by Blue Note digitally, on CD and on vinyl on May 7th; pre-orders are being taken now.
